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6 years, 9 months ago
It's been almost 20 years since I graduated from college, and I signed up for
Al Filreis' Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course not really knowing
what to expect. I originally signed up for the class ...
It's been almost 20 years since I graduated from college, and I signed up for
Al Filreis' Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course not really knowing
what to expect. I originally signed up for the class because as a copywriter,
I felt like my brain was stale and my creativity had fizzled. We are in the
midst of Week #7 and I can't believe it's gone by so fast! I am absolutely
amazed and energized by this class. It gives me hope that we still have
educators in this world like Al Filreis who is not only passionate about
teaching poetry to his 30,000 students across the globe, but he truly cares
about us as human beings. We aren't just a number to Al and he is very
interactive in the forums and discussions. I don't know when he sleeps! With
the support of his wonderful TAs, Al's class is very organized and I have
learned so much about modern poetry in the past six weeks. In our class, there
are never any stupid questions - he encourages questions and lively
discussions. I love the video close reading discussions of the poems and our
live webcasts. Al makes us all feel very connected to each other, despite the
fact that it's an online class and we are in a virtual classroom. My fellow
students are some of the loveliest and most talented people I've met. We all
come from different professions, ages, and cultural backgrounds which only
enriches the hands-on experience. Our "ModPo" class has truly created a
diverse poetry salon community filled with amazing individuals - including a
lovely 81 year old Greek gentlemen who has touched our hearts with his
beautiful essays about Emily Dickinson. I have always loved learning and
education, and while I enjoyed my collegiate experience this class even
outshines some of my best college classes. I'm blown away every day - it far
exceeds my expectations and then some. I highly recommend this class,
especially to those who have always longed to learn more about poetry but were
too timid to jump outside the box and take a poetry class - this class is for
everyone. You don't need to know about poetry before you take the class. A
truly amazing class led by a caring, supportive teacher, Al Filreis and his
awesome TAs: Julia, Dave, Amaris, Emily, Anna, Kristin, Ally, Molly, Max,
Lily, Steve, Jason...and his awesome tech crew (and everyone at Penn and the
Kelly Writers House who supports the class).
Bob Brightt
10/10 starsCompleted
2 weeks, 4 days ago
The course surpassed every expectation I had - by far. I am an educator myself, but if I even began to approach in my own teaching the quality of experience, in terms of deepening an understanding of the sub...
The course surpassed every expectation I had - by far. I am an educator myself, but if I even began to approach in my own teaching the quality of experience, in terms of deepening an understanding of the subject in my students and promoting values of openness and community among them that I found here I would be overjoyed. Al Filries and the teaching assistants, Mentors and poets of ModPo are wonders.