I'm selling the course reader for HIST 20. No highlighting, light wear from being in my purse. If interested contact me at *************

Love Teo so much!!! He's definitely one of the best professors at UCLA - and I haven't had many of them, so I don't place my bets on him lightly. The class is super interesting and outside of any of the topics of history that I've studied before, which is really the goal of the class. He loves teaching so much, and it really shows through his knowledge and passion. He cares about what he does and about the topics he teaches, so much so that he's willing to come back even after technically retiring. The workload is very manageable, and the class in general was so interesting that what work I did have rarely felt like work at all. It's really easy to get an A. I also took his honors seminar for the class, which was incredibly engaging and helped me to build a closer connection to Teo than I would have by just being in the lecture, so I highly recommend that you take it if he's offering it. Genuinely, this class was incredibly enlightening and really made me love learning. If you're thinking about it, TAKE THIS CLASS!

This was my favorite class I took during my very first quarter at UCLA. Teo is an incredible lecturer and has a fascinating life story. Lectures are recorded and posted online in a timely manner, but this isn't a class you'll want to skip.
The workload is pretty light. There are three assignments for this class: a midterm due week 4, a second midterm due week 7 and a final exam. These are all essays, but the second midterm can be substituted for a performance based on the class materials during finals week. There are also weekly readings which are discussed in section every week, and participation and attendance are counted towards your grade. The readings aren't totally necessary for weekly discussion, but they're quite helpful when writing the essays. If you go to the Undergraduate Writing Center for essay feedback/help, you can get extra credit!
I have always loved history, but I'm sure that those who don't have a natural affinity for the topic will also have lots to gain from taking this class.

Teo is a wonderful professor, very kind and thoughtful, and one of my favorite people I've met at UCLA so far! Please see the previous posts about the itinerary of the tour, just know that it was very eye-opening and fun. Everyone on the trip was super nice and it was one of my favorite experiences at UCLA so far. I highly recommend everyone take this class, especially if you're not local to UCLA! I took this class as a sophomore and Teo was more than happy to provide a PTE :)

So I'm going to preface my entire review with this: if you're one of those people who show up the first day of class and then watch the recordings later on, you're doing yourself a serious disservice, and here's why.

Teo is genuinely one of the funniest, kindest, and most knowledgeable people I have ever met. He loves teaching, which is one of the reasons why his classes are so much better than other professors, because he is doing this out of enjoyment, not out of obligation. He goes out of his way to make sure that everyone understands the topics being discussed by allowing anyone to jump out with questions (in fact, he encourages it), which is such a refreshing thing to see.

There are very few assignments in this course, the two midterms, and then the final, so the workload is definitely not too much. It may seem like it is, but honestly you don't have to read every single additional reading, mainly just skim over each of them (although at some point you'll have to go back to certain ones for the midterm and final essays). He also gives the opportunity for the class to choose to do a performance or other creative piece instead of writing an essay for the second midterm (which I highly recommend! it was a lot of fun, my group and I did the "Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition" skit by Monty Python). Overall it doesn't take a lot to do well in this class, just take decent notes during lectures and try not to procrastinate too much on the essays, trust me it's more trouble than it's worth.

I will admit that I am a lover of history, one of the reasons I took this class. But I can assure anyone who is not will love the class just as much as I did. Teo always makes his lectures incredibly interesting, and he's very funny too! I honestly can't name a time that I was ever bored during his lectures.

Since this is already kind of long, all I can say is that this class, and Teo himself, are amazing and I honestly am so sad that it's already over. But because I loved it so much I am actually constantly on the lookout for his other classes that he teaches, just because I enjoy them so much.

I love the professor and found his lectures to be extremely entertaining. I took this in my first quarter of freshmen year and found his first and final lecture to be extremely impactful - I will probably remember them for the rest of my UCLA journey and hopefully for the rest of my life!

Having said that, I was only interested in the mystics and witches portion of the class, and the rest of the content was not as interesting to me. So I would definitely recommend for students to check the syllabus content to ensure that it is aligned to their interests. In addition, it was sometimes difficult to hear what the professor was saying, and his slides were not very helpful, which made it hard to tell what he was saying at times.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this class very much and definitely learned a lot from it!

One of the best professors I've ever had. Highly, highly recommend taking any class you can with Teo.

When you have upperclassmen lining up to get PTE numbers to take this Fiat Lux with the legend Teo, you know it's gonna be legit. Teo dismissed all class with us after just three meetings to go to Paris for the quarter, but no one cared or got mad because we got an epic experience in those three meetings. First, we met the class and discussed what we would be doing on our trip to downtown LA. Second, we took an uber downtown on a Saturday (sans COVID we would've taken the bus) and walked all around, exploring the architecture and history behind them. As an out-of-state student, this was a great way to explore a side of the city I would usually never see, and I was super glad that I had this opportunity! Finally, we met the week after to discuss what we learned and completed a one-page reflection with some of these thoughts in mind. My only regret is that I wasn't able to take more fiat lux seminars in my freshman year after this one, but if I had to choose any single fiat lux to take, it would probably be this one.

Teo was like "this is going to be the last time I teach this class!!!" but nearing the end he said actually, he's going to teach it for one more quarter and that's why I'm writing this review. If you have any interest in mystics, heretics, and witches, PLEASE take it.
Teo himself is wonderful, sometimes it's a little difficult to understand him (especially when he was wearing his mask) but his lectures are incredible, packed with historical information in a way that's engaging. He sprinkles in personal anecdotes and jokes. Unfortunately his slides don't really contain much information, just bullet points of the topics he's covering, but lectures are recorded and ngl not suuuuuper necessary in order to get a good grade in the class, although it's worth it to go if you're interested. You don't have to take notes on everything he says, but if you write down tidbits that you think are cool, you might be able to include them in your essay.
The grade for this class is based on three papers, but the second one can be replaced with a performance. You get a long list of prompts for the first and last paper, and get to choose which one to write about, which I was thankful for (the final paper even had the option for creative writing.) They are maximum of seven pages each. I don't know if this is true for other TAs, but mine graded pretty easily. I didn't write the second paper because I made art instead (highly recommend for other artists out there) but you write about teo's book. His book is super readable and interesting, so I think the paper was probably doable.
Overall, the class was really great. I already had an interest in the subject, so maybe I'm biased, but there was something insanely captivating about the behavior of people from the past and how we still see similar things today. I like writing and coming up with stories, and I definitely found inspiration from this class. So take it!

Wonderful professor! Took Spanish 135, which was concurrent with another history class.
He is so knowledgeable and knows his material and is extremely passionate about it. He stresses how grades are secondary to learning, however he's always willing to let you know how to do better in his class. I was worried about my grade but after I went and talked to him he reassured me that I would be fine. So if your TA gives you a low grade just talk to him and he'll help you. Just a wonderful, interesting person all around!