Daan Pan

School: Cal Poly Pomona
Department: English
Location:Pomona, CA
Overall Rating
rated by 19 students
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Professor Pan is an amazing teacher!!! He is willing to work with students schedules, and he is very understanding when it comes to assignments. This class was composed of reading 5 different pieces of literature, and writing a journal entry for each literature. Also there was a midterm and a final. Professor Pan gives the class an option of either writing a research paper, or a take home prompt. Lastly there was a group project, where students had to present, for at least 15 minutes, a topic related to the course.
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Pros: Awesome professor. Super chill. He is very fair and is willing to compromise with your grade if need be.
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Yes it is absolutely true that his classes are pretty boring & he is a tad weird.
However, if you make friends in the class & want to miss it, you can have a friend sign you in & he won't say anything. He also lets you leave class for as long as you want, lets you be on the phone & lets you turn in HW/essays late if you tell him. He's extremely easy and it may seem like I am saying to take advantage of that. But HE IS very knowledgeable in his subjects & you can tell that he loves to teach which is a rare find in professors nowadays. I like to make sure I show up because I keep taking his classes & he seems to grade easier on students he already knows.
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Pros: No need to pay attention.
Allows us to write either Chinese or English.
Cons: Hard to get an A
Accent
Although he's an English professor, this guy knows a lot about Chinese culture. He's a hard grader when grading Chinese essays. Not even one student got an A so most got B's. I heard most students don't get A's when writing cover letter. His lectures barely have any relation to books we read.
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This is actually for eng 235.
his class was pretty easy, just have to show up, and do the work
and participate once in a while. the project is fairly easy.
the only thing about him that i didnt like is his grading style
i got an A on my midterm, an A on my project and a B+ on my final
and he ended up giving me an A- for the class...
he himself said that whatever grade you have after the midterm, your final grade will be atleast that much.
overall he is a great professor, and very helpful, cooperative, flexible and understanding.
he offered to write a rec letter in the future if any of his students required it. (try to get on his good side and make yourself memorable, this will really help in the future)
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Pan knows his English. He has a very odd accent, but you can understand him clearly. He lectures constantly, and you really don't have to pay attention. My friends and I never did. He loves using Dictionary.com to look up words and he always uses the pronunciation speaker. I'm pretty sure he clicks that button ten times per word. It's amusing at first but then annoying after a while. There are three essays, the first and third are the same, the third you just rewrite the first. The second is an argumentative essay based off a reading. The forth goes together with the final. He allows you to choose what type of final you want: In class or take home. He's a great English professor. He's very helpful, too, and Pan really wants you to write well. Grade received: B+
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Pros: He is extremely easy!
Cons: The only things that make your grade are all due the last day of class and he doesn't explain things well.
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Pros: easier than others, but a really nice guy
Cons: easy means not as much learning
i hear he is an easy english teacher because he is so easy going and nice. it isnt really a challenge, but otherwise good.
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Pros: Easy to get a B in the class
Pan makes the class enjoyable
Pan's little anecdotes are worth listenting to
Cons: Hard to get an A
Sometimes it can be hard to hear what Pan is saying
A great class, I have no regrets in taking it. Since Pan's an english professor, he can be hard on grading if you're not an english student. Besides that, his filler reading journals, attendance points, and the group project provide substantial buffer points. Basically work hard on the midterm/final paper and you should be golden.
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These comment pertain to Eng 310: the Epic, which this instructor just taught for the Spring 2010 quarter. It wasn't available as an option as of 6/20/2010:
}Dr. Pan is perhaps the worst literature professor in the English department as of the time of this writing. He spent over 50% of the entire quarter's class time talking about "Student Centered Learning" and how to succeed as a teacher in the education system. The majority of my classmates were disappointed and thoroughly displeased that his teaching style strayed so far textual analysis--of which there was none worth mentioning. The grade for the class was based on journals (that were vague and of little critical value), attendance, midterm colloqium (which was basically students rambling on what they were thinking of writing for their final paper), a syllabus (you had to make your own... totally inappropriate for a lit-based class), and, of course, the final paper which was extremely hard to write based on the meager instruction/discussion we had over the course of the quarter.
}If you're thinking about taking Pan for a lit course: don't unless you have no other choice.
}If you're already taking Pan: sit in the back and don't say anything (he doesn't respond constructively to criticism) and be prepared to do a lot of independent study. Grade Received: B
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I've taken him a lot. He's really easy and easy going. The thing is - in taking his class, be ready to write a lot. The great things are: no mid-terms, a takehome final 4 questions (1 1/2-2 pages long), commentaries are literally free write (2 pages long)-that you gotta do once every other week, he's extremely open-minded, he's very easy- going, and very nice *ahem* He gave me extensions on pretty much all of my assignments (by simply asking -he doesn't really care as long as u do it)I turned all of my papers (even the ones with deadlines) in when I turned my finals in. I DON'T KNOW WHAT OTHER TEACHER WOULD DO THAT! I'm a big time slacker (in 2 classes, I really didn't do the assigned reading -pretty much at all)and his classes were really relaxing. You really don't have to read -he talks about the stuff in class. Oh yeah you have to do 1 presentation which is like just standing up and blab about anything. He takes role and that counts. He's an advisor too. His lectures are really class discussions. His 1 hour is good... 2 hours is pretty long *if you know what I mean. ~_~ You really can't go wrong with this teacher... If he taught more classes that I need, I'll take him in a heart beat. Trust me, this guy is one very cool dude. I'm only posting this up because I'm done taking him and I don't have to fight to get into his classes anymore. ^_~
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I think Dr. Pan is an excellent teacher. It is a student centered classroom for sure and there is always plenty of reading, but the true joy of Mr. Pan is his personality. He has compassion for his students and tries to remain positive no matter what the circumstance. He is extremely articulate and explains literary concepts well, which is more than I can say for some professors. I would advise that you ask lots of questions about the assignments because there may be some confusion down the line. Otherwise I would say if you enjoy a classroom structure that is conversational yet academic in tone, take him. I learned a lot about the world in general in his class, not just literature. Grade Received: A-
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Dr. Pan was an okay professor. He is very friendly and very approachable and knowledgeable of the subject, but his teaching methods leave much to be desired. In his class for the modern novel, we had to read five different novels at the pace of two weeks each. The novels were short enough to not be ridiculous, but with a full school schedule plus working part time, I found it difficult to make enough time for it, so I basically didn't read any. It's easy enough to just listen to what he talks about and get an idea about the novel. The real difficulty of this class is that he provides no feedback on the work you've done, so you have no idea if you're on the right track or if you're screwing up big time (although he basically gives you an "A" for all the journals you turn in, it would've been nice to hear his thoughts on your writing). There are five journals to write, each two pages long and basically free-write. There's an eight-page research paper that's based on one of the books you've read. There's a midterm project in which you design a syllabus for a class based on this one. Attendance isn't mandatory, however once you miss five classes you'll be dropped. All in all, a decent teacher, but you have to be self motivated and very responsible to do well in this class. Grade Received: B+
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Dr. Pan may just be the most empathetic teacher in the school - not only does he allow his students to work at their own pace and deadline ("deadlines" are to be taken figuratively) but he will also allow students to re-write their papers if they don't agree with their grade. How many professors can you say THAT about?
}As a teacher, his motto is "student-centeredness", which translates into "student presentations." Excellent class to take, and it feels more like a 4-hour study club than a seminar. Dr. Pan also has a lot of office hours and will talk with you about anything you need (I suspect he'd even advise you if you weren't taking his class), and he is never intimidating.
}However, this class is also to be taken at your own pace, and students who may not be used to pushing themselves may find themselves floundering under the very loose structure of Pan's teaching style. If you are self-motivated, however, expect to succeed. Grade Received: A-
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Dr. Pan is a good teacher, but dont expect to learn very much from him. There is a great deal of writting and the class is pretty boring. We had two major papers, journals, and a take home final. He always lets the class decide about the final.
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Dr. Pan is a very nice man. He is very considerate of its students. His eng105 was very easy. he gave only 2 papers, 1 research paper, and 1 take home final paper. He is very lenient on grading and it seems that the lowest he gives on papers is a B-. He gives you alot of extensions on paper if you want to.
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It is true that his class may be boring at times, but I believe Dr. Pan is fair when it comes to grading and the amount of work he gives. His class involves group discussion and always praises his students for doing a great job. He is very knowlegable in the subjects he is teaching and he seems to have read every book on the face of the earth. Be sure to take his afternoon classes though because students are more interactive and when they participate during class discussion time flys by. He lets students turn things in late and gives you the opportunity to rewrite your paper until you are satisfied with your grade. Great professor and I would take him again.
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EASY CLASS!! I got an A with very little effort. There are no tests or quizes. He says theres gonna be debates and stuff but in the end they are so easy not even worth ur time. U cant really understand sometimes what he saying but hes cool and the class discussions are interesting even if ur like me and just sit and listen and dont participate in them. just follow the guidelines on essays and u'll be fine (its like easier than a hs eng class - he even lets u redo one essay)
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I took Dr. Pan in Fall 2001. I thought he was very unfair. Although he is an english teacher, he is inarticulate and not knowlegable of the subject he teaches. He sends time teaching useless techniques that don't in the least help the students. He gives you the last week before the finals to finish an 8 page paper. His class is very boring and dull. My advise is not to take him.

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