She lectures on interesting topics so it's not a boring class. She can get pretty intense sometimes but dont let it scare you; she's very friendly and approachable as long as you stay on task and shut up while others are talking.

I liked that Arena taught more than just English. She would pick topics for us to write about that were interesting and relevant. (In my class we discussed the threat of biological warfare.) She gave plenty of opportunity to meet with her to discuss papers before the due date and was very fair.

Great class. I liked the discussions that made us think. Very interested in students progress. Very available to meet with students. I would definately take her for another class.

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What an amazing prof. After meeting with her I was able to turn the crapiest papers into something actually readable. Her texts and topics are really interesting. She’s very passionate about her topics.

She is very nice and helpful. She lets you know what exactly she wants in her essays. You will have to do some work in her class, but I think its worth it.

She is an awesome professor! I hated writing before and wasnt very good at it, but she helps you to write good papers. She is very fair and is always willing to help if you need it. The subject matter is very interesting. I would recommend her to everyone!

Liked the class. She did talk alot but it was about the asssignments that had to be done. Her class set up is good. With the conference you should already know what grade your paper is before you hand it in. I took it during the summer and liked it.

I very mcuh enjoyed Ms Arena. She comes off tough and she is very easy to work with. I enjoyed the class and the way it was arranged. It is possible to earn an A with Ms Arena. I highly recommend her.

very hard. ESL students should not take her class

be on top..she is a tuff cookie

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She grades pretty tough, and she is a take-no- crap lady!! 4 papers in the semester, and they are pretty much your entire grade! She's kind of odd, but she's really understanding and helpful. I had to take a few weeks of medical leave and she was really great about it. You usually get out of class very early as well! That's a nice plus!

Watch your grammar! Make the most of your conferencing time with her. If you have trouble writing essays...then see a tutor. This is not an easy breezy class. It makes you think and challenges you to be better! Good stuff!

Great Teacher!! Would recommend for Comp II. When she says sign up for a conference make sure you do, it really helps a lot!!

I thought she was a great teacher! she was pretty clear on what she wanted in your papers, and if you dind't understand she gives you a sample paper to help. The class had a total of 4 papers thats it! and she gives plenty of time to work on them. Go to class,ask for help if you need it, and you'll get an A!

She was bery clear on expectations, confrencing helps a ton! Read, write, and you'll get an A! Would love to take a class with her again

I had her for both comp classes and got an A in both. Some ppl struggled but she really helps you as much as possible. Interesting topics too, last class was all about marijuana legislation.

Expects a high level of english knowledge such as grammar and sentence structure. She is fair and clear as to her expectations. She gives you food for thought...and you WILL grow in intelect after taking her class. CHALLENGE yourself!!

Loved this class! We investigated, discussed, and reported on relevant material relating to the environment. Ms. Arena is very fair and engaging in her teaching.

Excellent teacher. She is very knowledgeable, friendly, and open-minded. Additionally, she is humorous and easy-going. It is not a difficult class if you put some effort in.

She was an excellent teacher. The class was very interesting, she picked very interesting topics to write about.

She is a very intelligent woman. Her class is like a hybrid sociology/history class. She expects a solid base of grammar and ability to organize thoughts. She is a gem. If you want to push yourself to be your best. Take Arena.

Let me first say that I took her my first year @ OCC, which was over 3 years ago. She was a nice lady, boring class though. You read 2 books the comic mice book about Aushwitz & Fast Food nation which was a sweet book. I think 3 papers. Grades a little rough for a 1510 english course, but she's real smart so she must know what she's doing.

Great teacher, very persistant about grammer. Had to write 2 papers one about marijuana and the other about illegal immigration the first paper was a group paper, so you worked in groups and you each had to write a section. overall an easy comp class.

You will learn a lot. She is one of the best teachers that I've encountered at OCC. A very fair grader as long as you are willing to do the work. 3 Research papers. Great class !

Great Teacher Easy class if you do the work. I got 105%

An excellent, helpful, fun teacher

Can get sidetracked with political discussions. Acts like she won't help or put up with questions, but she will always help you after class.

I love this professor so far!!!!! She is amazing, she's so passionate about what she teaches!! I love her! Everything she says is interesting and fun!

Ms. Arena is an awesome teacher and her classes are the best ones I took at OCC!

I just started this class. She talks ALOT and doesn't really involve the class so I am really bored but she is passionate about the class and topics(marijuana). Other than that she is an ok teacher but boring!

Very clear on what shes asking

i placed in this class as a freshman, skipping 1510. She seems intimidating at first, but isn't. There are three papers you have to write, on interesting topics(my class dealt w. advertising and holocaust) lectures are boring, but she's very fair and nice. I finished with an 102% you have to actually do the work though, not a blow off, but not hard

Passionate and Intelligent. Love d this class.

Definitely a LONG class for 3 credit hours. Have fun trying to not fall asleep listening to her. Spends at least 2 hours straight talking about past life experiences or the class subject. Class is based around Jews in WWII. Can walk of with a good grade if you put the effort in. Did about (3) 2-4 page papers in class and (1) 7 page paper.

She's so incredibly boring, if you want a challenge, try staying awake through her 3 hour ramblings about how ads are evil or some crap. Despite all this, she is very fair, does a good job helping students and tells you exactly what she wants on essays. If you can follow directions you'll get an easy A.

her class can be really boring when she goes on her long crazy rants about things that happened to her. she LOVES marijuana. but she's really friendly and helps you when you need it (unless she runs over time going on and on and on about nothing)

For her Women in Literature class I was one of the few boys and I was very active in the class, essentially getting most people to not really like that I had ideas and thoughts (well researched and correct) on nearly everything... and I got sick, had some stresses, some issues with the family and my focus waned, but she was fair. A-... no rounding.

Great professor! she really wants to see everyone succeed. A very boring class though. however, she really shows that she cares about all of her students. Just an FYI, you have to show up to class, or you will not pass! :) I highly recommend her!

She was ever eager to help any one who asked. She also chose topics that were interesting on their own, and when used all-together, made a fantastic lesson in an overall wonderful semester.

Every easy! Always willing to help and go over everything more then once. Very organized and Always looking out for the best of the students. Very dramatic...but keeps things interesting! Just over all a great teacher!

She was a good teacher. I would have perferd a better teacher. It could have been better if she didn't talk as much as any of my other techers did.

She's awesome! She basically writes your essays for you. Impossible to fail this class

Ms. Arena is the best English professor I've ever had! She's incredibly helpful and more than willing to answer questions and elaborate. There's lots of handouts but they're all helpful and will be relevant for future English courses.

boringgg rambles on and on but ver easy and nice

She is very nice and helpful. She is definitely willing to elaborate on any questions you may have. But her mind wanders a lot, which sometimes can make it hard to keep up with her.

First of all, she is a sweetheart. She will help you with anything and everything you ask. She gives very clear, concise, and useful advice. The one downside is that she will ramble on for the entire class about the most random and irrelevant subjects. Just be prepared for a little bit of sitting around. Other than that, she's a fantastic teacher.

Nice teacher and basically writes the paper for you. She can't stay focused and just talks your ear off. She gives great guidelines for the papers, but be warned that she will talk and talk until e puts down the attendance sheet.

Topics for essays are not what I expected, for a student of my age early 20s the topics are not interesting. It makes it harder to be in the class with a topic I cant stand to learn about. She is very nice and helpful but for a class with generally students in there early 20s, topics of better quality should be chosen.

She is a WONDERFUL professor. If you show up to class and try there is no reason to fail. She is extremely helpful. She spends a lot of one on one time with students, Need to show up to class to fully understand the requirements she wants. She is very sweet! I would take her again!

Wonderful teacher! She believes in learning from experience (aka papers). Although she requests outlines and rough drafts the only conventionally graded assignments are papers in their final draft. Although most teachers consider me a strong writer, I feel Prof Arena helped me strengthen and polish my skills. I fully recommend!

While she is chatty and tends to repeat herself, I would suggest her course to anyone. Everyone has to take comp and Arena sets you up for success. Offers extra credit on papers if your writing isn't very strong. Half of each class period is working on assignments in lab. You'd have to be unbelievably lazy in order to fail Arena's class.

Great teacher! She offers a ton of extra credit and wants you to succeed! She is very friendly and eager to help.

Half the class is in the lab and half are lectures. She rambles alot and repeats herself all the time and doesn't realize it. Your grade is dependent on 3 essays. Just do good on all of them and you will succeed. No exam. First part of class is useless you wont pull anything from it, you will just hear her ramble.

Arena makes it very clear from Day 1 of what she expects out of you. This class is cake if you follow her clear instruction. 3 take home papers in a span of 15 weeks. Lots of time. Do not procrastinate, you will succeed. Willing to help out. One of the best writing teachers I ever had coming from UofM and Oakland University student. Take her!

I think if the topic for the semester was different from the Holocaust I think the class would be better. I love the way she runs her class with handouts and conferencing periods. She is a very knowledgeable and gives a very detailed rubric for each paper. Keep up to date with D2L and such. Watch for wishwashy directions student to student.

A class will be assigned at topic, ours was the Holocaust. While I was fine with the topic, her rules for the papers are very constraining so if you like to free write or write about new things, this isn't your class. She also never stops talking about nothing at all, even during lab. The papers are really easy though, even if she says they aren't.

Class was tough for me, she has very specific ways she wants everything done. Having a strict guideline may help some people, I found it challenging. She went above and beyond though to help you if you asked and also gave lots of extra credit. I truly enjoyed her as a professor.

Bro. Imma be honest. I wrote most of my papers in less than 4 hours. Got an A on each one. Scratch that, got over an A. An A++ if you will. You're gonna get bored in class because all she does is repeat herself every week, but it doesn't really matter, cuz this is the time to go online shopping. You have 3 papers in Comp 2, and 3 outlines. that it.

Three Research papers. That is almost all of you're grade. Most of the work can be done IN CLASS LAB!!

Three papers for the semester. Clear instructions. Extra credits available. Just take the time to do the work and you should be fine.

Professor Arena is extremely helpful and takes an individual approach with each student who needs her help. She does tend to talk a lot and gets a little side tracked and repetitive at times, but it doesn't take away from the class in the long run. She really helps get your papers started with you.

The textbook is mandatory and she is a VERY big rambler. It's easy to tune out and she doesn't seem to care if you work in her class. She rambles, a lot, about politics and everything. There are three main papers and they're all on the holocaust and she's VERY passionate on the topic, but if you try you'll get an A.

Pro.f Arena is very helpful, nice, and gives you lots of time in class to work on your papers. She does ramble and repeats herself but I think that's due to her teaching so many classes. She really cares about her students and wants them to do well. Follow her guidelines for each paper and you should receive an A.

CON: She is does not stop talking during her lectures when everyone is writing up their papers PRO: She is nice, offers help, and makes everything understandable; only three papers the whole semester, all on one major subject too (ours was the Holocaust); a lot of extra credit to be offered and easy to follow the criteria

I was slightly overwhelmed the first day of class with Celest. However, I was pleasantly surprised in that her grading criteria was clear and she stuck to it! I also really appreciated her deep passion for the topic she chose for the class: The Holocaust. Her parents are WWII Polish survivors and Celest has a deep respect for teaching this topic.

Professor Arena is amazing. She will teach you many things on how to write a good paper. Offers a lot of extra credit and the grading criteria is very clear.

The best eng prof at occ. shes an easy grader and very kind. im not strong in writing and i got an A. she gives you most of the class to write your papers. take her take her take her!!

I selected Professor Arena for my COMP 1 class and I did not regret it. She is one of the most amazing professors I have encountered at OCC and she really puts forth her heart and soul into her teaching and her lesson plans. Very minimal homework. Show up to class, do the work, GET AN A.

Professor Arena is great at what she does. I highly recommend anyone who needs to take Comp 1 take her class. She only assigned us 4 papers total and we always had more than enough time to finish them. She cares quite a bit for her students and wants them to succeed. If you show up and at the very least make an effort, she will help you out.

Great Professor! Honestly, one of the best that I have had at O.C.C. I would request for her again if she teached 1520!

Great teacher!! Only had 3 assignments for the whole semester. They were all papers, you have time to do them in class if you can listen to lecture and work still. No note taking. Curriculum is mostly based on WW2 but its very interesting. Teacher wants to help and cares about how well you do.

I have extreme respect for Prof Arena. She won't take nonsense from anyone and she has a clear rubric that explains what needs to be seen in the 4 papers written in the class. She gives you a bunch of handouts that are helpful for constructing papers and is open to discussing any concerns whether it be before or after a paper is graded.

Very nice. I loved her class. She is a great professor and you can tell she really enjoys teaching. She really helps you understand the assignment, she gives you a lot of handouts but they definitely help. I enjoyed her class, I recommend taking her class for credit.

The classwork itself is not difficult if you're into writing papers. She very clearly spells out what she wants you to include in a paper and is very straight forward. However. She gives you most class periods to work on your paper, BUT, instead of letting you do so, she talks through the 3 hour class about things she's already said. Drove me nuts.

Professor Arena was a real gem. She bases her class on the Holocaust because her parents were survivors. She does 3 papers, and gives a grading sheet, so you know exactly what you are being graded on. Gives so much time in class to work on the papers, there's no reason not to have them done in class.