Noit Banai

I was very pleased with this course. Initially I was resentful because I had already taken a course in art humanities at another institution. The first two weeks were boring, but then I really began to enjoy myself! Ms. Banai's teaching style is engaging and her lectures are easy to take yet stimulating. Though she keeps the coursework to a minimum, there are ample opportunities for interested students to immerse themselves in the material. Many of the course readings, both required and optional, offer a nice prompt for other humanites/philosophy/literature courses.

I absolutely adored this class. I entered this class with the utmost of dread as I have no background in art history whatsoever. I couldn't tell a Rembrandt from a Raphael and prior to this class, I hadn't even heard of Bruegel! Noit is obviously well-versed in the subject area. She encourages class participation (it's about 20% of your grade), thoughfully written response papers (it's worthwhile to devote some time to them), and a good grasp on the basic issues. I came to love the class and was even willing to do outside reading to gain an even broader understanding of the material we were studying in class. Oh, you also become a regular at the Met as you need to go often to see the works you are going to write on. All in all, Noit and Art History mesh...and so will you and this class if you approach it with an open mind and a somewhat desire to learn.

Noit is a pretty good teacher, and she expects her students to be good students - this means that she pushes class participation, which leads to a lot of time spent listening to bs. The course isn't very hard, but she really does want everyone to know the stuff. It's pretty obvious what she likes and what she doesn't, both in terms of how much time you spend on stuff and how much she knows and can impart about it. She has a habit of making snide comments to people who come in late, and personal contact with her is otherwise... well, kinda odd. She's very all business, never any friendly chat. I can't honestly say that I loved her class or that I learned much, but you could do a lot worse for an art hum teacher.

A good teacher overall. She knows her stuff and will write tons of comments on your papers. Fair grader but not easy by any means to do well. expect lots of memorization for the midterm and final. Participation counts too and you better do it or she might get ticked off at you.

Minimal- quality over quantity. I learned alot, though.

3 response papers (2 pages), 1 class presentation, midterm, final--do not wait till the last minute. As long as you keep up throughout the semester, you will have NO trouble with the midterm and final.

6 2 pg papers, which she expects to be both well-written and insightful. Midterm and final are pretty predictable, but you may not feel prepared to answer the questions even if you can guess what they'll be. Grading is on the tough side but not so bad.

4 papers, 10 pages in all, midterm, final.