| Oh,
Where has the time gone?
Welcome to
yet another class filled with handhelds, handhelds, and more handhelds.
At the beginning of the class, we were informed that the class
is coming to an end. This is, in fact, the last class that we
are blessed with Tony’s voice. In the upcoming weeks, we
will share our lessons, and then get a chance to hear from the
fifth graders
at Willowdale, and
their teacher on their use of handhelds in the classroom. We are
very excited for this opportunity. However, until then, we still
need to cover various applications for the handheld, classroom
management techniques, and funding. First things first, we were
reminded that our lesson is due to Tony. Here are a few points
that we need to think of while finishing up these masterpieces:
E-mail the
lesson plan to Tony, try not to make it as an attachment, just
write it in the text of the e-mail
Bring an
extra copy to give to Tony during the presentation, and any
extra worksheets that you have
If using
PowerPoint as a part of your lesson, you need to also e-mail
that to Tony. This is so it is easy to share!
Tony will
turn everything into a pdf file, even if it is built in!
Good luck
to all as you are finishing up your lessons.
We are excited to see them all next class!
At the beginning
of class, we were told that there is yet a new version of the
palmOne Tungsten E that has come out……how exciting
for us! What does the Tungsten
E2 give us? Well, Tony is not so sure of its advantages in
relation to it’s price. But, you can make your own decision.
Some of the advantages include a brighter screen, memory, and
BlueTooth.
After discussing
the new handheld and the reminders for the lesson plan, we learned
of new applications. The first application that we learned about
was a simulation known as “Fish”.
This is a simulation that you can do with any other computer.
When you sign up the teacher designates you as eiher a big fish
or a little fish. The job of the little fish is to live, while
the big fish has to find a school of fish that they want to eat.
When this is done, the big fish lines up their handheld with the
little fish and beams. The goal is to find a balance in the pond.
We first tried it and then Tony presented us with a challenge.
We were split into two groups and had a contest to see which group
could keep their fish alive the longest. We needed to work together
as a group. The winning groups strategy was to not let the big
fish get below twenty. They waited until the big fish had twenty
to eat. Why did they do this? The big fish eat more. This simulation
is great to use if you are teaching ecology, the environment,
and how animals are working together. After learning the student
part, we learned the teacher’s role. The teacher is able
to change mode, big fish/little fish ratio, seconds per tick (length
of game), decay and growth of big fish and little fish.
Another game
that we became familiar with was called FlashBoom!
This times the time between the lightening and thunder and calculates
the distance. SkyChart
is a program in which you can see the constellations and the movement
of the stars between days. If you tap on the handheld, it will
tell you the different constellations. You can see where they
are in relation to the moon. You can even change the directions.
BeepMaker
is a program that is not really made for education, but we found
out that it could be used in the field. It was made to figure
out what sound will come out of the speakers. You can get lower
or higher sounds depending upon where you press on the handheld.
Geney is a program
in which creatures have come to live on your handheld. Tony said
that this game directly related during the Sex Ed Unit in fifth
grade. With this program, kids learn about dominant and recessive
traits and breading. However, this is a program in which you need
classroom management. Fifth graders like to make babies, rename
them, and then bread. We did learn that this program crashes a
lot. Apparently, the older the handheld, the less crashes and
fatal alerts. Who said, I wasn’t smart when I got an old
handheld?
After this
fun evening of becoming aware of a few of the various applications
that were available for educators, it was time for dinner. On
the menu was BBQ Chili, fruit, and pie. Thank you to Ann! It was
wonderful!
Next we were
introduced to a world of books
and resources on the web for classroom management. Tony believes
that the best resource is the web.
Some of the authors of the books that Tony presented were Mike
Curtis, Mitch Frazel, Janet Caughlin, and our very own professor,
Tony Vincent! We split up into pairs to take a look at what these
authors had to say about classroom management and then presented
via our handheld what we learned about what we viewed. One idea
that was presented was a suitcase with foam and slots to transport
the handhelds. An idea that was given instead was shoe holders
to hold the handhelds and for quick check-in! Also, there was
the idea to set up a bank of cradles for easy charging.
We learned
that students should have a good reason to take their handheld
home and that student assistance can help with maintenance. Other
points included usage agreements. These you can find easily on
the web to use. One idea by Tony was to take a few students to
preview a software. These students would become class experts.
Lastly, we talked about the policies of punishment with handhelds.
The question arose, “When is it appropriate to take away
handhelds? Tony suggested that you should not take away a handheld
unless the behavior is serious in relation to the handheld. He
made the analogy that taking away a handheld is like taking away
a pencil. He says, “Try not to take it way if it is not
palm related!”
The last thing
that we talked about was funding.
We discussed that often times this is a huge constraint. Obviously
there are many positives to handhelds, however, they do cost money.
There are many grants that are available. We were told to be careful
when writing grants to narrow out focus and to be specific. We
are to focus on the activity and not the hardware of the software.
Grants are super competitive. A couple of the grants mentioned
are Tech
Learning and the Best Buy
Teach Grant (scroll down to Community Relations).
This wrapped
up the evening. We are looking forward to next week in which we
will get an up close look on lesson plans!
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