Lorraine Dong

I like Lorraine Dong. The class was very interesting and I learned a lot. I think she is a very good teacher. She grades fair and not too hard. I enjoyed learning about the different themes they usually put in Asian American books, how characters are portrayed, and some history and facts about Asian Americans. She went over some history because it was put in Asian American books.

I don't think she is close minded and I don't think she says that white society is bad at all. She does not mind that they showed White people are nice and being a savior to Asian Americans. She just wants to see more diversity in books. In books, they usually have a white savior theme. And she wants more books without that theme because Asian Americans can save themselves. They had portrayed Asian Americans that they are hopeless and need White people to save them, which is not true. In one of the books, there was a white savior theme, and she said sometimes they need to have a white savior theme when the society is all White. She wants to see some good White people and some bad White people. She also wants to see some good Asian Americans and some bad Asian Americans in the book. That is how the world is. Not all White people are good and not all Asian Americans are bad. She is not prejudice at all. I think if you come to class, listen to everything she says, and think about it, you could see that she is not prejudice and she does not really closed minded.

She is a good teacher with a good humor.

Professor Dong knows her stuff. I learned more about Chinese American literature and culture in this one class than any other course I have ever taken. After reading each novel we were given a topic which we wrote a two page response to. These were all take home and due within one week of being given. There was also a ten page paper due at the end of the course which wasn't too difficult. There are also tons of extra credit opportunities available. It was a great learning experience.

This is my second class with Professor Dong. She is a good lecturer and she's very helpful when someone has questions. She likes to get the class involved as much as possible, especially with discussion on books. The reading for this class is pretty easy. We have a reader, and a couple of children books which we read and review, looking at the pictures and the words for symbolism. I will recommend people to take her class, Professor Dong knows the subject that she's teaching, and the class is interesting with extra credit projects, like attending a film as the Asian Film Festival in SF.

The slides were boring!!! In the beginning there were only slides after slides...to make everything worse, she expected us to remember those slides because she wants support in the midterm. So if you take this class, write down the titles of the books and a short summary. Otherwise, when the midterm comes along, you are going to be screwed.

Other than that, the class is fairly easy and not that difficult. Her grading is semi-difficult because she only writes the points you received, but you have no idea why you received those points so you don't know how to improve on it the next time.

In terms of lecture, she makes it sound like so that all White Americans attempts at children's lit is bad because they cannot depict accurate pics. I only partially agreed with that, but you have to give them credit for trying. I guess this might be due because I grew up in America, but you just have to beware it is just an opinion and should not be taken so personally. Only agree enough to get a good grade in the class, and then decide for yourself.

Professor Dong is really nice. She has a lot of opinions and thoughts on the subject matter. I took her class in the summer and for a month and a couple weeks it was tough. The work load was not that bad actually but it was hard to sit in that class for 4 hours and only one short 15 minute break. Every class the format was the same we would look at slides pictures. Each picture we would anaylize every little detail looking for cultural markers and stuff. At first it was pretty interesting but try doing this for over a month, 4 hours, 4 days a week. We had to read 3 books that are intended for middle school children and we read about 4 picture books. We had 3 or 4 reaction papers, which only had to be like 2 or 3 pages long. When she returns these papers you will see all these high lighted words meaning she found some sort of error there. But, she does not say what the error is. On these papers I received a grade ranging form "A ~ C", and I have no idea how she base those grades. The final is given to us as an option of either writing and illustrating a picture story book for children and a 3 page essay explaining your story book. Or you can write a 8 page term paper. Either choice you make Professor Dong has to approve the topic before you begin. The picture story book seems very easy but in reality its a really hard assignment. You have to come up with a good story line plus you have to illlustrate it. If you do not come up with a good storyline then you will not get a good grade, it probably won't get approved by Prof. Dong for you to even being. I choose to do the picture storybook but I should have choosen the term paper instead.

I was hoping to learn something from this class but came our feeling very discouraged at Mrs. Dong. She only gives 2 midterms and a huge project and that's all that your grade is based on. She is very picky about grammar errors and won't tell her students why they were deducted a few points unless you go in and see her. She uses her pink marker to highlight errors leaving her students to read her mind! The worse part is if you aren't on the same mind frame as she is in your writing, forget about getting a good grade in this class. She is very closed minded that I'm surprised that she's allowed to teach this class!

Lorraine is a great teacher and I owe all my knowledge of AAS to her. I took her for AAS 322, AAS 502 and now AAS 697.

I decided to take this class to learn more about Asian American children's books and how it differed from other books. I went in with good expectations and as I sat in through the lectures I became more and more disturbed at Lorraine. She is very into "Asian this and Asian that"! She is very close minded and won't allow for students to express their differences about her opinions. I sit in each class finding myself disagreeing with her on over 70% of her arguments! Since she doesn't give quizes or anything, she assigns this big project where you have the option of writing a book or a research project. Well I'm stomped as to what I'm going to write on the research project b.c. I don't even agree with her teaching. If you are an asian person like me who is open minded to different cultures, I highly recommend you not take this teacher. On the other hand, if you are asian and have this hate against people who aren't asian, you would be perfect for this class.

Good class. Must attend class and take notes. Reading is very easy. Only 2 take home exams and one project. Very reasonable work load.

Lorraine is a great teacher. She knows what she is talking about and discusses important issues in the Asian American (Asian, American Asian, hyphen no hyphen, etc.) community. Also, she has made me realize and think about things that I had not thought about before. This has been the best class I had ever taken at SFSU so far.

Lorraine is a great Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies professor. I've taken numourous classes with her AAS200,AAS 322, and Ethn210, and in all of them she's very thorough in her lectures and her homework assignments. Unlike other AAS professors she gives equal attention to all the Asian American groups. She is always willing to help, with your major, career opportunities and if you're struggling in the class. She promotes opinions and is willing to hear hear with the students have to say. She constantly challenges the class to think critically and to look at the whole picture. She tries scaring students off in the beginning of the semester, to make the class smaller, but her syllabus is not as scary as it seems. A word of wisdom is to keep up with the readings, and take really good notes. The assigments is highly based upon class lectures and the readings. And always do the extra credt assigments she gives you, it can raise your overall grade a whole grade up. Its hard to get an "A" unless you do the extra credit.

I really did enjoy Dong's class. I love her lectures. She can really make you think. I like her attitude in teaching. It was a little too many books to read but class discussions are all interesting. You learn stuff that you would never thought you would. I strongly recommend Dong to anyone who is interested in AAS. Thank you Prof. Dong, you are one inspiring professor!!!

Lorraine Dong is a wonderful teacher. She knows her subjects in Asian American studies very well. Her class is consist of two take-home exams and a 8 page paper. In her 502 class, she gives you an option of writing a children's book. It's not bad because the information that she gives in her lectures can give you a lot of ideas to write your story. That's about it.

Make sure you read the syllabus and put the due dates of assignments into your planner..She is not the kind of teacher that reminds you that something is due. In the beginning, the slides were really boring but you must take notes because her midterm is based on those slides. She didn't assign anything from the reader but it's pretty interesting to read. You have to write a term paper or write a picture storybook due at the end of class. I did the picture storybook. She also makes you read approximately 7-8 books, some long some short. The final is based on four teen novels so if oyu hate to read, don't take this class. Her discussions of the novels are really interesting. At first, she seems kinda hardcore but she is actually really nice. I would recommend her.

Lorraine is the BOMB. She knows her stuff, and is willing to share all of her wisdom and knowledge with her students. She can at times ignore or brush off students she feels has a 'stupid' opinion. Lots of readings and short papers with one semi-long 8 pg'r as a final. No tests or exams. If you want to gain some insight of contemporary AA ideas, take this class with Lorraine. She will inspire and enlighten. Lorraine is also very helpful and understanding so don't be afraid to harrass her during office hours. :)

This is a class that I can truly say taught me alot. Everything I learned is this class was new information to me. Lorraine explained everything in a very interesting and clear manner. She is very approacheable and understanding of students. She has a fair workload that she assigns and wonderful opportunities out of the class to receive extra credit. I recommend her highly!

I am planning on becoming an elementary school teacher and I found her class very informative and she provided current information on how children's literature views Asian American children. Her lectures are open, honest, and thought provoking, but her slide presentation needs to be presented in a more interesting manner. She is a fair grader and gives many opportunities for extra credit. I recommend her to any student who wants to become a teacher.