Margaret Thompson

I took Ms. Thompsons class in Fall 03 and think shes great.

The class involved a lot of work (5 quizzes, 4 speeches to prepare & present, 5 or 6 prepared business letters, and other smaller assignments). The course grade was determined from the total of different weights given to each assignment. Attendance & class participation counted too.

In my opinion, the demands of the class mostly involve following instructions and directions. The stuff taught was not difficult to understand, learn and do. For good grade(s), doing exactly what Ms. Thompson asks for is the way to go, and being very clear on what she expects from each and every assignment is critical. So, if youre told to dress in business casual clothes when giving a speech, its a good idea to do it. Some students gave their speeches in jeans and t-shirts. -Go figure.

As for Ms. Thompsons personality and teaching style, its clearly interpreted differently among students. From what I saw, students that didnt care much for her also didnt seem to put the needed effort into their work, were absent too much, & asked questions about things they should already have known (from prior lectures that they were probably absent from). She also did not play favorites among students. Your grade is up to you and your efforts, and she made it clear why each grade was given by her written comments on each returned assignment. When I didnt turn in what was required, my grade was hammered and there were comments about what I did wrong.

If you take Ms. Thompsons class, get an SFSU e-mail address. It would be sensible to check it almost daily. She communicated often that way, sending out helpful advice and assignment updates.

To do well, here are a few suggestions: - First, always attend; especially since class time is often spent taking notes on how to do the assignments. Also, if you get a bad grade on anything (I sure did), move on, put it behind you and dont let it affect future work, since nothing can be done about it. Since a lot of stuff makes up the course grade, 1 or 2 bad scores wont have a bad impact on your overall course grade, unless the bad grade has a heavy weight as part of the final grade (e.g. the persuasive speech). Also, if Ms. Thompson invites you to come in during office hours for help with specific assignments, take her up on it!! For me, doing this was invaluable. She was tremendously helpful to me and other students I knew who went to her. She is VERY helpful outside of class when its appropriate. Another good strategy is to have tough skin throughout the course. Students in my class who acted mature, had a sense of humor, and didnt get bent out of shape by constructive criticism seemed to do better than those who whined to their friends about their own misery and bad grades. Bottom line: she can come across as tough, and those that cant handle it might do better steering away from both this class and the business world.

You must be good at writing. Ms. Thompson grades hard on written assignments. You may see a lot of red ink (I sure did) when the paper(s) come back graded. She does suggest that writing assignments be proofread for correctness and grammar by one the college tutoring labs. Go there if you want a good grade, trust me! The lab was very helpful, I learned a lot there, and I received perfect (good grades & no-red marks) on the parts of written assignments that I got help on at the lab. Know too that Ms. Thompson, by profession, is an English instructor. When she marks up your paper, use it as a review to not make the same mistake again.

Good things about Ms. Thompsons class include the fact that you are forced to learn how to conduct research in the library, and how to write better. Consider taking the OASIS library requirement before taking the class if you still need to (graduation requirement), because it will come in handy. Also good is that she quickly gives back graded assignments. As for her personality, she communicates with a subtle sense-of-humor, often funny in a cynical way, without cracking a smile. During lectures, she is thorough and to-the-point.

Not everything was great though. There were frustrations. There were lots of handouts and also plenty of paper generated from conducting research for the speaking assignments. This means it really helps to be organized with papers to prevent added stress, and since assignment instructions are given in a combination of handouts, lecture notes, book reading assignments, and even e-mail. With all of these materials coming at me, I sometimes felt like I was losing control. The handouts were often frustrating and disappointing because they were often unattractive, poorly laid-out, and sometimes even confusing to follow. Another downside was that there were sometimes 2 or 3 different assignments to work on simultaneously. That was stressful, but its life. One other frustrating thing was having to writing peer reviews of other students speeches (from a form she gives out), particularly of the speeches just before and just after my turn to speak. It was extremely hard to focus and write a peer review about another students speech while being nervous about my own upcoming or just-completed speech. Overall, these bad things were not so terrible, on balance, against the good things in the course.

Lastly, my class often worked in groups on assignments. Being assigned a lame freeloader to work in your group(s) can be a curse (it always is). Yet Ms. Thompson seemed to realize who didnt put in their fair share of the work. She seems to have little tolerance for slackers.

To sum it up, Ms. Thompson wanted everyone to do well in the class, and she gave encouragement from time to time (a nice moral booster). Its a lot of work, but if I can survive & do well in this class, anyone can. Just be prepared for some tough-love, because she is tough. Yet through it all, she sincerely wants you to do well. Be open-minded, polite, dedicated, and youll come to realize just that. And youll learn a lot!