Western Kentucky University / W / Terry L. Wilson

TERRY WILSON IS THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO WKU. If you have the chance to take this class with him, DO IT. He is by far the best professor I've ever had at Western. He is super laid-back and relaxed-- if you forget an assignment, no big deal, just email it later. You missed an important class, whatever, we can reschedule it. Seriously, this man is super calm and collected 24/7, and is super understanding about everything.

You have a big notebook due at the end of the class, filled with lots of little assignments, just like in every other EDU class. There are 15 hours of observation, some reflections, some short papers, etc. One of the biggest parts of the class is peer teaching, where you divide into groups and "teach" one another a lesson. He grades you on your delivery of the lesson and then you grade yourself using a self-evaluation form. It's actually a lot of fun.

There are two exams: a mid-term and a final. Both are multiple choice and essay (short essays and then one long essay). He gives you study guides ahead of time and the exams are basically exactly like the guides. One of my favorite aspects of Dr. Wilson's class is that, for his multiple choice test questions, he gives you space to optionally write in below the question. If you pick the wrong letter but give sufficient reason as to why you picked what you did, he will give you partial/full credit on the answer - even if you answered it incorrectly!

The man is the best thing about Tate Page Hall - for real. If he taught every single class at Western, I would stay in college for as many years as necessary in order to take him for every class I had to take. He rocks!

I almost dropped teacher education before taking this class after having a bad 250 and 310 experience but Dr. Wilson reinvigorated my interest in teacher education. This was an education class where I actually LEARNED something useful and made me more confident in my abilities as a future educator. Unlike 250 and 310 you really start using practical knowledge about your future profession in making lesson plans, doing some peer teaches, and learning effective ways to implement lecture, concept, problem solving, and cooperative learning models in the classroom.

In this class you never have a due date for any assignments except for maybe a few brief homework items that can be done quickly. Due to this, it is important for you to pace yourself so you don't have to rush to put together all of the material in the last week of the semester. I say this because the class is out of 1,000 points and this requires you to make at least four detailed lesson plans, two one hundred point exams (our final was take home by the way), three critical performances, two peer teaches, and several assignments that go with your fifteen hours of observation time.

When you do your peer teaches it's best if you do both of them from your unit instead of the one that is required because then you can use both of them in your lesson and you only have to write at least two more to finish it up. Also, there is no reason to get nervous about your peer teaches because Dr. Wilson makes them fun and if you prepare ahead of time and practice just a bit then you should get an A on it. Plus, they are only fifteen minutes long so it's not torture.

Dr. Wilson is a very fun guy and uses a lot of hands on activities in the classroom to teach the material. This isn't a simple lecture class and the different techniques he uses are very effective in showing why some educational techniques are useful and why you should use them later on. Also, if you ever have any questions he is more than willing to help you out and be accomodating.

Overall, I'm REALLY glad I took this class from Dr. Wilson and not Kacer looking at the reviews for her on this board. Therefore, if your going to take 351 TRY to take this man! You'll never regret it!

This man is a natural-born educator. He has the rare gift of teaching people how to inspire others. I won't tell you if the tests are easy or difficult, or if the workload is heavy or light. But know that if you take his class you will leave knowing more about yourself and how to channel motivation into others

I believe that every university should fire all their education professors and make thousands of clones of Dr. Wilson and let them teach their entire teacher education program. Unlike many other education professors who seemingly teach students how to be teachers by non-example, Dr. Wilson is a model teacher. He incorporates many activities in the curriculum and explains how the activity we just completed was an example of a great teaching model.

He is very laid back and easy-going (especially in comparison to what I hear about Kacer...*shudders*). Wilson does not try to overburden his students with lots of worthless busy work that other education professors assign (although his workload is heavily weighted toward the end of the semester).

To sum up, Dr. Terry Wilson's move to the collegiate level was a great blow to the high school where he taught and a major gain for Western Kentucky University (which cannot be said about most of his colleagues).

TAKE THIS MAN IF YOU EVER WANT TO GET ANYTHING OUT OF TEACHER EDUCATION.

Dr. Wilson is absolutely, without a doubt thet best teacher I have had up on the hill. He finds a way to express material in ways that are understandable. His students are involved in activities almost daily. I would recommend taking him every chance possible. I wish he could teach all the education classes!

Dr. Wilson is a great teacher. He teaches you how to incorporate activities into the classroom. He is willing to help with any assignment. The peer teaches are fun and help you get to know other classmates. You should try to start on the assignments due at the end of the semester early because he does not give due dates. Everything is due when you turn the portfolio in. It is wise to get a head start and let him look over your work before submitting it for a grade.

This class is super easy, and Dr. Wilson is genuinely a nice person. However, the class is almost too easy. He does a lot of fun activities in class, but I don't think he prepared me for my other education classes.

Having looked at the evaluations of other secondary education teacher I find that people might be scared away from secondary education. Dr. Wilson, though he may procrastinate about assignments, is very effective in his teaching approaches. He gives several activities that could be taken into the classroom to help students learn. I would recommend that any student take Dr. Wilson is possible. The procrastination about assignments isn't really that bad if you get ahead and begin the unit before the last week of classes. Great job, Dr. Wilson.