Summer Tech Tips

By Mr. James
Science & Technology
June 11, 2020

In the last few months, our Haycock community of students, staff, and parents have worked tirelessly together to harness the power of technology and pull off a drastic change to education through distance learning. Together we have met hardships head-on and overcame early challenges to succeed thanks to technology resources that support our teaching and student learning.    

Digital Citizenship

As part of our ongoing digital citizenship curriculum, teachers continually monitor and reinforce online etiquette, online safety, and appropriate use of our educational software tools. With the academic year soon ending, these responsibilities will fall to families, as students will undoubtedly continue to use technology to learn, create, and communicate during their break.  Google Apps for Education, MyON, and i-Ready lessons will be available to students all summer long. Unless a change is made by parents, your child(ren) will continue to use the same username and password to have access to all of their FCPS online materials.

It is important to regularly talk with your child(ren) about their online habits and interactions. Some ideas for focus:

  • Are the interactions positive?   
  • What online books, sites, or articles are they reading?  
  • Do any online interactions upset them? How did they handle it?  
  • Are they speaking kindly about others?

A lot can happen very quickly online, and regularly speaking with your child about these interactions can keep them safe and happy--online and off. As with any online experience, we encourage parents to monitor what students are viewing and assist them as they navigate the digital world.

Student Passwords

You are able to block your child’s access to all FCPS online resources for the summer, simply by changing their password to something that only you know.  (Teachers will continue to use online resources with students through the last day of school, June 11th.  Please do not reset any passwords before then.)

  1. If desired, visit Password Management on FCPS’s website. 
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the page for password reset options.  
  3. Click on “Students” at the bottom.  
  4. Log in with your child’s username and password – the same one they have used for the entire year.  
  5. On the second screen, simply enter a new password of your choosing twice and then keep that password secret.  This will NOT reset the password of any other personal email or other online accounts your child may maintain outside of the FCPS network.  Only their FCPS accounts will be affected.

If you have any questions, please email me at @email, and I will help in any way I can.  Have a great, safe summer!

(Hat tip to Jordan Craig-Kuhn, SBTS at Churchill Road for inspiring this message.)