Fall 2026

Seminar in the Major

ENGL 245 is a Seminar in the Major focusing on critical reading, writing, and persuasive argumentation skills.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Kirk Sides4.1/5Sarah Wood3.9/5Kristina Huang3.8/5 +2 more

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Anja Jovic-Humphrey, Yanie Fecu: Workload includes a 12-page midterm, creative project, and 12-15 page final paper, with some reviewers citing heavy weekly reading loads and tough grading.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
ENGL 245

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Fall 2026

Kirk Sides

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.92/5 from 12 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=12 letter grades).

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.40/5 from 10 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2019: 3.68 GPA, 94.1% A/AB (n=17 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.89 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.92 GPA, 94.7% A/AB (n=19 letter grades).

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.94/5 from 18 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.50 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=12 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.84 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.93 GPA, 93.3% A/AB (n=15 letter grades).

Laila Amine

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.33/5 from 12 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2019: 3.10 GPA, 53.3% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.19 GPA, 62.5% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.53 GPA, 73.3% A/AB (n=15 letter grades).

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Anja Jovic-Humphrey is described as kind, laid back, and fostering good discussions, with students appreciating the freedom in their work. One review notes her lectures impacted students beyond grades, while another calls her an amazing professor. Historical reviews highlight her supportive and engaging teaching style.

ANJA JOVIC-HUMPHREY is recorded teaching in Spring 2018, Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

EILEEN LAGMAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KIRK SIDES is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KRISTINA HUANG is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Fall 2021, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LAILA AMINE is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARK VARESCHI is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2022, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH WOOD is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

YANIE FECU is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 002Classroom Instruction19 / 200
LEC 001Classroom Instruction20 / 200
LEC 003Classroom Instruction20 / 200
LEC 004Classroom Instruction6 / 200
LEC 005Classroom Instruction20 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews highlight engaging discussions and supportive instructors like Anja Jovic-Humphrey, Mark Vareschi, and Eileen Lagman, creating a generally positive learning environment.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.81 GPA, 90.3% A/AB (n=62 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.91 GPA, 93.3% A/AB (n=75 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.85 GPA, 94.0% A/AB (n=100 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Anja Jovic-Humphrey, Yanie Fecu: Workload includes a 12-page midterm, creative project, and 12-15 page final paper, with some reviewers citing heavy weekly reading loads and tough grading.

Historical reviews of Eileen Lagman, Mark Vareschi, Yanie Fecu: Students value in-depth paper feedback and flexible essay topics, though some find Lagman's discussions unproductive and Fecu's grading opaque or unwelcoming.

Topics

  • Varied texts and topics
  • English major fundamentals

Skills

  • Powerful writing and speaking
  • Building persuasive arguments
  • Critical reading and writing

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.13 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ENGL 245 · Fall 2026

Seminar in the Major

Recorded 2026-09-07
ENGL 245 · Fall 2026

The Interracial Romance

Recorded 2026-09-07
ENGL 245 · Fall 2026

Protest Literature

Recorded 2026-09-07
ENGL 245 · Fall 2026

Cultures of Decolonization

Recorded 2026-09-07
ENGL 245 · Fall 2026

Early Black Literature

Recorded 2026-09-07
ENGL 245 · Fall 2026

Black Performance

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
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Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
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  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "04ba2e162e15fc654958ba50a3439bd178d7f6da9ce5b4eccd15d8bd9357901d",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
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}