ITS-Got it! Good.

There are simple basics when it comes to creating and using passwords.  With so many open source resources available we have to create a password that is difficult to decifer.

• Think of a sentence, statement or phrase that is relevant to your life at the moment.

For example: I‘m writing a post on passwords January 8th.  Then take the first letter of each word and use numbers for the date so your password is iwapop0108.

• Every six months you should change your password.  This is simply good and necessary practice.
• Make a list of all the instances you use a username and password–handwritten or on a Mac Sticky.  You don’t need to record the password on paper; otherwise, what is the point of creating this super statement. Keep it handy so you can systematically change all your passwords over a one-day period.

Once you grow accustomed to creating a changing your password it will become second nature.

So we’ve set up accounts for an art writing paper and now the students are entering their thoughts and descriptions as a post.  They can choose whatever format they want: by

Just as an FYI. The good folks at Discovery Channel have a website which called Global Education Partnership. Here’s their About us page:

People everywhere - in remote rural villages and urban centers - are seeking information, education, and empowerment. Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit, public, charitable organization dedicated to reaching across the global information divide with the tools and training necessary to extend the power of technology and information to under-resourced communities around the world.

Steve Dembo writes a reflection and reaction to Marc Prensky’s presentation at the BLC??? (if you learn what this is–let me know; I just spent 20 minutes trying to figure it out with no luck).  Anyway, Steve does a great job of quoting Marc and the whole blog is quite interesting as we continue to teach status quo.

I’m so proud of the many teachers who attended the technology PLU’s this summer. We are thankful, as I’m sure you are, to have the InTech course behind us.  It is so much easier to bite off, chew and swallow new technology when you don’t have the entire buffet thrown at you.

I’m personally looking forward to working more with each and every one of the “pioneers” who attended the 2006 summer sessions.

So I’m catching up on my reading and I come across this blog from Steve Dembo, who recently learned about J! Archive, a site that contains 67,000 clues from past Jeopardy episodes.  It is so cool.  This site has the board for past episodes by date. No, it is not set up for teachers to search by topic, but it is still a cool way to challenge students of little facts for categories they should simply “be aware of”–don’t you agree?

My policy on blogging will be:

1. Use school language
2. Use academic-related content
3. No personal information
4. Be respectful - we are all educated

For more information about policy check out Anne’s site.

I will need to do a great deal of catching up with my reading and find some excellent articles for students to read.

I will find several blog sites that interest me and add them to my bloglines.

I will practice blogging by logging in every other day.

In the recent article, “Museums to Go” from Steven Rosen for the Denver Post there is a list of museums who have podcasts of the exhibits on their web sites.  These audio tours are available to download on your MP3 player.  This is not simply an attempt to reach out to those of the younger generation.  This is all part of the wave.  The wave of the information highway, reinvented in audio format.

So I was in the big Kroger tonight and I saw a parent of a student I taught in 6th grade. She and I really connected then, so I didn’t have any problems connecting with her for about 45 minutes at Kroger. You know how everyone has those “I had this incredible teacher…” moments. Her experience was an English teacher who recorded his comments on your papers on cassette. No cut up, red-marked papers– Just a tape to listen to. Your “at-home” method for receiving information. What a great idea! Now with our technology…this is soooooo easy. A teacher can record their comment directly on their laptop and email, email! their comments to the student…who can then, listen to the teacher’s comments on their iPod while rereading and making their own red-line comments on their own paper.