CLAS 2010

Professor JAM was such an amazing intro to classics professor. If I wasn't already decided on a major, she might have convinced me to go into the classics department purely from her extreme passion for her subject and desire to teach to the best of her abilities. Not only that, but she also had such incredible TA's. Both were extremely knowledgeable about ancient Greek/Greece, provided amazing insight, summaries, and discussions about our readings (which were extensive, but impactful), and gave interesting perspectives about both modern and ancient Greece that professor JAM would touch on in lecture. I would really recommend this course to any first year or anyone who needs an easy but comprehensive historical perspectives class.

Professor JAM was the best teacher I had in my first semester at UVA. She is a very charismatic and enthused person and made lectures very interesting, often weaving in polling questions and group activities into her classes. She is also very patient, understanding, and willing to work with students whenever they need clarification. Do be prepared to take a lot of notes though, as there is a lot of content covered, and to study well for the exams.

I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed the subject matter. The class touches on various periods throughout Ancient Greek history, from the earliest peoples up until the age of Alexander the Great. The readings assigned before each lecture are somewhat lengthy, but she does a good job of summarizing the readings during the lecture. Quizzes are held in discussion sections and are very doable if you study for them. There was technically no essay for this class, but there was a midterm and a final exam that were primarily written questions, and the final exam had an essay at the end. Participation in discussion is easy, and the TA's are both extremely knowledgeable. I would definitely recommend this class.

Dr. JAM was wonderful – she was kind and always willing to listen to her students. I came into the class with very limited knowledge of Greek culture (literature, rituals, religion, general history, etc.) and left feeling very competent. Sometimes her games in class can be a bit annoying, but they are always light-hearted and make lecture interesting. The class is very simple as long as you stay on top of the readings (you interpret Greek culture through literature, primarily). TA Nate McKay was wonderful and brought an interesting philosophical background to discussion sections. I highly recommend this class if you are interested in the complicated depths of humanity!

If you are looking for an easy A for a requirement, turn around now. I took this class expecting to fly through it based on past reviews. It was anything but easy, in fact it was my hardest class this semester. There were 5 quizzes, one of which gets dropped. They were impossible, I felt very prepared and comfortable with the readings heading in to them. My TA would just destroy me when grading them and knit pick. The formats were also horrible and we had almost no time to do the quizzes. The midterm was not bad on the other hand. There are two papers, the first of which was a critique of an essay written by chat gpt. It was graded harshly and did not reflect the effort I put into it. The second was better, it was creating a dialogue between two characters from readings around a given theme. It was graded much easier. I have not taken the final yet but I assume it will crush me.

As far as the professor goes, JAM was great. She knows her information and is very passionate about it. Lectures were engaging and interesting to follow. I only wish more of the lecture translated to the quizzes, so that it could have been easier to review.

Overall, I would not take this class unless you are passionate about ancient literature and classics. It is not an easy A class and you should look elsewhere to fulfill a requirement. #tCFF23