More Cheers!

• I wanted to share an email I received yesterday from [university official]. It sounds like you made quite an impact on a student in your class, and gave [student] the support and encouragement [he/she] needed. Sometimes being a good instructor means pushing students out of their comfort zone to try something new, prompting them to explore their existing beliefs and doing something they didn’t think was possible; yes these instructors can be viewed as “difficult” or “tough”, but they are often the most memorable.
• I just wanted to pass on to you a comment that one of our instructors told his student. [Undergraduate] is a student who was on the edge of quitting [his/her] class because [he/she] was struggling with such a “difficult” instructor. [Student's] EC and myself advised [her/him] that sometimes the instructors who seem to be the most “difficult” can be the ones that teach us the most. I advised that the student call the instructor and verbally discuss [student's] concerns. [Student's] instructor, Bruce Arnold, openly applauded [his/her] perseverance and told [him/her] that he wished more students would directly call their instructors. He told [student] he will work with [him/her] to get through this course. [Student] could not he happier with the outcome.
• [Following a] strict rubric is helping me to become better at writing. When you get rid of all the nonsense you normally put in a paper it does sound more professional.  I think most of us use that nonsense because we are trying to make the word count criteria. Though this way of writing is all new to me, I like that you got rid of the title page and all the crap that you usually have to put into papers. In this class we focus on the meat and potatoes, the theme and its supporting paragraphs. I respect that because that is what really matters.
• He is a good professor--very helpful. He tells you what you should improve upon and he's very encouraging. I learned more in this class, I feel, than in any of my other classes. 
• Tough class but great instructor. Class was a lot more work than I thought it would be but he broke up the big paper to help us prepare and wasnt as harsh a grader as I originally thought.
• I was encouraged by the "no technology" rule implemented in class, which I felt produced genuine engagement with peers during discussion and greater retention of information from lecture. I was also encouraged by the very specific way Professor Arnold explained the syllabus, front-loading all necessary assignments and exams, like a road map to success. Even with the large gaps in between book essay assignments, one could plan properly in advance to facilitate enough time to read the text and formulate well-written ideas. I also loved how 100 % of the material on exams came from lecture. After being in so many classes where assessment takes the form of some kind of overarching paper or (worse) a group project where so much time is spent out of class to try to achieve some superficial objective of one's own construct, this was truly refreshing. In this way, there were no surprises as to what would be on the test, which was very relieving as a student juggling a heavy course load and a part time job.
• This was a really hard class to get through as there is a lot of work to complete in a short amount of time, almost seemed impossible! Mentor was very accessable and helpful with assignments and genuinely seemed to care. Textbook was not much help, I had to hire a tutor to assist with formatting. The mentor strived to clarify and simplify the assignments...In the end I did learn much, and I believe I now have become a better writer.
• I've never received so much helpful feedback from a teacher before. The capstone class was easily the most challenging class I've taken at this school, and he was incredibly helpful along the way. He is an outstanding teacher
• I really enjoyed this class and learned more than I have in my of my other classes at [this university]. I really appreciated that he was always there to help us succeed through Office hours and any other time provided. I liked the set up of discussion and lecture too. The one thing I would say is that some of the readings in the middle of the course that weren't from [the reader] were a little long and not easy to follow. I also would say that it has definitely been my most time consuming class, which is a good thing, but also a stressor! I really enjoyed this class though, and definitely think Dr. Arnold has been one of the best if not the best professor I've had at OSU so far!
• Definitely not the easiest class ever, but the content was all very interesting. I appreciated that Dr. Arnold allowed the class to stray from the material he had prepared in order to answer our questions. I learned a lot about the history of education and the foundations of teaching.