First, if you already go to Concordia, you'll probably be wondering why I don't put these reviews on Profscan (yes, I'm referring to you Sari). For those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about, Profscan is a website which allows Concordia students to rate their teacher and post comments. I don't like rating teachers and posting reviews of them on Profscan. I don't have anything against it, I just have trouble giving an accurate numerical rating to teachers. Also, I feel more justified giving my own biased opinion on my website. You should keep that in mind when you read the following. These are just my opinions based on the experiences I've had. If you want to know more information about any one teacher, just e-mail me and I'll do my best to tell you what I know.
Ornstein is probably my favorite Concordia teacher. Now, my opinion might be biased by the fact that I happen to really like philosophy. I'm thinking of doing a minor in it. Even if you don't like philosophy however, I still recommend sitting in on one of his classes. Ornstein's classes are pretty much just large discussions. Everyone jokes around and has a great time. He never calls on anyone and often plays devil's advocate in order to get a rise out of the class. His classes tend to have about 100 people or so. Workwise, you have 2 essays and a final exam. While Ornstein's classes are lots of fun, his marking can be pretty harsh if you don't know what he's expecting.
Ornstein has a habit of thinking that his opinions are the correct ones. Now, in class, you're welcome to argue with him as much as you like. When writing a term paper for him however, you have to be very careful. Even if you don't agree with Ornstein's opinions, you MUST at least include them in your paper. If you don't, you will get smashed! If you disagree with his opinions, than you should mention them as good arguments, but then go on to say why you disagree with them. You should also be careful with spelling and grammar, but that one is kind of a given. As long as you at least mention his opinions, you shouldn't do badly.
The final exam is pretty much exactly the same thing as your term papers. You will be given various topics and you must choose 2 to write on. You are allowed to chose one of your paper topics as a final exam questions, but the other has to be on a topic you haven't written about yet.
Bird is a very nice teacher, but I find that his classes aren't really helpful in any way. His classes are a combination of lectures and class discussions. The classes are suppose to help you deal with the term papers you need to write (usually 3 of them). Unfortunately, they don't help you at all. Most of the stuff you learn in class is pretty irrelevant to what you need to write about. Also, Bird tends to go off on tangents and this can often get really boring. The key to doing well on the essays is to buy the textbook! Usually, the topics for the essays are very specific chapters in the textbook. Read these chapters! Usually, the term papers are case studies that involve you making a moral stand on one side of an issue or another. Use the textbook to back up your opinions or come up with logical reasons why the textbook is wrong on the subject. That's pretty much all you need.
Sotiron teaches the History of Journalism. His classes are 2 and a half hours of straight lecture. He writes very little on the board, so you often need to figure out what you need to write down and what you don't. I suck at doing that, so I just try to write everything down. I end up writing about 6 to 8 pages of notes per class. I don't particularly enjoy history classes and Sotiron doesn't put much emotion into his lectures, so the material can often get boring. Since you're constantly writing notes, you can never let your mind wander. As far as marking goes, it's hard to judge. You have to write 2 term papers for him as well as a final exam. I did rather badly on my first term paper, but that was my own fault. I had a really hard time getting sources and wrote it up badly. I know quite a few people who consider him a hard marker though.
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