If you’re reading this, odds are you are not one of the 570,000 people in the U.S. infected with the DNS Malware Virus. Congratulations. Yet, while you can still surf around to your heart’s content, ISPs are working overtime to help those less fortunate users find their way back to the information superhighway.
This morning at 12:01 the FBI shut down its DNS servers, which were acting as the only path to the Internet for hundreds of thousands of computers. s reported by CNet, the whole problem goes back to an online criminal ring from 2007 that was tinkering with computers' settings and then directing users to rogue servers that the criminals had set up. These servers then re-directed users to malicious Web sites. Late last year, the FBI arrested the ring and seized the rogue servers. But since so many infected computers relied on the servers to reach the Internet, the agency opted not to shut them down and instead converted them to legitimate DNS machines. Due to the high cost associated with operating these servers, the FBI has decided to shut them down.
ISP are taking a proactive approach to the problem with Comcast has contacting users with infected computers, according to the Wall Street Journal. Verizon has lined up technicians who can help customers remove the virus and AT&T plans to redirect infected PCs to the correct Web sites.
People who are unable to get online should call their ISP to see if their computers are infected. CNET has also posted a how-to guide to help people detect whether their PCs are pointing to the DNSChanger network.
Greetings~
I want to share a creative way to motivate and focus your students during math instruction. I call it Kung Fu Math.
First~ I created a series of belts or levels that the students aspire to and have them write it in their notebooks.
Then~ I tell them that everytime they get a math problem correct they earn a tally or "notch" towards the next stripe or belt. Everytime a student earns three notches they move up a stripe or belt (my...
With so many curriculum demands on teachers today~ do we have time to add career exploration(something popular back in the 80s)? I think young people need to be exposed to different career choices and careers can be incorporated into the subjects being covered. For example~ if you are covering the ancient Egyptians~ you could share the work of an archaeologist. Having kids discuss the different characteristics needed to be an archaeologists~ perhaps go on a dig using a chocolate chip cookie...
I want to share a new way to go over homework. I use my CPS remote control system and have students punch in their answers to random questions. The class has its homework out~ then students click in their answers~ with the option of revising them as they go along. I quiz them on just a few questions from each page to check understanding--in my opinion you can get a sense if the students "got" the homework without going over every problem. The CPS system then grades the homework~ and I...
I was watching Weekend Today and the topic was~ "Is cursive writing something we should still be teaching in school?When I first starting teaching 6th grade~ back in the days of being self-contained~ I remember planning for 15 minutes of cursive penmanship instruction. The students usually copied a famous quote or a funny tongue twister. Then~ as more and more responsibilities were placed upon the day~ penmanship went on the sidelines. The alphabet~ which was posted~on a bulletin board~ was...
One criticism of education (and there are many :)~ is that schools fail to teach kids about money. If you haven't come across a money system created by fifth-grade teacher~ Rafe Esquith~ you need to read his second book "Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire." There's a lot of good ideas in that book~ but the money system is something I believe should be taught in all classrooms across... the country.
Essentially~ the kids...
I want to share an idea that worked really well for me.
A few weeks ago~ I had the students come to school dressed like a super hero of their own creation. I was dressed like a villian~ black cape~ black mask. I also used a voice scrambler to sound like Darth Vader.
The class then competed against mein a series of challenges that tested math~ vocabulary and science skills. Every time they got an answer right~ they got a point. The same went for me. While the...
I am thinking about trying the following idea:
Set the room up like a maze or gauntlet~ using curtains~ sheets~ etc. My students then have to navigate the maze and pass a series of tests before preceding to the next section. I want to set the tests up so they test students on nationally established standards for gifted students~ like determining their strengths and choosing the learning style that best works for them.
I would have parents help adminster the...