Dr. Piano was definitely an interesting professor to have this quarter. She is extremely knowledgeable on the course materials, and it is clear she cares a lot about what she is teaching; but perhaps she does not care as much about the actual students. There were moments where Dr. Piano was quite harsh; she once or twice remarked that we were all “horrible writers” and, in the first few days of the course, went as far as to deny entrance to the classroom to students when they arrived at 2 o’clock or 2:01 (lecture began at 2). She was extremely adamant on no technology (which some people still used), requested that we buy the physical textbooks, and loved taking questions (to a fault—we would not get through all of the lecture material because she let too many people ask questions). The course itself is not difficult—yes, readings were quite long but that was not really her fault. She did only have 10 weeks to cover 8-9 authors who wrote about wildly different concepts, and to her respect, she did a great job. If you can sign up for a PLF session, please do so! It helped so much during the quarter! “Homework” was a weekly discussion post that was very simple to complete and the midterm was a paper. The TA’s were very supportive and also eased the material’s understanding. Overall, Piano honestly did have a great mastery on the topics, but this sometimes made it easier for her to exert her sense of superiority over us. She wasn’t the worst, so don’t get scared off by the reviews. If you can handle lengthy readings and a professor like her, you’ll be fine!

Natasha Piano is a very accommodating professor. She allows people to enter the classroom late, she speaks slowly so that students can understand what she's saying, and she always posts lecture recordings (and slides of course). She never rambles about random topics, and her lecture slides are always very informative. She doesn't come across as condescending, doesn't assign much reading, and believes in partial credit for late work. Would highly recommend. I wish that I could take it again!!

People aren't lying when they say she is not a nice professor to the students. The class itself isn't very helpful, i skipped 80% of the lectures and did fine on the exams. TA said that the lectures actually confused him. I did not buy a single book, save your money. Not too hard to do well in but the professor makes it a slog.

This class is OK.

There are issues with Professor Piano. I too was off-put by the policies surrounding electronics, tardiness, and book editions. But, perhaps as a surrender to logistical facts, she did not really enforce these after week one. And while she does indeed demonstrate hints of pride and superiority, I do not think them entirely unfounded. I mean yeah, I suppose we suck compared to a scholar with a doctorate. It might be mean, but there's truth in it—and it is thankfully irrelevant to your final grade.

Even now, in its infancy, I would still vaguely recommend this class. This type of cursory course is quite necessary for your political development, and I compliment Piano on her choices. You will certainly be reading the masterpieces that expand your soul.

These reviews are all over the place! It seems like there is a vendetta to get this Professor fired because the negative reviews are not what I experienced and I took this class during the same quarter as those keyboard warriors. They say the Professor called on the same 5 people, but I believe I counted 10 so maybe something isn't mathing. Even then, when she would ask a question, those students had the knowledge to share with the rest of us whereas the keyboard warriors stayed silent. (you know who you are and probably didn't do the readings until those discussion deadlines came up) The class was structured by giving you the selected chapters to read prior to attending lecture and share what you thought the main idea of these philosophers was. It's plain and simple, but yet these individuals have the gall to complain. Professor came to class and wanted an open discussion about it. Literally a seminar structured class. Is it her fault that only 5-10 people did the reading before class and the other 130 students didn't? You want her to walk you to your individual seat too???? I literally sat next to maybe a couple jocks and would hear them complain about how boring the class was, but would admit to not doing the reading. LMAO. UCLA recheck that admission process please because I know a bunch of brilliant students that would give anything to be in our position and learn from these professors. Some of these students possess soft mindsets, but they are excellent keyboard warriors. I read and cringed, especially reading that poem-like review. Whoever you are, you win clown of the quarter. Future students, her midterm and final were not as bad as these people say they are. You have three hours to complete the final, but have the physical copy of the book to use to answer the prompt of questions. IF YOU DO THE READINGS, EASY A. As a non Poli-sci major, I enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm of Professor Piano and found her lectures to be way more engaging than my major courses. I joined two weeks late and was able to catch up on the work. I felt like sticking up for this Professor because I can't imagine having these reviews early on and having to answer to the board about some negative reviews that my obnoxious peers left. They took the comment about failing in life to heart and I was not even bothered in the slightest when she said it. It was to motivate us to not repeat the same cliche statements and immerse ourselves more into the reading of Du Bois. UCLA board if you're reading this, the quality of this Professor is easily a 4-5, not a 2. If you read into everything, then you are just highly naive.

The only piece of advice I would give Professor Piano is to upload the recordings of class to Canvas. However, I think the attendance turnout would be low if she did so. Other than that, thank you Professor NP!

For the first couple weeks she kicked anyone out who was even a minute late to lecture. After that she started showing up late to lecture and occasionally would keep the students late.

The lectures were very unorganized with no clear direction. She would kind of just ramble about whatever the first question asked was. Her slides were completely unhelpful and she didn't post them anyway. She also often would not get through every slide or make every point she wanted because she would ramble the whole time.

She expects everyone to buy her exact copy of like 8 books (didn't buy a single one) then got marked down on my final because I had incorrect formatting due to having the wrong version of the textbook.

The final also consists of three written responses which you get three hours to complete. She expects you to find quotes for the essays within this time frame and cite them perfectly to the exact format she wants (which was Chicago I believe). This just takes away from the already limited time you get to write the essays.

She also multiple times told the class we were all bad writers (after only reading like three peoples responses) and she didn't have confidence in us for the final.

Also got marked down to a 92 on participation for no clear reason. Attended every discussion and actively spoke and participated in all of them so not really sure how I could've gained more points. Maybe should've gone to office hours but idk. I don't really think office hours should be required for a full participation grade but maybe that's just me.

Piano is a difficult professor to review because as on the one hand, you want to understand that she is new to teaching, yet she is approaching lecturing as if she's Aristotle reincarnate and we'll manage to grasp the course materials by reading between her lines. She lacks the infrastructure within the class to support students after confusing lectures with no clear direction or structured educational material. Every lecture felt anxiety-inducing and strange because she just talks loudly and passionately, yet you feel like she doesn't actually know what she believes when she poses questions and talks around student's substantive questions. Again, I respect her as a scholar and believe that she is very intelligent, but as a professor, propagating one's individual intelligence the way that Piano teaches is very counterproductive and as noted by the other reviews, not received very well. It's a shame this class was made so complicated because if it were a smaller seminar with more instructional support, it's super exciting to have such open-ended instruction. Something very surprising and gatekeeping about the course is the way she doesn't post lecture slides or final study materials. She will show them for a brief few minutes in lecture and that is basically all the instruction you will receive on the biggest chunks of grading in the class. The TAs were OK and were helpful, but Piano did seem like she wanted to prove that we were all dumb.

I'm like deadass so confused by the other negative reviews. This class was not by any means as difficult as the others are making it out to be. It was very obvious she genuinely cared about our learning and comprehension of the material. She constantly engaged with the class and made the lecture super immersive. Yes, she didn't like it when students would come in late but like that does not hinder your ability to do well in the class at all. The grades are based on attendance, a short midterm paper and a very simple short answer final exam that most students received As on. I would definitely recommend this class to any political science majors who are interested in theory and philosophy, honestly a very doable easy G.E. class, plus the lectures go by so quick.

I have never left a bruinwalk review before, but I felt the need to stick up for this class. PLEASE do not let the negative reviews for polsci 10 and Professor Piano scare you off. This class was amazing, and for those who took the time out of their day to write the unnecessarily harsh reviews, grow up. It is true that the lectures can go fast, and that there is no set structure to them, but for me, this was a pro as it allowed students to formulate their own thoughts and bounce them off both Professor Piano and other students. Most of the people leaving bad reviews just want classes that spoon feed you all of the information and professors that treat you like high schoolers. This class helps teach you how to think for yourself, and it is classes like this that made me want to come to UCLA in the first place. I HIGHLY recommend.

As many other reviews have said, Piano was not the best professor. She was pretentious and seemed to look down on UCLA and the students, comparing it to her alma mater. She made very harsh comments about our work, which contributed to the poor learning environment she was creating. While I would not exactly recommend this class, this class was very interesting and challenged me the most compared to other Polisci prerequisites.

From my experience with her teaching style, I found her need to be clearer in teaching the material, slurring her words or mumbling, but overall, hard to follow. She was, at times, engaging, passionate, and knowledgeable about the material. I wouldn't say she is the most approachable person, especially after the first impression where she told students who barely arrived late (the first weeks of class) to leave very rudely. This happened after she said something about not wanting to treat us as children, which gave the opposite impression. For the lectures, she could have helped to answer questions. If anything, it would always confuse me. For example, she would say, “That answer would suffice for now,” or “We can spend a whole quarter just answering that question.” This was weird since the lecture style was like a “Socratic seminar,” but only a few people would participate. She would never fully talk about what she intended to discuss for the lecture, contributing to her unorganized lecturing style.

Throughout the rest of the quarter, I think she tried to make up for the unapproachable vibe she was giving many of us by discussing pop-culture references; however, for me, it didn't take away from the fact that she was still not a good professor, and would belittle her students.

As for the TAs, mine was very helpful; however, mine did grade harshly for the participation despite lacking clear expectations for participation on the course or section syllabus.

Course Material:
In the first week or two of class, I remember her saying that we needed to have the exact physical texts of the books and that we had a student read out of them a few times. She also cold-called on a student to read. After this, I didn't find it super necessary, and some of the text could be found online, e.g., the Leviathan is on Sparknotes for free with lots of helpful summary/analysis. She also doesn't post lecture slides; however, I didn't find them helpful, and sometimes she would have blank or inaccurate slides. Sparknotes would probably do the same if not a better job, as it is more organized and helpful than her lectures.

Grading rubric:
Weekly Reading Assignment 25%: 250 words, use ~ 2 quotes in own words preferred; not graded very strict
Midterm Paper 25%: 1200 - 1300 words, some were comparative prompts
Final Exam 30%: SAQ, Critical Reading Excerpt, and Evaluative Essay; 500 words each
Attendance and Participation 20%: ask TA for expectations on participation/go to OH, as some may grade more strictly than others

TLDR:
- although passionate and sometimes engaging, not the best lecturer and speaks negatively about students' work without advice or guidance on how to do better or well
- use sparknotes and course hero for readings, especially if you miss a lecture or don't want to go
- lecture is not required; discussion is
- if you're in AAP, take advantage of PLF!! Emma was amazing
- attend TA office hours for any help and to help with your participation grade
- also, I think she said something about changing how she will be doing exams next time for this class, so use this info for the grading rubric as a guide, but it can be very different than what it actually will be
- this class will also help you build some foundation in political theory, especially if you plan on concentrating on it or taking any political theory courses!! I would recommend it for these students in particular, and hopefully, Piano's teaching methods will improve for future courses :)