John Baird - University of Toronto - St. George Campus, Toronto, ON

Professor: John Baird

Department: English

College: University of Toronto - St. George Campus, Toronto, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ENG465
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof. Baird was one of my favourite professors of my university career. He is so engaging, relaxed, and accomodating. So knowledgeable and helpful. A voice like a nature documentary narrator, could listen to him for hours--and I did. Will miss his courses.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ENG328
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Absolutely accessible and knowledgeable. His lectures do not involve any powerpoint/media and he not as lively as most but if you are interested in English you cannot find a better professor. He can (and will) answer any questions and is witty if you're paying attention. Also still interested in what students think, unlike most profs. at U of T.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ENG465
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Very interesting and engaging professor. Lovely to listen to--soft English accent, an easy elocution. You can imagine him narrating a documentary about birds or something. Makes the time just fly by, so to speak.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ENG103
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He can easily fill a 3 hour lecture, but you never need to pay attention to do well. He focuses on history, but as long as you read the material, his courses are pretty easy to pass.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ENG328
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

the guy makes borderline (if not all out) rude and ignorant comments. He was boring, and there was no analysis in the literature.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ENG328
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

awsome prof.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ENG382
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Prof Barid is amazing. He takes a historical approach to teaching novels. He gives you a great background and analysis on the novels. He is a very fair marker.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Okay prof, sort of meh--*really* strict T.A. That class in second year was a shock!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ENG328
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The best prof - funny lectures, but you don't have to go to them, fairly easy marker, really nice guy, good prof, take his course

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ENG328
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Great prof, very nice and entertaining.. not a really hard marker

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lectures were always interesting, if a little slow-paced. Your opinion of the course will be definitely influenced by the quality of your TA, who marks all essays and assignments.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The themeatic focus of the course was unclear; Baird was often incoherent, and his lectures were lacking in both unity and serious analysis; he was rude and conceited in e-mail correspondence, and his T.A's were often incompetent (my T.A. favoured verse-specialists like myself, and blasted those who prefered prose) and irresponsible.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ENGL202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Obviously Baird has merit as a professor if he's been teaching at U of T for so long. I think it is arrogant for students to act as though they know how a survey of british lit could be better taught. I thought the tutorials were excellent and the classes provided interesting background and suggested reading for the material covered.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Baird's lectures were extremely boring, and completely irrelevant. His lectures do not help you on assignments, or tests. Bader was nearly empty the few times I actually went to lectures. I left feeling like I had wasted my time every time I went.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Baird is a dinosaur. He's as old as the 1700s lit he "teaches". Lectures are useless - talked more about the book about Virginia Woolf's dog (complete with excerpt) than Mrs. Dalloway. A mandatory course you absolutely dread. Got out of bed to commute to class only to be lulled back to sleep. Definitely the worst teacher I have EVER had. A waste...

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ENG250
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Horrible prof; zero analysis, all history. Not the good kind of history either, he just rambles on and on about the theater or painters (while you're supposed to be analyzing a bloody novel). Avoid at all costs if you enjoy real English literary discussion.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ENG464
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

What is all this complaining about the emphasis on historical context?? It is as though the greatest contemporary critic's advice "ALWAYS historicize" has fallen on completely deaf ears amongst UT english students. Are we all Bloomians, failing to see that great literature (and writers) emerge from social and historical contradictions/dynamism??

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The lecture content is interesting, but in most cases it proves to be not very helpful. Prof. Baird deals with alot of the books within their historical context and does not really analyze. In most cases the history does give the students a better understanding of the material.I enjoy him as a professor as he is enthusaistic about what he teaches.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nice guy. Hilarious.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ENG202
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Lots of reading. The focus of lectures was not analysis of assigned readings but rather the history. Tutorials were useless in my opinion, since they focused on Poetry and did not do a good job of doing so. The Prof is nice, and the essays were fair and easy. The final was fair.