Lizarraga, Jorge  

This class had some very interesting material, but the professor stutters and makes you watch boring documentaries. His lectures are very long and dry, and he tells stories over and over. It was a good class to take, but he gave us three take home essays...in 10 pt font. He makes you buy all of these books, and then you only need to read a few chapters from each to write the essays. He told us to buy one book, and waited until the last week to tel us that we had to read it and write an essay about for our take home final...but it wasn't too bad. Read The color of water before so you don't have to read it in three days like all of our class did. And don't read the cafeteria book b/c there is nothing about it on the final...he lies. I didn't read all of the books and all of my papers were the shortest amount they could be, but i got 8 or 9 out of 10 on all of them. The class was not too bad...try to get another teacher though and i heard you don't do anything in the other classes. If you go to his office hours he is really helpful. Don't leave the 6-8 pg film review till the end...it is a bitch. Good Luck!!!

He was a fair teacher. If you don't mind writing essays, then this class is pretty easy. And I learned more than I thought I would. My advice is to go to office hours, and if u have a question about your grade, talk to him. I got one of my grades moved from an 8 to 9 by doing that. Also, you don't have to read all the books, so don't stress about how much reading there is. Also, you can miss a few classes and still do fine.

I crashed this class because I needed some more units for the quarter, and I didnt know what to expect. PREPARE TO READ...ALOT! The inclass section was long and boring at times, but we watched lots of documentaries and Lizeraga knows his stuff. I would have found the class interesting if we did not have to read 5 200-300 page books, the majority of them boring books. But he isnt too bad of a prof and he grades pretty easy. Take home final, 4 reading essays, and a movie/book review. Lots of work...

Lizarraga is a pretty good teacher to take. Granted his lectures are boring, but his class is not difficult if you read the course material. I could have easily gotten an A if I read all five of the required texts. However, they are pretty boring books. I got a B by reading the one for the final and a few chapters of the other four. Take notes in his class, even on the many movies you watch. Make sure to jot down the name of the movie and lecture date. It will help on the final. There are three long essays and do the maximum amount! I am convinced he grades on quantity more than quality.

Professor Lizarraga is a really cool guy! I only went to his class about 20% of the time and got a B. There are no tests in the class, only essays which are really easy. He is a lot of help in office hours if you go in to have him look over an essay. Very fair grader! Take ES 112 with him if you want an easy B.

did not really like this teacher. You need to teach most of the stuff yourself, dont even bother to go to class. way too many books and too many papers, its a HUGE workload for a GE class. try to take somethings else for your D1 requirement. Hes an ok teacher, but the class wasnt that great.

this professor is alright. I personally dont like geography or history all that much but he made it bearable. His lectures are super long and at times insignificant to his tests but if you keep an open mind about it, you'll be fairly entertained. His tests are all takehome essays that are super long but doable. DO NOT BS THE ESSAYS! cause he actually grades pretty hard on them but as long as you have class notes you'll be ok. I didn't go to all the classes but got notes from other students and did fine so don't sweat it too hard.

Although it seems that he is obsessed with the environment at times, the lectures were very well prepared and for the most part interesting, the reading was not nearly as boring as most classes, and he was a very nice guy overall (I was able to e-mail him our take-home final). Suffice it to say that for his first quarter teaching at Cal Poly, I was very impressed. Rather than trying to stuff information down your throat like many other introductory courses, it seemed like he was more interested in keeping the class motivated. This could be a bad thing if this is your major, but it was very nice as a GE. For the books, instead of having us using text books, we had to purchase a few paperback books that were about twice as interesting and at half the price :) For us, there was a map quiz worth 10%, a midterm, a film review, and a final. This totaled to 20 pages over the span of the course, for 90% of the grade. Well that's it, you won't regret taking him!

Lizzaraga is a pretty good instructor. he will go though the material very throuroughly. the class is based primarily on take home exams. the exam questions are really vague, so try to get some feedback befor turning them in and you'll have a much better chance. be forewarned that he is extremely liberal and holds back nothing in presenting his political opinions. he is very pro-environment and his class will reflect this. however, it will stun you and make you more alert to what's going on around you. its a real eye opening course, and i'de recommend it to anyone, especially those who have lacked previous experience with other cultures and other political ideologies.

He was a very fair teacher, who presented interesting information and insight into the topics of study, he also had a great selection of books. I took him during summer quarter of 2003 for his 5 week session so 2 of his 5 normally assigned books were cut out. We had a lot of papers to write, which was good if you were a good writer. I accidentally thought that only 1 paper was required to turn in when actually he wanted 2, but he let me turn it in but it probably cost me, hence the A- and not the A. Cool teacher.

If you want to write a lot of papers for a ge class take this guy. Not much work otherwise. If you want a good grade go to his office hours and talk to him about your papers. Overall a boring class, but it's not my interest anyways.

Lizarraga is THE MAN! Definitely one of the best teachers at Cal Poly. He has incredible knowledge about the world and presents in a way that makes you want more. The class overall isn't a lot of work. Just reading and take home midterm and take home final. TAKE THIS CLASS! Easy and interesting GE.

Geog 300 Verdict: YOU'LL GET AN A, NO BRAIN NECESSARY (for an explanation, read the long-ass description below) Ok, notice that most of the reviews this teacher got were by people who got A's (including me). But that does NOT mean he's a good teacher! The reason people like him is because his class is totally easy and unchallenging. However, that definitely does not qualify a good teacher. In about 85% of the classes you will watch a movie--the WHOLE time (2hrs). He lectures maybe 4 times the whole quarter, and it's usually about something so specific (try two hours on the topic of "Chicago") that it doesn't even help you to get a true understanding of the geography of the US. He clumps together movies, totally specific lectures (that obviously reflect his own detailed interests), books, and a field trip (to Santa Barbara--it will take you ALL day) to provide you with a supposed 300 level class. He never reviews the books, so why does he assign them? I mean, they're not hard to figure out, but why doesn't he integrate them into the lectures? As far as what is required of you, it is one field trip (or your own personal field trip plus a write up), two take home essays, 2 map quizzes with over 100 locations each (the second turned out to be optional for us), a movie review (of 3 movies and how they relate to geography; talk about a waste of time! that's a week and a half worth of class time for one assignment that does not challenge your academic capabilities in the least), and 4 books/novels. If you never go to class but are a good writer, you will get an A in this class (of course, I didn't realize this until the very end). Anyway, the professor is extremely nice and generous, which makes it difficult to criticize his class, but it's pretty much an insult how little he challenges you in this class. Don't waste your tuition on a class comprised of movies (unless you need an easy A and have no desire for a better education or a challenge, which is sometimes necessary!)

ES 323 was pretty good, especially if you grew up in a town with very little cultural variety. Professor Lizarraga showed how ingrained many of the stereotypes about certain ethnic groups were in society. But I am not sure the way he did it was the most effective. You watch A LOT of movies in this class. There are four books assigned, all suitable for the point he is trying to make. But you hardly talk about them...but watch out, you will have to write papers on them. If you read the books and attend the classes regularly (whatever that means), you'll be fine.

professor lizarraga is a great teacher..i would for sure take him in order to fulfill that upper division requirement as well as the uscp. You watch A LOT of movies throughout the quarter. As long as you attend lectures and keep up on the reading, the essays that he assigns will be a breeze and the concepts will all fall in place for you. TAKE HIM!!

Lizarraga starts the class with movies, giving the allusion that it will be fun and interesting. However, much of the class is rather dull. You watch a lot of movie clips, spend minimal time analyzing the movies, listen to Lizarraga lecture once in awhile about Mexican history, and write papers. There is a fair amount of reading necessary to write the papers. My biggest hint is when he gives you a page range for a paper, write the maximum number of pages. He says that grades are not related to length, but there is a direct correlation. If you need help in class, feel free to visit him during office hours as he is very helpful.

This is the first C I have recieved in my entire life. I hope that says something to all of you out there watching their GPA. Do not take him--this class was a nightmare!