HIEU 2061

This course was not good. Professor Kershaw is very knowledgeable but his lectures are not coherent. He jumps between time periods and speaks very quickly so it is very hard to keep up. He also spends half of the class repeating his previous lectures and showing images of artifacts. His office hours are by appointment by 5 pm the day before, and he did not answer questions during class. This made getting help from him very hard if you did not have time to stay after class. The readings are ridiculously long. I am not sure if this is unique to this semester, but the readings fell out of synch with the lectures. This made the 50-page primary sources very confusing because there was little context. The TA Nadav poorly conducted the discussions. After students spoke there was little response and there was a lack of clarity on the importance of the readings. Your grade consists of 2 papers, a midterm, and a final exam. The exams are 1/2 identifying/giving the significance of obscure quotes from the primary sources. The other half is an essay. This class had so much potential but fell extremely short of my expectations.

Professor Kershaw is a knowledgeable and well-meant instructor. However, his class and the TA, Nadav, was less than satisfactory. Instead of the two exams, two essays, and discussion factoring into the grade, Kershaw scrapped exams in favor of three papers. Because the papers required an analysis of the primary sources provided in a massive course pack, the lectures became irrelevant. After the midpoint of the course, I stopped watching them, solely focusing on reading the content in preparation for discussion. Discussions met once a week over Zoom. The TA, Nadav Zadoyka, led these discussions and, unfortunately, did a poor job facilitating discussions. Despite doing well and earning an "A" in the discussion section, I feared talking because if I were wrong with any of my points, he would bluntly and quickly let you know. There was no constructive criticism on papers, along with the harsh grading for no necessary reason. I earned a "B+" in the class but would have earned an "A-" or higher with a normal History Department TA. If you are not deeply interested in early Europe, do NOT take this class, and do NOT take HIEU 3141 in the Spring, as there is the same combination. Take a class with a better TA or professor who will not intimidate you and motivate you to do better. I know Nadav tried his best, but he failed because he could not utilize positive reinforcement with students, which could have helped lighten the mood and enhanced the weekly discussions.

This course was particularly affected by COVID, causing Professor Kershaw to scrap the exams and replace them with essays. The only grades in the class were three essays and discussion participation. Participation is not too difficult as long as you read the texts thoroughly (and let me say that while a few texts are not super exciting, others were more interesting, e.g. the Waltharius). The class was also set back by the asynchronous lectures which distanced the class from Professor Kershaw. He seemed like a very intelligent and kind professor, but I never had a chance to speak with him. Unfortunately the content of the lectures did not end up serving much purpose since the essays were based entirely upon the texts, but it was certainly relevant to the texts. I assume the lectures would have been much more important if we had exams. The TA Nadav was admittedly not the best as he did not stimulate discussion very well, but the discussions still seemed fairly fruitful (granted, these discussions were over Zoom). I will say that the essays helped improved my writing. #tCF2020

I took this class as a first year due to a recommendation from a friend who had also taken it first semester first year. It was definitely more work than I expected and required a lot more weely effort than most of my other classes. Kershaw is a very knowledgeable lecturer but has a tendency to lecture on topics all over the place, which can make it difficult to recognize what to take notes on during lecture. He speaks quickly, so your best bet is to try to write in as much detail as possible, because the midterm and final will include terms from a list on his website that were terms mentioned in lecture. Your notes will also help you when it comes time to write the essays: there are 5 opportunities to write them over the course of the semester, and you have to write at least two (with the option of writing three and your TA will only take the top two grades). On Kershaw's website it says the essay topics will be released giving you two weeks to write each one, but in reality, by the time the essay topic came out, the due date was a week away so you pretty much had to spend a lot of time writing over that weekend to finish the 5/6 page essay. Because of the short time to write each essay, it's important to start writing them early in the semester otherwise you'll find yourself writing one a week towards the end, and you won't receive your grade from your last essay before writing your next one. Besides essay writing, the majority of work goes into preparing for discussion, since you'll read around 600 pages of medieval European text over the course of the semester. I spent a lot of time on those readings so I could contribute to discussion, but also so that I knew the readings pretty well going into the midterm and final, because besides defining terms, on the exams you have to be able to identify passages taken directly from the primary sources you have read. This includes identifying the title of the text, when it was written, its author, and the significance, which can seem difficult but luckily the exams are not cumulative. Also, everything is weighted equally in the class (20% for the midterm, final, participation, essay 1 and essay 2), so as long as you start putting in the work early, an A is doable. You just have to decide if you want to put in the time and effort to get an A.

Professor Kershaw was easily one of my favorite professors. He has a British accent that makes lectures much more interesting and he is extremely enthusiastic about the topics. Overall, the class itself was not too difficult but it definitely requires a lot of effort. You are required to write 2 essays and there are 5 opportunities. You can write up to 3 essays and they grade the 2 highest essays. In addition to this, there are 2 exams, the midterm and the final and both are 50 minutes. The other portion of your grade will be the discussion and that requires a lot of work because you constantly need to be engaged and knowledgeable. Advice for anyone who takes this class, prepare for discussions and be involved even if you are scared, it's necessary. Go to office hours and study your notes from class because they will help you with essays and discussions.

This course is excellent. It also falls short of its potential. More on that later. The course is a survey of European history from late Antiquity/early Middle Ages to the late Middle Ages/early Modernity (~1000 years). More emphasis is definitely placed on the earlier stuff than on the later stuff. Kershaw is very knowledgable, very articulate, and British. He is also frustratingly disorganized. He lectures very quickly and his lectures lack coherent structure. In fact, he spends most of each lecture wrapping up the topic from the previous lecture, and only at the very end of a lecture does he get to the new material. This makes for a disappointing, if still enjoyable, experience in lecture. Drew is hands-down my favorite TA I've had in all my time at UVA. He is smart, organized, and chill. He's a bro, really. His discussion sections are relaxed and insightful. He also lectured a couple of times in place of Kershaw - while he has the potential to be a good lecturer, he was often forced to catch up on the material after Kershaw had fallen behind and, as a result, Drew would have to skip over a great deal of material. The work load in this course is very manageable. There is a midterm exam and a final exam - neither of which are cumulative. Each exam has two sections - IDs (~25%) and passage IDs (~75%). The passage IDs come from the primary sources. While you are supposed to read both primary and secondary readings for each week's discussion section, it is most important that you focus on the primary sources. Not only are these important for the exams, but they are the foundations of the papers that you write. There are four opportunities to write papers, and you have to write two. You also can write more than two and only your best two grades will be counted. The last segment of your grade is participation, which comes less from attendance at lecture and more from your preparation/attendance/participation in discussion. I really enjoyed this course and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in medieval Europe. This being said, know that there is potential for disappointment, for great as this course is, there is room for improvement.

I absolutely loved this class...I had no clue I was interested in history until I took it. Professor Kershaw is a GREAT professor; very animated and enthusiastic, as well as extremely knowledgable (and has a British accent). He was able to thoroughly explain the complex histories of the pre-Middle Ages and Middle Ages, a lot of which I hadn't previously learned about it any history class. Make sure you go to every lecture and take detailed notes. There is no 'textbook' for this class, only a course book that has readings for each discussion section. So, all of the information Kershaw says in class is basically the only way info is provided; the section readings are sources and documents, mostly an enforcement for what was learned in lecture. The two papers, midterm, and final were manageable and fairly graded; not much homework except for the weekly section reading (meaning you learn a lot each lecture). My TA, Drew Sorber, was also excellent, very knowledgeable, and made section easy to get through. Highly recommend this class!

Don't take this class if you don't care about ancient history. More than anything, this will effect your grade. Overall, the class isn't that hard but if you don't find the topic interesting you won't want to do the work. The midterm and final are relatively easy if you come to lecture easily and go to discussion to fill in the gaps. I recommend you get Courtney as your TA. You have to write 4 short papers on the discussion reading that your TA will grade but other than that the class isn't all that much work because the lecture readings are not necessary.

Kershaw made for an excellent lecturer, but that's really all he did as the TA's run the discussion portion of the class. The material itself was particularly interesting, but difficult to understand at times. What was nice is that the topics that were discussed in the discussion section of the class were fairly intriguing, which kept it fresh. Good class overall, even if it required a decent amount of work.

Kershaw is one of, if not the most entertaining lecturers at the university, hands down. That being said, most of the primary sources for this class are pretty dull and difficult to sit through. The time period and complimentary textbook readings, however, are interesting and bring the class to life. The class itself is not difficult and the participation/paper grades will balance your grade if you demonstrate some interest in the course to your TA. Sorber is a great TA.

DO NOT be fooled by the good reviews of this class. I would imagine the only people who would like this class are people who LOVE European History and know a decent amount already so they aren't bothered by all Kershaw leaves out and how much he skips around. He is an entertaining lecturer, I'll give him that. But this class is ridiculous. It is far too difficult for the level of class it is. This isn't because I don't like hard classes, I do, but this class was impossible because of the expectations. For papers you are expected to answer one simple question with a very detailed and specific answer that Kershaw wants, but you have no idea what he wants from the question. Same is true for the exams. Very knit picky. Far too much reading that is too spread out. Kershaw's lectures are ALL over the place. Each class has a slideshow of about 60 slides filled with text. You have no idea what is important and whats not. I really wanted to like this class, but I wish I'd dropped it when I had the chance. Kershaw is also condescending and stuck up in person. I'll do fine in this class mainly because I worked my ass off, but its just a ridiculous class and the expectations are way too unreasonable. Also, do the papers EARLY cause they creep up on you and you find yourself needing to write on weekly at the end of the semester if you're not careful.

worst class ever, i hate my life

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE NOT EXTREMELY INTERESTED IN EUROPEAN HISTORY. I took this class to get a requirement out of the way and completely regret it. It is extremely boring in the lectures and impossible to follow- Kershaw talks extremely fast, using vague themes & jumps back and forth between topics making taking hand-written notes almost impossible. Discussions are hard to participate in if you do not completely understand the readings, which are EXTENSIVE each week. Primary sources that are hard to follow and require a lot of concentration to get through.

This class was definitely a challenge at first, but got easier throughout the semester. You have to interpret difficult primary sources and write 4-5 page papers on them (four throughout the semester). The grading is done by TAs. I had D.H. Dilbeck- I highly recommend him! The midterm and final are all about memorizing a list of about 35-40 terms and being able to write their importance on the exam. The exams also include passage IDs that are fairly easy on the midterm, but get a little tricky for the final. The final also has an added medium length essay that is not too difficult if you study. Overall, this class is worth taking if you have somewhat of an interest in European history.

You have to be really interested in early European History to take this class. It covers the mainly the Middle Ages (roughly from 200 - 1200 AD). Lectures are very random and jump around a lot. Profesor Kershaw is extremely funny and personable, but it is very difficult to follow along during discussion. Halfway through the semester, he banned laptops from the lecture hall, which made it difficult to take notes. You have to write 2 essays per semester, which aren't too bad, but require you to analyze an extreme amount of reading for the week.

Professor Kershaw is the best! He's very interactive and funny, especially during his lectures and his accent and humor makes the lectures more interesting. On the other hand, his lectures can sometimes be a bit random or not pertain to the material on the exam. The lectures also become difficult to sit through as the year progresses. You need to write 4 papers total (2 before the midterm). Those are the worst part (along with the amount of reading) because you're expected to do quite a bit of reading a week and then contribute to discussion. I'd recommend it though because it's still a good class.

I love love love the class! Definitely my favorite class during this semester, being a pre-comm student. Kershaw really enjoys teaching it, so you're more likely to listen yourself. He makes jokes and tries to portray the subject as interesting as possible. I would recommend some interest in history though, because there are 4 essays required throughout the semester.
I definitely encourage everyone to take it!

Kershaw is a very enthusiastic, knowledgeable lecturer and he makes sometimes tedious topics interesting. There's a lot of reading and four papers due over the semester, but it is definitely manageable. If you like European history, I'd recommend this class.

This class was well taught and Kershaw was clearly very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about what he was teaching. There were 3 papers due throughout the course and they weren't too hard. The midterms and final require a bit of memorization, but nothing cramming can't solve.

I really loved this class. The lectures can take some getting used to because he jumps around a lot, but if you keep up with the reading, he's easy to follow.

Exceptional class...Kershaw is a great lecturer, but it helps to sit in the first few rows so that you can fully understand his accent...the reading is heavy and sometimes boring, but it pays off and needs to be done in order to succeed on the exams.

Professor Kershaw is such a dynamic and engaging lecturer! I have never paid attention more in a class. Also, his british accent is awesome, especially when you're learning about European history. Plus, his enthusiasm is contagious and you learn so so much.

Kershaw is an awesome lecturer and really entertaining, with an incredible knowledge of the course material. This is important when some of the typically less interesting material comes up. Kershaw discusses with passion and converys the material logically and chronologically. TLDR: great professor/lecturer, interesting material, take it. 4 papers, midterm, final

professor kershaw is AMAZING, easily the best lecturer i've had at uva. the class is not a guaranteed a, but was so enjoyable. armin is a great ta, he was really helpful with papers and would read drafts and comment on them before they were due which really helped

Even if this part of history isn't particularly of interest to you, I'd still recommend the class. Kershaw is a great lecturer and very enthusiastic about his work. You have to write four papers during the semester with the option of writing a fifth to replace the lowest grade. You get to pick when you'd like to turn in each paper. Topics for each week of reading are posted at the beginning of the semester and you can pick when you'd like to write a paper based on your interest in the readings or how busy you're going to be. Rhonda is a great TA; her grading is very fair and she's really knowledgeable (especially about war) and helpful. Having great paper grades and discussion participation is more important than the midterm grade.

Kershaw looks nice but actually not, he is very anal about his policies and papers, if you go to his office hour, sometime his talk shows he does not so respect his students.

This class is very enjoyable, Professor Kershaw is very passionate about what he teaches and that makes the subject material more interesting and slightly easier to learn.

This class was very entertaining. However, Professor Kershaw's lectures were very scattered. You had to do the reading each week because you have to write 5 papers throughout the semester. Emily will help you with your papers if you go to office hours.

Great class, and pretty straight forward.

Kershaw is enthusiastic, and the course itself is a pretty good survey of the Middle Ages. I wish there had been more focus on the Islamic world, but can understand why northwestern Europe was emphasized so much. Armin is a great T.A. and encourages in-depth analysis of the material.

I heard great things going in but this class didn't meet my expectations. Kershaw didn't present any new info, just summarized what was in the book. TA lectured at us and didn't lead discussion effectively. I was disappointed with this class, but managed to get a good grade despite that.

my TA was alright, very knowledgeable but not really very good with people. the class was enjoyable enough but they held the work and papers to a standard that doesn't really fit a 2000 level course.

Armin was a good TA, graded difficult on the papers. Midterm isn't too bad, final is more difficult. Lectures are interesting, Kershaw is an amazing lecturer.

4 papers required though none of them are too difficult, midterm and final both relatively straightforward.

Kershaw at first seems really enthusiastic but the lectures are in fact a bore. Be sure to do the primary source readings because they're what you write essays on (4 in total, ~4 pages each), discussion questions that are due every week and are tested on in the Midterm and Final. I enjoyed the class overall and would definitely recommend it especially if you need the class to fulfill your history major requirement. Participate in discussion as well. Kershaw thinks it's really important and therefore it's a big part of your grade. Emily is a great T.A. if she's still teaching!

Kershaw is a very engaging Professor, but like with most history classes do not take The Birth of Europe unless you want to read or write. Both are important components of the class, this includes four essays of four pages each with an option to write a fifth. The Midterm and final are not too difficult but require a good understanding of the material including the primary source readings. Armin is a fantastic TA, although his German accent might be a bit intimidating at first he is incredibly intelligent and very helpful!

The class is enjoyable and Kershaw is a great teacher.

This class was really interesting because Kershaw was amazing. The work is very manageable. There are 4 essays with an optional 5th one if you want to improve, then a midterm, and final. The reading is not bad and very interesting.

When I first was in this class I was really intimated because of the amount of readings that were assigned. But in actuality you don't have to read them thoroughly in order to do well on tests as the T.A's go over them well in discussion! (Try to get John Terry, he is hilarious and makes discussing interesting and is a fair grader). Readings don't even correspond to the lecture, but lectures are good anyways for background information for the essays. Also, listening to Kershaw is always a fun time because he is so enthusiastic. There is a Midterm, Final (both graded fairly easily since they are vocab and short essay but you get a list of possible questions before the exams!!), and 4 Essays (graded more difficultly since you get a lot of time to do them). Get into small study groups for the exams and this will take a load off while studying. This is the only History class I've taken at UVA, I had no background of the Middle Ages beforehand, skimmed through the readings and still pulled an A-. Definitely Recommended.

Kershaw is absolutely amazing. He is an enthusiastic lecturer (he NEVER stops moving). He's really funny. He loves his topic, and he really enjoys teaching and talking to students. You cannot go wrong by taking his class. It does require a fair amount of effort and you MUST go to lecture and discussion if you want an A. 1 midterm 1 final and 4-5 papers each about 4-5 pages long. John Terry is a great TA and a fair grader (take him if you can).

This was a great class! There's not a huge amount of work, but you still learn a ton. Kershaw is a very engaging lecturer. If you can, get John Terry as a TA--he's enthusiastic and really cares about how you're doing in the class.