Joan Mellen - Temple University

Professor: Joan Mellen

Department: TBD

College: Temple University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ENG5600
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Truly an awful teacher -- one of the worst I've ever had at any institution. In addition to being insensitive, she's a sloppy reader of the texts, even the ones she assigns. Thinks of herself as a real lefty socialist but is more accurately described as someone who never moved past 1968. Avoid at all costs.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ENG3004
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

One of the worst teachers I've had the displeasure of having. Two days into the semester she yelled at, demeaned, and offended her students. Was incredibly insensitive and cruel. Her lessons do not give you the context to answer the questions she asks, and then she belittles you for being wrong. Dropped.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ENG2004
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Had her for Fiction Writing. Kind of conflicted about this class. On one hand, grades don't really matter much and she's an easy grader. On the other hand, she is very close-minded and extremely liberal and easy to shut down dissenting opinions. Not very intellectually stimulating. However, if you only care about a grade, it's easy enough to pass.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: CREATIVEWRITIN
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Belittling and dismissive towards any opinion different than hers. God help you if you have anything resembling an independent thought. Be prepared to write far more pages of criticisms than all your other classes combined. Do not try anything new or creative or fun. DON'T TAKE. YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE I WISH I COULD GO BACK IN TIME.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ENG3004
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Joan is one of those professors that does not critique your writing but things that you could have fixed if her guidelines were more clear. The class had to beg her to make a rubric for the assignments she gave. She is very offensive and rude. I would change my major before I took another class with her. Her attitude was not worth the easy A.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ENG5600
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I find Joan Mellen to have a very narrow view as to what constitutes a correct answer, when the very nature of the humanities is freedom of interpretation. She conducts her classes like a quiz show, and anyone with a background in teaching will tell you that this is no way to teach. This translates to an extremely difficult environment in class.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ENG3936
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I took her Creative Writing class. You'll find yourself having a love/hate relationship with her. You'll either love her for her brutal honesty or hate her for her harsh criticism. As long as you do the work and have good attendance, you'll get an A. But be warned, it's A LOT of work. I had to write 2-page commentaries for 3 students every week.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ENG3341
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

She is hideous and cruel. Joan treats people like they are beneath her and often steals the ideas of students and claims them as her own. Worst teacher at temple. On one occasion she thought it was impossible for a student to be Jewish because they were black. She literally laughed at the idea.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ENG3341
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Hers was the worst class I have ever had. I did learn, but the way she treated her students was shocking. I have never walked away from a class angry before, but she called me a barbarian, twelve years old, and badgered one student because he should have read even though he requested to talk to her after class about it. No teacher should do that.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ENG3341
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof Mellen is demanding, but fair. She is incredibly intelligent and I recommend taking a course with her. She is fantastic.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ENG1111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This is quite possibly the worst teacher I have ever had in my career as a student. She is unrelenting in her need to be right, and will forgo all common sense and societal pleasentries to demean her students and prove her own point. If you have any way to skip this professor, I deeply recommend you do so. If you cannot, AGREE with her at all costs

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ADVCW01
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I don't think I've ever had a teacher beside Ms. Mellen who is intentionally cruel. She is fond of humiliating her students. I learned from her, and I earned my A, but she had me doubting my abilities the entire way. I love writing and I live for workshop classes, but this woman kills all the joy in it.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ENG3096
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Rude to students--don't you DARE disagree with her! She plays favorites, hates you if you come 1 minute late (no joke), and looks for ONE specific answer or you're wrong. She's helpful if you show interest, but she has mood swings by the minute and you never know if she'll be nice or horribly rude.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: CWFIC
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

joan is like an athletic coach in the classroom. she's tough, she's nuts, she's got otherworldy standards, she spits a lot, she'll run you ragged, but damn if your entire game doesn't improve by half. i give joan my highest recommendation, but as others have indicated, you gotta be ready for the crazy.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I took an English/poetry class with professor mellen in 1971. She was aloof and unfriendly and did not give a B even though i deserved it and asked her to reconsider the C she gave me. When i asked her about it, she humiliated me by telling me that my work in class was substandard, even though I know I performed well.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: GRADFICT
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Mellen is pompous, self-obsessed, unrelenting in her criticism of others but intolerant of ANY directed toward her. She IS brilliant and taught me much, but at a huge personal cost. Joan, baby, I dig your beautiful mind, but the world is not your therapy couch and student is not an academic code-word for slave.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: GRADENGLISH
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Joan Mellen is a talented writer, and has smart things to say in class about literature, but she is also a teacher who allows no deviation from her ideas. If you don't agree you are wrong. I found her very irritating and rude.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: FICTION
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: CREATIVEW
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I had her in 1997. She is talented and knows her stuff, but as a grad student, I felt our thesis sessions were more like therapy sessions for her own problems. Her advice was only somewhat beneficial. Good writer, mediocre teacher at best.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ENGFILM
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

I had her for a Film class in the mid-1990's. She's a TOUGH grader, but if you're willing to take her comments, you can learn a lot from her. I hated her at the time, but she taught me a lot. I never worked so hard for an A!