Reviews for Rebecca Joy Ritzel
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: A January 4, 2012, 2:22 am | - Sit in the front - Participate - Do a good job on the light/fair amount of work that is given (it is fun work too since she will let you be creative. No papers either, just sweet projects) - Come to all the classes on time (she is lenient if you miss one or two) - Turn off your phone Doing all of that will lead to a good grade in the class. It is also a lot of fun for an English class. In my four years at UMD this is the only class in which I have never missed a day, and not because of the attendance policy, but it was because I actually wanted to go! I wish I could take this class all over again. Highly recommended. |
| UMCPStudent Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: A December 25, 2011, 7:27 pm | I feel like the reviews for Ritzel are extremely mixed, which made it hard for me to choose her as a professor. From my experience, she is not biased towards women (I have no idea where that came from) and while she is consistently late for class and assignments take weeks to be returned, she grades fairly and tries her best to make class bearable. If you put effort into the class (and actually attend class), you will understand assignments and do well. |
| Anonymous Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: B October 10, 2011, 7:01 pm | Worst Professor I have ever had at UMD. She doesn't grade fairly at all. When you ask her what you do wrong, she can't even tell you what is wrong with the paper. She just makes up excuses. When working in groups and the group had to pick the better example of the assignment, mine would be chosen and she would give me the lowest grade. I felt like I was back in high school with all of the presenting we did in front of the class. Points deducted for having your phone on your desk. Overall, she's just not a fair grader and definitely has her favorites in the class. |
| Anonymous Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: May 4, 2011, 8:34 am | STAY AWAY!!! My worst professor at UMD. She doesn't describe what she wants for her assignments but is a tough grader. If she was debating to give you a 89 or a 90, she will give you the 89 without a doubt. She was constantly late coming to class and returning assignments. She was bad in retuning emails. She has a poor teaching style. She is not helpful when providing feedback and anything I learned from this class was from the book. She is just the worst! STAY AWAY! |
| Anonymous Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: April 27, 2011, 4:24 pm | I'm not usually critical of professors; I do the work and get the A and I'm happy. But Ritzel's kind of a *****. It's not a dealbreaker if you need to take her section to fit your schedule but if you have a choice I'd recommend picking a different instructor. To give you an idea of what I mean, she actually deducts points for showing your phone in class or coming in late. Various such zero tolerance policies are frostily written all throughout her syllabus. This is really tedious in my senior year and makes me feel like a freshman. Attendance is absolutely mandatory, which is ridiculous since the useful content of 393 is stretched pretty thin- unlike technical classes the X on the attendance sheet is the only thing you'll miss if you skip, but there's still a grade tied to it. Every week or so there's some little thing you need to present to the class or your group. Like high school there's not really a grade attached to it; you just get an annoyed clucking and a careful Nurse Ratched scratch in the gradebook. |
| Anonymous Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: A- December 23, 2010, 4:22 pm | Ritzel was an amazing professor. Her comments were critical, but very fair. The same can be said about the grading for assignments. As long as decent work was produced, fair grades resulted. With music and an occasional joke, she made the class very captivating and worth attending. She does drill certain grammar items, but only to improve writing. Overall, one of my favorite professors. |
| Anonymous Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: A- December 16, 2010, 10:21 pm | Ritzel was a great professor! She's a lot of fun and is really laid back. She tries to make the class fun with candy, videos, etc. There's not a lot of work to the class, and we always peer review each others work when there are assignments. If you want, she'll look over all of your work before you submit it so that you do well. Pretty much as long as you show up, you'll do well. Take her! |
| bencbruno Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: A December 12, 2010, 8:17 am | I didn't have the same experience as the other reviewer that says she is sexist. I am a male too, and felt no such vibe from her. She is a great teacher, and I learned a lot from her. As a Mech E. major, i generally don't like English at all, but this class was my favorite class this semester, even though it was in Tawes. It was worth, the walk, and i looked forward to class each day. She brings many interesting aspects to the course to keep your attention, and she makes the class fun, to the point it doesn't seem like class, yet you still learn. Great teach, my favorite at UMD yet. |
| Anonymous Course: ENGL393 Grade Expected: B- November 9, 2010, 10:34 pm | Ritzel is a very poor example of a professor/lecturer at Maryland. Many other teachers are very supportive and helpful in improving your writing. However, she is biased towards women, which is evident when comparing my work to other girls' work in my class. Even they agree that she seems to be biased against men when they speak up during class. She has accused me of being racist simply for being critical of an ESOL student's presentation. If you can avoid taking a class with her, I would recommend it. |