Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Amidst the pouring rainstorm and our tornado drill, I was able to get some wonderful lesson plan ideas from my classmates at class last night. Some people really do a great job of “thinking outside the box” and coming up with new and innovative ways of using Handheld applications. It will be nice to have the lesson plans online to refer to in the future. Since class I have also still been having trouble with my Palm. I had to do a hard reset again this morning. Fortunately, I could do a synch and retrieve most of what I had although I will be bugging some of you at class next week for the items we got during our presentations. I am not sure if my ol’ standby (m515) is just getting old and outdated, or if I downloaded a program that I need to remove…??

The End is Near

Wow! Time does fly when you are having fun! And it has flown this entire semester in our class. I have learned so much in a short amount of time and now just need some time to practice everything I have learned. Of course with the class soon to be ending- this also means our projects are soon due. I feel like I have spent the majority of my time searching for new applications and lesson ideas. I found it difficult to find good educational applications that fit into the curriculum. I finally gave up on looking for a counseling related application and chose a lesson in my former teaching area, health education. If anyone does come across a good application that is counseling-related, please send it my way!

Handhelds in April

I enjoyed our look at three different programs for graphic organizers and even though Idea Pad is free, am still sold on Inspiration. Maybe it is because I am more familiar with this program from the desktop version. Its ease of use- especially being able to convert from the outline format to the graphic representation really made it something I could see myself using with students.
During my lunch today, I spent some time trying to find some freeware programs and any other programs that might inspire me for our upcoming project. I know- we aren’t supposed to eat at our computers! But I have to make the best use of my time. For some reason, I could not access the Freeware palm website so I don’t know if our school district’s computer system was on the outs today or what. Anyway, I spent more time this evening at home searching and searching and did finally find two programs that may just be what I am looking for! We will see if they download and do okay on my palm. I also always find it interesting as I peruse these sites that Tony’s name seems to keep reappearing. Today, I found it mentioned quite a few times as I was checking out a school’s site in O’Neill, Nebraska. The site is http://www.esu8.org/~oneill/km/classroom.htm
One part on this site that I really thought was neat was under Navigation Equipment and Palms. Some 6th grade girls placed third in MII/NETA’s annual web design contest with their “Party with your Palm” website. Sounds exciting already doesn’t it? This is something to check out when you have time.

Webcasts, Ebooks, & HandDBase

This past week I have been trying to spend more time checking out the different resources and sites that have been discussed in our class. I was impressed with Willowdale’s Radio WillowWeb webcast that we listened to during our last class. It was amazing to hear such an organized project coming from 5th graders- must be their talented leader! : ) I also checked out the site of the day, nasakids.com, and the students were right- this is a neat site!
I am also excited to say I just finally downloaded my first ebook this past week from manybooks.net. I found this to be a great site for FREE ebooks with many different categories of titles and subjects.
Another application I reviewed was HandDBase, and I wish I would have started looking at this one sooner as I only have a few more days left in my free trial. I tried setting up a database following the slide handout I got from Tony, and as I went through the setup steps I changed my practice one to fit my role as a counselor. It would be very convenient and useful to have a traveling database of the students I see along with the date seen and a few notes. Currently, I can use our school’s SIMS system on the desktop to document the kids I see, but this has its limits as it cannot travel with me to team meetings where I usually end up discussing student concerns with the teaching staff. I could see an application such as HandDBase being extremely helpful in my current position.

And More New Options

I am still continually amazed at the endless amount of new features that are out there associated with technology. Just when I thought I had this whole blogging thing figured out, we learned about pod casting- something else I have never heard about before. It was neat to hear Tony’s site mentioned in the telecast we heard with David Warlick. It was interesting how black and white everything is to this guy. The real world, as far as I am concerned, is not always this straightforward- it is not all or nothing or handhelds or laptops. People need to look at the whole picture or the whole concept when making decisions or relating to others.
I enjoyed attempting my first sketchy although I still have a lot of work and practice to do on the actual animation of it all. I was finding it hard to figure out something to do related to my work in school counseling. And it has been like this with most of what we have been doing in class so far. I can think of so many neat ways of using the handhelds in the classroom and in teaching, but have a very short list for how I could incorporate them into my current role in the school.

Using Handheld Technology in Schools by SEIR*TEC Newswire

The following are some new tidbits of information I found interesting as I read my first eBook.

1. The cost of most graphing calculators is about the same as handhelds, and a handheld computer can be used as a graphing calculator along with many other options.
2. Research shows that technology offers many benefits for students - from making learning more interactive to improving student attitude and motivation. Handhelds to me may be the answer for those hard to reach students.
3. It is amazing to me that a whole class set of handhelds can be purchased for the price of three to four desktop computers.
4. My excitement deflated quickly as I read through the disadvantages of handhelds. Everything from safety (student’s eyesight and carpal tunnel effects) to possible viruses. I am wondering if it necessary at this time for us to utilize a virus protection program for our handhelds?
5. It was interesting to read the differences in the wireless systems between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and the range differences between the two. Bluetooth only has a range of 30 meters while Wi-Fi can be 150-300 meters.
6. By the time I got to the chapter on eBooks, my eyes and head were really feeling strained, and it the information presented in this chapter it sounds like the way I was feeling is one of the biggest concerns of eBooks- screen resolution. Even with my beam on high and larger font, it became harder and harder to focus as I read through the chapters.
7. One of the “101 Great Educational Uses for Your Handheld Computer” lists storing and tracking IEPs. This got me thinking about confidentiality and how this relates to handhelds. Since in most schools IEP’s are under “lock and key” with the SPED case manager, would having the IEP on a handheld be a concern?
8. In the chapter discussing the pilot program in two schools in North and South Carolina, it brought up a maybe insignificant comment that I thought was interesting. Since most women’s clothing does not have pockets or belts, some teachers are finding carrying alternatives such as small shoulder bags and special lanyards. Something like this would be ideal in the school setting and would encourage me to carry and use my handheld more since I don’t care to carry my purse around throughout the school day. What are other female educators doing now with their handheld as they go about their day?
9. Online classes are available for professional development and include sites such as: “Teaching to Standards” at http://cu.classroom.com/palm/ , K12 Handhelds at http://www.k12handhelds.com/dev..php , and the Palm PETC Program at http://www.palm.com/education/training
10. There is educational software called HandySheets (GoKnow) that creates customized worksheets that can be downloaded to students and then collected for grading. I am anxious to download this FREE software from: http://wwwgoknow.com/Products/HandySheets.php .

I enjoyed learning to use eReader as I read my first eBook . I did have to turn the beam up to high for better visibility. I had only a little time to go online to look at eBooks to download and was surprised at many of them are free. One final note on handhelds-
It is often said that if you can connect what you are teaching to the “real world” outside the classroom, then the students will retain more of what is being taught. Handhelds can help make this connection.

No Question is a Stupid Question

Wow! My mind is still spinning from all the new and exciting information. Between our first class back in three weeks and the two day NAG (Nebraska Association for the Gifted) I took in a tremendous amount of new info which I am still trying to find the time to sort through.
I have to mention that one of the highlights of this conference was getting to hear Rick’s amazing group of students he works with in the Orff-Schulwerk Honors Assembly. This group entertained us during our second day lunch with an amazing performance- nice job Rick! One of the final workshops I attended was on Technology Education and while much of the presentation was on SmartBoards (NEAT! Does anyone use these in his/her school?), the rest of it dealt with handhelds. The gal presenting even cited Tony’s site as the “Cookbook on Handhelds” and has incorporated many of his ideas into her own classroom setting out in O’Neill, Nebraska. So we are obviously learning from the best!
I know we are still in the beginning stages of learning the many capabilities of our handhelds, but I am still continually amazed at what is available and what we can do with them. I just wish I had more time to explore while the information is fresh in my mind!