James Fitzsimmons

I enjoyed taking this course, and I appreciated Prof. Fitzsimmons' enthusiasm of and knowledge of the subject. The class was very easy, only really consisting of three 3-page essays, an in-class midterm (multiple choice and an essay question,) and a self-scheduled final exam. I found the midterm challenging, and would definitely recommend studying well. There are also weekly readings from two different textbooks, but these are only really used for the essays and exams. Even though the Friday class is technically a discussion, I think you would be able to get by just fine without doing all of the readings. This class is not a part of my major/minor, and I chose it only to fill my schedule. It has been one of the easier classes I have taken at Midd, and I would recommend it if you're looking for a chill class. I will say, however, that I had hoped that this class would focus more on archaeologic methods and analysis, and was instead much more of a world history class. Also, both textbooks can pretty easily been found free online, so do with that information what you will

I enjoyed taking this course, and I appreciated Prof. Fitzsimmons' enthusiasm of and knowledge of the subject. The class was very easy, only really consisting of three 3-page essays, an in-class midterm (multiple choice and an essay question,) and a self-scheduled final exam. I found the midterm challenging, and would definitely reco …Read more

Fitzsimmons is awesome, I definitely want to take another course with him again. He is super enthusiastic which makes the content fun. Two lectures a week, and then a discussion in a smaller group where he brings out cool artifacts. There's assigned reading for each week, but it's not ever used except for 3 response papers throughout the semester which are done take home. Lots of memorization for the midterm, but other than that a pretty chill course.

Fitzsimmons is awesome, I definitely want to take another course with him again. He is super enthusiastic which makes the content fun. Two lectures a week, and then a discussion in a smaller group where he brings out cool artifacts. There's assigned reading for each week, but it's not ever used except for 3 response papers throughout …Read more

This class is entirely a lecture structure minus the discussion section which works out because Fitzsimmons is a really good lecturer. His passion is contagious and he consistently makes class lighthearted and interactive by playing music from the culture of the time or asking questions about our personal experiences with different sites. The essays and exams are fairly easily graded and it's not hard to do well in the class as long as you take notes in lectures and understand the general concepts of the readings.

This class is entirely a lecture structure minus the discussion section which works out because Fitzsimmons is a really good lecturer. His passion is contagious and he consistently makes class lighthearted and interactive by playing music from the culture of the time or asking questions about our personal experiences with different s …Read more