Highlights of Student Evaluations (2014-Present)

View representative highlights and trends from students’ written feedback across all the courses I have taught as instructor of record since 2014. Full students’ evaluations are available upon request.

1. Community Building: inclusive, comfortable class.
2. Encouraging of Participation/Discussion: supportive, engaging, communicative instructor.
3. Application & Specific Skill Development: creative assignments, active learning strategies, collaborative dynamics, critical thinking.

 

Community Building: inclusive, comfortable class.

Course: SPANUN1101_022_2022_1/ Spanish Elementary I (Spring 2022)

Course: SPANUN1102_023_2022_1/ Spanish Elementary II (Spring 2022)

“The professor was, by far, the thing I valued most in this course. One of the best, most patient, inclusive, and helpful instructors I’ve had at Columbia. The professor’s style and instruction emphasized learning the material, rather than scoring well on the assignments. Ultimately, I did not do as well as I could have in the course, but her feedback inspired me to keep working hard at it for Intermediate 1 & 2.”

 

Encouraging of Participation/Discussion: supportive, engaging, communicative instructor.

Course: HUMACC1001_062_2019_3/ Literature Humanities (Fall 2019)

“She is a well organized professor who structures her assignments in a strategic manner. She helps us make big picture connections. In addition to this, she also heavily encourages participation in the class through the way she conducts activities. By breaking us up into little groups to discuss a text before having us share our thoughts as a class, she allows everyone to feel heard.”

“She is an amazing LitHum professor. You can tell she definitely cares about her students individually, and puts time and effort into making sure they can succeed in the class. Her feedback is concise yet detailed in what needs to be fixed, and what is already good. She facilities class discussions through the mind maps on the board (rather than just talking at us for 2 hours, she talks with us and puts our ideas on the board to create an overall picture of the text, which is super helpful), stations where we answer thoughtful questions about the text (facilitates discussion but also helps grow our analyzing skills and awareness/importance of author, context, language, ideas, etc), and overall discussion. She’s also creative with how we do it, whether it’s dramatic readings of the works or mind maps or examining relevant works of art or quotes to the works.”

“Almudena is an excellent instructor for LitHum. She was always very engaging and responsible in class. Throughout our sessions this semester, she was very focused on her work and handled each of us with respect in class. She made discussions in class more involving and she always was available to help with any issue. She always ensured that each student’s ideas mattered a lot and each person was very attentive when others were talking. She took time to make me understand that my contributions in class were very important and that I should not hesitate to voice out my ideas.”

“Almudena made what I thought was going to be my least favorite, most uninteresting class into the best class I have taken this semester. I did not think that literature was extremely interesting before attending her class, and though I believed reading literature was important, I just thought that the semester was going to be unnecessarily difficult because of the class, Literature and Humanities; I would have to read a ton of boring old Greek books and then someone would lecture me for a couple of hours about it. My instructor, Almudena, absolutely crushed this preconception. I looked forward to coming to class every single day, because she always has enthusiasm for the texts and discussions that came from them, and always manages to relate what is happening in the texts to something we can understand. She constantly organizes new class activities that are engaging and exciting–like splitting us into groups that would each discuss a particular aspect of the text, or having us act out scenes from one of the plays we were reading–and if something doesn’t work in the class, she always listens to our feedback and adjusts her teaching to fix it. She helped foster such a powerful community in the class, and makes sure that every student’s voice is heard. I felt like my instructor made this class the most inclusive, fun, thought-provoking class I have ever had. She does not spend the entire class talking, nor does any particular student (like I’d typically expect from a lecture or seminar course, respectively). The classroom feels perfectly balanced, and everyone within respects each other. I felt like Almudena was available whenever I needed to email her about a book or essay, and each conference session with her helped me a lot with improving my writing ability. I felt like the essays and the midterm were completely reasonable, and graded feedback on them was considerably quick and insightful. I would recommend that anyone who has the ability to should take a course with Almudena!”

Course: SPANUN2102_005_2018_3/ Spanish Intermediate II (Spring 2019)

“As my 4th semester of the language requirement, I was a bit exhausted with the Spanish curriculum. I had lost engagement with the material in semesters past, but this class as best as it could, revived a lot of my interest in learning and practicing the language. I think this can be contributed almost entirely to Almudena and her instruction style.”

“Almudena is an incredible and engaging instructor. I was really impressed by how prepared she was for class, and how much attention she gave to each individual student’s growth over the course of the semester. She was fun, personable, and very clear with her expectations.”

Course: SPANUN2102_005_2018_3/ Spanish Intermediate II (Fall 2018)

“Almudena is an excellent instructor. Her general feedback on compositions and speaking has been invaluable for me, and it has been the primary reason I have improved so much throughout the semester. I have now taken four Spanish courses at Columbia (from Elementary I to Intermediate II), and while all of the professors have been great, Almudena has helped me improve the most. At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned to Almudena how I felt like I was struggling to speak and think in Spanish at a high level. She was incredibly encouraging about this, and with her help, I feel as though I have vastly exceeded the expectations I had for myself at the beginning of the semester (and those expectations were quite high). On top of that, Almudena is an incredibly understanding and kind person, and I would highly recommend taking her course.”

Course: SPANW3350_005_2016_3/ Hispanic Cultures II: Mapping Disenchantment (Fall 2016)

“I was probably the weakest Spanish speaker in the class and my grammar was less strong than some of my classmates, but she encouraged me to speak up and participate a lot, and would help me with words or verbs if I needed it. It can be intimating to speak in another language when surrounded by people majoring in the subject or who are fluent, but she made me feel supported and empowered to make mistakes, and my skills have improved A TON as a result. I’m so grateful and really excited to put my speaking to good use when i travel.”

Course: SPANW3300_002_2015_3 / Advanced Language Through Content: Underground Iberia (Fall 2015)

“Throughout this course, my instructor has been encouraging to students an always brings interesting, thought-provoking material to class. Some of her main strengths are encouraging productive, abstract conversation about the themes we studied in class, contributing to our use of the Spanish language in ways that bring us out of the classroom and actually able to communicate through writing and speaking.”

“In general I think the material that we covered in this class was interesting, topical and well presented by Almudena. The topics generally flowed well from one to another, and the material we used in order to study them was varied and fun to consume and discuss. Classes were also generally good, as Almudena encouraged discussion while also contributing her point of view, and I felt it was always easy to participate. I also enjoyed the discussion board aspect of the class, where we were asked to formulate a thoughtful response which integrated all the material from the week, and I think it was a great way to learn the material and create topics for discussion in class.”

Course: SPANW1201_002_2015_1 / Intermediate Spanish I (Spring 2015)

“Almudena was very good at choosing exercises that helped us learn. She was very passionate about engaging us and keeping us interested in the material. She was so understanding and friendly, and I think everyone felt really comfortable to make mistakes and learn.”

“Personally, I get nervous in language classes, but Almudena is incredibly kind and always made me feel comfortable speaking in class. She never makes students feel embarrassed for making a mistake.”

Course: SPANW1101_003_2014_3 / Elementary Spanish I (Fall 2014)

“High energy and interesting exchanges with the instructor and classmates – good interactive design of materials – encourage to practice speaking and comprehension!”

“I’ve always struggled a little with languages but found that this course did a good job of introducing the basic concepts of the language.”

“Professor Almudena is very intelligent, kind and always ready to help. I thought the class was very fun and engaging and she was a fantastic teacher. I would definitely take her class again.”

“Professor Marin-Cobos is absolutely an amazing instructor. She has patience and really enjoys teaching. She encourages students to ask questions and participate in class. This is the best Spanish Class I’ve been in thus far.”

“Profesora Almudena was an absolute pleasure to take class with this semester. I came into Elementary Spanish I having not studied the language in over a decade and was able to make remarkable progress in only one semester. She was fun, focused, and made the classroom environment a place where students felt comfortable making their first clumsy forays into the Spanish language.”

“Almudena was highly engaged and very committed to making the class fun and interesting! She contributed her own stories and made the content as applicable to us as possible – using our own names etc. to brighten up grammar and other exercises.”

“She always encouraged participation and I always looked forward to class.”

 

Application & Specific Skill Development: creative assignments, active learning strategies, collaborative dynamics, critical thinking.

Course: HUMACC1001_062_2019_3/ Literature Humanities (Fall 2019)

“Although we are reading a set of western literature prescribed by the curriculum, Professor Marin-Cobos excels in emphasizing the most meaningful and inspiring texts from our reading and prompting us to think more and develop our own arguments. She cherishes our reasoning skills and often provides follow-up comments on what individual students say. This allows us to constantly reinforce and enrich our thoughts.”

“Almudena is obviously a very intelligent and skilled instructor as evidenced by her effective and engaging discussion guidance. I am especially appreciative of how she can effortlessly relate the expertise she has from her phd studies into the course as it enriches my own studies. She consistently is able to direct discussion that results in an understanding as to why such a course is to be taken by all CC students at Columbia as the greater appreciation for Western literature because of her guidance can be felt throughout the class.”

“This class was really insightful and made me think a lot more critically about what I’m reading. I learned how to have a fantastic class discussion and focus on not only the content of the story, but how the story is written.”

Course: SPANUN2102_005_2018_3/ Spanish Intermediate II (Spring 2019)

“Professor Marin-Cobos was excellent! She was not only great at explaining complicated conjugations, but also highly engaging. I especially appreciate that she challenged the class to think critically about important social issues using the Spanish language. Overall, Professor Marin-Cobos is a fine example of an instructor that can successfully push her students to reach new levels of critical thought. She has my highest recommendations.”

Course: SPANUN2102_005_2018_3/ Spanish Intermediate II (Fall 2018)

“I liked that this class included of content surrounding Spanish speaking communities in the US and across Latin America. It made a lot of the in class discussions very relevant and engaging. Almudena incorporated a lot of creative ways to get us practicing Spanish, like songs, movies, or literature. I feel like I would have liked more time to go over some grammatical concepts at a slower pace, and would probably recommend a final project that allows us to produce something a little more tangible.”

“Almudena’s clearly a really passionate professor and helped make our classroom feel like a community. She goes out of her way to get us to practice as much as possible, and is very creative in her teaching style. She’s also helpful when providing feedback on written and oral exams. Would recommend!”

Course: SPANW3350_005_2016_3/ Hispanic Cultures II: Mapping Disenchantment (Fall 2015)

“This course was particularly strong in using engaging multimedia sources and encouraging class participation through writing, discussion, and presentation during classes.”

“I think Almudena carefully chose the readings and was good at having a mix of different types of media (poems, videos, songs, stories, excerpts from news, etc) to keep us engaged and make us evaluate issues from many perspectives.”

“I loved the assignments for the midterm and final. The locations for the midterm were interesting and engaging, places I’d never been, which was really fun. It got us all into New York, and forced us to engage with content outside the classroom. I loved the final assignment. I had so much fun making it, and also felt our content was relevant and complex. Also, I was so grateful we got to have a class discussion after the election. It really made me feel better to have an opportunity to express my ideas and listen to my fellow students. I felt it was a very productive discussion and really appreciated that you let everyone deal with their emotions rather than force us to have class. It is obvious Profesora cares a lot about current social issues, and loved that, and would have loved to learn more about her research and how what she was studying related to our class!”

“I could not ask for a better instructor in terms of her ability to gather interesting sources, give students the initiative to lead discussions themselves through presentations, and willingness to try unorthodox projects and approaches to the material.”

“Profesora clearly cares a lot about academia and having a stimulating intellectual experience. Super creative in her assignments, which I really appreciated. I think the midterm and final were the most engaging, creative, and fun I’d ever experienced at Columbia, and it made me work a lot harder on them.”

Course: SPANW3300_002_2016_1 / Advanced Language Through Content: Underground Iberia (Spring 2016)

“The organization of the course was great, with one theme per week and essentially everything mapped out from the beginning of the semester.”

“Almudena is the most wonderful person. She was an encouraging, enthusiastic and engaging professor. The materials she selected for the course were very apt and a great lens through which we were able to look at this time period. Her feedback was useful and always timely. As the class size was small she facilitated the discussions well, even towards the end of the semester when we were all fairly tired. She used a range of materials and sources from blogs to songs which really helped with my learning and the presentations were a great way of improving my fluency and speaking skills in Spanish. We also went on a trip to East Harlem and had class in Joe’s which were both excellent and great ways of taking our Spanish outside of the class room.”

Course: SPANW3300_002_2015_3 / Advanced Language Through Content: Underground Iberia (Fall 2015)

“Almudena is excellent. She does not “teach” us the history of Spain. She gives us materials that show rather than tell the history and its sociological effects and then facilitates engaging discussions among students where we actively interact with the content instead of passively “learning” it.”

Course: SPANW1101_003_2014_3 / Elementary Spanish I (Fall 2014)

“The best aspects of the course was the in class participation. Marin-Cobos came up with groups activities that really helped to improve my speaking skills.”

“Great speaking/communication in class; great class dynamic facilitated by Almudena.”