Her lectures were very boring. Grading solely depends on on the TA you get. The TAs do all of the grading and A LOT of people were unhappy with their grades. There is a good amount of reading in this class; and you MUST do every bit of it. There is a quiz every week in discussion which directly relates to the readings. There are also EIGHT books you have to purchase for this class. The midterm and final are mainly all writing... pretty hard. There are also two papers which are manageable, but again depends on your TA. Personally, I am not interested in this subject at all so I wish I would have taken another GE instead of this one. I would NOT recommend this class for a GE.

This class was truly wonderful. The professor was entertaining and informative, and SO knowledgeable! The material was great. I loved going to lecture. My TA was fabulous as well - try to get Claire Collins!

The essays depend entirely on your TA of course, but it's not that bad. The professor gives you review handouts of what to study before each exam. It's very straightforward and not hard to do well in the class.

I really fell in love with classics during this course. It is classes like this that restore a little of my faith in UCLA :)

A very awesome professor that really knows her classics. I took classics 10 winter '10, and had a lot of fun. The professor is always willing to talk to students, and her lectures are entertaining, never too boring.

Key word to the below poster is "Good TA." If you get a harsh grader, you're nothing short of screwed. Let me explain: Two papers in the class (horrible prompts by the way), which are ridiculously subjective. But the way my TA graded the test was also strange: he put "OK" next to the ones I only partially missed, but got enough right to receive full credit. So hypothetically, if he decided to screw me, my 97s could have turned into 74s.

Lecture was horrid and boring, even if you are a classics major. She puts a giant emphasis on archaeology. "This pot had this image.. blahbity blah blahh." By the way, that's about 25%-30% of your midterm and final. She also pulls out 10 random quotes (another 30% of grade) from all the reading which you have to identify by speaker and significance. That part was pretty easy, but takes way too much preparation.

Books were good choices. Too bad that she puts the reading at a stupidly ridiculous pace. Example: She made us read the Oresteia (300 page epic poem) in a week. The readings are done no justice, as they are primarily discussed in section. She just babbles about random stuff and sings in Greek for an hour and a half in lecture, so the only chance you get to discuss them is in section.. which is not nearly sufficient time to go through the themes.

That said, final grade: A

I loved having Morris last quarter, and I didn't think lecture was ever boring. She gave us all the resources we needed for the midterm/final, and the essay prompts were reasonable (especially because you aren't required to seek outside sources: again, everything you need is given). If anything, as long as you attend lecture and keep up with the readings, it takes more effort to do badly in this class. And another note: the readings weren't just dull history documents; we read stuff like Lysistrata, a hilarious ancient Greek comedy. I also had a great TA for the class, so that helped a lot. But yeah, overall, I highly recommend Morris (and the class!)

Her lectures are pretty dull and it is usually pretty hard to get information from them. A lot of her slides propose ideas/questions rather than facts, which might seem like a good idea but is terrible if you are trying to figure out what you need to know for the midterm or the random discussion quizzes.

That being said, the work in the class is pretty fair. The a study guide for the midterm and final are given and it really does cover everything you need to know. The tests are pretty long and you might feel a time-crunch but its all straightforward (what happened? when? who? etc). There were 2 papers and the prompts were not great but if you write a well structured argument you pretty much get a B or better. There is WAYYYY too much reading though. I read it all and it definitely took its toll on me. I know some people didn't read and got away with it, but I did it and am expecting an A.

Overall, its a decent class. A good amount of work and a bit of frustration, but nothing out of the ordinary. If you are looking for an easy GE this might not be the best idea though. It is based heavily on Greek history and Greek literary works.

She's boring. If you get Alex the TA, switch!

Grade in class= A

This was a very straightforward class.
Lectures provided a lot of information.

Grading was very fair.
Before the exams she puts up a study guide that has all the terms you need to know and the important slides as well as where the information on them can be found in the book, she also includes reading passages and from which books she highlights in the study guide.

Grade on midterms= 98, another 90something, i forget now.. haha
Papers= 93 and 91
Final (dont think i got it back i know I got an A)

I went to all the lectures, took notes, paid attention, and did all the reading.

If you dont do the reading when it is assigned you will likely get low participation in section, which comes directly from the reading.

Good amount of reading, so i recommend keeping up with it. If you dont, look at what is highlighted as necessary on her study guide for the test.
THE FINAL is NOT cumulative.
I was very grateful for that, because there are so many details about the dates and where pots and other things were located that you needed to know, it would have been difficult.

Professor Morris is an archaeologist so she does emphasize archaeology.

I really liked the class. I loved the readings. I thought it was fun.

She was not a bad professor at all. I had Sherrylyn the hag as my TA though so that was a horrendous hour and a half out of my life. It's like that giant fanny pack on her waist just sucks the personality out of her, and shes a tougher grader than the other TAs. This is a pretty easy class but the readings really boring most of the time, they actually get worse as the quarter progresses. It's really an easy A though unless you don't find Greek history and culture fascinating at all.

Professor Morris' power point presentations were generally bogged down with unnecessary and oftentimes confusing information. Her lectures, while guided by these power point presentations did not always follow a logical progression of conveying information. She seems like one of those professors who is more or less brilliant in her area of expertise, but unfortunately struggles somewhat to transfer this knowledge to others. She provided study guides that pretty much spell out exactly what will be on the exams, although the midterm felt extremely rushed; prepare yourself for arm cramps. I did most of the readings and attended all the lectures, and ended up with an A+ in the class. I took this class as a pre-req for my major; it wasn't terrible, but I'm not sure I would take it if I were only looking for a GE.