Professor
Natasha Piano
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - My first ever Bruinwalk review to the professor who I aspire to be like: Professor Piano is incredibly passionate about political philosophy and extremely intelligent overall. I highly recommend talking to her after class or in office hours, she's super sweet and it's helpful if you have any questions about any of the texts. Throughout the course, she was always open to input and criticism, and it's clear she applied some of the criticism from class quarter. Her enthusiam in lecture and clear passion for political theory directly led to many other students, including myself, choosing to concentrate in political theory because of her. I believe political philosophy is a field that could easily be taught in a boring way, but she teaches it in a way that goes beyond the text. She's simply an amazing teacher and you truly would be lucky to get to learn from her. My overall sentiments are that if you are willing to put in the work of actually doing the reading and paying attention in class, you will enjoy this class and get to learn a lot from Professor Piano. If you know you are not going to do the readings, then don't take this class because honestly Professor Piano deserves better than you. I don't think it's possible to overstate that what you put into this class is what you are going to get out of it. Grades are split up by participation, discussion posts (which are relatively easy if you do the reading), a midterm paper, and a final. For the midterm, I highly recommend running your ideas for the midterm with your TA beforehand. My TA, Stephen, was really chill and an easier grader than other TAs. In regards to other criticism, she does now allow laptops and starts class a few minutes late so that late people aren't interrupting (which in my opinion isn't fair to her or the students who came on time). I don't think the reviews are really fair to her with the late policy -- I know other professors who are much harsher, won't let you in the room, dock your participation, etc. Also if you have a class beforehand that's all the way on the other side of campus, just communicate that to her. Her slideshows are pretty minimal, so you do have to pay attention in class (aka the bare minimum). She doesn't record the lectures, which after hearing her explanation I understand why that's the case. She just doesn't want people to feel self-conscious about answering questions if it's recorded. If you do the reading, it won't be that hard to keep up. It only seems unorganized to the people who didn't do the reading. I loved the structure of her lectures because it allows you to truly think about and interrogate the texts. It is very helpful though to note down the signposted part at the beginning to keep track. There are times when she ends up repeating herself when trying to explain concepts but that's because she's trying to think of different ways to explain it since students who don't do the reading are confused in class and don't understand what she's talking about (obviously just, I don't know, do the readings?). The only thing I don't like about the lectures is that a lot of students kept asking dumb questions. Why are people wasting her and my time asking when the final is for over 20 minutes? People say she shows favoritism, but it's hard not to when only the same 20-30 people are consistently showing up to office hours and participating in lecture. If you do the same, you will also be one of her favorites. She never actually cold called on any one as far as I remember so you don't have to worry about that. Those who consider this class difficult or hard to keep up with clearly didn't do the reading or don't care about the class. There is a decent amount of reading, so don't take this class if you're not willing to put in the work and read the texts. If you are, you will find them incredibly interesting regardless of if you are a political science major or not. I feel bad for her because she's such a genuine professor and cares about both her students and political philosophy yet she has to deal with students who don't care and then come on bruinwalk and write bad reviews because they didn't do the reading, participate, or even pay attention.
Spring 2024 - My first ever Bruinwalk review to the professor who I aspire to be like: Professor Piano is incredibly passionate about political philosophy and extremely intelligent overall. I highly recommend talking to her after class or in office hours, she's super sweet and it's helpful if you have any questions about any of the texts. Throughout the course, she was always open to input and criticism, and it's clear she applied some of the criticism from class quarter. Her enthusiam in lecture and clear passion for political theory directly led to many other students, including myself, choosing to concentrate in political theory because of her. I believe political philosophy is a field that could easily be taught in a boring way, but she teaches it in a way that goes beyond the text. She's simply an amazing teacher and you truly would be lucky to get to learn from her. My overall sentiments are that if you are willing to put in the work of actually doing the reading and paying attention in class, you will enjoy this class and get to learn a lot from Professor Piano. If you know you are not going to do the readings, then don't take this class because honestly Professor Piano deserves better than you. I don't think it's possible to overstate that what you put into this class is what you are going to get out of it. Grades are split up by participation, discussion posts (which are relatively easy if you do the reading), a midterm paper, and a final. For the midterm, I highly recommend running your ideas for the midterm with your TA beforehand. My TA, Stephen, was really chill and an easier grader than other TAs. In regards to other criticism, she does now allow laptops and starts class a few minutes late so that late people aren't interrupting (which in my opinion isn't fair to her or the students who came on time). I don't think the reviews are really fair to her with the late policy -- I know other professors who are much harsher, won't let you in the room, dock your participation, etc. Also if you have a class beforehand that's all the way on the other side of campus, just communicate that to her. Her slideshows are pretty minimal, so you do have to pay attention in class (aka the bare minimum). She doesn't record the lectures, which after hearing her explanation I understand why that's the case. She just doesn't want people to feel self-conscious about answering questions if it's recorded. If you do the reading, it won't be that hard to keep up. It only seems unorganized to the people who didn't do the reading. I loved the structure of her lectures because it allows you to truly think about and interrogate the texts. It is very helpful though to note down the signposted part at the beginning to keep track. There are times when she ends up repeating herself when trying to explain concepts but that's because she's trying to think of different ways to explain it since students who don't do the reading are confused in class and don't understand what she's talking about (obviously just, I don't know, do the readings?). The only thing I don't like about the lectures is that a lot of students kept asking dumb questions. Why are people wasting her and my time asking when the final is for over 20 minutes? People say she shows favoritism, but it's hard not to when only the same 20-30 people are consistently showing up to office hours and participating in lecture. If you do the same, you will also be one of her favorites. She never actually cold called on any one as far as I remember so you don't have to worry about that. Those who consider this class difficult or hard to keep up with clearly didn't do the reading or don't care about the class. There is a decent amount of reading, so don't take this class if you're not willing to put in the work and read the texts. If you are, you will find them incredibly interesting regardless of if you are a political science major or not. I feel bad for her because she's such a genuine professor and cares about both her students and political philosophy yet she has to deal with students who don't care and then come on bruinwalk and write bad reviews because they didn't do the reading, participate, or even pay attention.
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