Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Super Possibilities
Class 4/7/05
There is so much software out there for use with handhelds and so much of it is free. I am greatly impressed with the fact that Tony can put a wish list on his web site and people from places like Canada and Denmark will take the time to put together an application for him and others to use.
I used my handheld this week at our weekly staff meeting to take notes. I have decided that it is the best way to take notes at any meeting. I can type so much faster than I can write and it is so easy to download it to my computer and then print it off for my use later. It also helps me to concentrate on the meeting so much easier. I can see so many ways students can use this in my classroom. I am also looking forward to using handibase and sheetstogo with student projects.
Two applications that were presented to us were also fabulous. Bug Band would be great to use with students in music and Illusion 4 would be awesome to get students to use their observation skills. These skills can then be used in areas other than art.
Connecting to websites is something I am really excited about. Students often need information that cannot be found in a book at our library. It will be fabulous for a teacher to access a website such as an online database, find an article that all students need for research, and be able to fling it to each handheld.
I am also excited about the interactive stories that we learned about this week. I can see so many possibilities for use with all ages of students. Kids love stories like these with many different ending possibilities and would love to see how easy it is for them to write and us on the handhelds.
To be very honest, I was not impressed with the web discussions I read on during class. None of them were very helpful or very insightful for someone like me who has just enough information to make me dangerous. I decided that maybe I was being too picky or wanted information on too specific a situation with handhelds.
As I work more with my handheld I realize all the problems that can occur. I appreciated the list of troubleshooting ideas Tony gave us. Now I do not need to call someone every time something does not work. I have the tools I need to find the answers myself.
I was talking with a fellow teacher last week about all that a handheld can do and he looked at me and said, “I can’t believe you have become a first class techie, I never thought it would happen.” I guess he might be right because I can hardly wait to get some “geek bling” like the kind mentioned in class. What an awesome possibility to have a computer that fits on your wrist like a watch.
There is so much software out there for use with handhelds and so much of it is free. I am greatly impressed with the fact that Tony can put a wish list on his web site and people from places like Canada and Denmark will take the time to put together an application for him and others to use.
I used my handheld this week at our weekly staff meeting to take notes. I have decided that it is the best way to take notes at any meeting. I can type so much faster than I can write and it is so easy to download it to my computer and then print it off for my use later. It also helps me to concentrate on the meeting so much easier. I can see so many ways students can use this in my classroom. I am also looking forward to using handibase and sheetstogo with student projects.
Two applications that were presented to us were also fabulous. Bug Band would be great to use with students in music and Illusion 4 would be awesome to get students to use their observation skills. These skills can then be used in areas other than art.
Connecting to websites is something I am really excited about. Students often need information that cannot be found in a book at our library. It will be fabulous for a teacher to access a website such as an online database, find an article that all students need for research, and be able to fling it to each handheld.
I am also excited about the interactive stories that we learned about this week. I can see so many possibilities for use with all ages of students. Kids love stories like these with many different ending possibilities and would love to see how easy it is for them to write and us on the handhelds.
To be very honest, I was not impressed with the web discussions I read on during class. None of them were very helpful or very insightful for someone like me who has just enough information to make me dangerous. I decided that maybe I was being too picky or wanted information on too specific a situation with handhelds.
As I work more with my handheld I realize all the problems that can occur. I appreciated the list of troubleshooting ideas Tony gave us. Now I do not need to call someone every time something does not work. I have the tools I need to find the answers myself.
I was talking with a fellow teacher last week about all that a handheld can do and he looked at me and said, “I can’t believe you have become a first class techie, I never thought it would happen.” I guess he might be right because I can hardly wait to get some “geek bling” like the kind mentioned in class. What an awesome possibility to have a computer that fits on your wrist like a watch.
# posted by Ann @ 6:57 PM 
