Western Kentucky University / D / Harold Dexter

Ugh, the most boring class ever. I hated going, not because it was hard, but because I can sleep somewhere else. He is one of the nicest teachers I've had, but goodness gracious he is boring. His teaching methods do suck, his tests are copied right out of the book, his class moves incredibly slow, and it is quite a bit of work for what seems like nothing now. There are 15 hours of observation required, several papers, a presentation, and lots and lots of caffeine if you want to stay awake.

What most students seem to not realize is that this class is designed to introduce you to what being a teacher involves. It involves conflict with children and parents. It also involves organizations that will make you a better teacher. All of those little extra things can help students decide if they really want to teach. That is what this class is designed to do. I learned a lot about what my job as a teacher would entail because of Harold Dexter. I am in Secondary Education, and I felt that I got just as much of his time as anyone else. I received a phone call from Mr. Dexter after my final project. He wanted me to know that he enjoyed my project, and that he was proud of the job I did. How many teachers call you to tell you that you did a good job on a test? He was very helpful, and I learned a lot from this class.

Although I will agree with previous students that Mr. Dexter is a very nice man and terribly concerned for his students, he is not a good teacher. He will go out of his way to do almost anything for a student. He makes an attempt to get to really know everyone. But he does not teach the class effectively. As for notes, he copies them straight from the book, so you do not have to take notes if you do not feel like it. I do not consider myself a close-minded person; I just believe that he could have done a much better job teaching. I do not feel as if I got anything from his teaching. If it had not been for my field experience, I would have changed my major. For these reasons, I believe that he is a poor teacher. Not because of his or my prejudice to anyone. All Edu 250 classes may be this way, and if they are, then I pity all teaching education majors. But I have heard from others that they were allowed to discuss teaching concerns, experiences, and "what-if" situations-things I feel to be more important than Dexter's month long discussion of different teacher organizations. I just felt that WKU's teaching program should be more serious and informative than this, as well as teachers setting good examples.

I thought Mr. Dexter was a good teacher. He was very concerned about his students. For those students who have written uncalled for comments I think you are very disrespectful to a great person. I made A's on all the tests and for those students who said some of the questions were unfair I disagree. If you read the textbook you would know the answers. I learned a lot from this class and enjoyed Mr. Dexter. I think people need to be a little more open minded and not so rude to judge a teacher.

Mr. Dexter was wonderful, I don't care what anyone else says. He cares so much about his students and is there for them. Some people didn't like him for their own personal reasons but they judged him as a teacher and not as a person. Those people are close minded. I would highly recommend Mr. Dexter. He is an old southern man but is very polite and caring about his students.

What should be the simplest, most mind-numbing of courses becomes an endless journey through the 13 levels of hell in EDU 250 with Professor Dexter. Dexter, a lifetime principal approaching his centennial, is a ridiculous choice to instruct this course. Horribly out of touch with the field, he resorts to tales of the good old days and material taken directly from the book. Every class period is one continuous note-taking session where you squint and squint trying to make sense of the chicken scratch until you finally give up. As if this wasn't bad enough, you can't take notes from his oral presentation of material. A old-fashioned Southern man, Dexter's lessons are littered with phrases like "might could do," "boys and girls," "necative" (negative), "cosmotology" (cosmology), "electric" (eclectic), "Afro-American" (African American), and "waste paper can." The terms and phrases used are offensive, incorrect, and/or just plain infuriating. The majority of the class is discussion on what a good teacher SHOULD do; the examples and suggestions given are not once followed by the instructor. Aside from lack of teacher-created material, there are several other hang-ups. Student opinion is not highly regarded. A question is never answered, rather related to a story about McNeal Elementary and quickly avoided. Students involved in athletics mysteriously receive more time to prepare assignments and study for tests, even in off-season. And most importantly, he stands at the overhead telling stories and flashing his indecipherable notes all semester except one day per year when he is videotaped. On this day, some insane Dexter-looking alien clone wonders in, prepared with a Power Point and proper grammar -- signs never present on any other day. If you take this course: be extremely fond of boredom, have no regard for the English language or political correctness, do not think for yourself, do not be an alumni of any school other than Bowling Green High School, know everything about everything, avoid fairness, and don't believe all children can learn. Looking over these evaluations, one can see a clear distinction between the good reviews and the bad reviews. All positive reviews are circa 2001. Between 2001 and 2003, something happened to Profesor Dexter. If there is one thing about the field of education that a student can take away from Professor Dexter's class, it is patience.

This class was not bad-the teacher was. Mr. Dexter should have been very knowledgable, but he was just plain boring. He thinks that, because he was a principal for 26 YEARS that that makes him a qualified expert teacher. He's really very out of touch with today's classroom. And never use the word "THAT" in anything that you write. It drives him crazy. If you are an athlete, then take this class. There's this one dude who is a soccer player and he got out of everything. He was allowed extra time, even when the season was over. He has a very bad hick accent. He's really nice and will try to help, but he just gets on your nerves. The only people he will address are those going into the elementary education field, not any upper level education. On his tests-they come straight from the book in small, obscure places. It is mostly multiple choice, but questions are worth 4 points a piece. And since 93 is an A, that really sucks. Overall, he was a nice man, but really sucked hard as a teacher. He's very prejudiced and close-minded. And he will try to convince you that he knows everything about everything.

This should be an easy class. It is to test if you really want to become a teacher. However, Mr. Dexter is a terrible example of what a teacher should be. He taught in the 60's and had been a principal ever since then. He was totally out of touch with us as college students. All he ever talked about was when he was a principal at McNeal. His tests were retarded. He just copied book tests. And when we would go over them in class, he would totally ignore anyone with a question. And if the student supported his answer with examples from the book, he would walk around the question and blow them off.

Mr. Dexter was a nice man, but terrible teacher. His notes were sucky and you couldn't read them. He copied them straight out of the book. And he has a bad accent typical of this area. Instead of "negative" he says "neckative" and "metaphysics" he says "metaphysicist". There were other words, but those drove me crazy. Also his grading scale is 92-100 is an A, so beware of that. Overall, DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS unless you want to be bored out of your mind.

Mr. Dexter is a very sweet man, however, he is very unorganized! He gives assignments constantly, and you feel like you are never going to get caught up. He is very helpful though and is pretty flexible. His lectures are very boring, because he talks about when he was principal most of the time... which has nothing to do with anything.

Wonderful man! I love Mr. Dexter!! He is a wonderful wonderful teacher! I have learned alot in his class. He really cares for his students. I wish he would teach more education classes. He made me have a passion about teaching.

Mr. Dexter's class is easy. The tests come straight from the material in the book, and he only gets through about 3 chapters the whole semester. You have to do observation hours, a journal, 2 papers, and a portfolio.

Nice man. He has a story for everything. He is very knowledgable. He has speakers come in. All of them are very nice too.