Took this course back in fall quarter. Course was online. No lectures to watch, grade just depended on weekly reading & assignments + section attendance. My TA was veryyy laid-back and not so harsh on grading which helped a lot! Lots of reading and some required books and textbooks that you can find online. Final is an essay about a book we read.
Black studies isn't the most interesting topic, and it's especially hard to teach when most of your students are people who are only taking the class as a required GE. However, I think Strongman did care about the subject he was teaching and his lectures are thought provoking if you're paying attention. Pop quizzes are easy, essay grades are fair.
There is a large disconnect between what the professor wants and what the TA's want. I would be told to do one thing then would be graded on another. I received opposite feedback from the professor and TA. The professor graded my essay and gave me a 90 and the TA gave me a 70... Terrible class, boring, confusing, would never recommend.
Strongman definitely was opinionated about different topics. It was an interesting class, but it required alot of work with a 4-page and 8-page paper. No midterm; final paper. He was not always making sense during lecture.
AVOID STRONGMAN
Professor Strongman has good intentions but is not nearly as interesting as the information he is trying to teach. This class is an easy A but is very boring as well. Class is mandatory but his lectures are the worst to sit through. He rants on and on about nothing and says obscured things. This class is total outlandish. take just for an easy A.
Dr. Strongman is awesome. he is sooo knowledgable in this area and listening to his lectures was always interesting and stimulating. the books we read we very good. he is a very tough essay grader he is very helpful if you ask! he expects students to make good arguments and encourages ideas that aren't his own. loved this class!
id have to say, worst professor i've ever had. you buy soo many books and never use them! hes a tough grader with a thick accent and you cant understand him! plus, he is extremely arrogant, almost seems prejudice if you are not hispanic or ethnic, stay away!!!
awful teacher! he makes no sense when he gives lectures, and i found him to be quite arrogant when i disagreed with certain points he made in class. avoid him for this class!
so so so awful. pop quizzes in class and lecture was the most boring thing ever. this class could be really cool though, so just avoid him not the course
Horrible teaching! Makes no sense. All reading (11 books). Hated this class more than any class before! Worthless, Learn NOTHING! DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!! HIGHLY dont recommend this teacher. Hes new and doesn't know how to teach.
Interesting course material. There is a lot of reading, but anyone with half a brain should be able to handle it. If people take the time to read the texts and go to classes they should get an easy A. Professor Strongman dialogues with his students instead of just lecturing, which encourages students to think independently.
The only reason anyone went to class was for the pop quizzes, and most left after that due to his unorganized lectures; he stands up there with his hands in his pockets/nothing written down and expects students to stay interested in whatever he feels like talking about for 1.25 hours. Too much reading and hardly anything good. Worst prof. I've had.
The worst teacher ever. Way too much reading for not counting as a literature GE, and in class pop quizzes. i took it supposing it was going to be an easy A and ended up taking it pass no pass, like everyone else in the class. it was a waste of time. don't take this class if you don't have to
it would be easy/interesting if you did ALL the reading on time, asked for help and went to class. It is a lot of work, way too much for all the people i know. if you want to take this, be prepared for 60-100pg reading per class session, to speak up and GO TO CLASS (or else you won't do well)
I wanted an intro to carribean studies class instead I got a comparative lit class! So much useless reading. Lecture was a waste of time. I still know nothing about Carribean. Avoid this teacher like the plague!
The entire grading is based on the TA, so you better luck out. The professor is really boring and lectures in what seems like slow motion. He takes attendance during the lecture with a piece of paper and he really does not care about his students as he did not round up my 93.86% to a 94%. Also, he has 94% as an A and anything under is an A- :((
Strongman is a great professor who cares about the subjects he talks about. The course was very heavy with reading (one novel a week around 100-250 pages), but the books were enjoyable and very interesting. Grading all depends on one weekly response that is 500 words, and one final paper. Attendance is graded in both the lecture and the section.
A good professor that will draw you into the material. Reading is heavy, but most of the time, a simple summary and logical thinking are enough to understand and answer the questions given.
Professor rambles a lot during lecture, yet forces attendance. I had a funeral to attend on the same day as lecture. When I asked for an excused absence, he said I could join Zoom from my phone. At a funeral. 200-300 word books to read a week plus a two page writeup. Easy TA = Easy A. My TA was very particular; I had to really work to get my grade.
This class seems like alot at first with weekly readings which can be kind of long and a weekly written assignment but it wasn't too bad. I was able to get the reading and assignment done in a day. His lectures are full with information and he goes over the weekly assignment questions. Overall this class wasn't difficult at all as long as you read.
Professor Strongman gives 1 assignment a week based on the reading. The assignment is usually just a few questions and you only have to write 100 words for each question. I spend hours each week reading for this class but I love the material and think its so so interesting! Take this class if you want to learn! Great Prof!!
This class relies entirely on who your TA is. No lectures but professor does lecture type discussions during office hours every week. GO TO HIS OFFICE HOURS IF YOU WANT THIS CLASS TO BE WORTHWHILE. Read a book every week but they were reasonable in length and interesting. You need to be an adequate writer when you go into this class to thrive.
I did not have any actual classes with the professor, everything was online and out TAs handled everything. The workload was a little extreme - read a novel and write and essay on it a week, for a first year student, but the nobles were overall easy to understand.
