2.1
Quality3.8
Difficulty31%
Would Retake99
Reviews31%
Would Retake
99
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
15
4
8
3
8
2
18
1
50
What Students Say
“I REPEAT, DON'T TAKE HER”
EH10225 - 1.0 rating“I am so confused and in the hole that I'm dropping”
102EH - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
96%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.00 avg changeRatings by Course
ENG420G
5.0
(1)ENGL104
5.0
(1)EH420
4.5
(2)EH404
4.3
(3)ENG430
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ENGLISH
5.0
ENG203
5.0
EH
5.0
WOMENSLIT
5.0
ENG431
5.0
Reviews (99)
What the Heck is she talking about! I know a little and its not english
Dr. Gates class was not easy but I learned a lot!
No Comments
SPEAK UP!!!!
Very soft spoken, don't sit in the back! Very unclear on the assignments. Even the syllabus was confusing. I ended up dropping the class.
She was not willing to work with students. Too quiet, and not clear. I had to drop the class (with a decent grade, but she was threatening to fail me for having three absences).
She was a horrible teacher and I would not advise anyone to take her. She was never very helpful to me, or any other students in the class. Speaking for my whole class, NOBODY liked her.
No Comments
No Comments
The woman had no idea what she was talking about. She couldn't pronounce half the names of the stories and she was vague to the point of insanity!!
She is hot...looks a lot like PeeWee Herman!!
I am a senior nd she is the worst teacher I have ever had in my life. She doesn't explain anything. Her quizzes would be finals in other classes. She gives to much busy work. I had her for Shakespeare and learned more in Theatre History.
I'm an English major and a senior. THE WORST ENGLISH PROFESSOR EVER. No explination. Asks, but never tells. She also looks freakishly like Bill Microsoft Gates...coincidence?
WORST TEACHER EVER
Although this is a very hard class and she does scare the hell out of me, I have learned a lot from this (I hesitate to say) woman!
I wouldn't recommend this teacher to anyone. She is vague and uninteresting. She is not helpful. Also, she is hard to understand in class. Her voice is so quiet that I missed half of the notes throughout the semester. I sat directly in the front, too
Dr. Gates does not communicate ideas very well, but she is VERY knowledgeable of her subject matter. I think, like many very intelligent people, that she has trouble with social skills and communication. She is very eager to help you in ANY way.
She is the most boring teacher I have ever had i would not suggest her if you have a short attention span.
WELL, I WOULD SAY SHE IS THE WORST EVER, BUT MRS. HORTON IS THE WORST. GATES DOES RANK UP THERE CLOSE
I may be alone but I found Dr. Gates to be an excellent teacher, she lectures on a graduate level which many find off-putting, she however is extreamly fair in her grading. She opproches Literature from a feminist point of view.
She bores the HECK out of me. She speaks in monotone and you can't understand her at all. She tells you to study certain things for tests, and when test day comes there is nothing on there that she told you to study. I DEFINITELY do NOT recommend her.
worst teacher ever!if you are a female greek do not take her class. she is very unclear on everything and when i asked her for help she laughed at me (no lie). many students have had problems with her. wanna pass don't take gates i made an NC in her class
worst teacher at JSU
No Comments
I tell everyone not to take her. I'm going to be doing some fancy scheduling to avoid having her ever again. If you like Hamlet or Mrs. Dalloway though, you may like her, as she never shuts up about those two! She doesn't explain assignments well at all.
Worst teacher I have ever had no directions clueless half the time you are in there and work on 2 to 3 papers at a time with no definition of what you are doing and when its due.
Gosh! She may be smart in her field but as long as she doesn't communicate well with students she's of no use to our education. She should do research in Eng/ History of Hamlet's authors or stuff like that. DO NOT TAKE!
Very insightful and knows her subject (LIT) well. She is very shy but approachable and helpful. I enjoyed her class and thought she was very passionate about her subject, which is more than I can say for most instructors!
She was a tough teacher but she was availiable to help if you needed. She spoke above many students heads' most of the time but, I handled it. If you do well on your research paper you will do well in her class. I manages an A and didnt do well on the qui
No Comments
I don't recommend her AT ALL! She's very unclear, and speaks to you like you're pathetic or something. She gets mad VERY easily, and she takes it out on the students with tough quizzes. I didn't enjoy her class. She's too plain, boring, and speaks softly.
Dr. Gates is a very intelligent woman.She will not give you respect if you do not deserve it.She is a teacher only for those students who really care about learning.She does not always give the clearest directions, but it is our job as students to ask!
Oh, where do I start and where do I end with Mrs. Gates? She is a very nice put sometimes she seem really detached from anything other than literature. Mrs. Gates instructions are very hard to follow because she is such a detailed person. If you have the TIME and the PATIENCE go for it.
Very hard instructions to understand. Would not suggest her class to anyone i know.
It is plain and simple, Do Not take her class if you can help it!
Shakespear is as fun as pulling teeth. However, I enjoyed taking Dr. Gates' class. Read the plays and pay attention during class, so you can pass the class.
She is very hard to understand! But she not the worst teacher.
Worst teacher at JSU. Not willing to help and makes you feel dumb when you ask a question. Not only is she boring but her instructions are very unclear. Do not take her, even if she is the last teacher with open seats, wait til the next sems to take an eh class.
HORRIBLE TEACHER! DOES NOT CARE ABOUT HER STUDENTS. IS FAR MORE CONCERNED WITH GETTING HER OWN WORKS PUBLISHED.
No Comments
I took this class my senior sem as an Eng. elective. I made 90s on all tests/assign. While I was taking my final exam, she told me I made a 0 on my major paper and accused me of plagiarizing. She said my writing was subfreshman level. I had a conference with her. I brought all my sources and my drafts, she said she would GIVE me a C for the class. I could not appeal because there was no dean at the time. It was take a C or do not graduate. She is the only C I made in college. She is an evil woman.
No Comments
Vague and completely disconnected to the students. Her instructions are HORRIBLE, and so she has to scale all of the tests. I am an English major, and I now have a gaping void in my knowledge of American lit.
She is a good teacher. She is a perfectionist. Her syllabus is 12 pages front and back. I don't have the time to keep up with what we are doing from one class to the next. If you make a concerted effort to come to class and try to do the work, she will help you out.
I thought that Mrs. Gates was pretty easy. As long as you read the plays and the material you should do pretty good in her class. Her quizes are really easy and she grades her test very easy. She is kind of hard to understand sometimes, but most of the time if you have at least a small idea what you are doing then you should do fine.
Her class was very difficult. If there is another professor open take them!
Great teacher. She's knowledgable and enthusiastic, has a quirky sense of humor, and is always willing to help. She's not an easy teacher. She challenges her students. Come to class prepared and well-read, be respectful, pay attention, and you'll have no problems. As for any complainers: Dr. Gates is a teacher of grown-ups, not whining babies.
Great all round
Do not take Dr. Gates if you are lazy and do not want to study. She is serious about her work and tries very hard not to flunk anybody. A great help is to be in class everyday and on time. Her assignments are difficult to understand sometimes. She is overall a great teacher who knows and loves her craft and expect a lot from her students.
this class bores me to death. i enjoyed shakespearean lit very much until i took this class. i dont even want to go most days and her assignments are so vague that we really dont know what to do. when asked for help outside of class, she is completely useless.
No Comments
THIS IS A HORRIBLE AND USELESS TEACHER! Unless she has her precious powerpoints she is useless! Her assignments are ridiculous and she is not hard to understand, she is impossible to understand. She talks more about being published, or trying to be published than the plays, take that back, she doesn't really talk about the plays! DO NOT TAKE HER!!!
Hard to understand. She's very confusing and gets cranky if you try to ask questions.
Dr. Gates is a pretty okay teacher. If you are there and do your work like you are suppose to, you should be fine. She does have high expectations and can be a little hard to understand sometimes, but she is always willing to re-explain. If you don't want to work hard, DONT take this class, but I thought it was okay.
I was in her class for one day. She is a pretentious snob that really doesn't have any business teaching other people. Her grading method is a complicated math formula.
DO NOT TAKE MRS. GATES! In your papers, if she disagrees with your opinions then your whole paper is wrong! Im usually an A+ student and in her class i have a C. She gets very ill if you even try and ask a question. She does not need to be teaching college students.. she needs to be teaching college PROFESSORS.
I do not understand why some professors try to make a class an obstacle rather than a gateway to your future, Dr. Gates is one of the obstacles. Do not take her class. She is so unorganized it's hard to understand what is due and when, the rest of the comments posted by other people are true.
Utterly useless professor. Her teaching of Shakespeare is devoid of spirit. Cares more about minor details rather than the poetry & language. Assignments are on a high school level. Heavy on group work. Not helpful.
This was my last class to graduate with my MA. I had made all A's up to this course. I teach Shakespeare in high school. The class taught me nothing new about the bard, his plays. and literary theory. She is very unfair and biased in her grading, and the expectations are basically nonexistent. Stay away if you are organized and care about your
RUDE, ARROGANT, AND NEEDS TO TEACH OTHER PROFESSORS. CRANKY WHEN STUDENTS DO NOT UNDERSTAND HER UNREALISTIC, UNORGANIZED, UNRULY, INSTRUCTIONS. IF YOU HAVE OTHER OPTIONS, TAKE SOME ONE ELSE.
She is a very hard teacher ! She does a poor job of keeping attendance ! She grades papers poorly and she goes all around the world to get her point across. The tests consist of knowing dates. DO NOT TAKE HER !
WORST TEACHER I HAVE EVER HAD. You cant understand anything she says. She is AWFUL and her standards are ridiculous. She has quizzes almost every other class, and cares nothing about you or your grade.
DON'T TAKE HER. I REPEAT, DON'T TAKE HER. SHE MAKES NO SENSE WHEN SPEAKING, YOU DON'T LEARN FROM HER. SHE GETS AN ATTITUDE WHEN ASKING FOR HELP AND SHE MAKES YOU FEEL STUPID. I HAVE HER NOW AND I AM DYING.
She has to be one of the worst teachers ever. She is rude and inconsiderate. She beats around the bush and never tells you what she really wants. Take any other teacher except her.
Extremely inconsiderate, confusing, and speaks in circles the entire class time. She NEVER gives you a straight forward answer or guidelines to work. If you do ask questions, she gives you snippy answers and makes you feel stupid for asking. I would definitely recommend taking another teacher at all costs!!
She is a great teacher. Her quizzes are easy if you read the material and she is really helpful because she scales her quizzes to make sure everyone at least passes them. You must attend class on quiz days, otherwise you will have a makeup assignment if you wish to make up the grade. Not too strict on essays. But this is the easiest class I've had
i could not understand her and she does not know how to use a computer really well. she belittles people (she might not know it)
This professor is AWFUL! DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT take Dr.Gates. She is not clear on directions, she is extremely boring, and she goes over new assignments while you're taking quizzes. Everyone in my section dreads coming to class. She is THE WORST TEACHER! If you can take another professor, it is definitely best to do so.
Dr. Gates is a great instructor.
If you have any other option, take it. Her tests and quizzes are fairly easy if you regularly attend class (like, every class) and don't mind writing essays. Her "short answer" questions require anything but short answers. She talks in circles and never gives clear instructions. By the end of every class, I'm confused and frustrated.
Absolutely terrible. While juggling 2 essays and doing a quiz on 10 stories you've heard about one time, 4 weeks ago, she gives instructions for other essays and repeats her self the whole time. I am so confused and in the hole that I'm dropping.
Dr. Gates knows a great deal about this subject, yet respects the student's questions and need for basic knowledge. I like that she first encountered Aphra Behn as a playwright, but helped us immerse ourselves in the important non-dramatic work of Behn, published, we learned, in the last year of her life, important as early anti-slavery literature.
Although Dr. Gates does not post grades through Blackboard, she passes out with her syllabus a grade calculator sheet; then she explains how to keep track of weights and grades. Though there may seem like a high number of quizzes, they are not weighted as high as the major papers. If you mess up on a first draft, there are good chances to revise.
Though there is expectation that a student knows the plays by way of quizzes and character information, one can keep up with the reading and get a great experience. Great opportunities for creative work, especially at end of semester. Also expect to do some rigorous comparison contrast, using proper quotation style. Professor knows this material!
Study the characters, if you want to do well on quizzes. The papers require thought and organization, but you should get the hang of comparison and contrast before you complete this class. Also how to format and cite quotations. Very helpful with word processing skills that any student can benefit from.
Dr. Gates knows her stuff! She always is encouraging, and will clear up any misunderstandings if you ask.
Women's Lit is Dr. Gates's specialty and passion. We each had the opportunity to select a different text and argue for its importance to the canon of great literature. A great experience, because I learned from others as well as from my own research and from those writers we read from the anthology.
Dr. Gates is most helpful to students; and, though she may repeat to make sure instructions are clear, she is eager to help explain everything from the technical requirements of MLA style to the controversies in Shakespeare a great help. She will meet with you to look over work, allow revisions. Best of all, she uses quizzes to help prep for tests.
Dr. Gates is rude and inconsiderate, she doesn't give clear instructions, even when asked she'll just repeat what she's already said and will not explain assignments. She's extremely unhelpful, and if at all possible, I recommend taking this class with a different professor.
She is not clear on her DEMANDS. She tells you one thing then changes it numerous times. If you ask for help she loves to inform you she does not have time to help you or it isn't her job. She loves to assign papers with little time to finish and generally assigns them when she is discussing other things so you have no idea what shes talking about.
She teaches all over the place. Hard to keep up with what she is talking about. If you don't mind writing a paper... you still have a great possibility of doing well as long as you turn in all your papers on time.
I had a very difficult time in her English class. She and I, for some reason, had difficulty communicating. She is a very intelligent but righteous and "better than you" kind of person which caused me to dislike her so much. You HAVE to have your book and you HAVE to be an independent worker, because even if she tries to help she isn't good.
Her grading system was unclear, 4 out of 9 was a 7.5 on one quiz. Her assignments were unclear and when asked for clarification she repeated exactly what was on the form, leaving me just as confused before, except a lot more frustrated. I love British literature but this class drained my enthusiasm for the material. Not taking this professor again.
Not specific with her instructions. Rambles for long periods of time with no point. Refuses to answer direct questions. Never available for out of class meetings. Has a difficult time communicating to her students. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS, JSU has plenty of other great teachers that are willing to help you and want you to succeed.
Dr. gates is a older instructor there for she does not always relate with students, but if you communicate with her early in the semester she will work with you. You will probably never get a perfect grade on a paper you type for her because she critiques everything! BUT THIS IS A ENGLISH CLASS. she's very passionate about Shakespeare and stuff.
Writing essays is a priority in this class, but if you follow instructions, you always get a higher grade for the revision. Also note that Exams are made up of quiz material, so if you mess up the first time (quizzes are always curved), you get a do over. Just pay attention to due dates, and you will do fine.
Dr. Gates follows all the rules: she expects class attendance and students to be prepared with textbook. She gives out clear directions for essays, giving a wide variety of options. (So even though this is a survey class, a person is allowed to choose the texts which one concentrates on.) Make-up chances really saved my grade! I learned a lot.
In this Freshman writing class, expect to get a good dose of writing about literature and learning how to revise effectively. I liked the fact that Final Drafts received the most weight, but that you were rewarded if you got your preliminary draft in on time and well developed. Dr. Gates is always eager to help with bibliography and citation style.
Dr. Gates has a passion for literature. She expects you to come to class with intelligent questions about your engagement with your reading. If you are behind, she will encourage you to get caught up. Attendance counts (she uses "Grades First"), but the quizzes are just a small part of how you will learn about Shakespeare's plays.
Everything she said was so difficult to understand. Assignments are often unclear.
smart woman, but extremely condescending and not that good at giving constructive criticism. instructions are almost always unclear
Instructions for writing assignments are very unclear and the grading is harsh.
Dr. Gates is a very intelligent woman, but she is very hard to understand what she wants when it comes to writing papers and you write a lot of them
Dr. Gates is such a sweet professor. If you're ever unclear about something, all you literally have to do is ask, and she will go above and beyond to make sure you understand the material. She's lecture heavy at times, but she really cares about her students.
Okay listen, Dr. Gates is the worst professor at JSU. Her class is extremely difficult, and her essay directions are always unclear. I am currently half way through the class, and I have two essays due this weekend, along with my midterm this week. Her grading style is also unclear and makes no sense. Please don't take her, she's the worst!!!
Easily the worst professor I have ever had. Over complicates everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. She is not the nicest and simply gets frustrated if you question what she wants, though her directions are ALWAYS unclear. Very tough grader and not understanding in the slightest, I DO NOT recommend taking her. Find someone else for your sanity.
DO NOT TAKE DR. GATES!!! She never gives clear directions and gets angry when you do not do what she wants. You will write papers about every week. She also grades based papers based on her opinions or suggestions rather than for your writing. Her class is unnecessarily hard and her lectures are also extremely boring and useless.
This class was so difficult to understand and keep up with, if possible take a different english professor.
Very unclear on instructions. Her lectures are pointless as she just babbles on about unneeded information. Never clear on due dates. Rude to students. Will not hesitate to call you out on literally the smallest things. DO NOT take her.
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
96%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
+0.00 avg changeRatings by Course
ENG420G
5.0
(1)ENGL104
5.0
(1)EH420
4.5
(2)EH404
4.3
(3)ENG430
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
ENGLISH
5.0
ENG203
5.0
EH
5.0
WOMENSLIT
5.0
ENG431
5.0