John Girardo

John can be blunt and a tough grader but he's also a really good teacher. When you DO get a compliment from him it means more. I personally loved most of his lectures. He gave useful writing techniques with clear examples and interesting writing exercises. The final assignment was fun and a good experience writing with a group.

Had his class first semester, sucked. Had his class second semester, SUCKED. For a class that was converted to an online course because of Covid, I was expecting him to be a little bit more lenient on participatory grading. I would attend every single class and yet, I received a poor mark for participation. Also grades SUPER tough for no reason.

Not what you want in your first year. Everything is group projects (most likely due to course design), incredibly passive aggressive, and will call out people during class. Learned a fair amount in his class but not sure if its worth his rude attitude.

Girardo takes what should be rather objective marking schemes, and makes them his own personal subjective nonsense. Hasn't heard of a specific sound effect that exists? "Not real." Any well-written opening sentence will be deemed "too wordy", even though a 6th grader could comprehend it. Doesn't care if you're stuck with a terrible group either.

Lectures are heavy, monotonous and barely engaging. VERY hard grader. Will not give you an A even if your life depended on it.

I was really looking forward to RTA212, and knowing that John was my teacher I prepared myself for the same work ethics he presented in RTA102. He's still a tough marker - obviously - and 3/4 assignments you will do are group projects with the same members for all of them. Final assignment is a shared mark, so make sure you have reliable teammates!

John isn't as bad as everyone makes him up to be - though I can confirm he is a tough marker. All of your assignments are group projects - with the same group from start to finish - so make sure you have some reliable members. If you have creative ideas and good information to back up your statements, then you should do fine. Pretty fun class!

John was a terrible teacher. For RTA 102 it is all group work and you get stuck with your group from day 1 until the end of the semester. The work seems pointless and he will rip you apart in front of your classmates. Make sure to work in your groups or else marks will be taken off for participation, and start work early or you'll get a nasty email

Always unclear with what he is expecting.

He makes you work hard but he has tons to teach.