course
American Beginnings

This was Prof. White's first time teaching this course (I think that she only recently received her PhD), which is neither here nor there because each and every lecture was a joy! She is a wonderfully organized thinker, fluid speaker (with hints of sarcasm in all the right places), and passionate historian. Reading list, for the most part, was right on. The one and only paper we had requires no outside research, but asks you to utilize key arguments from each of the books to support your thesis - not possible without having done the readings (for me, anyway). Midterm had ID's, final was just essays. Neither was too difficult. Attend lectures, do the readings - no big tricks here. Attend lectures and, oh, ATTEND LECTURES... I promise, she's worth it.

Professor White is an incredible lecturer. She is able to answer any question posed and provides essential and obscure but interesting details about early America. She prepares an outline which is distributed at the beginning of class, which includes a list of important figures and terms. The grading is very fair, and the paper served as an excellent preparation for the final. The reading assignments ranged from extremely interesting to pretty boring, but only two of ten would be considered the latter. This is an essential class for anyone interested in America prior to the Revolution.

I really loved Jason! He was such a great TA, I hope I somehow get to have him again. Sections were practically never boring, and he always starts out with lighthearted trivia which is great. He seems very invested in the class, knows practically everything you could ask him about, and makes great connections between all the things we learned. He replies to you extremely promptly, was very accessible, and went out of his way to help you. There is only one paper in this class, but he really wanted to help us with it. I wish Jason all the best in becoming a professor because he will be awesome, especially if he teaches seminars like our recitation.