Reviews for Jeffrey Andrew Pinder
Average Rating:| Anonymous Course: HONR279C Grade Expected: A May 13, 2011, 10:14 pm | Professor Pinder is a really cool teacher who knows a lot about the material he's teaching in this class. He's mainly about just helping the students get an understanding of the history of African American art which isn't the most interesting subject. The 93% As is false. There's one midterm, two papers (4 pages each), and a final project for which you do an interview of an African American artist. The midterm isn't too hard, but you have to memorize a lot of material. There were assigned readings for each class meeting as well, which ranged from 5 pages to over 100 pages. Overall not a bad option for completing your HA and D requirements. |
| wombat Course: ARTT210 Grade Expected: December 12, 2010, 8:05 am | You can tell Mr. Pinder is passionate about what he does, and he wants his students to excel. However, he seems to be overly clinical about WHAT it is that his students need to change. He enjoys taking your art and making it his own. It kinda makes sense, considering he's an artist himself and all, but he needs to realize that artistic visions differ from person to person. He ought to find a balance between his artist side and his professor side when it comes to analyzing students' work. Mr. Pinder also needs to get his grading criteria in order. One piece of art will seem unexplicably great to him, while another very similar one will get a 5/10 because some of the lines were darker than they "should have been". I felt that the grading on each individual assignment was very ambiguous, and it was very difficult to tell whether he would like your drawing or not. The grading for the class overall was also somewhat confusing. There were a lot of factors such as participation, in-class assignments, homeworks, journal entries, presentations, portfolios, etc... and it was often unclear as to what would be graded and what wouldn't, what the criteria were for each, and how much weight each component would have on our final grade. All in all though, I feel that Mr. Pinder should be given some leeway given that he IS still young and his educating skills probably haven't fully cemented yet. With more experience, he will probably be a great professor in the future. |
| blife Course: HONR279C Grade Expected: A December 21, 2009, 11:40 am | this class is not 100% A's. Work in this class fluctuates. Sometimes you'll have to read 50-100 pages over 1-2 nights, sometimes you'll go three weeks without ever opening a book or notes for this class. This class is easy and straightforward if you treat it seriously. Make sure you attend lectures and ask the teacher periodically what's important to know. sometimes he'll point the essential stuff out himself, sometimes he wont. I wrote two papers for this class. They weren't challenging to write. each was about 4 pages. BUT there were people who didn't take the paper seriously and did poorly on it. this probably came back to haunt them at the end of the semester. Make sure you keep up with the readings in the textbook. If you're too lazy to read it carefully, definitely take a glance and a good skim. He often pulls quiz questions straight from the textbook. Professor Pinder is a really nice guy. His career is interesting, and sometimes he tries to give his students a taste of what he's doing in the art world. I'm an engineer, but even i found what he had to share very interesting. Try to create an honest, respectful relationship with him. He's very open to speaking with his students, but probably wont help those who don't work hard nor demonstrate a true interest in the class. He likes when people participate, but don't overdo it. If you need an easy HA, this is a good choice but don't treat it as a joke. That strategy might not work out as well as you expect. |
| 800meters Course: HONR279C Grade Expected: A December 8, 2009, 9:51 pm | So African American Art Theory is definitely not 100% A's. I would look at the UMD grade distributions, which can be found at www.ares.umd.edu. Our class was more like 60:40 or 70:30 in terms of the A:B ratio. His grading practices are utter bull&$%@. For example, we took two quizzes about African art, and he dropped one of the quiz grades. BUT, the majority of our class did poorly on one quiz(the one that was dropped). I did much better on the quiz that was dropped, and did poorly on the quiz that counted. He would not take my highest quiz grade, saying "I don't play those games." This seriously affected my grade, since there were only two quiz grades in the end (we took a quiz based off a novel). Our mid-term project was not the one described in the past years. Instead, it was a really easy collaboration between another art class (for some of the class, they had to do lots of work, though). We installed this display case in Stamp. It may change in future years, though. It was the first time he did this project. I would seriously research this class before playing his games. He can be a total %@#&% when it comes to grades. But I put very little effort into the class. I thought me and him were pretty close, but he can be like the devil sometimes. Anyways, Pinder is a really interesting person (he is an artist outside of his professor position and has his own shows). His lectures can be be boring. If you take this class, make sure you attend every class and take good notes. He doesn't post the lectures online and the final exam comes from what he said in class. There is lots of extra credit, but it's not always enough. Also, his participation grades are questionable. At first he said talking during discussion weighed most heavily, but then he supposedly changed his mind so that quizzes counted most in participation. What?! I know, that is strange. Whew! Lastly, my friend had to take the final exam early and did very well, yet Pinder was suspicious and accused him of cheating! My friend studied really hard, yet Pinder thought he cheated? I'm not sure boys and girls. I think I would take this class again though. Pretty much all Honors Seminars suck, and this one is no different. |
| Anonymous Course: HONR279C Grade Expected: A October 27, 2009, 8:55 am | Professor Pinder is a really good professor and he is a really nice guy. He will really expect you to contribute to class discussion and to think about your ideas on race and identity. It is easy to get an A in his class as long as you do a decent job on your term papers and if you contribute to class discussion. Quizzes are easy and he gives lots of extra credit. The class can get a little repetitive towards the end of the semester but overall it is interesting and you will learn alot about African American art, racism, and identity. |
| Anonymous Course: HONR279C Grade Expected: April 6, 2009, 7:15 pm | Everyone gets A's in this class... and by everyone, I mean literally EVERYONE.. this is probably one of the most interesting ways to get your HA and D Core requirements done. The workload was not bad at all. What Pinder is looking for is thought provoking, instigative papers that have controversial viewpoints. He doesn't want to hear the same thing over and over again. It is a fun class, very interesting and it is a good way to look at African American History.. I really recommend it, its an easy A as long as you do your assignments... |
| stanleyj Course: HONR279C Grade Expected: A December 8, 2008, 2:09 pm | This class can be a lot of work if you don't pay attention to it. He is lenient on when you turn in some assignments but expects "creative papers." Which I still don't understand how to write. He is a really interesting teacher. |
| Anonymous Course: HONR279C Grade Expected: A December 25, 2007, 8:48 am | Strengths: It's a discussion course so you really want to go to class. Keep up with the readings because that's the bulk of the discussion, though you could get by without doing that because he doesn't call on anyone. Tests are easy if you do the readings and just memorize basic facts. He awards a butt-load of extra credit. For his papers, push the limit. This is not English where you have to be politically incorrect. Everything will pretty much be an opinion paper, so either hate someone and down them or love someone and fully support them. He hates middle ground. Drawbacks: You will have to do a video project that will be the bane of your existence if you don't DO IT EARLY!! So please, find an African American artist and do it as soon you can. You have free reign to do whatever you want. It's just finding someone Pinder approves and the editting that takes the most time. Also, you will almost hate the way Pinder is ambiguous about your grade. So if you're missing something, stay on top of him but you may still not get a straight answer. This class is constantly changing. So there will be new assignments and new methods. You never know what could happen. So if you don't like change or consistency, don't take this class. Recommendation: I loved Pinder! For a non-art or non-liberal arts major period, this class was truly interesting. It was a thought-provoking class into many periods of African American art and you will leave appreciating art in general and really getting into it. Nothing in this class is too hard and most get an A |