Katherine Wiese

Ms. Wiese is an excellent teacher. She is energetic, organized, and clear. She seems to have thought a great deal about how students learn and what they want to know to manage their efforts in class and when doing homework and studying. The material in her Oceanography class is very interesting. However, you have to be willing to prepare for class (do the reading) and study (review so that you are prepared for weekly quizzes and four exams. She always does exactly what she says she will do, so if you listen and follow her instructions, you should do fine.

Very fast!!! Not very helpful for DSPS folks (at least not for me)! Notes, test taking...she is harsh!!! I would rate her: D-

Katherine Wiese is an extremely dedicated, competent, and rigorous teacher. I took her Geology 10 class, and during the first 2 sessions, she described her teaching and grading methodologies thoroughly. She warned that she was not an easy grader, and that the material was challenging, but if the students followed her advice, which primarily was to keep up with the assignments, most would do well.

To reinforce her advice to keep up with the text reading and vocabulary, she gives a weekly quiz, and goes over the results the following week. While she does not spoon fed her class the answers, she underscores what "definitely" will be on the exam, both in concept and in concrete answers.

Her lectures are extremely well organized, and augmented by movies, video, charts, graphs, etc. Class participation is required, including rock and mineral identification, experiments, etc. It is best NOT to miss a class, but she allows students to attend one of her other classes, if necessary.

One of the best proofs of Katherine's ability to teach is that the grades of the majority of the students in our class improved over time. There were weekly quizzes, as mentioned, and 3 exams, counting the final. While many scored poorly on the first exam, the second exam, no less rigorous, showed marked improvement. She also drops the 2 lowest quiz grades of the semestr.

Through out the class, Katherine showed dedication, organization, humor, and a love of her subject. Her ultimate goal was to encourage students to think about the world around them, and to apply their knowledge of Earth Sciences. While I can't say that my retention is what I would like, I find myslf thinking about her and her classes when I'm reading about earthquakes, or looking at rock formations.

To repeat, Katherine Wiese is not an "easy" teacher, and she expect her students to put in some effort of their own, but it is more than matched by her own preparation and dedication.

She was absolutely the best teacher I have ever had. However the class is not easy. I came in completely disinterested in the subject, or so I thought but after taking this class, I almost changed my major and have instead figured out a way to incorporate it into the one I already had. She has quizes every week that are very easy if you study. The tests are easy if you keep up and study. The material is clear and coherent. She is extremely organized and brilliant. I recomend this class to any serious student. If you are having a hard time she is totally open to helping you. The tutors and lab aids are great and very helpful. The resources are there to help you get a good grasp of the material. If you are not serious, you will easily fail.