Lloyd Pratt
School: | Yale University |
Department: | English |
Location: | New Haven, CT |
Overall Rating
rated by 19 students
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
School: | Yale University |
Department: | English |
Location: | New Haven, CT |
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
Mailing Address:
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Cons: He seems intimidating and the grading can be harsh, but trust me- you will learn more in his class and benefit from it than any stupid blow-off class.
Cons: Very tough grader
The only bad thing I'll say is about the TA. The TA is the one that does most of the grading and class discussions so make sure you talk in recitation. I had a terrible TA who was condescending and arrogant the whole time, and he never initiated good discussions, so it was always agony. But it wasn't too bad, and we usually just talked about what Pratt had gone over the day before.
I would definitely recommend this class and this professor. But especially Pratt--take any class with him if you can!
Anyway, the reading is a lot, but doable, and Pratt is obviously the best professor ever. I swear, if you get a chance to take a class with him, you will learn so much, and grown so much as a thinker. Just do it. Also, do not be intimidated by his expectation lecture. You will be fine.
There is one book for the course that appears intimidating at first. The readings for the course were relatively short, but extremely heavy. The readings are focused on various philosophers and acclaimed critics, interesting to say the least.
There are three papers collectively worth 75% of the grade, the other 25% is split between the final and participation. At the end of the semester there is an option to do a revision on a paper to replace its grade.
In my opinion (if that matters) his grading is fair. He is great at leaving constructive feedback and tells you what to improve on, but also what you did well (how rare!).
Simply put, if you have a chance to experience a Lloyd Pratt managed class take advantage of it.
We did three papers, participation is HUGE, and final. His grading is fair, not easy, not hard, but fair.
I was intimidated like most students but I stuck with it and am so thankful that I did. You do read a lot of books/poetry/articles but nothing I would say that isn't expected in any other 300 level english class. Class discussions really helped me and the more that I found myself participating the more I was able to formulate my ideas about the text.
As for grading, this is where I can really say this is a fair class. Your first paper you are able to revise and meet to revise which really helped me, I went up an entire grade from my revisions. Everything is 20 % of your grade so nothing is outrageously weighted which I thought was great. The mid-term was exactly as Professor Pratt explained it and as long as you were present and interacting during class, it was easy to be successful.
This is a class I would recommend to anyone. I am a Special Education Major and I found this class beneficial.
Pratt's specialty area, slave narratives, are what you want him to teach. He's very knowleadgable of the time around when those were popular as well, so don't expect to be able to tell him anything about Thoreau or Emerson that he won't know.
One of the things I liked most about Pratt is that he acknowledges problems with the university and listens to his students so he can accomodate them. He taught WRA, as well as some low-level ENG classes and had no problem coming to us in the upper level classes about our opinions on what can and should be changed. He's interesting to talk to, polite (although a little aloof at times), and knows his stuff. I'd say take any class he's teaching.
The readings we did were very diverse, which was something I appreciated. An intro course should introduce you to many types of literature, and I learned a lot because of that. He did a poetry segment, then narrative (fiction), drama/plays, and literary analysis and theory (what makes good literature: essays by Plato, Aristotle, Wordsworth, etc). I checked the reading lists of other sections, and no other section had as varied a selection of readings.
Professor Pratt himself was nice enough. He wasn't particularly funny and at times seemed a little pedantic, but I had no problems with him; he actually apologized to me once for being a little brusque. One thing: he doesn't like getting emails asking him for things missed in class and most likely will not send you any handouts or anything. You'll have to go to his office hours or contact another classmate. But that's not to say he's not helpful; I went to his office hours a couple of times and he was quite friendly and assisted me with my papers.
Many people will complain, I'm sure, about the difficulty. Pratt is a tough grader and the class moves at a fast pace, but I found the experience very rewarding. And it is possible to get a 4.0 in his class. I did. You just have to be smart and/or work for it, but that's what college is about.