C4T

The first http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/ post I commented on was Augmented Reality App Brings History Alive at Kansas City's Union Station. This app allows users to see history happen in the exact place it happened. It shows reenactments of historical events that took place in Union Station. It engages the user with the past in the present, which is something as a future history teacher I hope to be able to do for my students. If this app were to spread nationwide it could revolutionize the way history is taught.

The next post from the same blog I commented on was Creating Videos to Keep in Touch with Students While Away. The teacher uses videos he creates to connect with his students even while he is outside of the classroom. He also mentioned the use of Minecraft to create Jamestown forts which I found particularly interesting since Minecraft is such a popular game.

The third blog I commented on was on Jennifer Ferguson's blog My Journey as an Educator.The post is entitled Professor Ferguson: an Affectionate Moniker. Mrs. Ferguson writes about her role as an educator in a rural community. She views herself as a lifelong learner, along with her students. It is obvious in her post that she is a dedicated teacher that cares about her students and has fostered a learning environment and relationship with them that makes them care about learning and care about her. She received a master's degree and as a result, her students felt that she deserved a better title than simply Mrs. Ferguson, so they began calling her Professor Ferguson.

The fourth post I commented on was to the same blog by Jennifer Ferguson. The post was entitled InfoWhelm and Information Fluency and included a video of the same name. The video detailed the exponential growth of digital output in recent years and stated that there is no way the traditional way of teaching (memorization and regurgitation) will be conducive to educating students anymore. 

Experts and Newbies: Bloggers on Project Based Learning is a blog dedicated to project based learning. The post I commented on was entitles Tell the Story: Celebrating Student Success.It discusses the benefits of project based learning, stating that teachers are inspired by seeing something "click" for their students, and that using PBL, "clicks" happen more often. The blog post goes on to to tell the story of a little girl named Sally. Sally has Asperger's and was becoming withdrawn and much preferred solo work. But through PBL, she was engaged and responsive to the material and her fellow classmates. She went so far as to present their project at the local mall. PBL seems to majorly trump the traditional lecture format.

For the next assignment, I returned again to Jennifer Ferguson's blog. I chose to comment on the post My Learning Journey of Connected Coaching. In this post, Ferguson wrote about her process of becoming a connected learning coach. This was a lengthy post in which she posed herself questions of reflection and then answered them. It shows through her writing how deeply she cares for her field and her journey as a life-long learner. I told her this, and hope that I can remain motivated and as self determined in my career as she is in hers.