Cool Cat Teacher Blog

I came across this blog http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.co.uk/ whilst looking for interesting blogs that have an educational influence in them. I found the reason to mention it on my own blog because of the fact is it a blog written by a teacher, also an author, with the aim to educate children, teachers, parents and professionals on how to educate our generation. The blogs range from topics on technology, leadership, productivity, and personal development, hoping to motivate anyone who aspires to be in a teaching position.
The blogger is called Vicki Davis, who started her blog back in 2005, commenting on tasks she had given her current class to learn how to use the well known communicating website wikispaces.com.
The blog is fully equipped with different pages offering a variety of videos, links, podcasts and images, being incredibly organised and well prepared I felt it was worth looking at and for many others to also recognize and view.
Whilst browsing through Vicki's blogs over the last 8 years, I found some had a very humorous aspect to them with one titled '10 Ways to be a Terrible Teacher' explaining in detail the wrong things teachers may happen to do when in a classroom, including herself. She uses her blog to help and influence others in using different techniques and technology to educate others.

Story Behind the Photograph

The story behind my seven photographs is that it holds a personal memory and story to myself of the importance of spending time with your loved ones. They were taken over a break from university which allowed me time to go back home and to see my family and friends, that I don't get to see as often as I once did. Each photograph captures a moment that means something to me, with the amazing sunset in the background I couldn't imagine a better way to portray these meaningful memories. The soft tide coming in resembles the peaceful surrounding, and when looking at these photos I can replay the story of this event in my mind. I didn't want to capture any of the faces in the photographs as I felt the background alone showed enough emotion, so I chose to only show the backs of the portraits or silhouettes in the sunlight. I edited the photographs to all consist of a black and white theme as I felt it highlights the sun and the shadows casts from the bodies significantly.

Journey Through Memories

Web 2.0 Pro's & Cons

INSTAGRAM

In this blog I will be looking into an aspect of Web 2.0, a website that uses technology, and discussing the pro's and con's of such an aspect, for example Instagram.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is an online social networking application that allows users who have signed up to an account, to share online pictures and videos to their followers and the public through other social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and many others. The application allows users the opportunity to edit and crop their images or videos before being published, allowing them to add a more personal touch to the image. It was launched in October 2010 and has since become rapidly popular across the world.
Users can post a hashtag '#' following a word below their image or video, for example, '#instagram', to create a link from that word, that will lead to many other images containing the same hashtag. Instagram has built an almost community among its users, with the sharing and communicating between million of people. Users can follow their favourite 'instagrammers', double tapping on any of their images posted to show that they like the image or video and are able to leave a comment. 
Below is an image of my personal Instagram, which I love using and posting on regularly allowing myself to often express emotions and share experiences through personal and reflective images. 

The reason Instagram has become so popular in my opinion is because of its simple and straight forward use, which is a great benefit and structure to a successful and popular app. I am a regular user of Instagram, and use the app to show off some photography skills as I have a great interest in that area, as well as sharing images and videos with my friends and family. Instagram gives the opportunity for artists to easily share their work to the public and fans, with many great photographers creating accounts. The celebrity factor is also a major benefit of Instagram, with all your favourite singers, actors, designers and models having their own account, fans are able to gain an insight into their everyday life with frequent posts being shared.

Although the app has been noticed as one of the most successful of our time, is has also caused a lot of controversy through illicit images of such things as drugs, and images of a sexual nature. With many Instagram users being of a young age, this does not allow for a safe environment of social networking for such young people to be involved in. Although Instagram is fact acting on any images that have been reported, and the removal of these images. 
Another negative result of Instagram is the fact that if your profile is not set as 'private', any one from the public can comment on your profile's images and videos, with the chance for many individuals to leave very inappropriate comments, which in many cases can lead to a form of 'cyber bullying'. This is a very serious matter and can have long lasting consequences for some people. 

Boyd Varty

Whilst being home for Christmas the news came that Nelson Mandela passed away on the 5th December 2013. I have known of Nelson Mandela's great impact on history but not into so much detail as to what he did for his community and the change he impacted on countries such as South Africa. When looking among the wide variety of talks on www.Ted.com, one caught my attention with the caption 'What I learned from Nelson Mandela'. South African, Boyd Varty, talks of stories of animals, people and explains ‘Ubuntu’ meaning ‘I am: because of you’. He dedicates his talk to the African leader Nelson Mandela who died a few hours before Varty was set to talk. Varty explains his experience of seeing that everyone can feel a natural connection with nature, and talks of the gift that Africa has become a much more collected society thanks to Mandela’s empowering influence. Varty shows a different aspect of Mandela's influence, connecting it with nature and the behavior of wild animals. 

This talk is inspiring because it allows an insight into the long lasting affect people can have on each other and the world, and also holds the memory of Mandela in light. Meaningful talks like Varty’s should be shared much more often, and have a far more interesting way of reflecting on such people who have inspired and influenced our history.