Dr. Bennett's Blog

First Post

In my first blog encounter with Dr. Bennett he was discussing Google+ Hangouts On-Air. It is a brilliant idea where a person combined Skype and YouTube all in one. A person, or in this case a teacher, can broadcast themselves live and record at the same time for later use. While they are broadcasting they can get asked questions and they can answer them right there. In Dr. Bennett’s blog he discussed how they were going to interview teachers about their “norms” and discuss what they do to get a student to learn.

I said that this was a brilliant idea and that I can’t wait to see it. I replied that everyone that is starting out to be a teacher, especially me, is nervous about if they are going to a good job. Learning about what teachers have been doing for a while and what works for them could inspire us to use or revamp their ideas. Being able to ask questions is one of my big things! I want to know what works, what doesn’t, and whom it works for. This broadcast will be able to help us future teachers out!!

Second Post
In Dr. Bennett's second blog he states he has started to let his students evaluate and grade themselves. He says that there are four rules that should be followed when doing this. One create a simple Google form for the certain topic. Two to do even numbers for how well or how bad they think that they understood the topic. Three make sure you TALK to your students. This helps them stay on track and helps the teacher to stay on top of how they are progressing. Lastly, four have them set plans and improvements for the next topic, or for the same topic.

I explained to Dr. Bennett that I agree with him on everything he discussed. I explained to him that by having an even grading system it helps them actually think how they are doing instead of just putting down an answer. That grading themselves will help them be their own critics and give a little breathing room for improvement and cognitive thinking. If they discuss what they did wrong they are more likely to not make the same mistake next time. Also, that staying on top of the students helps the teacher to evaluate if they are improving and progressing. Ergo, communication is the key for this objective. I thought that this was a really impressive teacher who had many ideas that I agree with. I will be following him extensively on twitter.