She's very enthusiastic about the class topic, but I'd say she's TOO enthusiastic. She gets so excited about the topic that she rambles and mumbles and gets lost herself. Her lectures are boring and don't help you pass, you'll have to really read the books (one book for lecture and another for the section). BUT she's really sweet and accessible.
Blumenthal is a nice person, and is very knowledgeable about history, but a terrible lecturer. Lectures are a waste of time, and Blumenthal will often talk herself in circles. Reads off a piece of paper the majority of lecture. The class itself isn't too difficult, 2 papers, 1 midterm and final that are IDs and essay(s).
She is a great person and passionate about the subject but her lectures are so pointless. She discusses unnecessary material for most of her lectures. Her class is easy if you do the outside reading and do the papers. Tests aren't terrible. She's decent overall. P.S she gets too excited about maps.
Lecture was boring and pointless. I skipped more than half and still pulled of a B. Plus I didn't do any of the reading. All you need for this class is to study for like an hour for the exams. Nonetheless, the information she covers is excruciatingly pointless. But I cut her some slack because she's fairly good looking.
She's...all right. Needs to stop mumbling and rambling and going off topic, but will repeat several times the "point" and "main analysis" she wants you to get for exams. Two midterms, 1 paper, and 1 take home final paper. All pretty easy, papers were only 3-4 pages.
Spare yourself the torture and skip lecture. Easy midterm with a number of IDs to choose from and 1 essay question. Did not use textbook all quarter, instead relied heavily on reader. Lectures are the worst. Boring and difficult to follow. Pretty easy class, but avoid it if possible.
Cute teacher who is clearly very interested and knowledgeable about history. She is however an unbelievably boring lecturer, it's a waste of time to attend. The good news is you don't need to show up to lecture at all! Focus on attending your discussion sessions, read the textbook and the class will be a breeze
Lecture is rather difficult to follow, attendance not mandatory. Textbook not required. Just stick to the Reader. Amazing study guide for both midterms (yes, no final). Just complete those, and LISTEN TO YOUR TA, and you will ace the class. I think Blumenthal is going to make a beautiful bride!
She goes off on tangents a lot, but overall Professor Blumenthal is a good teacher. Enthusiastic, funny, and she always tries to make lecture interesting. Just be careful not to get too comfortable during one of her tangents
Great teacher!
lectures were horrible. She read stuff off a paper. She had powerpts online but they were pointless they were just pictures of significant people throughout history.. the wk readings did not have anything to do with lecture! the powerpts had really no notes on it. It was hard to know what we should take down.Overall, this class was horrendous.
The class was more about reading irrelevant primary source documents than actually learning history. Textbook was really good, but I felt we really didn't use it at all. Lectures were mind numbingly boring and hard to follow. She basically read off a piece of paper for an hour. Turned me off to history.
No Comments
It would be much more helpful if the notes were online. It was really difficult to know what to write down in your own notes. The power points often don't really help. Why put the power points online if we can't even remember what you said?
Lecture was TERRIBLE; Ive never seen someone with the ability to go on for one hour and talk about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. The workload consists of reading pages of primary documents with little significance or meaning. Emphasis in class is Cross-Cultural Interaction between 1000-1700 so make sure you are interested before you put yourself through hell
Horrible lecturer. Hard to follow and powerpoint presentations did not help. Difficult to take notes in because she mumbles and talks fast, especially at the end of the class. Lecture mirrors the book so definitely read it for clarity. Lecture and sections don't really fit together...as if they're two different classes. Would not recommend!!!
Her class lecture style, notes, powerpoints, readings, essays are all worthless. She rambles and talks so fast that you cant take notes. She gives mid term and final reviews before the tests. clas is easy, but she is a horrible professor. She needs to learn how to breathe and talk at the same time. The textbook was great, but was not necessary
Mumbles and stutters. Easier class but no guaranteed A. If you like history, it’s a good class, otherwise stay away.
She rambles A LOT in lectures. Also, I literally quoted something she said from lecture in an exam, and she circled it and put a question mark (and I assume marks points off), which is annoying. This is not the class to take for an easy A. 7 reading responses (2-500 words), in-person midterm w/ study guide, 5-pg paper, and an in-person final.
I feel like a lot of these ratings on her teaching style are unfair, I thoroughly enjoyed her class and she has an obvious passion for teaching. I would recommend using her office hours as she will help you shape your essays and is clear with what she wants. I would definitely take her again given the opportunity, but a lot of writing and readings.
It is difficult to follow her lectures as she is so passionate about the subject that she goes on tangents about a topic that is actually not very useful to gaining knowledge that would help you in the class. Read or you won't follow. However, she is very passionate and willing to help and makes clear what she is looking for with study guides.
Disorganized teaching style. Hard grader on papers. Nice person, but overall, she was an average professor.
I had Prof. Blumenthal for a history methods course. It was a little unclear what we were supposed to be learning but assignments were graded fairly and consistently. Personally, I find Crusade history dull but Prof. Blumenthal's passion for the topic is refreshing. She's a pleasant person that I always enjoy seeing in class and would take again.
Extremely BORING and useless. She rambles the whole 75 minutes of class and you absorb nothing useful from her lectures. If you want to suffer and be bored to tears, take her. TONS OF READING!!!! 5 papers. I DON'T RECOMMEND!!!!!