Youth Voices on Lockdown · African-American Studies
Tongo Eisen-Martin is a stunning disappointment. Worst professor I have ever had. I agree wholly with the other reviewer, who was in the same class as I was.
You're assigned into a group of three for the semester and work on all assignments in that group. You have to design two lesson plans and write about 10-15pps for an anthology of the students writing. The toll this class takes is more emotional than physical/mental.
Heavy-ish reading (sometimes a novel a week), discussion posts, 2 5-pg essays
Easy, great readings, one big essay but you have tons of time to do it.
10+ reading assignments each week, which often overlapped and taught no new information. 7 2 page diary entries not graded. 1 presentation not graded. 3 Vital essays--essays based on videos. The videos were home videos Dr. Humphries recorded of other lectures, including one video of a professor reading word-for-word her academic essay that we had already read. 1 research paper on a topic of your choice (10 pgs) worth 50% of your grade.
Virtually nothing--just wake up at 6 AM on Fridays to go into Riker's and stand in line for 4 hours, maybe walking into class for 2 minutes. Weekly brief write-ups on classes you teach, if you do, and a short final paper. Grading appears to be arbitrary or based on personal preference.
To call this a class/course may be missing the point entirely. This was an experience that I will never forget and unfortunately it's the only one of its kind at Columbia (or any other university to my knowledge). For six weeks, the twelve people in the course got to conduct teaching workshops with incarcerated youth on Rikers at Island Academy. You do not have to be an Af-Am major (I wasn't), but some exposure/awareness about the prison industrial complex is useful. The first six weeks are spent on campus reading interesting material about the p.i.c., and preparing the lesson plans for the workshops. Plan on dedicating your Friday's to this class - a seemingly arduous demand here. This is an emotionally charged experience that takes you out of your comfort-zone as a college student. Prof. Alfred's dedication and insight is truly inspiring, and even though he won't be teaching it again, I strongly recommend this class to anyone who wants to challenge themselves beyond the narrow confines of academia.
Prof. Blount is a wonderful professor and this class was a wonderful class. It's obvious that Prof. Blount invested a lot in our class, from his very thoughtful, purposeful, engaging syllabus, to his always-brilliant lecture notes, to organizing class trips (free trip to a show, free trip to a movie!), to bringing in speakers, to giving us snacks and ordering us dinner. Many profs will give a lecture and leave the room or will let students run the class, but Blount consistently demonstrated his interest and care for each member of the class. He also did a good job of balancing his expertise on the material and students' desire to offer their own thoughts and opinions: each class was a mixture of lecture, student presentation, and discussion of the texts. This was useful because there was always so much to cover and most students had a lot to say--our discussions needed framing and structure and he facilitated them well. Take this class if your are interested in Af-Am Studies, Gender Studies, American literature, or even just confused/angry/curious about portrayals of black men in the media. You'll learn so much in a dynamic environment with a expert professor who loves the material.
Zoe was the best professor I've had at Columbia. She's a great lecturer and actually can talk about history and historical themes and writers and artists in a really provocative and interesting way. Her seminar was great because there was just the right amount of student participation (read: nobody had to talk too much if they didn't have good stuff to say!). I loved her and would take another class of hers if I could. She makes her self really available outside of class and on email, and is internet-savy so we used facebook and had all the readings posted online.
Dr. Humphries made this the worst course I have taken at Columbia--ever. The readings were interesting, but the syllabus was cluttered and readings almost never related to one another. Dr. Humphries was a horror. She fostered a decidedly hostile environment in the classroom. Stay away! I got an A in the class but getting through each 2 hour seminar was treacherous.