Spring 1 Session 2 -- What is YOURPace?

[sistergreenly]

@ashkir thanks for posting this cuz i was looking for a professor i had in like 2016 i think and everyone is talking about this your pace thing and i had no idea. is it like a new thing in UMPI? do the teachers in your pace have the same emails that they had in the old school cuz theres 1 i really want to get to write me a rec letter for grad school and i found a bunch of things that say she teaches for your pace now but i couldnt tell what that was until i read this. thanks ashkir

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I am so glad that others had the same experience with Araminta Matthews that I had. I did UMPI because of Ashkir's vivid experience. Professor Matthews made me feel stupid and I wanted to quit.

The last session I had an instructor who I really struggled with. The previous nine classes had all been smooth sailing, but with this course, every milestone got returned for resubmission, some multiple times. The feedback provided seemed vague and didn't make sense, and even after multiple e-mails would often leave me scratching my head. I felt like an idiot regardless of anything that I did and was dreading the final assessment. I found on here that others had had the same issues and had been equally frustrated. The instructor seemed like a genuinely nice person and was not trying to make me feel stupid in his interpretation of the rubric seemed to come from out in left field.  I dug in and did the best I could, though it was challenging every step of the way, and literally breathed a sigh of relief when it was completed. I ended up with an A+ but worked for every percentage point. I think some instructors are simply more nit-picky and not every communication style matches well with every student. Communication solely by text also has inherent challenges and certain things can be highly subjective. All things considered, I am amazed that there are so few instances like this. Good luck to any who are having similar issues.

I was just looking for Arimanta Matthews to ask for a letter of recommendation and found all these posts about her. Im really surprised! She was one of the best professors I ever had. Is Your Pace some kind of special class you can take? I ahd her for two classes a few years ago and one was creative writing. She actually is something called an instructor designer and I guess that means she teaches professors about teaching? At least thats what her biography said if I remember it. If you look her up she has a bunch of scholarly thngs published too. I was surprised she has something about crystals published because she was writing horror books when I had her. but yah. She has some stuff published in journals so she definately knows how to do citations. Anyway Im really sorry you had such a hard time with her. I thought she was tough but fair. She pushed me. I think I did feel a little dumb at first but I was really confident in my writing by the end. She just sets a high bar for people I think. She's been around for ages. I dont think shes new. She was probably my favorite teacher really beacause she taught me I could really be a writer and now I have a poem being published in a book! My uncle said he had her at another school for some composition class before online stuff was a thing I think and he said she was really tough but fair then too. Thats why I took courses with her at UMPI. and i needed the class. But shes been teaching for a long time. I wonder if maybe you just ask her for help? she always helped me when I asked. I hope I can find her for a recommedation letter because I heard she writes the best ones. But yah sorry you all had such a rough time. Shes really nice, like really nice, like you should try talking to her she did a lot for my class. We had a guy who was really mean in the feedback thing we had to do and she took care of it real quick. Does she still teach there cuz I cant seem to find how to get her. but yah. talk to her. i hope i fan find her.

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Well, I have submitted several papers and a PowerPoint with probably 40-50 citations in the bibliography here at UMPI with APA 7 citations and was told they were perfect.  So here's hoping.

wow. im so surprised you all have this with Arimanta cuz i had her about 10 yrs ago and she was the best. i didnt have to do citations in my class with her tho but my uncle did at another school a reallly long time ago and he said it was all about citatoins. i told him about this and he was surprised to. he and i both had good experiences with her. she was tough but always let us revise things for better grades and pushed us real hard to be better and do better. actually my ungle found her at some place she worked after he got his 2 yr degree and she was doing something else and he said he stopped to tell her how her class changed his life and thats why i took a class with her. 50 citations is a lot tho! what kind of class was it cuz she was always so easy to work with. maybe shes difernt now? i need a rec letter for my grad program and really wanted her. do you think shed write a good one cuz some others said she was realy good at that but now im worried. also cant find her.