[RELI 0150]
Islamic Tradition

Rate This Class

Professor: Madaninejad, B

Value of Course / Overall Score

Not Much (44.4%
Average (44.4%)
Valuable (11.1%)

Material

Friendly (55.6%)
Average (33.3%)
Competitive (11.1%)

Class Atmosphere

Boring (0%)
Average (100%)
Fascinating (0%)

Prep Time Needed

1-2hr (0%)
3-5hr (11.1%)
6-8hr (66.7%)
9-11hr (22.2%)
12+ hr (0%)

Grade Weighting

Harder (77.8%)
Average (0%)
Easier (22.2%)

Adequate Assistance

Yes (100%)
No (0%)

Would Recommend Class

Yes (0%)
No (100%)

Evaluation Comments for Madaninejad, B

  1. No Comment
  2. Although the material in this class was really really interesting, and although I really did enjoy some of the readings (Tayib Salih's Season of Migration to the North), the majority of the readings in this class were very difficult to understand. After failing to understand these readings and make sense of their purpose in discerning "what it means to be a Muslim," my peers and I would show up to class hoping to be taught what the readings meant. Instead, we were posed more questions on things we already were struggling to understand. I don't know if Professor Madaninejad expected us to be experts on Islam already or what, but she would, instead of sharing her knowledge of Islam with us, would leave us to teach ourselves based off the readings. This basically rendered classes worthless, as our class "lectures" and "discussions" consisted of us trying to make sense of the readings rather than her trying to make things clearer for us. For this reason, when the tests (which consist of short essays) come around, we would have no idea what the professor was looking for in our answers. I learned a lot from this course...but most of it I taught myself based off the readings. The professor, although quite knowledgeable on the subject matter, actually taught us very very little.
  3. If you do not have a basic knowledge of Islam, the course is extremely difficult to follow. As an intro level religion class, it would have been helpful to learn the basics before diving into very complicated primary source material. I feel like I did learn things in this class, but I really could not tell you what they are because the class is presented in such a disorganized matter.
  4. Professor Madaninejad is clearly very knowledgable in this subject, but that knowledge is never successfully shared because her lack of organization prevents any connections to form between the professor and the class. She does not seem to enjoy coming to class or teaching in general. The workload is nearly impossible and certainly not worth completing for the little amount of information that I am taking away from this course. The midterm and final are take-home and consist of 3-4 500 word essays. These essays ask questions that are often unclear and are nearly impossible to address in 500 words. Madaninejad is a hard grader and takes a long time to give assignments back. There are countless amazing professors at Middlebury but Madaninejad is not one of them. I would not recommend this course to anyone.
  5. this course is SO MUCH reading and the part that is the most difficult is even if you do all the reading, which I did, it is still not clearly explained in class and you often leave still confused and not prepared for the multiple-essay midterm and final. the professor does not lecture, she is disorganized, and she asks broad questions in all the lectures for the class, who does not understand the material, to answer. this process is draining and pointless. some information was interesting but I would definitely suggest another professor
  6. ^Agreed. Lectures were basically discussions - I learned more from our reading of "The Many Faces of Political Islam" that I did in total through lecture. Skip this class (at least w/ Prof. Madeninejad).
  7. The readings are long and very challenging, and then are not explained/discussed in a helpful way in class. Prof Madaninejad turns the lectures into discussion which are uncomfortable because most people have not done the reading, or not do not understand it. The class is very disorganized and it's challenging to piece together the different subjects discussed into any coherent understanding of Islam. Although Madaninejad is clearly very knowledgeable, she does not convey her knowledge in an interesting or helpful manner. Avoid this class.
  8. This is *by far* the worst class I have taken at Middlebury. While the subject itself is fascinating, the readings were often uninteresting and the lectures were terrible. This was Dr. Madaninejad's first semester at Middlebury, and she does not seem to have a good sense of how to give a good lecture (or any semblance of good organization or pedagogy that I have to to expect at this school). The lectures were essentially discussions, and even calling them "discussions" is being too generous. Dr. Madaninejad would often just pose questions about the readings, which seemingly about 90% of the class either hadn't read or didn't understand, and this resulted in the grandstanding of a few individuals. Because of the utter lack of organization and structured content, I often found myself struggling to piece things together in order to understand "the bigger picture". Dr. Madaninejad seems like a fascinating individual who is extremely knowledgable in her field; however, her failures as an instructor are insurmountable. I hope that she will reconsider her teaching style after this semester, but for the time being I would avoid her classes like the plague. F2011.
  9. FYI, this class is basically taught entirely through the readings. Dr. Madaninejad does very little lecturing, and you're basically expected to come into class with a complete understanding of the readings (lectures were basically q+a sessions where the prof grilled the class on the readings). The little lecturing that she did do was disorganized and, at times, non-sensical.

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