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Tufts University: ENG067 - Shakespeare - English - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Linda Bamber | ENG067 - Shakespeare | English2005-04-04

Review:
I think the other reviews of Linda Bamber's Shakespeare course have been off the mark. I don't think these reviewers actually appreciate what Bamber achieves with her teaching style. The Shakespeare course is indeed a discussion class, as other have noted. It is not, however, a wishy-washing "What are your ill-informed opinions on 'The Tempest'"-type of course. Bamber uses this crazy new teaching style called the Socratic Method which all the profs who are "down with it" here at Tufts have been taking up. This involves asking a student her or his "feelings" about a certain text, and then critiquing or building on that comment to form a coherent argument about said text. Not only will you get to hear the sweet, honey-suckle sound of your own voice, you might even learn something in the process.

As far as the not-grading-papers thing goes: a lot of people in my class were also visibly upset by this fact as well. Seeing the look of utter confusion and rage on the face of the senior engineer in bad need of a Humanities credit when he saw that his paper didn't have a grade (almost) justified paying Tufts' tuition. It should be noted that, in lieu of a grade, Bamber writes copious notes on the paper. If you're insecure, you will not like this facet of the course.

Workload:
Like others said.


professor rating: | course rating: | major: English


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Tufts University: ENG067 - Shakespeare - English - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Linda Bamber | ENG067 - Shakespeare | English2005-03-18

Review:
Linda Bamber is about as casual as English teachers get. The 60+ students sit in a circle, then someone begins to talk. She?ll say, ?what do you think?? Then you go around the room, firing off any sort of comment you might have about the material. She?s pretty good about encouraging class discussion. But sometimes I think she goes too far in trying to ?relate? to her students and appear likeable and ?down with it.? Her teaching style is highly conversational, which can be cutesy, forced, obnoxious, ingratiating at times (typical kind of Bamber question: what is the guy [the author] tryin? to say?)?She doesn?t believe in giving out grades because she thinks it?s a ?negative approach to pedagogy.? That?s pretty high minded, but I think she?s just being lazy most of the time. Your TA is the one who does the hard work of grading papers and leading discussion sections, while Bamber just sort of sits back and goes with the flow. When I took the class a couple years ago, I remember she went so far as to let TAs lead discussion sections the week of Thanksgiving break so she could take an early vacation. Then in the following weeks, she had the students teach each other, basically just letting us do our thing while she sat back, once again, and did whatever.

The key to success in her class is talking a lot. Grading is already highly subjective in English classes to begin with--so be sure to talk to her and let her know that you?re trying, if you can?t write. She likes to know every student in her class. She?ll schedule these little chat time/get togethers in her office where she will ask various personal questions that are really none of her business--what do your parents do for a living?--then she'll ask how you think the class is going. This is your opportunity to become her friend and do well in her class. She encourages you to stop by.

Workload:
You?ll read a play a week and write a response paper for each one. A couple of papers.


professor rating: | course rating: | major: English


review a class you took with Linda Bamber - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Tufts University: ENG067 - Shakespeare - English - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Linda Bamber | ENG067 - Shakespeare | English2005-03-14

Review:
Linda Bamber gives an astonishingly dull introduction to Shakespeare. In my opinion, her lectures are one-sided and overly feminist, and she tends to disagree with most comments from students. She rejects the "hierarchy" of grading as well, which can make a student's understanding of his or her status in the class a bit hazy to say the least. The funniest thing was that it seemed she was almost afraid to teach us--there were several sessions set up in which we, the students, taught one another Shakespeare (about as well as she did). Hands down one of the worst classes I've taken at Tufts.

Workload:
Not bad at all. Read a play a week. But you do turn in annoying response papers on the plays.


professor rating: | course rating: | major: English


review a class you took with Linda Bamber - help your classmates make informed decisions!

Tufts University: ENG067 - Shakespeare - English - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Linda Bamber | ENG067 - Shakespeare | English2004-11-16

Review:
Although Linda Bamber knows a lot about Shakespeare, she is unable to bring it across in class. She has a hard time getting a class discussion going, and when there is one it is lackluster; certainly not worthy of Shakespeare. I enjoy Shakespeare, and I was bored to death. It often feels like we rush through the plays. I would never take another class with her.

Workload:
The workload was manageable for people who like to read Shakespeare-about one play a week, with a response paper due the day the play is discussed, no exceptions. If you're not careful the due date can creep up on you, because she never mentions it in class. Also two seven page papers, which you go over with writing fellows. None of the papers are graded. Overall, we read nine plays.


professor rating: | course rating: | major: N/A


review a class you took with Linda Bamber - help your classmates make informed decisions!
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