CHICANO 101
Theoretical Concepts in Chicana and Chicano Studies
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: course 10A or 10B. Survey of different theoretical approaches to field of Chicana and Chicano studies. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Lectures were dry and boring. Yep, I said it. He never states an "opinion" and is very ambivalent as to what his point is. It was only until two-third into the course that I had an epiphany in my dorm as to what the hell it was that he was trying to say. I was like a whatever class,.... meh.. I got a good grade and I didn't do all the readings... would I take him again? Probably not.
Lectures were dry and boring. Yep, I said it. He never states an "opinion" and is very ambivalent as to what his point is. It was only until two-third into the course that I had an epiphany in my dorm as to what the hell it was that he was trying to say. I was like a whatever class,.... meh.. I got a good grade and I didn't do all the readings... would I take him again? Probably not.
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Spring 2023 - the professor was a bit confusing and it was a bit hard to do the assignments because her lack of clarity. the TAs themselves repeatedly said multiple times that they felt lost as well. we had 2-3 page papers due every other week in which we had to analyze the assigned readings and create an argument based on them. our final was a project that could be creative or written. i did a paper, which had to be at least 7 pages, on a popular media (film, song, author, etc.), and discuss it within the framework of three major themes we learned about in class (ie gender roles, social class). the assignments weren't graded harshly, which was the only saving grace for this class (shoutout to ta gabby, she was great).
Spring 2023 - the professor was a bit confusing and it was a bit hard to do the assignments because her lack of clarity. the TAs themselves repeatedly said multiple times that they felt lost as well. we had 2-3 page papers due every other week in which we had to analyze the assigned readings and create an argument based on them. our final was a project that could be creative or written. i did a paper, which had to be at least 7 pages, on a popular media (film, song, author, etc.), and discuss it within the framework of three major themes we learned about in class (ie gender roles, social class). the assignments weren't graded harshly, which was the only saving grace for this class (shoutout to ta gabby, she was great).
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - I honestly do not know what to make of this professor. She went from my least favorite, to my absolute favorite, and back to my least favorite in the span of one quarter. On the first day of class, she literally said “this quarter you will have to read six books. I went a little soft on you because I usually assign nine books.” In what world is six books EASY?? She regularly assigned 100+ pages of reading in a week and, before the TA strike and protests on campus, she had way too many assignments. When the protests and strike occurred, she was so accommodating and understanding at first, and then she flipped a switch. I’ll get into it later, but to sum it up, she gave me whiplash. Here’s the grading breakdown of this course: DISCUSSION POSTS: 20% of your grade. There are 10 discussion posts throughout the whole quarter, so one discussion post per week. Anywhere from 200-300 words per post. POSITION PAPERS: 20% of your grade. There are 2 position papers, both were supposed to be due in May. HOWEVER, due to the TA strike and protests, professor canceled these two assignments. MIDTERM: 20% of your grade. Due to the protests, there were 3 different midterms you could take. 2 were exams and 1 was a paper. In future classes, she will probably just have it be a short answer and essay exam, as she originally planned. FINAL: 30% of your grade. This was a final paper. PARTICIPATION GRADE: 10% of your grade. This was your discussion section grade. Within our discussion sections, we were assigned a quiz every other week, participation in the section, and attendance. HOWEVER, the quizzes for sections got canceled once again due to the protests. As mentioned, Professor was originally very accommodating when the protests and strikes happened. She canceled our position papers, our discussion section quizzes, gave us easier midterm exams, and basically canceled class for the rest of the quarter in solidarity. So, what was the issue? The issue was the final paper. Before the strike was called, some TAs did not finish grading midterms. Professor sent out an email that said “if you are happy with your midterm grade, then you are excused from the final. If your TA did not grade the midterm, then you have no choice but to take the final.” In other words, she told us that some of us had to do the final and some of us did not. It was literally luck of the draw: if you happened to be in a class where the TA had finished grading, you were good! But if the grading was not done, the student got punished for it. Naturally, Professor got a lot of emails saying that this was unfair (cause it was) and she eventually sent out an email that basically said “okay now the final is optional for everyone BUT DON’T FORGET that I canceled the position papers, so you should be thankful.” LIKE??? I do not understand how she sent out that email without seeing ANYTHING wrong with it. The entire class was annoyed with her, and the TAs seemed over her too. In my opinion, I think that the she wanted the students to be against our TAs and force them to grade our work, but it clearly did not work in her favor. If she was so upset about our midterms not being graded, she should’ve done it herself instead of trying to make the TAs cross the picket line. The class itself is fine. I actually really enjoyed the content. I would take this class again, but not with this professor. Avoid this professor, if not for her attitude, then for her workload.
Spring 2024 - I honestly do not know what to make of this professor. She went from my least favorite, to my absolute favorite, and back to my least favorite in the span of one quarter. On the first day of class, she literally said “this quarter you will have to read six books. I went a little soft on you because I usually assign nine books.” In what world is six books EASY?? She regularly assigned 100+ pages of reading in a week and, before the TA strike and protests on campus, she had way too many assignments. When the protests and strike occurred, she was so accommodating and understanding at first, and then she flipped a switch. I’ll get into it later, but to sum it up, she gave me whiplash. Here’s the grading breakdown of this course: DISCUSSION POSTS: 20% of your grade. There are 10 discussion posts throughout the whole quarter, so one discussion post per week. Anywhere from 200-300 words per post. POSITION PAPERS: 20% of your grade. There are 2 position papers, both were supposed to be due in May. HOWEVER, due to the TA strike and protests, professor canceled these two assignments. MIDTERM: 20% of your grade. Due to the protests, there were 3 different midterms you could take. 2 were exams and 1 was a paper. In future classes, she will probably just have it be a short answer and essay exam, as she originally planned. FINAL: 30% of your grade. This was a final paper. PARTICIPATION GRADE: 10% of your grade. This was your discussion section grade. Within our discussion sections, we were assigned a quiz every other week, participation in the section, and attendance. HOWEVER, the quizzes for sections got canceled once again due to the protests. As mentioned, Professor was originally very accommodating when the protests and strikes happened. She canceled our position papers, our discussion section quizzes, gave us easier midterm exams, and basically canceled class for the rest of the quarter in solidarity. So, what was the issue? The issue was the final paper. Before the strike was called, some TAs did not finish grading midterms. Professor sent out an email that said “if you are happy with your midterm grade, then you are excused from the final. If your TA did not grade the midterm, then you have no choice but to take the final.” In other words, she told us that some of us had to do the final and some of us did not. It was literally luck of the draw: if you happened to be in a class where the TA had finished grading, you were good! But if the grading was not done, the student got punished for it. Naturally, Professor got a lot of emails saying that this was unfair (cause it was) and she eventually sent out an email that basically said “okay now the final is optional for everyone BUT DON’T FORGET that I canceled the position papers, so you should be thankful.” LIKE??? I do not understand how she sent out that email without seeing ANYTHING wrong with it. The entire class was annoyed with her, and the TAs seemed over her too. In my opinion, I think that the she wanted the students to be against our TAs and force them to grade our work, but it clearly did not work in her favor. If she was so upset about our midterms not being graded, she should’ve done it herself instead of trying to make the TAs cross the picket line. The class itself is fine. I actually really enjoyed the content. I would take this class again, but not with this professor. Avoid this professor, if not for her attitude, then for her workload.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - This class is overall pretty easy given that you receive an extra credit opportunity for every paper you turn in. Ex: the first exam may involve 3 mini-essays with 50 points each, and there's an extra credit question worth 50 points. So. you can see how just doing the extra credit can put you way ahead of the curve. I only went to 2 lectures in person, but Professor Macias records his lectures. But to be honest, you only really need to look at his slides then read to get an A on an essay. Your TA grades your papers and they were all pretty accommodating. The class gets easier as time goes by: the first exam had 3 mandatory questions, the second one had 2, and the third had 1 (all still having the 50-point extra credit question).
Spring 2022 - This class is overall pretty easy given that you receive an extra credit opportunity for every paper you turn in. Ex: the first exam may involve 3 mini-essays with 50 points each, and there's an extra credit question worth 50 points. So. you can see how just doing the extra credit can put you way ahead of the curve. I only went to 2 lectures in person, but Professor Macias records his lectures. But to be honest, you only really need to look at his slides then read to get an A on an essay. Your TA grades your papers and they were all pretty accommodating. The class gets easier as time goes by: the first exam had 3 mandatory questions, the second one had 2, and the third had 1 (all still having the 50-point extra credit question).
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