Alheli Alvarado-Diaz

Light. However, as a previous reviewer mentioned, there is a "lot of thinking if you're up for it."

Two essays. A take-home final where we had to relate a text to a movie. I'm not kidding.

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer. Alheli is certainly easy, but she's not "enlightening." She would spend the first ten minutes of every class reading word-for-word a summary she had written of the reading. While this was very well-written, her points were always easy and obvious to anyone who had done the reading. And if you haven't read, don't sweat it. She allows laptops in class, so the most vocal member of our section was usually reading straight off Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. For class discussions, anyone can raise their hand and offer their thoughts on the reading. She usually guides the discussion and offers some conclusion of her own. If you say something she likes, her eyes will light up and she'll smile and nod. Usually, though, she speaks in a monotone and nods silently and absentmindedly to whatever point you raise and will call on the next person, who will try to steer the discussion in an unrelated direction in an effort to score those participation points. Some tips on getting Alheli's approval: she vehemently hates organized religion. Once she started a discussion topic on the Old Testament with "Let's talk about how the Israelites completely lacked logic or reasoning abilities here." If you don't mind sacrificing your intellectual integrity to pander to a biased teacher, Alheli is the way to go. As you can see from the workload below...…

Alheli is great. I'm puzzled by the comments suggesting that she is not enthusiastic; on the contrary, she seems deeply invested in providing insightful ideas about the texts, and guiding the discussion in enlightening ways. She does an exceptional job of moderating discussion and establishing a nice balance between her own valuable analyses and encouraging discussion. I always enjoyed her brief introduction to the texts at the beginning of each class, where she brings up some of the most significant features of the reading, and sets the tone for the ensuing discussion. I especially appreciated how she structured the class so that the emphasis was simply on the ideas present in the texts. Her comments on my first essay were quite helpful, and she allows a revision for a new grade. Overall one of my best experiences with the Core.

Two 6-8 page papers, first one is submitted initially as a draft, then returned with comments to be given back a week later. A pretty large amount of reading sometimes (but nothing too crazy). Final Exam.

When I first stepped into Alheli's lack, the fact that we delve into the works without introducing ourselves made me think I was on the cusp of experiencing some really strict and [potentially] mean professor. This proved to be a false impression. Alehli is truly excellent in her own respect, and a lucky choice for any sophomore taking Contemporary Civilization. I highly recommend her for anyone taking CC. The class is a no-nonsense class. Before the class Alheli always posts handouts analyzing the themes and passages of the work on Courseworks. In the beginning Alehli starts by giving a dense 10-15 minute lecture/ discussion on the work, covering major points and themes that are relevant to the discussion. She also ties in historical information, as well as important quotes and sections from the book. We then begin usually by Alheli referring us to certain passages, and after reading them we have to participate and interpret them and tie them to other sections of the work. While I do agree sometimes everyone just seems to be giving their own opinions or interpretations of the work, Alehli does try to reconcile some of the comments of the students and give her own clarification or interpretation. Moreover, this is CC, so the fact she isn't boldly making assumptions of the works is just an indication of the profound nature of the works and the freedom for students to input thei…

Same as below: 2 papers (6-8 pages), final (no midterm), and class participation

The previous reviewer says that Prof Alvarado-Diaz is a wonderful discussion-facilitator -- I could not disagree more. Yes, it's true that she starts off every class by reading a passage. But this does not encourage productive or constructive conversation; rather, it invites the students to just throw out one comment after the next, creating a disjointed free-for-all, and she does nothing to try to bring the comments together in a coherent sort of way. Prof. Alvarado-Diaz lets the students sort of direct the class, which may have its benefits, but you leave each class with basically the same opinions and ideas on the reading that you had at the beginning. As for the papers, the grading seems basically fair, but her comments are weirdly arbitrary and hardly constructive. The prof does not convey any sort of excitement about the texts. This lack of enthusiasm creates for a rather dull class atmosphere. As for the good sides of the class, the prof is way better outside of class and seems to correct for all of her mistakes in the classroom –– she's cheery, conveys her own personal fascination with the texts and is really helpful in putting together an argument for the papers. Too bad none of this comes across in class!

mean professor. This proved to be a false impression. Alehli is truly excellent in her own respect, and a lucky choice for any sophomore taking Contemporary Civilization. I highly recommend her for anyone taking CC.\r\nThe class is a no-nonsense class. Before the class Alheli always posts handouts analyzing the themes and passages of the work on Courseworks. In the beginning Alehli starts by giving a dense 10-15 minute lecture/ discussion on the work, covering major points and themes that are relevant to the discussion. She also ties in historical information, as well as important quotes and sections from the book. We then begin usually by Alheli referring us to certain passages, and after reading them we have to participate and interpret them and tie them to other sections of the work. While I do agree sometimes everyone just seems to be giving their own opinions or interpretations of the work, Alehli does try to reconcile some of the comments of the students and give her own clarification or interpretation. Moreover, this is CC, so the fact she isn't boldly making assumptions of the works is just an indication of the profound nature of the works and the freedom for students to input their own interpretations and give their own analysis. Alheli also lets us select certain passages and quotes that we found important, and she let's us build on them and allow everyone to give th…