| Information | Review |
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David Sicilia
HIST136 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/21/2023 |
He is a nice person and his lectures are generally pretty easy, though his lectures are also really boring and kind of hard to actually attend. The grading goes through your TA so my only comment ab him would be the content can be boring, but he is funny. |
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David Sicilia
HIST136 Expecting a D+ Anonymous 12/19/2023 |
Great class, very engaging professor with interesting material. Discussion sections are fun too, if you do the required readings and watch the required movies which can take a little time. The assignments are weekly short essays (worth 2% of your grade each, and 250 words), group project proposal (worth 5%), group project written report (worth 10%, pretty straightforward, if you follow the instructions you'll get an A), group project presentation and slides (worth 10%, basically putting the written report into a powerpoint and presenting it to the professor and your TA with your group), midterm essay (15%), and final essay (18%). Essays are dropped one letter grade for every day they're late, so make sure you do it on time. Discussion participation is worth 14% of your grade. If you're not gonna go to discussions, make sure you at least do your weekly essays. Most of the time, you don't even have to read the whole reading to complete them and get a 2/2. It's an easy class, but it's easy to fall behind and kill your grade, so make sure you stay on top of it. The only reason I'm expecting a D+ is because I missed discussions, didn't do some mini essays, and waited until the last minute to write my essays. Don't be like me. It's a great class and an easy A if you stay on top of it. |
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David Sicilia
HIST136 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/03/2022 |
If I could take this class 100 more times I would. It was so interesting and my TA was amazing. Take Kyle if possible!! Essay was kind of hard but we didnt have tests!! so if you like to write and read take this class. |
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David Sicilia
HIST136 Anonymous 11/10/2021 |
I think his TA graded papers with a random number generator. Don't take the class if you hate group projects. He made us do a group project on a 70s tv commercial where we had to role-play the commercial. It was painful. |
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David Sicilia
HIST136 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/26/2018 |
As a first-semester freshman, Professor Sicilia is my favorite professor so far. He does have a somewhat monotone voice but he is SO FUNNY so that it makes his voice bearable. He does pretty funny impressions to keep the dry course material entertaining. There are weekly 2-point 250 word essays based on that week's readings. If you do make time to do the readings every week (usually quite a few pages) you're pretty much guaranteed to get a 2/2 on each one. His midterm and final are essays and he gives you a list of possible prompts around a week before, so you have time to make notes on what you want to say. Relatively easy with grading, as long as you have good grammar and reference material from class and reading. That said, his tests will not be the ones you are most concerned about during midterm/finals week. He really is an interesting man. He's not afraid to say inappropriate things. He has many works published and definitely knows his history, but doesn't expect you to know more than what he says in class. I really suggest talking to him before or after class because he is really easy to talk to and will be helpful if you have any questions. Overall, if you are thinking about taking his class, do it! It's really not that difficult but still informative. |
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David Sicilia
HIST136 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/19/2018 |
I loved Scilia. He has a monotone voice, but he is extremely funny and uses a lot of dry humor/sarcasm (but he's also really nice, not a jerk). Lectures were great, I really enjoyed each one. You pretty much have to go to lecture since his slides don't have much info. Exams were easy, there were 1 or 2 and the final was the same format. He would give you 5 essay questions the week prior to the exam, and 2 of them appear on the exam. As long as you go to lecture and have a clue as to what's going on, they're pretty straightforward. There was one final paper which was ~8 pages and you had to watch a movie, which honestly was my least favorite part of the class. As for discussion, it all depends on who your TA is and the people in your discussion. I had a great TA (shout out to Kyle) and in our discussion we were pretty much all involved. As long as you read the material, it's actually a lot of fun. Kyle allowed for some really interesting open ended discussions. 10/10 would recommend this course, interesting and really easy. |
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David Sicilia
Anonymous 12/23/2013 |
HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE professor! It would have been better if there was at least one TA for this class! He does not send anything on time. He does not know how to use canvas. Don't expect a syllabus until weeks into the class. Don't expect a grade on ANYTHING until the last week of class. AND THEN HE HAS THE NERVE TO CRITIQUE PAPERS ALL LATE. No one even likes coming to class. No one even likes him. He thinks he's funny. He's not. He makes jokes and imitates people with accents, which is not funny. It's rude. Gives you an assignment that is due after people graduate which MAKES NO SENSE. Bad, just very bad. |
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David Sicilia
HIST136 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/27/2012 |
This class was okay. Material was very dry, and discussions were beyond boring. Unfortunately, the lectures were at 9:30 in the morning, so attendance was small, but there was no final exam--only a midterm and a final project, which was not overly hard. Prof. Sicilia, however, is a great professor. He knows his material, and he has a very dry sense of humor, which is hilarious if you understand it and are actually paying attention. HIST136 was not a great class, but if I had to take another history class, I would definitely take one with Sicilia. It may be tough to pull out the grade you want, but if you are willing to work for it, it's worth it. |
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David Sicilia
mayabcd 03/25/2010 |
He is hilarious, which is what makes this class so enjoyable. It's a lot of information during class, so be prepared to take good notes. 2 papers, 1 midterm, 1 final - and he instructs the TAs to grade very strictly. Plus, there is a lot of reading to do for the class. Overall, though, highly recommended. |
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David Sicilia
Expecting an A Anonymous 05/23/2009 |
Given that it was his first time teaching this course, it was very poorly structured. We didn't really start working till 3 weeks into school. Basically, the course consists of weekly readings, which aren't too bad and a weekly reaction paper. There are two exams and a participation grade. There is also a ten-page paper. It's pretty easy if you are good at history. You just talk about the readings. The first half of the class was a little dry because it was pre-20th century. The second half picked up because it focused on today's issues. Sicilia is a good guy and he's got a dry wit. He's flexible and is willing to push stuff back or talk about your grade. It was a good course, all things considered because it was pretty easy. Sicilia wasn't very organized ever, but he's a good guy and knew some stuff. |
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David Sicilia
NACS 05/12/2009 |
If you're going to take history and are not a history major, by all means take Sicilia. He's SO funny, and has a very dry wit, and not to mention he keeps you engaged in the lecture. Plus he really knows his stuff, not that I would say the rest of the dept doesn't - but his tidbits of info are often interesting and funny. |
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David Sicilia
Expecting an A zee89 03/27/2009 |
He is a great professor! Very engaging and approachable. Professor Sicilia is a very good lecturer. |
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David Sicilia
Anonymous 06/04/2008 |
I first thought he would be a droan, but he turn out to have surprising dry humor. He used his bitting wit to wake the class during boring sections of material. He was engaging and related the material to the students. |