"You learn lessons in school and in life. Think about a lesson you've learned. Explain how it has helped you. Organize your thoughts. Remember to use proper capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and grammar." (paraphrased)
I was the honored presenter of the prompt yesterday morning at day two of our fourth grade's Camp Write-Along rally in the cafeteria. Before I unfurled the laminated scroll (coincidentally tied with a purple bandanna which matched my hair!), I shared with the students that I could feel their pain and struggle with writing because I had been doing just that, every morning, for twenty-two days. I was hoping the prompt would help me out, too, because after three weeks of writing, I was running out of fresh ideas.
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By fifty, one has hopefully learned many, many lessons in school and life. One lesson I've learned in this age of technology is to pay attention to the URL of a website; it happens to be a lesson I teach my students, too.
Last night, I was registering my son for a summer camp, and had gotten to the page where I was supposed to submit the payment details. All along, I kept noticing that the security portion of the URL bar was red; the "https" was crossed out with a diagonal red slash, and the little padlock symbol was red and had an "X" over it. When I investigated by clicking on the padlock, the pop-up told me that a third party might have access to this information, or could easily hack into it. I didn't want my credit card number falling into the wrong hands!
I did not feel comfortable putting my credit card information on an unsecure page, so I decided to call the help desk the next day. The website does have contact information listed. I wrote down the phone numbers and other pertinent information I would need to register my son. Now I'm just hoping for a free moment this morning to make the call.
The need to be alert when using the internet--that is one lesson that I have learned in school that has been very important in life.
I tend to ignore things like that, assuming out of date technology. You have me pausing for thought. I am going to be more vigilant in protecting myself. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think it was the larger-than-normal price tag that kept me more alert than usual. My school computer showed the same warning. The admissions person I phoned was surprised and said I was the first one to say something about it!
DeleteHow about a picture of the purple hair????
ReplyDeleteThat was good that you noticed the non-secure web page. Since I got hacked a couple of years ago I look for the "https" and a green bar. Have a great day.
Love Ya, Dad.
Once bitten, twice shy!
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