Do You Know Where You Are?

Teachers,
Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday.

Do You Know Where You Are? —
Here is another tech lesson that you might want to know, or not. On your phone is a wonderful program that helps locate where you are. This is very helpful when using maps so you can find someplace, when using the Krispy Kreme app so you can find the nearest Krispy Kreme, and if you have the right app, it can help you find out where your car is parked in the Walmart parking lot. The helpfulness of this program changes when you find out that it might be geotagging your pictures, tagging where you are on Facebook or Instagram, or other location options for apps you use. I see the problem with this being that anyone that has access to that picture can see where it was taken. Where you are on vacation, at the local hangout, at your house... the geotag actually is part of the picture. So to disable that you need to turn off the location services on your phone.

On an android phone it is all combined so when you turn it off, you will also turn off the location services for maps and apps that you want to help you using location services. You can turn it off in Settings>Location. There is history that keeps track of where you have been and Reporting that gives apps access to your position. Turning off history will prevent it from keeping location information. If you turn off reporting, it will not geotag your pictures, but it will also not let you see where you are on the map.

On an iPhone you go to settings>privacy>location services and disable specific location services for specific apps. It will give you options like never, while using app, and always. Always means if the app is in the background it will use your battery while keeping track of where you are. You will want location services for maps, weather, find my iPhone, and magic guide if you are a Disneyland fan. Photos, Facebook, Instagram, twitter, camera and other social media apps should be set to never.
If you have a windows phone, you will go to settings>location services and turn it off. It is similar to android that when you turn it off, it turns off the maps location services.

Remember to pay attention to the pop ups on your phone when it asks if you want apps to monitor your location. Most apps do not need it. Game apps have started to ask for location services so they can see if there are players near you. That also shows others where you are. Don't get freaked out about this, but be security minded, especially if you have kids that use a smart phone.

Bonus: there are apps to help track your kids. Make sure those apps have location services a turned on. My kids know that their phones are trackers also, and they do the same to me. Location services are awesome when you going somewhere and you want to use the maps feature, but can be a detriment when others can see where you are. Have a safe and secure day.

Quote I’m pondering —
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." -Steve Jobs

Favorite Article This Week —
Teaching Text Structures
Text structures is huge when reading everything, except narratives. I found this article with its accompanying video and slideshow. I hope you enjoy it.

Second Favorite Article This Week —
DOK in Content Areas
I know, two articles? Where is the video to make us better people? I loved both of there articles. Sorry Here are some charts that help show what DOK looks like in different content areas. I know some of you are working on DOK questions in your lessons.

A Big Thank You —
Thank you Alma. Thank you for all the work you put in for everyone to be better teachers. You always have a full schedule taking care of coaching and finding resources for teachers. We know how hard you work make if everyone better. We appreciate all the time you put in and the help you give. Thank you for all you do for our school. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.