Ex-Rated: Darren Bardell
Taking college courses as a high school student can be pretty scary, and professors play a major role in determining your success in these. To help facilitate current and incoming members of the Early College on their journeys as quasi-college students, Witherly Heights shall be collating students reviews of their ex-Ohlone College professors to help gauge whether or not their teaching style will fit you.
These reviews are of Darren Bardell, who is a professor in the history department at Ohlone College. Most Early College students will take U.S. History in their first semester as tenth graders with Professor Bardell.
KW: Overall, I really enjoyed Professor Bardell’s class since he is a really engaging lecturer and he is very clear when he speaks. He is also very helpful when it comes to the midterm and the final since he allows you to come to office hours to get your outline checked and he gives good feedback. You can also go after the midterm and final to go over your essays, and he may even give you extra credit. NOTE: Do not sleep in his class or be distracting because he will ask you to leave. As long as you take notes during the lecture and go to office hours you will be successful in his class.
AG: Make him review your midterm/final, and he really likes circles.
GV: Although I didn’t like the materials he used in class (the Pearson etext had a lot of homework embedded in it), Professor Bardell’s loud lecture style and energetic, animated movement kept me engaged. He also fundamentally changed the way I view history and modern politics. When he was lecturing on the Spanish-American War, one of the points he drilled home was that facts don’t matter, all that matters is people’s perception of facts. In the post-fact world of politics we live in, I often think about those words when 45’s administration is caught in a lie but his supporters don’t waver in their convictions.
LC: Professor Bardell was a good teacher and was fair when grading the midterm and final. If you asked him for help to improve your score he would be very willing to give it. As a result, his office hour wait times were always very long but it was definitely worth it.
IE: I thought Professor Bardell was a great teacher. I was really glad that he not only gave us our midterm essay questions before the exam, but also that he allowed us to ask for feedback on any outlines we made for it. My only recommendation for future students of his would be to stay on top of your homework because if he sees you’ve been spending enough time on it, he might give you a few extra points on your midterm if you go to his office hours. Also, take advantage of his office hours.
SN: He is a very eccentric teacher that gets very passionate during his lectures. This makes it easy for students to pay attention and write notes. When you are taking his class, make sure to stay ahead in your readings so you have at least some understanding of what he is talking about in class.
TR: Professor Bardell is definitely one of the best teachers I have ever had. While I’m not the greatest at history nor do I find it exceptionally interesting, Bardell made all of his lectures incredibly interesting for me, and that made his class a lot more enjoyable. However, the best thing about taking him is definitely the help he gives for tests. For the final, he gave us the questions ahead of time, and let us make outlines for the questions. And he told you how to write them, he checked them, and he corrected any mistakes on them. Overall, he is one of the, if not the, best teachers I’ve ever had, and I would recommend him to everyone looking to take a history class.
RC: Although I have not had Professor Bardell for a full term, he has been an excellent teacher thus far. He does not cover all of the material provided by the textbooks, but he provides a comprehensive overview of the chapter, or chapters, up for discussion on the day of class. His engaging attitude toward students during his lectures also makes the way in which students study history more interesting than the original source material (which by itself is interesting enough). He transcends the level of expectation in what he needs to teach for the course, and his interest in history begins to drive your own as you progress throughout the semester. One thing about Professor Bardell’s class is that you need to stay very attentive. This is because Professor Bardell’s notes on the board will not make sense if you are not listening to what he is saying as he is saying it. At the end of class, my friends and I often wonder what people would be able to understand from our discussion solely through his notes on the board. Besides this habit of his, he is the perfect teacher for history because of how he takes the extra step to make the subject more appealing to students.
DB: Even though I have not had Professor Bardell for a full semester yet, I would still say that he is a very interesting teacher. Any student taking his class can see that he is very passionate about the subject, based on how active he is during his lectures. He is really helpful when it comes to tests and your grade in general, since he is very open in discussing how to improve and what you should be really focusing on. However, you have to make sure you take detailed notes and pay attention in class since most of his tests are lecture-based.