Martin, Kathleen  

Take professor martin! If u take this teacher you will pass the class with a c or better just by putting the effort in. She is a good teacher theres a lot of class discussions so if u don't like talkin in front of class then u might get marked down for participation for not speaking. Theres a lot to read at first and a lot of hw a first but it gets less and less as the quarter goes on. U Don't have a final and ur midterm can be hard if u don't read or look up the dicussion questions online.The midterm is the only test and its all on the dicussion qustions blackboard

Great teacher!!! Helpful in office hours. You will get a decent grade if you try.

Do not take this class if you do not like to read. The amount of reading is ridiculous. However, the class is pretty easy. Every class is usually a discussion. It can be boring at times especially if you take it at 8am for two hours like I did. She grades hard on her papers but the midterm is easy if you look up the questions on blackboard

This class aint that great, but its pretty easy. You dont have to read except the book for the midterm otherwie you could jus read a page out the other books and write about it by putting how you feel.

Dr. Martin is a great teacher!!!! The class can be a lot of reading sometimes but you really don't have to do all of it to get a good score in the class. Whatever you do, GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS, and you are guarenteed to get a good grade. Pretty easy class, and you will learn so much and actually learn to like the class!!!! Remember to stay open minded and tell her what she wants to hear, one of the most helpful teachers ever if you let her know you want to get a good score and let her know you want to know the material! Take Dr. Martin, you'll be happy as hell you did!

WARNING! Do not take this teacher if you are even somewhat conservative. Don't even let it cross your mind. She will never allow herself to see other peoples' views and opinions. I think it's physically impossible for her. The only way I even pulled a B was by bull shitting the three papers and one midterm. She preaches how we should view the world differently yet she doesn't even respect a "right-sided" opinion. .. Oh and also, don't even use the phrase - "reverse discrimination"

Overall I enjoyed the way that Kate conducted the class. Class time wasn't strictly note taking, there was a lot of group activities that made the class more interesting. Reading was quite a lot but it is extremely interesting and worthwhile. Two novels must be read and a response paper is written for each but it is no big deal. Final is a take home paper which takes a little bit of time but is pretty easy. Take Kate if you don't mind reading interesting material on ethnic problems.

awesome teacher, best way to get rid off D1 ge course, its not hard and it does not take much. take the class and you will do well

if you are conservative, simply pretend you are liberal and you will get an a. this class is full of bs but if you can at least talk and write like a liberal you are fine, that's what I did

She made ES112 very interesting, and by the end of the quarter, it definitely felt like the whole class had bonded. Plus it's always great to have a discussion-based class for once, and Martin's always so nice and encouraging to everyone.

Professor Martin is very recommended if you are liberal, conservatives beware, but you can make it. She definitely brought the class together and we were able to have meaningful discussions. The assignments are pretty easy and she will help you out if you go to her office hours. The class was set up well and the material was interesting.

She is very liberal and makes you listen feel like you have you treat everyone the same. she is really annoying to because she doesnt answer your question unless she really feels like it. not helpful at all

If you're conservative, you won't like this class. Then again, if you're conservative you wouldn't like a lot of classes. This class is fairly easy, you just have to willing to look at the bad sides of American history.

During this entire quarter all I could think about was how this professor reminded me of that small little dog that runs through the back of scene 23 in The Incredibles by Pixar. Seriously, if you look it up you will only be able to see it...

While Kate is a decent teacher, her grading is completely subjective on tests and quizzes. I never saw anyone in my class pass her quizzes, and the average score on the midterm was a D+. Luckily though, the quizzes are worth virtually nothing, so you don't have to worry about it ruining your final score in the class. It also means that there is almost no point in reading the texts since they are only discussed one out of the two days of class, and comprehension of them does not seem to change the outcome of your quiz score. It seems odd to me for a professor with as much passion as Kate seems to have about the subject to have half of the class consist entirely of watching presentations by classmates and a documentary series. While the movie was interesting, I was surprised it took up a quarter of the course time. I can honestly say I learned basically nothing in this class, besides the meaning of hegemony and that life for immigrants has been, and will always be, hard (which I would hope most people would already know prior to taking the course).

Very liberal teacher whom appears to be hard in the beginning of the class, but once the class rolls on, you find out otherwise. The reading quizes don't effect your grade, you only need to read the short story book she gives you. If you visit her office hours, you are guaranteed an A or B. I got a D on the first midterm and I very easily could have gotten an A in the class. You won't learn very much from her, but it is a very enjoyable and easy class. Great class for a GPA boost!

Dr. Martin is very passionate about teaching Indigenous Studies. She likes to initiate class discussions along with her lectures. As an Ethnic Studies major, I\'m used to the reading, but if you want to take this as an easy GE, the reading will definitely seem heavy to you. She is very helpful during office hours and is a very kind teacher. Tests just include a few short answers (paragraph or so for each question) and one or two essay questions. She grades relatively easy if you provide good support from readings to your answers. You should take this class! It was by far the most interesting lower-division E.S. class I\'ve taken yet.

This class is not for someone who is looking for an EASY A. With that said--dr martin\'s class was one of my favorite classes that I\'ve taken thus far. She opened my mind to so many new things. A lot of people have given her bad ratings because they obviously did not put the effort into the class. This class does have a lot of reading but if you keep up the reading is manageable. In office hours she is very helpfyl and very interested in what you think. 1 midterm, 1 or 2 evaluations of movies(1-2 page papers) and if the class keeps up with reading she makes the final a TAKE HOME final(which is always nicer). If you want to be challenged and learn something new/interesting take this class.

I wouldn\'t say this class is an easy A, but I wouldn\'t say you have to work all that hard either. You really don\'t have to do much of the reading. Out of the 100 pages on average a week, You can read 20. Usually the reading is broken down into smaller stories and so if you know the beginning and the end of each, you can get by. There\'s not a ton of work other than the readings (2 1-2 page papers, one of which involves leading a discussion). This class is somewhat interesting, but after a while, discussing the same themes over and over becomes overkill. The student-led discussions that take up all of one day of lecture a week don\'t help, either. Those are basically a constest of who can say the most obvious statements about Indiginous Peoples in favor of what Dr. Martin wants to hear. When evaluating this class, it\'s not that she\'s a bad person (she\'s very kind), it\'s that her ways of running the class are unfavorable. Just do enough to make it look like you care so that your class can have a take home final at the end of the quarter.

Dr. Martin is a psycho. This class isn't survey of indigenous people, it's survey of how native Americans are oppressed. She is like 1/16th Lakota and thinks she's one of them....no she's white. This class is mostly based on discussion, and if you don't kiss her ass and agree with everything she says, be prepared. She's flipped out in my class' discussion because some of the students tried to explain to her what they thought. I directly quote from her, "well I don't care about your feelings or your opinions, I want all of you to get that. I'll only care about your opinions if you can back it up with facts." All quarter, she's just goingto rant and tell you how white people are monsters and are denying native peoples their rights. And on a personal note, she called me out because I sit in the back and don't participate...I can name at least 5 more kids in my class who don't voluntarily speak up during discussion. Se assumes you want to participate in class. She wouldn't take an apology and demanded a "change in character." This was really long, but overall, she's a psycho who will flip on your ass if you don't basically cry because "native peoples are so oppressed."

Her ass is jealous of the shit that comes out of her ass. She isn't clear about how she grades and when we prepare for the midterm, she tells you all the wrong things to study and expects you to remember something she might have talked about for 2 mins. Don't take her, she isnt good.

Really nice teacher, but you have to agree with what she says. Just shut your mouth if you disagree with her and you can get an A. You can get 5% added to your grade if you do the really easy extra credit and our final was a take home essay so it's pretty easy to get an A or a B. As long as you keep your opinions to yourself, the class will be easy and you'll get along with her.

In a nutshell, this class is boring. The weekly homework consists of reading at least 100 pages of the textbook but every week I found myself not being able to get past 5. In class we'll watch a documentary or discuss the reading but most of the time we won't cover everything. Professor Martin spends a lot of time on specific topics, so that's all you really have to study for the midterm. There's also extra credit which can boost your grade 5% so that's a plus. Martin is a relatively easy grader and she can tell who tries in her class. Show up everyday and participate occasionally and you'll get full credit for participation. Overall this class was an easy B and unless you have a deep interest for Native American studies (which I thought I did), you'll have to work for an A.

the one 2 below me and the one about 3 below me are the most accurate ones i've read so far. i don't need to repeat, just please carefully read those evaluations or else you'll be sorry you took her. if you are, shut up and kiss her ass and grovel at her feet...she demands it. and dont' forget to call her DR martin, or might as well your highness. btw, she never handed out the evaluations at the end of the quarter, so here's your evaluations DR. martin...you don't deserve respect from us students if you don't have any for us, which was blatantly clear by the way you treated not only me but others in my class. i've never met a more frustrating or stuck-up and unreasonably ridiculous individual in my life...check yourself in the mirror, by the way....cuz you're white.

After reading earlier comments, I wondered if we were talking about the same class... Sad to know that so many people who have had privileges above and beyond others become so close minded and selfish. If you are willing to read and do the work, be open to new perspectives, and reflect on what you learn- this class will be easy for you. Dr Martin is fair, insightful, and eager to help students who care about the work they do!

She gives a lot of reading that I personally didn't do as often as I should have so I bombed the midterm. She assigned twwo response papers (2 pages each) that must be done by the end of the quarter and gave a take home final. She's very forgiving and as long as you participate and go to class you'll do fine. Just try your best to stay awake in class. She's a pretty good teacher who tells the class what she expects from us.

This class was by far one of the worse classes I've taken at Poly, and Martin was the reason. Her grading was very inconsistent and subjective, and the final was nothing like the midterm. She makes you mostly watch movies and do student led discussions, but she will call you out if you don't participate. God forbid you disagree with one of her views, because she will make the rest of the quarter difficult. She says "facts" about science, history, etc that are completely false and misleading. She is the worse professor I've had at Cal Poly, by far.

90% of the class is used to push her agenda on students the other 10% is talking about native Americans. Does not clarify or lay out any expectation. Obviously has a lack of understanding of basic sciences. You come to class to participate in a "group discussion" where the group talks amongst themselves and no one else chimes in, did I mention you sit in a circle. I believe she means well but is so close minded and stubborn don't try to express any conflicting opinions. power points aren't even hers and from 15 years ago, along with now irrelevant movies (1980s). When asked to elaborate she will lash out or go on one of her tangents of non sequiturs.

I don't understand why people are saying if you're close minded you won't like this class. I'm a very open minded person and disliked this class. She requires a ton of text books - don't buy any of them. It's not necessary. Only the first exam covers text material which is pretty basic stuff. Defining a few definitions ( hegemony ect.). The group discussions are dismal - no one participates. The final exam is an essay about whatever you wanna write about. No works cited, no formal format (MLA, APA). I effectively passed this class with a B without doing an iota of reading and showing up high everyday. Doesn't make a difference when you're just watching movies or listing to a group struggle to start a discussion.

Okay, it seems that a lot of the ratings for Martin are a bit skewed in terms of bias; I will attempt to give an objective reporting of her ES 241 class. Right off the bat, she hardly lectured whatsoever. The main times that she did were the first and last week of class (really pay attention to those lectures, they contain valuable information for midterm and final). The rest of the quarter alternated between having groups presentations and watching movie clips. Within the quarter you will be asked to form a group, and take on a chapter of the book for a week and present your findings and pose some questions to the class (fairly easy). The biggest criticism I have of the class is that there is a lot of assigned reading. You can get away with skimming the sections; however, for the midterm I would recommend completing the questions in the back of every chapter as a majority of the information from the midterm comes from there. As for the final, for our class is was a take home essay that we had a week to complete. It was around 4 pages long and needed a few sources for research. Again not the hardest final ever. All in all, Martin is a professor who is really interested in Indigenous peoples and doesn't always know the best way to convey her knowledge to the class. The course itself is on the easier side, but the workload can be tedious and time consuming. It definitely helps to be interested in the subject to get through the class; however, this is not necessary.

If you're thinking about taking ES-241 with Kate Martin, DONT DO IT. She assigns an absurd amount of reading every week that you don't ever need to actually do. She dominates the discussions with bias and if you don't agree with her, she's not going to like you. She honestly made this class way more stressful than it needed to be. This woman is an absolutely awful professor. She was always incredibly vague with everything she taught, and for the most part, she didn't even teach and always had the group discussions teach the class. So seriously, do NOT take this class. This lady is so misunderstanding of a student's struggles and will not cooperate with you.

She's okay! She's a nice woman, but her class can be overwhelming at times for a GE. It's doable and you'll probably pass, but there is SO much reading, you don't haaaave to do it, but then there are really detailed questions on the midterm that you can't answer. To do well on the midterm you have to go into office hrs, read, and study a lot because it's super random and NOT general, there were very weird questions on it. No study guide. Class involves watching "eh" movies, group presentations, lecture, and having circle discussions. DO NOT buy all the books. Split the cost of Porter with a classmate, don't buy Every Day is a Good Day, don't buy Uncivilized (just look up book summaries). Overall, it's just ok. If you need a GE, try to find another first, but if this is your only option you'll be fine. 1 EC opportunity, take home final which is great.

At the beginning of the quarter I was extremely nervous for this class due to the amount of reading required. With that being said, I did horrible on the midterm, yet the group presentation and reading response really boost your grade. Also, DO THE MINI PAPERS SHE ASSIGNS... they count as part of your participation grade which is entered at the end of the quarter and can significantly boost your grade. We got a take home final which was really nice and wasn't too hard.

Professor Martin is unfairly condemned in these ratings, although there are some criticisms that are valid. With the exception of the first midterm, all the grading methods and study materials were clearly laid out and entirely reasonable to fulfill and get an A if that is your goal. With that being said, the first midterm asked the most random and tricky questions from bizarre places from the reading. The average for the test was probably around a D as I remember, although there were a couple students that scores in the A range, and it's entirely possible. I found the material pretty interesting, and if you have discussions or points to bring up you will score major participation points, and I was satisfied with what you learned. Dr. Martin knows a lot about indigenous cultures, Not just in the US but around the world, and if you're at all interested, it's not a bad class at all and I'm glad I took it. She's completely reasonable, approachable, friendly, and I don't know why everyone is hating on her here. I would recommend leading the discussion early. Much of this class involved writing short 1-3 page papers. The discussion leader assignment included a written portion (2-3 pages, 15% of grade) and the take home final was a 2-3 page paper worth 20%. We also watched movies and wrote short reflections on them. Martins ethnic studies was completely reasonable and dare I say enjoyable at times.

Professor Martin is one of the best teachers I have had at Cal Poly. I took ES 241 as a GE and it was an easy A. There's a lot of reading required but none of us ever did it because the material is always presented in class. This class is very beneficial and you will learn a lot if you participate in class, which will also guarantee you a good grade in her class.

I had Dr. Martin my first quarter of my freshman year and it was an awful experience. I, and a few others in the class, asked her real and valid questions about American Indians and if she didn't like the question, she would straight up not answer it. She assigns WAYYY too much reading that I never did. Basically, you'd have to cry for the indigenous people for her to like you. Especially do not take this class if you at all have conservative views. The whole class is determined by your group presentation, your midterm, and final. I got a D on the midterm because she was extremely unclear of what was going to be on it. At least the final is a take home essay that basically saves your grade. I do not recommend this, take a different GE.

i took this class as a minor elective, and because i was also interested in native american studies. however, kate martin was by far the worst teacher i've ever had in my life. first of all, there was no structure to the class. everyday the students walked in confused. her "lectures" were incoherent and lacked substance. at the same time, the WORK LOAD was RIDICULOUS. there were a total of SEVEN NOVELS as well as a TEN PAGE TERM PAPER along with a "CLASS FACILITATION" (where students are put into small groups and must lecture for a two hour period). These assignments are all explained in only one paragraph for each, which is the only instruction or guidance the students had to complete the work. she does not answer questions regarding the assignments or anything else, and when the student asks more questions for further clarification, she accuses the student of "disrespect." if you do not agree with her, she will interpret this as "disrespect" and "ridicule." in fact, i had to meet with the department chair to discuss her behavior towards the students. having talked with several of my classmates, they also agree that dr. martin should not be teaching, or attempting to do so at our university. she grades material with a very difficult scale, when there were no specific requirements given in the first place. half the class did not go to lecture, but SHE TAKES ATTENDANCE. honestly, the list goes on... PLEASE DO NOT TAKE KATE MARTIN and if you do... realize that she is not an accurate representation of the other ethnic studies professors.

Dr. Martin is great, a really intelligent professor. ES 321 won't be your favorite class if you like class discussions, especially ones that are broken into little groups. But if you bear with them, they are part of a overall interesting presentation over the quarter. Dr. Martin assigns a lot of reading too, but the class is definitely worth it if you want to learn about the subject. Dr. Martin has a variety of stuff to show you, often with good movie clips. You don't have to memorize anything out of the readings or her lectures (we only had a open-ended essay final and no midterm), you just need to use critical thinking and consider the bigger concepts she talks about. A good class and good teacher who has done lots of research on the subjects in this class.

Dr. Martin is, quite possibly, the worest professor at Cal Poly for a variety of reasons. 1. She requires huge ammounts of reading, where we discuss very, very little. 2. The class is supposed to be about Native American culture and our view of it, but we only really talk about 1 tribe the entire quarter. 3. She is intolerant of other peoples' viewpoints on the subjects if they do not go hand in hand iwth her's. 4. She is very rude to individuals seeking outside help (i.e. don't bother me, I'm busy). 5. She is extremely critical on essays, and does not grade on proper writing habits (i.e. I got marked down because I used the third person instead of the first person). This would not be a big deal if she said this before. All in all, she is an evil wench. I am just glad to I am done with her class.

Dr. Martin is a horrible professor who takes an interesting subject like Native American Cultural Images and turns it into a stage for expressing her beliefs. She is horribly sexist (this review coming from a female), hypocritical, and rude to students. If you have a mind that thinks outside the box and you want to share your thoughts, be prepared to bend over and take it from Dr. Martin, because in her world, she is the only one that is right. The entire quarter is discussion of just one tribe that happens to be her dissertation, which makes me wonder why this is not called "Lakota Cultural Images." She is an advocate of the UC BS way of teaching with circle discussion and outside events, so be prepared to be bored out of your mind. Our quarter, she gave three essays, a final essay, outside event attendance, and class participation. I was surprised she did not throw juice boxes and mid-afternoon naps into the picture, because she makes you feel like ignorant children throughout the entire quarter. If you want an A, act like many people in the class and suck up to her, and then rip her a new one at the end of the quarter when you do class ratings.

Dr. Martin is a wonderful teacher, and should be commended for her patience with students who are completely ignorant and insensitive about the Native American culture. Those are probably the ones who gave her the low marks. She is a Native American, and so I cringed at some of the racist comments made about her people from some classmates. To her credit, she never lost her temper or cool, and continued to attempt to educate the arrogant, overprivileged morons. To me, that is the mark of an excellent teacher.

I do not understand why everyone hates her so much. I was scared to take this class after the bashing she has taken on this site. So I fugured I would just bite the bullet. Yes she is a Native American and growing up she was obviously been ridiculed for that, but the class Is VERY interesting. I can honestly say it changed my perspective of how I view Native Americans. She might offer some extra credit which helps a lot if you are boarder line. I am not good at writing and the tests were all essays, buy they are very easy to write on because they are open-ended. Her lectures can get a little boring and are somewhat unorthadox for teachers at Cal Poly because you sit in a circle, but it was effective. There is a lot of reading for the class, however, I would just skim read the books and know a minimal part so if I was called upon I could answer a simple question. You go over the highlights of the books in class where she tells you what you need to know. GREAT CLASS AND A VERY NICE LADY!!!

she basically makes you buy soooo many books that you go broke for a GE! She includes participation and attendance as 20% but doesn\'t tell you that she counts attendance until the last week. One written essay format midterm.. tell her what she wants to hear. Take home written essay final, a group participation, and 2 papers plus the midterm. She just wants you to tell her only what she wants to hear

Today is March 14, 2011 I am looking to sell all of the books required for this course until they are gone. (805)-215-8467

Overall if you are looking for a higher level GE that isn't too difficult, then this is the class for you. The concepts and material of this class are simple but you HAVE TO READ THE BOOKS since she NEVER EVER DISCUSSES the reading material. You basically have to wing her midterm (inclass essay based on readings) but the final was takehome. She can also be quite rude to students and shoot you down for asking questions as if you're a duck during hunting season. Participation is 20% of the grade which sucks cus it was a complete waste of time. To put it simply, an ape could have done a better job of teaching than her.

She means well (I think). She is very knowledgeable in her Native American area. However this class is focused more on the oppression of Native Americans than about the Native American culture.Her grading is very flip floppy. She is not clear about what she wants for assignments (and even when you think she is, she ends up changing what she "wanted" after all the assignments are in). Her exams are essays which I went into thinking I would like but because she is unclear about what she wants it is hard to please her. Even if the essay is great with valid points and backups if they do not go in line with her opinion then they are graded lower (even if she says this will not happen). Also she can be VERY moody. Surprised the class a few times by lashing out verbally at a few students.She also takes negatively about different religions. She definitely should be reviewed as a teacher by Cal Poly, as a lot of her comments most likely go against school policy about what can be talked about regarding religion (as it is not a conversation, as much as it is she knows all). Would not recommend her or the class. She also does not seem to have a passion for teaching, nor does she "teach" she more "tells you" how it is.

I thought this class was supposed to be looking at all Native Americans and their cultural images, but boy was I wrong!!! She focused on the Lakotas like 90% of the quarter because supposedly that's where her ancestors are from. She constantly talked about how horrible the US government is and how we technically have no freedom or justice in America. I decided to stop listening to her after she mentioned that that because I personally like the United States and everything it stands for. She also doesn't really like people arguing with her and I didn't want my grade to be affected by my personal views. I wish she would've allowed people with views that opposed her to speak up, but she didn't really allow for that to happen. Basically if you like America or are a generally conservative person, you'll be really annoyed in this class. I wouldn't recommend this class to anyone.

Martin seemed like a sweet lady at first, but after taking the class I soon realized that this was going to be a waste of my time. She doesn't explain what you're supposed to be learning and assigns a CRAZY amount of reading, but you don't even need to read anything to get by. The average for our first midterm was a 60% that she refused to curve. Also, she doesn't give two hoots about any tribe than her own--The Lakota. nearly all readings and videos talk about the Lakota. It should be called Lakota Cultural Images instead. She is very objective and will correct you immediately if you believe anything different. the main point of the class is to get you to feel bad for natives, but it gets old after a while. Avoid at all costs.

Let me start by saying that I generally do not bother to even read the polyratings for professors, but after taking this class I just had to see what others have to say. THIS CLASS SUCKS. The professor is extremely biased to her own tribe and entirely closed off to any opinion in opposition to her own. DO NOT ARGUE WITH HER. THE WHITE MAN IS HORRIBLE. Accept it, because if you do not your opinion be continually shot down. But probably not shot down with a bow and arrow, because that would be racist. Don't you know that not every tribe used bow and arrows?! <<----- Well if you already knew that, then don't take the class because that is alllll you are gonna learn. Basically, Martin is a overweight woman who looks super plain white bread. I think she is bitter that she doesn't look more stereotypically Native American- despite her pony tail- and takes it out on Cal Poly's %97 Caucasian population. I was so excited for an interesting class that would grow my cultural perspective, but instead I discovered the most painful and pointless GE I have ever taken. OH, and she spent like an hour of class time telling us we should vote to increase student fees so she can get paid more. Not chill, she isnt chill, nothing about this class is even close to chill. DONT TAKE IT.

Awful...just awful

One of the most biased professors I've had at Poly. Doesn't do much teaching at all, instead has students get in groups to give hour-long presentations on the ridiculously long readings and when they're done she has the class watch a movie. Bluntly told the class that she didn't care about student opinions and doesn't care what we have to say unless we can support our opinion with a quote from the biased reading she assigned. On one hand she preaches equality, yet also insists that Native Americans should have more rights than any other American because they were here first. Blames every problem in the world on the white man and Western culture. Easy class to pass, just a miserable four hours a week.

where do i begin, ... Kate Martin is a fascist. If you don't play into her game of showing empathy towards native americans your S.O.L... I have never had a teacher shut down a group project before because it was not what SHE had in mind granted its a GROUP project not HER project... the group discussion was so provocative, the whole class was shocked... Ultimately as i stated earlier, FASCIST. Plus this class should be listed as a photography course

Kate Martin is a pompous bitch who will ruin a quarter for you. She demands that you refer to her as DR. Martin (she marked me down for not putting it on a paper heading) and gives no respect to any student who has their own opinion different from hers. If you are one of those students, don't bother speaking up unless you want to get shut down in her kindergarten style circle "discussions." The class is basically about how shitty white people are for their never ending oppression of native americans and I have never heard a teacher ask so many times, "How do you feel?" after staring at a picture of a tipi next to a rock for 30 minutes. She shut down our group project, which keep in mind was accompanied by a proposal that had be submitted, reviewed, and APPROVED earlier, because our conclusion did not result in "what she was expecting." Very unclear grading requirements. By the way, I hope you see this DR Martin. I think you deserve no respect from more than half of your students as you clearly do not show respect for them. Oh, and your not even a real Indian, you're adopted and you're white and you have no right to discuss the "horrors of white people and native american assimilation into the white western society."

Dr.Martin is an outstanding teacher with a caring and genuine attitude. She is a master at the subject she teaches because she is not only highly educated about Native American studies, but she is also a native Lakota. I enjoyed this class because she taught a unique perspective on the history of United States. I am a proud American, but it is refreshing to find a teacher who will teach history as it truly happened, taking from a variety of research and sources, rather than teaching out of a dry and biased textbook. If you are truly interested in learning about a completely different way of thinking contrary to that of the mindset we are conditioned to, then take her courses. If you are close-minded at all, you should probably steer clear of Dr.Martin.

MARTIN FUCKING SUCKS. I am an ES major and she is by far one of the worst teachers I have ever had. She is completely biased, plays favorites, ignorant, does not present material OR expectations clearly. Assigns reading for no reason that is not relevant to the class. Honestly here, SHE FUCKING SUCKS. She thinks she is always right and knows everything. She "claims" to be Lakota Native American but is obviously a white old lady with MAYBE 1/800th of Native blood. She will only focus on Native Americans because she "is one". I learned literally nothing in her class and it was a complete waste of time/money. Do not take a class with her if you can avoid it... Also, I am truly sorry for all those that have had her. Poor representation of an Ethnic Studies Professor at CalPoly. Probably one of the worst in the major.

If you're white and not an ES major, do not take this class to cover your C4. Dr. Martin teaches very little and then expects full class participation in discussion on articles and books she assigns every week. Extremely unreasonable work load. If you're white she'll make it clear that it's your fault for everything that has had to native americans by indirectly singling you out in lecture and then just glare at you. I'm not sure how I pulled off an A in the class, but i'll take it. Again do not take if you're white and not an ES major.

She is one of the worst teachers I have ever had. I can't believe I paid her so much money to put on a movie basically everyday in class. If you do not agree with her opinion, you better keep your mouth shut because she doesn't like that. She definetly favors students, so if you want a good grade just say back to her exactly what she said....she'll love it. And of course she does not do evalutaions because why would she want her students opinions on how to improve her class, she already knows everything right?

First off, ES 360 is not the class the catalog description claims it is. We talk about how different cultures interpret land and natural resources only for the first two weeks, then the rest of the class is about how white people screwed over the native americans. Which is true, but I wanted a course on what the catalog said. CR/NC is a good idea for this course (if you're taking it as a GE) because grading is definitely arbitrary and there is absolutely no correlation between effort and grade. Midterm was two doable essays from a pool of three, final is take home and should be the same. Papers in response to class films shouldn't take more than 1 hour, so just BS stuff if you're stuck and you'll get a check (satisfactory completion of assignment). The reading must be at least skimmed through before each class to do well. Dr. Martin herself is a cool person, but as a physics major I was a bit put off by her harsh critique of science and her comments that science is a guiding force in western culture's overconsumerism and pridefulness. Overall, this class may be a bit too much work for a GE, but see your other options. If nothing else strikes you as being really cool, this class with this teacher isn't too bad of an idea.

Dr. Martin is one of my favorite professors I've had at Cal Poly. She's a strong woman who knows herself, so her classes may not be enjoyable to anyone who feels threatened by a woman's strength. I can understand why many students struggle with the course material. Native American beliefs are counter culture to western thought. Struggling to understand a perspective fundamentally different from your own does not legitimize ripping on another person to the point of believing they do not deserve respect. It doesn't make sense to me that so many people on here warned conservatives from taking this course. If a person is secure enough in their own beliefs before beginning this course, then they shouldn't feel threatened by another person who sees the world differently. Heaven forbid a college education introduces anyone at this school to beliefs different from their own. The course introduces students to the very real oppression and pain of a marginalized group of people in this country. Native American's aren't complaining or whining. They are honestly expressing pain for genocides and atrocities their people went through and still go through today. If anyone is complaining it's the students on here ragging on a professor for talking to them about someone else's pain. Seriously? How inundated with a sense of entitlement and privilege does a person have to be in order to whine about having to recognize another group's pain? The assignments are reasonable. There was a reading journal students kept up on each week as well as a midterm and final. If you paid attention in the course and did the most of the readings, then it's manageable. I don't understand complaining about reading in a college level course. Yes this course requires a lot of reading. Native perspectives are hard for people knee deep in a culture founded on colonialism to grasp. Dr. Martin is an incredible woman. Her course is inspirational. The truth is, people don't even need to take an Indigenous Studies course in order to be introduced to the racism, oppression, and disrespect Native Peoples in this country face. Reading through the evaluations for Dr. Martin on this website will provide enough insight into the very real hatred American Indians and Alaskan Natives regularly deal with in this country.

Dr. Martin conveyed the concepts of ES 360 very well-- I experienced quite a few paradigm shifts from taking this class and highly recommend it. However, the class demands a LOT of reading (most of which isn't necessary). Hopefully Dr. Martin restructures the class to make the reading load more bearable, but that is unlikely as she is very stubborn. That was one of the things that annoyed me: she had such a steadfast way of viewing things that sometimes she would tread on the opinions student expressed. Personally, that dissuaded me from contributing as much as I would have otherwise.

When registering, I was actually excited to take this class. I find different cultures, especially Native American culture very interesting. However, Martin butchered any knowledge that could of been taken away from this class. Aside from the absurd amount of reading, her lectures, or "discussions" as she likes to call them are boring and un-educational. In the class discussions, if anyone stated an opinion she doesn't agree with, she automatically tells them they're wrong, simply because of the fact that their opinion differs from hers. To sum it up the class consists of her playing dry documentary movies about native american struggles, and taking every available chance to remind us how "evil" white people are. She then tests you on a specific detail that was mentioned once in class or had a sentence written on it in the 4 books you were supposed to read. Honestly a shame that an interesting class such as this was ruined by a bias, unorganized and boring professor.

Basically, you have to kiss ass to get a good grade here. She's going to spend the whole quarter repeating the same things about native americans, and shitting on white people. One time she even put words in my mouth and then accused me of making generalizations. You have a crazy amount of reading for this class, then discussions (in a circle) about them once a week, the other day you have lecture and watch a movie. The first midterm is crazy hard, then the second is an essay that you have a week to do, and then the final is moderately hard. You have a quarter-long journal project which is easy points if you follow directions. She gives you one extra credit opportunity- do it! Then 20% of your grade is participation, and here's where the ass-kissing comes in. When you comment in class or speak in discussion, don't have your own ideas, just say what she wants to hear! Overall, take another class if you can, but if you end up stuck here, an A is possible!

In all honesty, the rest of these ES/NR 360 ratings are pretty spot on. Here is how to pass this class: 1) agree with everything she says. You're opinion is wrong, even if you think you are agreeing with her. 2) Understand that Indigenous Peoples can do absolutely no wrong, and Westerners are scum of the earth that literally screw everything up and should be kicked out. 3) Commit to about a million hours of dry readings and documentaries. 4) Pray that she doesn't hate you and you can pass her midterms. I honestly learned to stop talking in class discussions because everything I said was automatically wrong because it did not align to her worldviews, which *must* be right because she is the professor and Lakota. I understand that this is a class formed to explored a different worldview, but literally the entire class she preaches that Native Americans don't believe in a "right" vs "wrong" worldview while simultaneously saying everything we did was wrong. Scratch that - she will tell you "well I think that is an interesting way of thinking about it." Translation: You are wrong, stop talking so I can tell you what I think. Honestly I am going to end up with an A or B in this class, and the course load isn't that hard if you attempt to do at least half of the readings, but fair warning that she is among the most oppressive professors I have encountered at Poly. I get it, maybe my Westernized worldview is flawed, I accept that. However I do not appreciate being personally victimized and held responsible for the atrocities imparted on Indians over the centuries, and nor do I appreciate a professor that practically preaches to us to have an open and embracing mindset while crushing every student input. There's my rant, take the class if you have a friend that you can complain about it to, that was literally my only lifesaver this quarter.

This class is an absolute joke. If you enjoy being spoon fed ideas that everything in the Western culture is wrong, then by all means enroll! We watched a movie (if not multiple) in every single lecture, the newest of them being from 2010. Most of these movies and documentaries were from the 90s or early 00s so they were neither relevant nor useful bc of outdated information. The class is very discussion heavy but the only person who can be right is her. I think as a person, she is a nice one, but she is simply not a teacher. This seems like a high school class, not one that I pay hundreds of dollars for someone to pop in a DVD. Overall I disliked this class and felt it extremely unnecessary and uninteresting. Do the research about native people on your own and save yourself some money. Also I just have to add this to let you know how weird this class is, once she word for word said "evolution is a western idea, not necessarily right". That's when I truly checked out of it.

Throughout my education at Cal Poly, I've had a lot of bad teachers that I could have written reviews about, but generally, I realized I probably could have put more effort in those classes and I would have done better. But as I am preparing to take her final, I've decided to take a break and write this review so I can stop being so frustrated and go back to working on it afterward. I read her reviews and was hesitant to take the class--I wanted to take it as a GE so it counted for 2 of my minor classes. The previous reviews have a lot of truth to them, but also some that sound personally victimized by taking a left-leaning class when they're pretty conservative. Let it be known that as a liberal student taking this class, I still had major problems with it. Not because she forces anything down your throat--for the most part, you just have to keep an open mind and accept/acknowledge history and events in America's history have negative lasting effects for Native Peoples. No...what I really have a problem with is the UNWHOLLY amount of reading she gives, videos we watch in class, and the busiest of busy work you can ever imagine. Thankfully she grades participation (I didn't say one thing this quarter or maybe she just liked me, who knows), the observation project, and discussion papers pretty easy. But this class, in essence, has absolutely NO STRUCTURE to it. None. What's on the midterm you ask? It beat me! No study guide at all and could be anything we've ever talked/read/watched about. We have "discussions" weekly on the readings of that week, and it's mainly an "I read this and thought about this" by someone in the class and then she just answers back and lectures. There is no discussion aspect to it--might as well just have kept us in rows! She would be smart to actually allow students in the class to talk about it without her constantly lecturing and come to form their own understandings and voice in the class, but oh well. I'm trying to study for the Final right now and she took 5 minutes out of our last lecture (which went a full 2 hours, and I'm not even sure anything is going to be on the final from it because she didn't mention it), to cover what's on the final, which is cumulative. No study guide, just "focus on the things we really talked about"...sure yeah, thanks. If I'm going off the midterm, it's going to be very hard and very specific, which if she narrowed down what we needed to study for I wouldn't complain so much but I'm out here all day and all night trying to remember and understand every little thing she ever taught us about (because questions on the midterm were like that). In conclusion, I tried really hard just for me to seriously not learn much (seriously, like nothing I can go out and talk to my friends about if we're talking about activism or injustices, it hasn't my stance on the mistreatment of Native Peoples more passionate), and work to death. The advice I wish my former self had was to not take this class, even if I was on the brink. I think there's an indigenous studies policy class with Professor Verma, and I think I should have taken that. However, this class is good for people who do need to open up their minds and learn a little about the injustices Native Peoples all over the world face, just expect to not get a good grade if you don't do the work!

This class is literally one of the best I have taken at Cal Poly! This class rocked my whole perspective on the history of indigenous people in the United States, and was so eye opening to the systemic problems that plague the indigenous populations. Yes, there is a lot of reading - but the reading is so interesting!!! This class honestly was so lit - Professor Martin is so wise and has such a deep breadth of knowledge, she is definitely one of the most passionate teachers I have had at Cal Poly. The group discussions are pretty awkward at first, but by the end of the quarter I found there to be great conversations. It is so lame that people are basing their review of this class off the amount of assigned reading - god forbid a teacher actually assigns opening a book in a COLLEGE CLASS!???? Take this class if you want to get fired up and inspired!!!!

The name and description for this class is misleading. This entire course could be taught in one sentence: \"Native Americans respected the land and we screwed them over.\" If you LOVE listening to liberals whine and complain about the tragedies we\'ve inflected on natives, it\'s a great class. If you could care less, you will be frustrated and bored. This class isn\'t a lot of work in terms of assignments and writing, but plan on reading at least 1200 pages that all say the same thing. There are better options to fulfill your C4/USCP.