Champney, Danielle  

BOYCOTT!!!

Very understanding and helpful. She initiates discussions and tries to make sure students understand everything. Her exams are fair and there are lots of ways to earn points. If you focus and work hard then you'll get a good grade

I do not like Professor Champney. Outside of the classroom she is really cool, but inside the classroom she is a poor teacher. She always asks the class what the answer is and never actually answers anything herself. If you don't go to class, you're screwed. SO MUCH HOMEWORK. Daily homework, HUGE weekend homework, and the quizzes are usually impossible. Her classes are so hard! If you're willing to work super super hard, go for it.

Danielle is one of the best math professors I have ever had. She has a clear and orderly approach to each class. Her teaching style aligns with my own in that it involves constant participation. Like most math professors at Cal Poly, she would give you a general approach to a problem and the different techniques around that concept. Afterwards, she would put up an example problems and expect class participation on how to solve that problem. If you do not like participating you would not like Champney's teaching style.

She is a very good math teacher with a much different teaching style than any other teacher I've had at cal poly. You need to go to class to know they types of questions that may be on quizzes or tests and the midterm is 1/3 a take home test and you can use your notes on the rest of it so you don't have to memorize things. You can also redo homework from a better grade, and homework has more weight than a single midterm. She really makes sure you understand the concepts in a unique, participatory teaching style that keeps me engaged and moves pretty slowly. She also makes sure you know the theory and reasons behind calculus instead of simply telling you to memorize a formula. Also, you do not have much daily homework, only over the weekends. Occasionally, this lower workload makes me think that maybe I'm not getting enough practice but her tests and quizzes reflect the homework style and prepare me well. Great teacher.

I am convinced that Champney is part of a government test program because her teaching style is extra-terrestrial and some dude just filmed our class the other day. Her teaching consists of explaining the very basics of each section in class, then leaving the rest up to you in the homework and quizzes. There isn't much homework, but you are going to have to learn how to do it on your own time. Don't worry about studying for quizzes because it won't be on anything you've learned. (Literally gave us a GROUP quiz, whole class was silent in less than a minute, no one knew what to do, all the groups were staring blankly at each other.) Office hours are ok I guess. She helps, but only for a minute because she has to get back to whatever other work she is doing. (At least that's how it has been when I go.) The first page of her syllabus has a quote from Paul Wallace that reads, "Most of what we believe, we believe because it was told to us by someone we trusted. What I would like to suggest, however, is that if we rely too much on that kind of education, we could find in the end that we have never really learned anything." There is no quote that could better describe this class. I trusted you Champney, I trusted you. With all of that being said, Danielle is a very nice and positive person who is extremely busy and attempting to teach a complex course in the short time the quarter system offers. She is extremely knowledgeable in her field and I will continue to visit her office hours in hopes that I can manage to understand what is not taught in class. (I am eight weeks deep in this course.)

Danielle is by far my favorite Professor. Not only is she incredibly friendly and approachable, she is able to convey the material in a way that everyone understands and clarifies any questions on spot. Class time is usually split between her lecturing and the other time she has a discussion style period where she has a problem on the board and asks for student input to "guide" her through the process of solving it. She is very available during office hours and review sessions for help on homework. The class involves daily homework and weekend (big) homework that are very helpful is completed. Midterms & Finals are challenging, but reasonable, and only contain information that she has taught in the class. If you have to take any of the Calculus's I HIGHLY recommend Professor Champney.

Champney is new this year and did an excellent job. In addition to teaching the Calc series, she teaches the "how to teach math" class which means that she is awesome at teaching people math. She spends a lot of time making sure that people understand what is going on and understands herself that some things that we learn in calc aren't useful to the masses. Her tests are really difficult but your grade is 30% homework based and 10% project based so there is a lot of room for error. Also, she weights her tests like crazy. She is also always wants to talk in her office hours and even made group office hours for us on mondays, kind of like a big group study session but with only our class.

Professor Champney has been the best professor I've had at Cal Poly let alone in any of my math classes I've ever taken! She is super kind, easy to understand, and makes participation really encouraged in the classroom. It is easy to learn from her and she is the most approachable prof. I've ever had. Go to office hours or send her emails because she responds super fast! I asked her a quick question over email and not only did she answer me within five minutes, but she also drew out some examples and sent me a picture of them! She is awesome, take her!

Danielle is a very good teacher. I recommend taking her class.

I would marry Champney if I didnt already have 3 kids and 4 wives. Office hours are very effective and if you show initiative and participate in class a passing grade is inevitable. If you want a teacher who truly cares about you, your math ability, and the courses she teaches, choose her.

Danielle Champney is a phenomenal professor. It's true that her class requires active participation but she's very skilled at leading you to the correct answer and making sure you truly understand the material instead of just throwing up examples and going through them. I personally cannot stand speaking in front of a class but I still consider the active participation portion of her teaching style to be the reason I was able to understand calculus so well. Her teaching style increases your ability to think critically in every single one of your classes, not just calculus. She allows you to redo homeworks and will work with any student who isn't happy with their grade, If I had gone to office hours or done any of the suggested homework problems or studied for the midterm I would have gotten an A in this class. Just off he teaching ability I got a B and feel I really understand the material. She truly cares about every single one of her students. TAKE HER CLASS.

Danielle is such an amazing professor. She so clearly conveys the material in a way that is easy to understand for everyone, even those who are not necessarily mathematically inclined. Her teaching style is centered around participation, which may be daunting, but is totally worth it. Instead of lecturing for an hour and making everyone fall asleep, she really engages the class and makes us think critically about the material so that we understand how to do everything for ourselves. She was super effective and I felt like I completely understood each topic, even without going to office hours and doing all of the practice problems. Not to mention that she's also a great person outside of being a professor.

Danielle is a really cool person outside of the classroom. However, her teaching is mediocre. She is not approachable and is a hard grader. When she presents new material, she asks a lot of questions expecting that we know already when it's NEW MATERIAL. She also responds to your questions by asking you a question, which is not helpful at all. Sometimes she doesn't answer your question at all, but just asks that entire class, and when no one answers, she just sits there waiting until the very few people who understand what is going on answer the question. She also plays favorites which is very frustrating. I can see Danielle's potential as a teacher, but having her for the 2 hours, 2 days a week class does not bring out this potential. Her lecturing feels unorganized, so it's hard to take decent notes. If you get Danielle, go to office hours and play her "favorites" game. That's all you can do to try to understand the material and prepare for the midterm and final, which is 40% of your grade.

She started by being so sweet and became everyone's friend, but of course she developed her list of favorites! She is such a bitch! Gives A LOT of homework and I mean A LOT! like her class is the only one I'm taking. She gives in class midterms and take home midterms, plus final. In total 5 test per quarter, we used to have weekly quizzes but now she changed it for Weekly problem solving packages that are a WASTE of time. Plus the book homework and a project...TOO much work! She will not accommodate any changes for you UNLESS you're her favorite. Also, she doesn't teach, she says its all you guys...when she does teach she teaches stupid stuff and then the test have VERY HARD problems that she never even teach us.

I love this class! This class is very interactive. You get to work with groups all of the time, sometimes the quizzes are group quizzes. This class is not just about re-learning some of the elementary school math concepts, but really understanding how we get to the answer. We get to learn how us future teachers can really help our students when they are having a problem in math. Homework is due every Friday, either turning it into her office or scanning it with an app on your phone and turning it in online. You can use your workbook and a notebook that you took notes in on the test. PRO TIP: write EVERYTHING down even if you think you know it and you'll remember it later. REMEMBER, you get to use your workbook and your notebook on your tests. Use it to your advantage! Also, DON'T rent the textbook. You'll need it for 4 quarters since this is a 4 quarter series. Buy the book!

Do not under any circumstance take this professor for the 4-quarter math series! She doesn’t teach anything and the class is only group work. All the weekly homework assignments and projects are busy work and they take 3-4 hours each. Her classes will leave you confused. You have to figure out everything on your own and she won’t take the time to answer any questions. You get absolutely no time for quizzes and they have nothing to do with what we do in class. She doesn’t say anything to us the whole class, and she just sits in the front of the class and does her own work. She will only speak to you for longer than two seconds if you’re one of her favorite students. Otherwise, she will walk away from you mid-sentence. There is SO much work (weekly quizzes, extensive and irrelevant weekend homework, time-consuming portfolios, take-home tests, and extremely difficult in-class test). It is worth it to postpone taking this class series by a quarter to ensure that you won’t have her as your professor. She exemplifies all the qualities of a terrible teacher.

I like how everything is hands on. For math 228-330, it was critical thinking every class. The material itself is easy, but we have to think in depth and the concepts are hard in that way. Teacher is easy to talk to. Go to her office hours if you do not understand something, she is helpful and answers most questions clearly. She is understandable.

Overall, she was BY FAR the best teacher I have ever had in math and the best professor I've had in college so far. I have had her all three quarters for calc 1-3 and wish I could take her for calc 4. She has motivated me to like calc more and has given me so much confidence in my calc skills. Also, she is one of the nicest teachers I have ever had and respects and loves all of her students so much. She treats her classes like family. I looked forward to coming to her class every day and it was a privilege to have her. Please take her class if you can. Although she does give out a lot of homework and her midterms can be challenging, everyone is capable of doing well in her class if you put the effort in. Also, she has a lot of different ways you can make up points and weighs her homework a lot, so doing the homework is the most important part of the class. There's no doubt You WILL come out of the class truly understanding and liking Calc more.

MATH 300: Technology in Math Education--a class that I thought at first seemed very useful and applicable for people looking into a future teaching career... Well, I was dead wrong, at least when the class is taught by Champney. The class was completely pointless; I felt like nothing we did would ever help me with a future teaching career. The class is structured so that it is broken up into four main chunks, one for every computer software we covered in the quarter (Desmos, Microsoft Excel, Geogebra/Geometer's Sketchpad, and then a final project). Each chunk had a long assignment of just seemingly endless busy-work. Champney just sat at her desk and was on her computer the whole class period while we just did mindnumbingly brainless tasks for 50 minutes a day, every single day. The assignments weren't even particularly hard or thought-provoking, nor did they have much real application for the future; they were just very long and tedious with no apparent objective in sight. While working on these assignments, if we ever were stuck on a part, Champney would sarcastically talk back instead of answering any of our questions. There was honestly no point in even going to class, well except for her awful grading policy. 8AM Monday through Thursday, that is the schedule i had MATH 300, yet I'm not exactly sure if Champney realized this. If you were ever late at all, even by just one minute, you knew Champney would hold a grudge against you. Hell, I was only ever late because I never felt the class was even worth attending. We literally did nothing all class period except do boring assignments for 50 minutes, assignments that I could easily have done at home without any teacher instruction (not that I ever got any anyway). As for Champney's grudges, she ensured to feign a positive and happy demeanor around all her students, but come grading time, she made sure to give all her favorite students As and all her least favorite students (including the only 2 guys in the class, which I doubt is a coincidence) much lower grades. In fact, she looked for every minor detail to mark me down on, even if I was entirely correct. Hell, my take-home midterm project was no different than anybody else's. I completely all the parts and thoroughly went through every detail, but I got a 60%. When I asked her about my midterm, she said she loved my ideas and thought it was fantastic, yet she wouldn't give me any explanation for why I was marked down at all. Her excuse was that it wasn't worth many points in the end, but I guess that was why I had a D in the class at the time and ended with barely an 80%. Hell, her rubric was essentially nonexistent with almost nothing on it, and considering it's a written project, she has all the power in the world to hand out grades as she wishes. Oh, and to make matters worse, I was sick with the flu one week, and I missed three days of class, and I got marked down on my project simply because I was absent. Yet, when her favorite students were gone, she seemed not to notice or care. Overall, Champney is a seemingly friendly and nice person who will wave at you and say hello if she sees you walking by, but behind that idiotic facade is a very biased, sexist individual who has no place holding any type of teaching position. Heck, even multiple of her favorite students have admitted that they kiss up to her because she gives better grades, and behind her back, they are saying all the same things I've written here. I just wish I knew about her two-faced personality before taking the class. Maybe with a different professor, I could have actually had the opportunity to do well, or more importantly, i could have actually learned something important for my future teaching career. I know Champney will see this, and she could probably guess who I am, but I honestly don't care. She is the worst teacher I have ever had in my life. I've taken classes here with Mark Stankus, a many notoriously known for having no idea how to teach a class and probably not even understanding the material himself; Jon Bartel, who simply ranted during every English lectures about the Trump administration; and numerous other terrible professors, but Champney is by far the worst. I'm not sure why she ever decided to pursue teaching, but it's definitely not why I want to. I want to inspire and motivate people to do great things, not drag them down and spit on them behind their backs. Hey Champney, thanks for the great experience, Fall quarter 2018. It was actually one of the most enlightening classes I have ever taken here. Now, I definitely know what NOT to do when I have a teaching career. Thank you! :)

If you've taken Danielle for the previous parts of the LS Math series then you know what to expect. Nothing changes except more days to bring in your computer to work on material. I loved the class and the material.