What's My Password?

Now a days, everything requires setting up a user account that includes a user name and password. If you are like me, keeping track of all my different account information can be taxing on my aging brain. Some people will read this tip and say to themselves, "I don't have that problem, as I use the same password for everything". Well, that might work for a while, but more and more steps are being taken to make user accounts unique and less "hacker accessible". For example, many online tools have very specific password criteria that must be met in order for your password to be accepted. They even provide a "password strength" mechanism that turns green when your password has met the needed criteria.

Below are a few different methods to keep track of all user names and passwords that are much more secure that using post-it notes tacked to a bulletin board :)

• Create a notebook page in your email that contains all your user names and passwords. Most email programs have a notebook feature that allows users to create notebook pages that contain whatever information you want. Create a notebook page but don't give the page a title (only you will know that the untitled notebook page contains top secret information). Because email is web based, you can access this information from anywhere!! Please keep in mind that your email password should not be something obvious or easy to figure out!!

• Type all your user names and passwords into a Word document and email yourself the document as an attachment. Send it to both your work and personal email accounts. Once you receive the email, move it to an email folder. Remember to give the folder a title that is only meaningful to you. Should you reset or change a password, just open the attachment, make the change, and save the document.
  

A few wise words to live by...

Cloud Your Words for Clarity

I Wordle. Do you Wordle? What fun it is to Wordle. OK, OK, I'll stop. Wordle, is one of the recent "hot" websites breaking into classrooms. What does it do? It makes Word Clouds. Word Clouds are such a fun way to play with words!! Teachers of all subjects and grade levels are finding all sorts of creative ways to use word clouds instructionally with their students. Uses include vocabulary lessons, spelling activities, word analyses, pre-reading activities, writing reflection and analyses, data representation in math, poetry analyses, creative writing, brainstorming activities, analyses of art and music pieces, visualization tools, ....I could go on and on. Foreign language teachers love Wordle since you can create clouds in multiple languages! How about using Wordle with your SMARTBoard!!

Wordle is very simple to use. Users simply type their own words or copy and paste words from existing text into the program. Wordle will then arrange the words into word clouds, increasing the size of the most frequently used words. You can then change the shape of your cloud, change the font choice, and color options. The clouds can then be printed or embedded into a blog, wiki, or web page.

Here are a couple links to sample lesson plans using Wordle:

ELA: Writing/Word Analyses Using Jokes
http://www.jamiekeddie.com/335

Foreign Language: Text analysis of newspaper article pertaining to current event (Environment).
http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=103

If you have a Wordle lesson idea to share....post it here!!