Reviews for ANTH240

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Paul Shackel ANTH240 Expecting an A fiftyseven 05/21/2023	As the other reviews say, this is a super chill class. There's barely any work at all - 2 assignments near the end of the semester, and light ones at that. Shackel himself is a pretty good lecturer, though a bit monotone at times. He's open to random questions and is happy to go back if you find he's going too fast. He very clearly cares about his work, which you can see especially in a few sections of his teaching. The only real "downside" is that attendance is effectively mandatory, though you can get away with missing some if necessary. This is due to the exams being largely trivia taken from the lectures, which he doesn't post anywhere - his reasoning being that he wants people to come to class, which, while fair tbh, is annoying. The exams themselves are really easy though, they're online and open-note, so if you took notes (basically mandatory as a result) they're just a matter of looking through your notes and putting the answer down.
Paul Shackel ANTH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/28/2023	Literally the easiest gen ed of all time, just show up to lecture and write down what he's saying and you'll be fine. Unfortunately he's pretty boring and doesn't post slides so you have to go to lecture, which sucks but worth it for how unbelievably easy this class is. Exams are straightforward since they are open-note, just use control F on your notes. Not sure how it is with other professors but with Shackel it's so easy. Take this class with Shackel. No reading necessary, just a couple assignments not over 500 words.
Paul Shackel ANTH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/19/2023	Gives hardly any work. Just go to lecture and take notes and you'll get 100% on the at home, asynchronous tests. His slides are okay to read but he's very repetitive, feels like he took the worst notes possible on the textbook and is presenting them to you. He can't pronounce a single thing that's not European, makes you wonder how much he knows about those topics.
Mark Leone ANTH240 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/05/2023	great professor terrible TAs and connection between discussions/quizzes and actual lecture and exams
Mark Leone ANTH240 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/15/2022	Professor Leone is a fine professor who clearly knows what he is teaching, the man is old school and has had a hell of a career in the anthropology field. However, I took this INTRO course as a gen ed requirement and the UTAs made it feel like anything but that. The "leader" UTA was Adam, and god this guy sucked and was the most unorganized and unprofessional person. Nobody knew what they were doing, or learning and would have to do hours of bullshit research for a 5 question weekly quiz. Half that stuff wasn't even taught in the class. Do not take this course, it was one of the worst mistakes in my college career. I don't think Professor Leone knew much about how the UTAs ran this course, but god it was awful
Stephen Brighton ANTH240 Anonymous 05/17/2022	Not a bad professor, but a really bad class. They don't grade anything. Tomorrow is the last day of exams and there is not a single grade put in elms. Grade is dependent upon 10 quizzes (10%) and 3 exams (90%). The lecture slides provide little to no information and classes are not recorded so if you miss any you're pretty much screwed, although he is pretty understanding about covid. Dr. Brighton is not a bad lecturer, but the class is so lecture heavy it can be hard to keep up and write down information when he goes on tangents. The questions on exams are extremely specific and it often feels like one of those classes that cares more about how much you memorize than how much you actually learned. The class average for the 2nd exam was around a 62 so proceed with caution.
Kevin Gibbons ANTH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/21/2021	Professor Gibbons is awesome. He is the most woke professor I have met on campus. He keeps class very engaging and interesting. He just seems like a great guy in and out of the classroom.
Kevin Gibbons ANTH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2021	Professor Gibbons is seriously all you could ask for in a professor. He knows his stuff, is very self-aware, and is kind and understanding of student concerns. His assignments in ANTH240 include a lot of reading and writing, but his grading is very content-focused, so you won't get points off if you don't have the perfect essay structure. If you need a diversity studies requirement or are just interested in archaeology, I highly recommend Gibbons' class.
Kevin Gibbons ANTH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/07/2021	Great professor and a great guy - I want to have a beer with him. An A is easily attainable if you pay attention in class, do your assignments on time, etc. Concerning the coursework, the content was always engaging and, even at times, enjoyable.
Mark Leone ANTH240 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/29/2020	The class itself and the material was very interesting. Professor Leone was a little boring though, the class is only 50 minutes so its not bad but since he talks really slow and monotoned its kind of boring. You don't really need to go to class because he posts lecture notes that the TA's write up and he also posts the lectures online so if you watch those lectures, read the lecture notes, and read the assigned readings the class is super easy.
Adam Fracchia ANTH240 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/14/2019	Lectures are kind of sleep-inducing and slides are a little vague but the class is pretty easy and he's very lenient. Exams can be a little tough if you don't prepare properly.
Stephen Brighton ANTH240 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2019	this man is really funny and he is very respectful and wants his students to learn and understand the material, which isn't that difficult by the way. it's mostly memorization, but the tests were really easy, however this may be because the TA made the tests pretty easy. my TA was madeline laub, if that is your TA as well then i heavily recommend you stay in this class. it really isn't that hard of a class, and i SUCK at gen eds.
Daniel Contreras ANTH240 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/22/2018	He is okay as a professor. Pretty hard quiz and exam questions...his lectures are interesting for some, sleep-inducing for others. He tries not to curve.
Mark Leone ANTH240 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/15/2018	This class is interesting and his lectures are pretty great. He doesn't have slides or write much down, but the TAs take notes for the class, and the lectures are recorded. It's an easy A if you try at all.
Mark Leone ANTH240 Anonymous 01/04/2016	Class is easy, you don't need to go to class but I think that he could make class more interesting to those that actually have a passion of Archaeology. All you have to do is read and write papers. You'll have worksheets that are simple, and will have three exams, essay form. But I think that something is missing. It is hard to follow him in lecture.
Stephen Brighton ANTH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/11/2015	Professor Brighton is one of the best professors I have had at UMD. He is a very fun and approachable guy who will do as much as he can for you. He made the dull material in intro to archaeology bearable. His class is very easy to begin with. You don't have to go to class to succeed in this class, but I found him very entertaining and I went to every class. Highly suggest this prof.
Stephen Brighton ANTH240 Expecting a B- Reactionist 12/06/2011	Boring lecture and even much boring discussion. If you want to get easy CORE credit, you should wait for Prof. Palus to teach this class. He is a boring lecturer too, but he is surprisingly generous and easier.
Stephen Brighton ANTH240 Expecting an A+ collegestudent 05/24/2011	I loved Professor Brighton he was a really nice guy and if you had any questions he would give you great answers. It was seriously an Easy A I got a 100 and a 96 on the two midterm exams. You have three tests including the final two short lab papers and like 5 quizzes His slides do kind of suck though they don't really have much content they have a lot of photos but if you write down what he talks about you should be fine. If you bought the book that helped too.
Stephen Brighton ANTH240 jamgord 05/04/2010	Stephen Brighton is a really nice, approachable guy. He definitely knows the material he is covering, which is good if you have any specific questions that go beyond the info from lectures. The weekly quizzes in discussion are pretty easy, and the tests for our semester were in essay form. For the essays, you need to memorize specific people or examples so you won't get points taken off for being too vague. I love all of his little jokes and short side-stories that relate to the topic in class. He does go through his powerpoint fairly quickly, (but he is thorough,) and that means you usually get out of class a few minutes early! It's not the most exciting class, but the middle section on hominid evolution is the most interesting.
Stephen Brighton ANTH240 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/30/2009	Very boring, monotone lectures. TAs are competent at best; the discussion consist mainly of milling around in the so called lab washing artifacts- that is cleaning mud from things like beer bottles and petrified feces-multiple times. Just a waste of time basically. The lectures are not posted online, and there is absoltely no point in buying in the book if you write down what he says in lecture-which brings me to his lecture style. He has a powerpoint with minimal words and a bunch of pictures, and he goes on and on about things that are sometimes not relevant, and certainly not in the book. He goes very fast, so I would suggest to bring a recorder. His exams are all objective, and non-cumulative-could be a plus based on how you look at it. In other words, the final is based solely on material covered since the last exam. The exams are extremely easy, and should require only a glance over the notes, but the class made me feel like we were more focused on memorizing facts rather than actually learning things. Avoid-or at least consider M. Palus.
Matthew Palus ANTH240 Expecting an A lharney 07/27/2009	Matt has been one of the best teachers I've had in years. He really enjoys the subject of archaeology and it shows through his passionate lectures. He teaches and tests mainly from his own curiculum so the book is only necessary for reviewing stuff you missed or didn't understand. I would highly recommend attending class and forming a relationship with this Professor because he will give you very useful feedback. In studying you need to pay close attention to slides (posted online) and class notes becausse he requires a detaied understanding. Overall, he cares about the students and wants them to enjoy what he teaches.
Mark Leone ANTH240 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2007	I was not expecting to like this class when I walked in. But his lectures are always very clear, and he makes the ties behind archeology interesting and relevant. It is important to take thorough notes, and do well on the exams, because that is his only basis for grades, and he does not post anything online. However, he is clearly intelligent with a a good sense of humor, and I wanted to go to class.