Comments:History Workshop - Dr. Watkins is an incredibly nice professor. That's about it. History workshop is a hard class in general, but fair warning, it's a flipped classroom and no matter how much you think that might not be that bad, trust me, it's worse. You HAVE to watch the videos and do the reading like a hawk since there are daily quizzes, and he grades harshly on all assignments. Method's classes like this one are already notorious for making students hate history, but the way his class in particular is structured only exacerbates this. Additionally, History Workshop this semester was an 8 am, which I would not fault him for lest he had not outright said he leaves all his courses for the slots nobody else wanted. I am a good student, I go to office hours, don't procrastinate, and put in the work, and normally I'd never leave a review like this. Maybe he's much better in regular history courses, I wouldn't know, but my advice is: Don't take this class unless you have to. If you do have to take the History Workshop with him: Godspeed, and good luck. You'll need it.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:History Workshop - Dr. Watkins is lovely. He makes class so fun and interesting, even if it's topics I don't usually enjoy. He is very willing to meet with students to help with your assignments. However, I will mention that the primary source and historiography papers are quite intense so don't procrastinate. There is also a LOT of reading for these assignments. I would still absolutely recommend taking his class and he is one of my favorite professors at Baylor.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:4333 - I've had Watkins three times now, and every single time, his class was the best class of my semester. He tries to engage students in the material, by means of discussion, lectures, class bonding, fun activities, and reading. He asks our input and listens to it. This class was a flipped class, meaning that we watched lecture videos outside of class and the class itself was structured like a seminar. He's normally excellent about getting back grades in a timely manner, but this semester, he was up for tenure and had just been promoted to a new position, so there was some delay. He did grade the papers in a timely manner, and I want to emphasize that you should not enter into a Watkins class with any hope that he's a lenient grader. He's not. His goal is to make his students into better students and better historians. You don't need to prove that you're a good writer but that you know what you're doing. He's the type of professor who sees potential and encourages it to be realized, and if you simply ask for his help, he will gladly help you. He genuinely cares about his students, and if there are physical or mental health issues, he's very understanding if grades are involved. He tried to foster a lot of community and camaraderie in our class. Overall, I don't like French political history, but I do love French history because of Dr. Watkins. Take Modern France or French Rev. You will not regret it.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:History 4333 - Dr. Watkins does try his best to make every class fun and entertaining but it always take him forever to grade papers and quizzes. He emphasizes on talking in class so he is in fact discriminatory against introverts.  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:multiple - WATKINS IS THE BEST! This man is the best professor at Baylor, especially in the History department. He is kind and funny, and incredibly understanding while still holding his students to a high standard. He makes class incredibly entertaining and personable, and I don't know anyone who doesn't love his classes. I have taken him 3 times now because he is that good. His class is not a blowoff, but it is extremely worth it in all regards. HE IS THE BEST  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:4343 - Dr. Watkins is easily my favorite professor I've ever had and one of my favorite people I've ever met. I had him once before for historiography, and when registering for the fall semester, I knew that he was a good enough prof that it was worth bending over backwards to take his course. His syllabus looks really hard, but it's actually not as hard as the syllabus makes it out to be. This French history class had two essay tests, one white paper assignment, and a Pechakucha presentation. On all of these, Dr. Watkins was incredibly willing to help out. I'd visit his office hours for all of these and ask for his help, and he'd help me along. The Pechakucha presentations are related to the topic of the day in that class, so if you miss your presentation day, you have to make it up. That sounds really harsh, but when I had a health scare and had to miss my presentation, he was willing to work with me, found an open day that coincided with my interests, and assigned that one to me. As for the essay tests, they are take home and completely open book. He'll even read the entire essay and comment on where you can improve, as long as you do that before the day of the test. It's important to note that you cannot BS with Dr. Watkins – I've always been good at BSing, but he will figure it out, and he will give you an appropriate grade. He managed to trick me into learning, and I learned more from his class than any other class. Dr. Watkins never asks more of you than you can give, and he only asks for your best and nothing more. Endless amounts of respect for him  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:2395 - I absolutely loved Dr. Watkins! He was a very helpful professor and he would arrange office hours or email you back in a timely manner. He graded everything on time, and he taught us well. This class was hybrid for me, so we only met once a week and had to do our reading and research the rest of the time, but he took a boring subject and made it bearable. I looked forward to this class more than any other that I had, and historiography is just boring in nature. He always tried to connect with students, and he'd start off each class by asking us a question, like what our favorite movie was, and while we waited for class to start, we would often be talking about birds or registration or other things. The term paper he assigned was very difficult and even though I should have had an easier topic, it was difficult to find sources for it, but he was understanding of my difficulty finding sources and would help me determine what I was doing right or wrong. I once spilled water on my laptop and ruined it and he told me to take an extension on a major assignment because he knew I'd been working on it and trying to work on it and I wasn't putting it off until the last second – so communication with him is key, if you're having trouble, tell him that you are. I don't know what his other classes are like, but if you're looking to take him for historiography, make sure you start your paper early. You'll need to. But all in all, an excellent professor, one of my favorites. I'm going to miss his class. Also: he made video lectures for us to answer homework questions and he'd usually try and make them funny or interesting or even embarrassing so that we wouldn't be so bored or burned out.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:HISTORY 2395 - Dr. Watkins is one of the kindest souls who makes a potentially loathsome topic bearable. If you want to do well, the workload is very heavy, but in the end it's worth it. The class is broken up into 3 sections. The first section's readings are assigned (and a little long) while the second and third sections leave it up to you to discover your own secondary sources that will contribute to your final essay. The final essay takes a lot of work and is very particular, but Dr. Watkins is more than willing to help you out with it and does a good job of preparing you to write it successfully. Every week consists of an online video lecture, a homework assignment, the reading, and an in-class lecture. It's a heavy workload, but it's so worth it because Dr. Watkins is an amazing professor who really cares about his students and at the end of the semester you've truly grown as a student.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:HIS 2395 - Dr. Watkins is an absolutely wonderful soul. Make sure you start your Historiography project asap because it contains an annotated bibliography, a book review over your core source, and a 10 to 15 page Historiographical essay. All over a topic of your choice. He is always willing to help you, just go to his office during his scheduled office time and he will help you out tremendously. The course also consists of 3 spread out exams and a lot of assigned hw. This class tremendously prepares you for the upper level History classes. Make sure you take Watkins for this class. His workload is pretty reasonable because he gives students plenty of time to work on each assignment of their Historiographical projects. Highly recommend History majors to take his class before you take upper level History classes because his class will make them a lot easier for you.  - Grade In Class:B

Comments:Historiography - How this man doesn't have a 100 rating on here is beyond me. He is so kind and enthusiastic about history. I 100% recommend taking his class  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:HIS 1307 - Amazing professor!!! I'll be honest, I originally dreaded signing up for this class because I thought it would be terribly boring. Luckily, it wasn't at all, and despite it being an 8 AM, I didn't miss a single class. Dr. Watkins is overall a very kind professor and will definitely help you out if you're struggling. He was very clearly interested in what he was teaching and understood that most of the students in his class weren't history majors and that most of them probably had terrible history teachers in the past. He had clear powerpoints and lectures and had a review at the beginning of each class. Most days we were given sources to read and discuss in groups, and though the group work wasn't all that fun, the sources were interesting and added to the powerpoints rather than being something random. That being said, there is a quiz due before each class that requires you to do the textbook reading. I'll admit, the textbook readings weren't particularly interesting, but the quizzes were so easy you could skim the textbook and still pass. There is also one long essay (around 8 pages) that covered the graphic novel required for this class, but it was actually really interesting to write and not at all as boring as it sounds. There were only two textbooks needed for this class and one graphic novel, and none were terribly expensive compared to most textbook prices. There were two tests (in-class essays) and they were both fairly easy. My best advice to create an outline beforehand of what you would like to write about, then add in the details and such when writing the essay. Overall, Dr. Watkins is an amazing professor. Take this class!!!  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:HIS 1307 - Everything he does and says seems to contribute to our learning. Even though the readings are oftentimes tedious, his lectures compliment it to further our understanding of the material. Also, answering those reading questions REALLY helps with understanding the material for the exams. He encourages participation, which is mostly welcome. His persistence to get new people to speak out has given me the courage to sometimes contribute to the class discussions. Dr Watkins almost always seems to have a positive energy about him and is usually open to help after class despite being a busy father of two young children, and I admire him greatly for it. The thing that probably contributes to my learning the most is when Dr Watkins often refers back to the material we went over in previous lectures through class or group discussions. It reinforces the material and also allows me to add more perspective onto previous material. It doesn't necessarily seem repetitive either since we are reviewing material, then tying it to other new material. It's a very satisfying way of learning. If you've skipped over everything, just know this: If you want to really learn something and take an engaging class, TAKE HIM. If you want a blow-off class, don't.  - Grade In Class:B+

Comments:HIS 1307 - Dr. Watkins is awesome!! I have never had a professor who has better organized and helpful lectures. While his class is probably more work and reading than some of the other professors, I would take him again any day. His kindness, helpfulness, and sheer knowledge of the material make him an unparalleled choice for any history class you might take.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:4333 - I loved Dr. Watkins! He makes class very fun and entertaining and does a great job of keeping things interesting and getting discussions going. He is a fair grader and clear in his expectations, and he is very helpful. He is very nice and helpful and I don't have anything negative to say. There are weekly quizzes on canvas based off the readings and the reading can be a lot, but it's important to do it because you'll use that material for your three papers (no tests though). I really enjoyed this class and felt I learned a lot. Zero complaints about him or his class. I highly recommend.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:HIS 4333 - I took Dr. Watkins for the French Revolution and Napoleon. This was a phenomenal class and Dr. Watkins is an excellent lecturer and I thoroughly enjoyed his class. There were 3 papers and weekly online quizzes. Dr. Watkins is a fair grader and happily reviews all drafts of the assigned papers. There were about 300-500 pages assigned per week on heavy weeks but on some weeks there were only about 150 pages per week.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:HIS 4343 - Dr. Watkins is the man! He is funny and relatable. His teaching skills are incredible, and his powerpoints are the most organized/helpful powerpoints I have ever seen in my life. He picks really interesting books and makes class discussion comfortable. He is really laid back about most things. He is super nice and wants all of his students to succeed. Definitely take him if you have the chance. His knowledge of French history is incredible.  - Grade In Class:A

Comments:1307 - Dr. Watkins is an AMAZING teacher. He gets the class involved in discussion and genuinely cares about his students. We have a quiz over the reading on canvas once a week, you can have the books out as you take the quiz and can usually find the answers even if you haven't read much. His lectures are intriguing and he underlines terms that will be on the tests. He gave us a blank sheet of paper so that we could write whatever we wanted from the review information and take it into the test. We had an entire class for review and he was extremely helpful in showing us exactly what he wanted from us on the test. There was one essay that we wrote in the semester, and a shorter essay of each test. The final is semi-cumulative. Even if the workload was really involved, I would have taken Watkins. He is very very passionate about what he teaches and plays on both logic and emotion to make you care about it too. I never liked history until I took this class. Take him take him take him!  - Grade In Class:A