Garland definitely challenged us to be insightful in class rather than to just offer generic comments as an attempt to get participation points. He also expected a lot from us in regards to the papers, usually grading fairly harshly. That being said, he was very helpful to talk to in office hours (but not in a straight-forward give-you-the-answer kind of way; rather, in a challenging-everything-you-say-so-as-to-help-round-out-your-argument kind of way). Despite doing pretty well on the tests, participating in class, doing all the readings, and working hard on the papers, I ended up having a grade that fell between a B+ and an A-, but Garland curved me up to A, (presumably based on effort?? idk). Garland was definitely one of the harder TAs, but I think he made the class worthwhile and was responsible for really making me think about the content and develop my own ideas.

Garland was very nice and approachable, but a ridiculously hard and nit-picky grader. If you do decide to take this class, take it with Boese as a TA!