ENWR 1510

Tom is a great teacher--he is really funny and has designed an interesting course. The class was all right--mainly consists of weekly readings and in class you discuss the readings. In class participation is about 30% of your grade. There are a total of two 10 page papers one due in the middle of the semester and one due at the end. Each count towards 30% of your grade. Then there is a small group assignment for which you do a group presentation and you write a 2pg paper which count for 10% of your grade. Overall, really a lot of reading for this course. Then it can gets pretty hectic when you work on the 10pg papers, but talk with Tom in advance and you will be set for them! Also, Tom is a very approachable teacher so talk with him if you need help.

Dr. Tom is a wonderful person to choose for first year's required ENWR class. He teaches "Forgiving and Forgetting", which may seem a bit boring at first, but I can assure he is one of the easiest and most intelligent ENWR teachers. There is a lot of reading, but as long as you read some of them you'll be fine. The really important readings are the two that you choose to write your two 10-page papers on. The English department requires all ENWR classes to assign 20 pages of writing, so different teachers split it up different ways. Some do four 5-page papers, others do five 4-page papers, etc. Tom does two big 10-pagers, but I can promise that they are not as intimidating as they sound. The first may seem tricky at first (it does not seem easy to write 10 pages on a 3 page poem!), but if you just ask Tom for some help he will help you find enough topics to explore within your paper. The perk of having only 2 papers all year is that you can put ENWR on the back burner during weeks that are busy for other classes. My advice is to just not save the papers for the last minute because they are on the longer side. They are a big part of your grade, so make sure to revise them (if you need more help definitely go to the Writing Center). If you try your hardest, you are pretty much guaranteed anything above a B+. Most of my peers got A- and I've only heard of him giving out one A before but I am sure it is attainable!

Professor Berenato is super amazing! I highly recommend taking his ENWR class on the topic "forgiving and forgetting". The class consists of 30% participation, 20% one 6 page paper, and 50% two 7page papers. Each class you are assigned a reading that you have to discuss in class. He LOVES students who participate ( you don't even have to say much tbh). Some of the readings can be long but I usually busted skimmed them and was fine. In terms of grading, he mostly gives students A- on the papers but if you participate at least once each class and get A- on all the papers, you can probably get an A in the class. He is very helpful in his office hours and the topic of the papers if your choice. Highly recommend doing your first writing requirement with Tom!!!!

Professor Berenato is super amazing! I highly recommend taking his ENWR class on the topic "forgiving and forgetting". The class consists of 30% participation, 20% one 6 page paper, and 50% two 7page papers. Each class you are assigned a reading that you have to discuss in class. He LOVES students who participate ( you don't even have to say much tbh). Some of the readings can be long but I usually busted skimmed them and was fine. In terms of grading, he mostly gives students A- on the papers but if you participate at least once each class and get A- on all the papers, you can probably get an A in the class. He is very helpful in his office hours and the topic of the papers if your choice. Highly recommend doing your first writing requirement with Tom!!!!

Dr. Tom is a super-smart, super helpful, and super interesting professor. The topic for his ENWR was "forgiving and forgetting" and you'll read about 5 books and some articles books that relate to this topic from different angles. The readings are usually pretty interesting, but you don't need to read every single thing in order to succeed in the course. The only assignments are three 6-7 page papers, which you will likely get a B or an A- on, but if you participate in the class you'll probably earn an A for your overall grade. Class discussions are fun and Dr. Tom always spices up the class with some low-key antics to make them more interesting. He gives you great feedback on your writing and he's always easy to contact if you need help.

The main reason to take this class is for Dr. Tom. He is an AMAZING professor who facilitates engaging discussions during class. The topic for his ENWR is "Forgiving and Forgetting," and you read various books and articles related to this topic. The time required for the assigned readings is manageable, and I thought most of the readings were quite interesting. Participation in class discussions (30%) is not hard. If you make a meaningful contribution to discussion at least once or twice each class, you'll be fine! There is one six-page paper (20%) and two seven-page papers (25% each). Before each essay, Tom encourages you to meet with him during office hours to develop a prompt for your essay. He gives you valuable feedback on your essays, and I thought his grading was fair. I encourage you to take your ENWR with Tom if you can!

The main reason to take this class is for Dr. Tom. He is an AMAZING professor who facilitates engaging discussions during class. The topic for his ENWR is "Forgiving and Forgetting," and you read various books and articles related to this topic. The time required for the assigned readings is manageable, and I thought most of the readings were quite interesting. Participation in class discussions (30%) is not hard. If you make a meaningful contribution to discussion at least once or twice each class, you'll be fine! There is one six-page paper (20%) and two seven-page papers (25% each). Before each essay, Tom encourages you to meet with him during office hours to develop a prompt for your essay. He gives you valuable feedback on your essays, and I thought his grading was fair. I encourage you to take your ENWR with Tom if you can!

I took the talk of the town course and it was very nice (not too much work and fairly enjoyable). Professor Tom is a really nice guy and he is very available to help you out if you need. He grades pretty nicely and gives good feedback. The reading is just the new yorker every week, and you talk about it in class. The period is split into three sections of 6 people, so its really short most of the time. You write three articles, each with a different length and topic/style based on the sections of articles in the magazine. You basically get to write about whatever you want in the style of an article, which gives you a lot of freedom. A lot is reviewing other people's work too. I spent a fair amount of time writing the articles, but other than that you don’t have to do much and Professor Tom is pretty funny in a weird kind of way. Anyway, if you want an easy, simple enwr requirement, I recommend (and if you're interested in the new yorker and magazine writing but I liked it even though thats not my thing)

i normally dont take the time out of my life to write these reviews on courseforum but i knew i had to for my guy Tom. he is the absolute bomb and if you can take your enwr requirement with him, do it. I was hesitant on taking his class in the evening since it was 6:30-7:45pm but he was always very prompt and let us out early if we were able. He was so accommodating to all his students during the pandemic and zoom meetings, too. So about the class itself, it was super fun--theres 3 essays total for the class, 500 word, 1200 word, and 2000 word count. Each essay has its own style that you have to adapt but you choose any topic you want, run it by with him, and you are good to go. seriously the easiest and most fun class i've taken at UVA. #tCFspring2021

"Professor Tom" is probably my favorite professor at UVA.

He's nice and funny; he doesn't give you busy-work; he respects your time and runs the class super efficiently. (Though the class has about 75 minutes reserved, you usually only meet for ~20 minute increments with a small group and the professor.)

He structures the class so that an A- is attainable with light effort, a B+ is attainable with minimal effort, and an A is attainable with strong effort. In other words: if you are willing to put in the work — by participating once every class, taking your time writing your essays, running them by him for feedback (he will tell you exactly what he wants) in advance, and implementing his suggestions — you should absolutely get an A. (I did.) The number one tip I can give you: meet with him during office hours and have him look at your essays. Do this as many times as you can. (Bonus tip: take him up on his extra credit opportunities as often as you can.)

And, if an A is not what you're shooting for, you can coast through this class and still get a nice grade while improving your writing ability. Would absolutely recommend to anyone looking to fulfill their ENWR requirement.

On the off chance you're reading these reviews and trying to decide whether to take a class that's NOT ENWR 1510: much of what I've said still carries over. If you have the chance to take a class with Professor Tom, take it.