Sekou Franklin
School: | Middle Tennessee State University |
Department: | Political Science |
Location: | Murfreesboro, TN |
Overall Rating
rated by 21 students
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
School: | Middle Tennessee State University |
Department: | Political Science |
Location: | Murfreesboro, TN |
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
Mailing Address:
Uloop Inc.
306 S. Washington Ave
Suite 400
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Telephone Support:
312.854.7605
Email Support:
greg@uloop.com
Learned a lot from him
takes student's improvement throughout the semester into consideration for final grade
Cons: VERY HARD
easily distracted in lectures
Have to teach yourself the material
Difficult study guide
I think Dr. Franklin is used to teaching upper division courses. I wouldn't recommend taking him for a basic gen ed. I am a poli sci major and I think it made a huge difference. You need to have a real interest in the subject since you basically have to teach yourself. He gives very very intense and difficult study guides about two weeks before the exam, and you seriously need all two weeks. You can't just study for his test the night before. He is a really really nice guy. He helped me with some extra assignments at the end of the semester to help me get the grade I desired. He takes attendence very seriously, if you miss more than like once he will count off of your class participation grade which is a fairly good percentage of your final grade. I will probably be taking Dr. Franklin again in the future.
Cons: Tests are very difficult, so you have to study. They are mostly essay.
Dr. Franklin is a very nice guy and a good teacher. The class is very interesting, and you cover a lot of material each class. You really need to come to class to take notes b/c he doesn't have power points usually, so you have to be there. The tests are mostly essay and short answer, but he gives you a study guide on day 1. Even if you don't do so well on the tests, there are 5 little quizzes on D2L that you take, a couple easy assignments that you receive full credit for if you do them, and an annotated bibliography that's due during finals week. Also, you get a participation grade that can really boost your grade. There's no reason why you shouldn't get an A or B, so if you want to take a class that is WORTHWHILE, TAKE THIS CLASS!!
He puts so much information on the "study guides" it becomes very overwhelming just looking at them. His tests are extremely difficult for such a low-level class, you'd think he was teaching a 5000 level not 2000.
If you have to take this class I seriously suggest you find a different professor.
He doesn't relate anything to current times. He had no idea what the NDAA was when we asked his opinions. There was no debates or class discussion yet he became upset when no one spoke aloud, even though we had no idea what he was trying to say. Many times people would interrupt him and say they had no idea what he was talking about.
Seriously. Don't do it.
Cons: Your hand will fall off from taking so many notes. He goes from the beginning of class until the very last minute. And he likes to tell a lot of corny jokes.
Dr. Franklin is a very nice man. He goes out of his way to make sure that everyone knows what is going on in the class. Just make sure you go to class, because he elaborate on topics in the book that you would have no idea about w/o going to class!
You have nightly reading (you can get away without doing it, but it makes class discussion easier if you do). And you have quizzes and reading responses on D2L regularly.
His exams are pretty tough. However, if you study, you'll be fine. He just covers SO MUCH in so little time. I literally had over 20 front and back pages of notes by the time the first test rolled around. So if you are just wanting to take a BS class and not get anything out of it, don't take this class. But if you want ot get your money's worth and learn a lot of interesting things about political science, you should give Dr. Franklin a chance. He's a good teacher, and he is a super nice man.
Exams: Dr. Franklin is looking for specific points in each answer. The more points he finds, the better your grade.
Homework: Some occasional readings for the next class; a couple of article summaries. Not a lot of homework for this course.
Textbook: The text is an essay collection - you read 50% - 75% of the essays. I'd suggest purchasing it.
Exams: I found them to be really easy. Just make sure you're detailed in your essay. It also helps if you use dates. He really likes that.
Homework: Sometimes he assigned chapter reviews from the books. Also, there were a few essays that he asked you to write, but they were easily done. He also assigns some case summaries towards the beginning of the semester that are really simple.
Textbook: He makes you get the condensed version of the book, so there are a few things he talks about that aren't in the book, but if that's the case, he always warns you and tries not to put any of it on the tests unless he really emphasized it in the notes.
Details are very important in this class.
Exams: I don't remember exactly how many tests-pretty sure it was 3, but there were several quizzes thrown in there too. All tough, but the multiple choice part wasn't too bad and he gave lots of opportunities for extra credit.
Homework: There were a coupe of short papers-response type papers but no homework to speak of. You DO have to read!!! Especially Supreme Court cases, constitution issues, and Federalist papers that he assigns If he says it is important, you need to know it.
Textbook: We also had a supplemental book that one of our tests was over.
Exams: Dr. Franklin provided a study guide for the tests. The tests were thorough reviews of the course materials covered. Be ready to write good essays, not just a paragraph.
Homework: We had a couple of outside readings and response papers to do. These weren't too bad, but be thorough and grammatically correct.
Textbook: Textbook and other book were good, but Dr. Franklin's lectures were better.
Exams: All I can say is Study REALLY REALLY hard. Don't just study notes, go through the book and just read it over and over again.
Homework: There was no homework, just a few quizzes, which he drops the lowest one of those. two of four quzzes are on D2L and are the easiest ones. I found the ones in class to be difficult.
Textbook: It helped me understand the course better than the professor did.
Exams: enable to pass his test make sure you TAKE NOTES on his lecture. the entire class is lecture class and many of the question stated in the test comes from his lecture notes. He also have 2 quizzes, which the question also comes from his lecture. It is wisely recommended to skim the chapter so you have an idea what the lectures are about.
Homework: We had 2 homework assignment through the semester, which were so easy.
Textbook: If you are really interested or majoring in Political Science i recommend you to read the chapter before the class, you will pass the class with an A for sure.
Exams: Tests were mostly essay, and one was a take-home.
Homework: Lots of reading.
Textbook: The reading material was well chosen and very valuable. I got much more than I paid for in this class.
Exams: His tests were tough! You have to study everything from the handouts to your friends notes, because you can't catch everything he wants.
Homework: reading his handouts and there were plenty of them!
Textbook: Okay. That right there may be my problem. I didn't really use the book. I didn't understand much of the book anyway. It was kinda boring.
Exams: The tests are HARD! Read all of the handouts thoroughly and bug the crap out of him until he makes you understand it.
Homework: Reading reading and more reading
Textbook: Really I used the handouts that he gave us more than the textbook. He's big on bringing in copies of articles for us to read.
Exams: He made the tests very rough. You had better study your tail off if you expect pull a decent grade in here. And also you have better have good english mechanics because he grades like he is an english teacher on papers.
Homework: Read,read,READ!!! Thats all there is! READ! Very Annoying.
Textbook: You must have the 2 books. That's all i can say. You read from both every night.
Exams: tests were not incredibly difficult if you kept up with the reading from day to day... one of the issues with his tests were that there is not really enough time to finish if you are a slow test taker. i never had time to do any of the long essays because i was too busy trying to finish the short answer and multiple choice.
Homework: one group project; presentation and opinion paper, and one or two papers on documentaries watched in class.
Textbook: YOU NEED BOTH TEXTS TO PASS... there is a lot of reading from both texts and he expects you to read everything thouroughly and understand all the details.
I would suggest Dr. Franklin for anyone who is interested in learning more about how the government of the U.S. works. It's more important than ever these days, and I'm just thankful that instructors like Dr. Franklin are there to guide students, require them to think, and encourage them to get involved in the process.
Exams: They were hard if you didn't keep up with the reading, but if you listen, think and read your assignments, you will do well.
Homework: Most was reading, but there was a paper required to see if we got what was in a video we watched.
Textbook: We had the textbook which was a great help. It had a CD that made the tests easier to study for. We also had a book called "The Enduring Debate" which was great. It was a good way to read both sides of issues on which the average traditional student may not have yet developed an opinion. Very helpful if you did the reading.
Exams: The tests were usually easy if you study for them. The essay questions are questions that are talked about and discussed in class so if you listen in class then you usually know how he wants those answered.
Homework: There was a lot of reading. There were two book for this class and you had to use both of them and had reading out of both of them every night.
Textbook: The textbook was good and it helped some but there is also another book that you will need if you have him for this class. It is The Enduring Debate which is a book of debates about contemporary issues. It is a pretty good book but he usese it more than he uses the textbook!!!
Exams: Multiple choice and short answer come from the textbook. The short essay comes from the reader.
Homework: None
Textbook: Using the CD-Rom at the back of the book is helpful. When he hands you a study guide, it corresponds well with the text.
Exams: If you do your reading and actually attend class the test are simple.
Homework: Just reading and one small paper
Textbook: Someone said that you don't need the second text book, well that is probabily why she didn't understand the material. Half the class is from one text book. The other half is from the other book. The tests cover material from both.