Dr. Hitchner has changed the theme of the class from Music to Food for quite some time now, and I think it’s a universally relatable topic that I unexpectedly enjoyed! The short-story readings from American Food Writing are very managable. He’s approchable in class and during office hours.

Dr. Tom is an amazing instructor. His lectures were engaging, helpful, and really well-organized. Also, he really cares about making class fun, so he tries including interactive things like group discussions, Question Of The Day etc. I'd say he's not the best when it comes to workload, but I think I really learned a lot about writing in his class, which matters more I believe. He grades fairly and is generally tolerant of tardiness(at least during COVID). I believe and it's easy to do well as long as you pay attention and keep asking for feedback on the essays, which are 90% of your grade. Try participating in discussions since it counts for some credit and I think it could help if he likes you. Would take his class 10/10 recommend.

PS. He dresses fairly snazzily and looks like Arthur Christmas is going through a personal crisis

good, reasonable guy and a good reasonable class. Selling all the required books : **********

Great class, and it is easy to do well so long as you participate and get good feedback at office hours.

I am selling both books for this class at a reasonable price ("Mystery Train" by Greil Marcus and "They Say I Say" by Graff and Birkenstein). Message me at ********** if you are interested in buying.

Hitchner is such a pleasant professor to have. I took him for EngComp 2 and 3. His classes are usually themed, and this makes them more interesting. EngComp 3 was music themed. He is very flexible on his assignments, and he is very accommodating. If you are late on an assignment and go to him about it, he may just let it slide without penalty; don't count on that though. This class is heavily discussion based and you are expected to contribute and pay attention. It's a pretty easy class. You turn in a rough draft, he gives comments on how you should improve your essay to receive a better grade, then you turn in the final draft. On one essay, he requires you to have a conference for 10 minutes instead of going to class so that you can discuss your essay and address any questions you may have. He's quirky and sweet. I recommend him. I hate english; I'm a math major, but I actually enjoyed his classes.

At first, I was scared about taking an english class in college because I'm not the best at writing. However, Dr. Hitchner has made this class so interesting. His main theme in his class is music and I was really excited about writing essays about that. He does give you essay prompts, but he is very flexible as to how to approach them and structure the essays. One last thing, GO TO HIS OFFICE HOURS! He was so helpful and was willing to answer any questions or concerns I have had about my essays. All in all, I would highly recommend taking English Comp. 3 with Dr. Hitchner.

It sucked knowing that coming to college I would have to take ENGCOMP3, a class that sounded like a dull high school english (writing) class. Dr. Hitchner, however, alleviated the initial irritation that I felt when walking into his classroom on week 1. He said that our essays were all going to be music-themed. And no, this wasn't some random classical music insipid crap, he meant contemporary pop music. Though the two essays we wrote were both research based, Dr. Hitchner was flexible in the sense that we got to choose the artists that we wanted to learn more about. Also, he didn't force any specific essay structure on us, so we were in control of our own essay's flow and organization.
It isn't that difficult to score an A in his class as long as you put in the effort and seek for help. DO GO TO HIS OFFICE HOURS. He is willing to breakdown your essay and give you more feedback than he does to an average student (who doesn't go to office hours).
TLDR: You get to write about pop music, and he makes you a better writer if you try.

I loved this class because if Dr. Hitchner's passion for the language. He made the class engaging and the assignment topics were of our own choice. Dr. Hitchner allows you to develop and find your own voice in writing which helps you gain confidence in your skills. The class overall was fair, the grading was (in my opinion) leveled. Our class did fall behind a bit and Dr. Hitchner altered the syllabus because of it; he was understanding when grading certain assignments. Basically my point here: TAKE THIS CLASS!

Mr. Hitchner was very cool. He was always eager to help students and was very available for office hours. We only wrote two major essays in this class and all the other small writings were to be combined for the big essays. His units vary from quarter to quarter, but when I took it, the topic was about music. The first essay was a popular narrative paper which I wrote on Nas, and the second essay was an academic analysis which I wrote on Kendrick Lamar. He gives you a lot of freedom in this class to write whatever you want. There were no midterms or finals either. There was some homework, but it was very manageable. He also teaches you how to use academic research database tools like jstor and ebscohost. He also took us on a "fieldtrip" to Powell Library so we knew how to use and navigate that too. Hitchner taught a great class and I'm glad I had a great time in English Comp 3!