I want to start this post by congratulating four of my students: Zachary, Samantha, Phoebe and Shane, for their incredible performance in today's first DBS Spelling Bee. I was blown away at how hard the kids studied and by how much dedication they had in their own success. They all did a fantastic job and should be commended for their efforts. The rest of the class was so supportive, and they cheered and congratulated each contestant as they finished their run. I was so proud of everyone involved in today's bee.
On another note, I have a warning for you! Your child may come home today full of excitement about the need to change every password ever created on your computers, phones, laptops, netbooks, and/or tablets. I apologize in advance. We had another technology ethics lesson today. Our focus was on the creation of passwords. The students became totally involved in the do's and don'ts of passwords. They quickly understood why simple English words would be too easy for others to learn, and how important it is to have over 8 characters that include symbols, letters, and numbers. Within a few moments I had an entire class a buzz. The first thing they wanted to do was change their school email passwords. They were up in arms that I didn't allow that to happen today. By the end of class each child was busy practicing creating their own passwords which were filled with cryptic letters and numbers that meant something only to them. Hopefully this lesson will be remembered long past this week, and students will be more conscientious the next time they are asked to create a password for a new app, new website, or new program online. I encourage you to talk to your child about passwords that you use at home, and if you are able, maybe you can allow them to have some input in changing a password to make it more secure for you and your family.