From undergrad university students at the University of Kansas

This class had the best environment daily out of my five classes this year. 

– JR, English 102, KU, Spring 2026

As far as David, he is a super nice and understanding teacher who is willing to work with you on anything you need, but you have to communicate; otherwise, he won’t know. As long as you communicate to the best of your ability, he will work with you.  

– WS, English 102, KU, Spring 2026

Having David look at my project during workshops and office hours improved my grades and helped my confidence in writing. 

– MK, English 102, KU, Spring 2026

Mr. McCalmon genuinely wants everyone to improve and is always willing to help if you ask questions or put in effort. The feedback I received throughout the course helped me become a stronger writer and better at organizing my ideas.

– CH, English 102, KU, Spring 2026 

Students should know David is willing to give help and constructive feedback when asked to help improve writing styles and projects. Lastly, attending office hours was very benefical, allowing me to earn higher grades on my work.  

– KH, English 102, KU, Spring 2026

[Mr. McCalmon] wants people to succeed, but you have to put in the effort and communicate if you are confused.  

– Anonymous

One thing you should know about David is that he can be flexible. In short, communicate with him and if you are having trouble in the class, over communicate with him.  

– JF, English 102, KU, Spring 2026

Almost every class begins with a short handwritten paragraph. Usually, he asks you to use rhetorical appeal (logos, ethos, or pathos) to argue a point, which can be fun. It sounds simple, but the repetition is what helps you greatly improve your writing. You also practice intros with hooks and how to use TEACUP paragraphs every week, and you get better at them without even realizing it. One major rule is it avoid “to be” verbs and demonstrative pronouns in your formal writing. It might feel strict at first, but it forces you to write with clear details and stronger verbs.

– LG, English 101, KU, Fall 2025

Mr. McCalmon grades his papers very thoroughly and is strict when he needs to be, but he is also one of the most creative teachers I’ve had the pleasure of having and if you can do his work he will work with you to make sure that you can pass.

– AG, English 101, KU, Fall 2025

“I feel like I have become more confident in my writing from this class because of his teaching style.”

– Anonymous, English 101, KU, Fall 2025

I also liked how I learned about empty words and how to restructure my writing to be more vivid. 

– Anonymous, English 101, KU, Fall 2025

Analytical paragraphs at the start of each class helped a lot.
– Anonymous, English 101, KU, Fall 2025

I learned how to properly write a rhetorical analysis which was super beneficial and taught me a lot. I learned how to not use demonstrative pronouns when writing to improve my writing. 

– Anonymous, English 101, KU, Fall 2025 

I feel like I have become more confident in my writing from this class because of his teaching style. 

– Anonymous, English 101, KU, Fall 2025

I have finally submitted all my writing projects for the semester. I want to thank you again for everything this semester. You were an amazing professor and taught us well, and you deserve to know that. Thank you for fully understanding my situation this semester and not giving up on me; that really means a lot. As well, you completely changed my idea of how professors are as people, like you said, most professors truly care about their students, with only a select few being, in your words, “assholes.” Thank you for not being an “asshole,” haha. Everything truly means the world to me. I wanted to stay after class yesterday for a minute and thank you in person, but I was in a rush to get to work.

Thank you so much!

From a private tutoring client whose daughter was a student of several years

David has a great teaching style. I enrolled my daughter in his class, and I could see how much she enjoyed his class. I saw how her passion for writing developed and became stronger thanks to his skillful guidance. I could see how his teaching helped her find her dream. It is thanks to Mr. Mccalmon that my daughter has found her personal writing style, and has become more comfortable with sharing her work with others. Also, it was a huge help in how Mr. Mccalmon understood right away the best way to work with my child. He really made sure that he was approachable. When we had homework, he made sure to go over it with us so we could learn from our mistakes and not repeat them again. Also, he understood that not everybody will need the same treatment, adapting his style in order to make sure we got what we needed. He was also a great facilitator, really giving us the chance to explore and find our own opinions. I would also like to thank him for all of the support and patience you have constantly demonstrated. Even though I’m sure your students must have tested your patience numerous times, you coped and throughout it all continued to help her learn. I could tell how you truly cared about your students and were trying to help them become intelligent young people, and I believe you succeeded in your goal. I constantly noticed how he easily controlled the class and was extremely understanding. He always made sure that his students had a comfortable atmosphere in which they could share any of our thoughts, and he didn’t limit their thoughts by impressing his opinion on them or anything. In fact, he always made sure that they finished their comments before he replied to them. Even when any comments were blatantly wrong, he didn’t correct them immediately; he tried to understand their reasoning, and then helped guide them onto the right path of analytical thinking. Overall, David is a wonderful teacher who truly understands how to best unlock every child’s potential correctly.

— Cheryl Lieu, Pleasanton, CA.

From the parents of some of my students at Improve Your English Tutoring Services in Cupertino, CA, for which I continue to tutor online.

David is a calm, experienced and a very thoughtful tutor. He is very patient with my son and very thoughtful and purposeful with planning the right lesson for my son. Not only my son improve so much with his English skill, the most important thing is that he told me the other day, “I love writing and reading now.” I know I have to give this credit to David.

“After talking to my daughter and learning about her thoughts, David made some changes on the lesson and homework plan.  The changes made a significant difference to my daughter’s learning.  She seems more motivated and sees the purpose of the learning plan. Her mentor and Science teacher at school send me an email to affirm her improvement and progress.  “I just wanted to let you know that your daughter made solid improvements on her written explanations in our most recent science project! Her writing was considerably more articulate and her word choice was more deliberate than her previous explanations.”

— Jeannie Lee, Sunnyvale, CA

Mr. David is great at helping my daughter develop more variety in her writing, which is something that I’d requested in our prior discussion. He offers different word suggestions, essay structure, and just great feedback to help her see different possibilities.

We also continue to be impressed by Mr. David’s passion for their readings, often conducting the role plays and reading out loud. This helps my daughter better appreciate the content and the emotions at play.

—Will P.  Sunnyvale

My son did well in his AP English Literature class and AP world history class. I think he had built his skill set over the years with Mr. David’s teaching.

—Y. Qiu, Saratoga

Mr. David is excellent. My son shows improvements in reading and writing, identifying grammar, and reading more books. He has increased confidence in English language.

—Divya B., San Jose

We are happy the way Mr. David teach our daughter. His techniques, understanding of child’s strengths and weaknesses are strong and that truly help child to grow without any pressure or unwilling force. Thank you.

—L. C., ​​Sunnyvale

The biggest change we’ve noticed is that my son no longer feels intimidated by writing essays. 2) Also, my son joined his first debate tournament in October.
Mr. David is very punctual for class. After each class, he quickly sends out the class summary and homework. Whenever we, the parents, have questions, he also responds promptly. He thoughtfully adjusted the lessons when my son was busy with schoolwork, which helped protect and nurture his love for literature. He also made the content engaging and fun—so much so that the IYE class is the last one my son would ever want to miss. My son truly enjoys Mr. David’s class, and our family especially appreciates the customized curriculum.

—Crystal G., Atherton