The Pre-Service Teacher Blog

On To Student Teaching

2007-06-05T23:47:00.000-04:00

After 3 years I've finally finished my coursework, and I'm ready for 26 weeks of student teaching sometime in the next academic year. First, however, I have to take a couple of state competency tests on July 7th that will entirely eat a summer Saturday.

So, this summer will be about playing with my daughters, nieces, and nephews, preparing for tests and the fall, and staying up late making palm applications and other tech endeavors.

Its going to be a great summer!

My.Folio

2007-05-09T17:30:00.000-04:00

This is the cover I created for a portfolio I turned in last week. I used the mindmap creation site bubbl.us to create My.Resume, My.Philosophy, My.Learners, and My.KWL.Tech.Mind/Map and several other segments found in the portfolio. I augmented each of these bubbl.us creations with a more traditional format later on in the portfolio.

MashUp Page

2007-05-06T05:39:00.001-04:00

Here is the home of my pre-teaching mashup. I started it this morning so right now it only has a couple of audio tools on it and, unfortunately, I have a busy day today so I won't have much of a chance to work on it until tonight. This is just a prototype of something I hope to be able to use when I have a classroom and it won't be a "finished" product until I actually figure out the specific needs of the class.

Tony and Mike's Soft Reset Podcast

2007-05-05T13:22:00.000-04:00

This is a little late so I'll make the excuse that I was extremely busy and caught up in my schoolwork, but last month I had a great experience as a guest on the Soft Reset podcast hosted by Tony Vincent and Mike Curtis. I hope I was a decent guest who didn't say "UHHH" too much, repeat a point several times (my wife always points that trait out), and had good relevant information. As stated in the show notes, if anyone has any requests, questions about developing their own apps, or any of the software mentioned in the podcast feel free to contact me.

Fun with RSS in my classroom - Twitter and Tumblr

2007-05-03T16:45:00.000-04:00

Note: This is an adaptation from Tony's TonyVincent.Info. Tumblr is a really cool microblogging tool that allows you to update in content several ways, but a text message through a mobile device isn't one of them. That's where Twitter comes in. Tony's twitter/Tumblr setup allows him to update his tumblelog via twitter using a mobile device, and if you go to TonyVincent.Info you can see how he uses it.

I want to use Tumblr in a classroom as a class log, but there is real possibility that the site is blocked through the ISD server. There's a widget on the Tumblr site that allows Mac users to update their tumblelog without actually logging on and now I've found a pair of similar option for Windows' users. Except that these desktop tools, called TriQQr and Twitteroo, are for twitter, and that's where Tony's twitter/Tumblr RSS setup comes in handy. Soooo.....

In my classroom I want to have a PC or Mac that constantly runs either the Tumbler Widget or TriQQr/Twitteroo. Every so often I want a student (I have several ideas for procedures) to create an entry using these tools about what is going on in the classroom. I'd like to windup with about 10 entries a day from different students. I don't view the fact that students can't read the tumblelog at that time as a negative. In fact, I think it would be an incentive for the digital kids that I'm going to teach to go home and see what their peers are saying. In Addition, I will be able to update the tumblelog with some my information, and hopefully that will get the parents involved.

Anyways, I have this setup with Triqqr/Twitteroo and Twitter working. It can be viewed at here and I hope to start putting some more interesting info up shortly.

Update: Twitteroo is a little nicer, IMHO, than TriQQr.

Disposable E-mail

2007-04-29T05:45:00.000-04:00

Disposable e-mail helps you eliminate spam by giving sites that require registration a pseudo-fake email address.

There are a couple of basic different strategies for disposable e-mail,

1. the disposable e-mail account lasts for specific amount of time and you can use to complete a registration process or correspond with the site.
2. the disposable e-mail accounts forwards correspondence to your real email, and if spam starts getting forwarded you delete the disposable one (and you know who sells to spammers).

Many of them allow you to pick the address you provide, so you can do something like dalePalmGearRegistration@"Whatever the disposable email site uses"
Here is a pretty good list of sites that provide disposable e-mail accounts

Information like this will certainly be part of any Internet-safety unit I teach to students.

Pivot and Linerider

2007-04-23T08:26:00.000-04:00

I've been really enjoying these two fun, free animation programs

Similar to the freeware PalmOS application Boneman, Pivot is a downloaded program that allows the user to manipulate the bend points of a human stick figure. From what I've seen, you can also import background images.

Linerider is a web-based application. In Linerider the user creates a course that a character on a sled follows. You can make extremely dynamic course where the character does all sorts of flips and loops.

I really see all sorts of potential using these tools throughout a curriculum in the form of animated chains (food and life cycle), time-lines and sequences. Perhaps animate a Haiku or take a ride through some math facts.......

Here is a Pivot sample from a group of 3rd graders

and here is a very involved Linerider clip entitled "Jagged Peak Adventure"

There are quite a few tutorials on YouTube for creating really involved courses on YouTube. Just do a search for Linerider.

my favorite free, easy-to-use web2.0 tools

2007-04-21T23:04:00.000-04:00

There are some truely amazing, free web2.0 tools out there that I can use as soon as I start teaching (even if I'm subbing). All I'll need is an internet connection......

In addition to PBwiki and Google Docs and Spreadsheets (I know other w2 office tools are better but everyone's familiar with google) I really like:

bubbl.us which is an excellent mindmapping tool

and

myPodcast which offers space for your audio file and a blogger style webpage template in a couple of clicks of the mouse (Sweet for on the fly).

Here's an example of a mindmap I did with bubbl.us

The Official Palm Blog

2007-04-15T07:04:00.000-04:00

I've just added The Official Palm Blog to my RSS feeds. Paul Loeffler from Palm says the new blog will have a couple of posts every week, and it accepts comments. The first two posts combined have 120 comments and many are of the "very-grumpy-but-polite-customer" variety.

New Application

2007-04-09T08:48:00.000-04:00

An application I created over the weekend called SRC (Strategies for Reading Comprehension) can be downloaded from my download page. An instructional video has been created and is posted to TeacherTube, so I'll have that up and running shortly.

This application creates Templates for the KWL, KWL Plus, SQ3R, and 5W's on Palm OS-5 applications for students.

If anybody has any additional strategies they would like to see included, let me know in the comments section.

all web2.0 sites are cool

2007-04-06T22:29:00.000-04:00

I just found these.

MindMeister is a collaborative online mind mapping tool that allows simultaneous and collaborative editing.

tteach School 2.0.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets

2007-03-29T22:40:00.000-04:00

Pretty big week in on-line tools for me so far. First there was TeacherTube and now Google Docs and Spreadsheets (I refuse to link to Google stuff: you know how to find it ;-) ).

Google Docs has been around for a while, but its new to me. Its a fairly standard WYSIWYG doc editor, however, its on-line and multiple users in multiple locations can collaborate simultaneously on a document.

Sort-of gives me goosebumps and I know exactly how I want to use this Web2.0 tool in my classroom.

"Observe" for Anecdotal Records

2007-03-25T16:11:00.000-04:00

Here is a preview of my "OBSERVE" application that I'll be releasing as freeware in the next week or so.

Update 3-29-07: Observe available on D'apps.

TeacherTube Embed

2007-03-24T15:21:00.000-04:00

Tony Vincent's other site, tonyvincent.info/, pointed out a great free service called TeacherTube and I'm giving it a test run. The really cool thing, it gives you free storage and embed code for video's in a community that's dedicated for teachers and educational content.

The following video was created by a teacher demonstrating software, CamStudio, that I've been using for a few months.

UPDATE: I've got Video! (at least I see it!)

International: M-Class article from the UAE

2007-03-22T12:47:00.000-04:00

Just in from Google alerts.

Developing a new mobile-based electronic grade system for schools in UAE

Device Specific Errors, Simulators, and Pseudo-Simulated Palm Environment

2007-03-22T09:47:00.000-04:00

Device Specific Errors

It has come to my attention that the particular method I use to export-records-to-memo will cause a crash on the TX and and the Treo's. I'm implementing another export-to-memo option that works on all the Palm's OS5 device specific simulators and generic OS5 sim, and that developers who own these devices (TX, etc) say work.

I've made the advised corrections on my DD multiplication app and it works on Palm's TX Simulator. I'll get everything prepared and upload them to this site.

The device specific sims are found at a completely different website from the generic simulator, and I was unaware of them until Tuesday of this week. I had relied on the generic OS5 sim for all my testing.

Simulators

On another note, the generic simulators are free and can run off a USB flash drive. This enables me to easily run a presentation off of the location's native equipment without additional hookup and compatibility concerns. Additionally, the Sim can be run on top of a PowerPoint, which makes for a neat interactive presentation. In order to keep applications listed in the simulator simply add a file called " autoload " to the Simulator's file, and then add any application.pdb's you want to run in the ' autorun ' file. Here are the download locations for the free Simulators. You do need to register as a developer with palm (not a big deal) in order to download them. If anyone wants to do this but has questions on which files to download let me know and I'll help you out.

ACCESS Developer Network for the generic sim.

Palm Developer Network for the device specific sims (there's a little bit of wading around the site to find them).

"Pseudo-Simulated Palm Environments"

There's not a lot of Palm usage on campus so I have to be creative :-) .

Using the portability of the sims I've created a couple of small "Pseudo-Simulated Palm Environments" with some of my fellow EDU friends (Yes, I'm considered to be an amusing crackpot). We've loaded the files from my Flash Drive to their laptops and everyone was able to run and interact with palm software on a Sim. I'm hoping to do in one of my EDU classes this term using one the various campus labs should I have a willing instructor. Perhaps I may be able to use this method when I go for funding in an actual elementary school.

End of Term

2007-03-20T02:02:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm going into my final term prior to student teaching. Only two classes next term: Classroom Management and Methods. I'm really looking forward to the fall.

I still can help but wonder if I made the right choice in programs. I also looked into a MAC program which allows previous degree holders to attain their teacher certification and masters degree in a year. I decided that would be too fast paced for an active family life and besides I want to do the MSU Technology Masters Program anyway.

Here is my up-to-date transcript with the most recent classes appearing at the bottom. Notice the dip in my GPA from 3.98 to 3.93 when I discovered that I could do some programming.

---------------------------------------

DALE EHRHART

TRANSFER CREDIT INFORMATION

1996 C S MOTT COMM COLLEGE 12 HRS

2063 UNIV OF MICH 204 HRS

TOTAL HOURS TRANSFERED 216
---------------------------------------------------------
FALL 2004

EDU 200 INTRO PROF EDUC EXP 5 A 20.0

GEO 101 WESTERN GEOGRAPHY 4 A 16.0

HUM 355 MUSIC-CLASSROOM TCHR 2 A 8.0

PSY 111 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 4 A 16.0

ACADEMIC STANDING: PRESIDENT'S LIST

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 15 15 60.0 15 4.00

CUM 15 231 60.0 15 4.00
------------------------------------------------------
WINTER 2005

EDU 312 EDUCATIONAL PSYCH 6 A 24.0

GEO 102 3RD WORLD GEOGRAPHY 4 A 16.0

MTH 211 LRN/TCH NUMBER CNCPT 5 A 20.0

ACADEMIC STANDING: PRESIDENT'S LIST

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 15 15 60.0 15 4.00

CUM 30 246 120.0 30 4.00
------------------------------------------------------
SPRING 2005

EDU 330 THE EXCEPTIONAL LRNR 4 A 16.0

HIS 311 SOCIAL STUDIES FOUND 4 A 16.0

LIT 321 CHILDREN'S LIT/DRAMA 6 A 24.0

ACADEMIC STANDING: PRESIDENT'S LIST

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 14 14 56.0 14 4.00

CUM 44 260 176.0 44 4.00
-------------------------------------------------------
FALL 2005

HIS 201 US HIST TO 1865 4 A 16.0

HIS 202 US HIST SINCE 1865 4 A 16.0

INF 131 INTERNET AND THE WWW 2 B+ 6.6

MTH 212 LRN/TCH GEO/STAT CON 4 A 16.0

ACADEMIC STANDING: DEAN'S LIST

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 14 14 54.6 14 3.90

CUM 58 274 230.6 58 3.98
------------------------------------------------------
WINTER 2006

ECN 202 PRIN MICROECONOMICS 4 A 16.0

HIS 321 ANCIENT WORLD 4 A 16.0

INF 121 INTRO TO WINDOWS 2 A 8.0

INF 141A MICROSOFT POWERPOINT 2 A 8.0

ACADEMIC STANDING: PRESIDENT'S LIST

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 12 12 48.0 12 4.00

CUM 70 286 278.6 70 3.98
------------------------------------------------------
SPRING 2006

EDU 321 THRY&PRIN READ INSTR 5 A 20.0

EDU 346 INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA 4 A 16.0

SCI 351 SCI FND I:CHEM/LIFE 5 A 20.0

ACADEMIC STANDING: PRESIDENT'S LIST

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 14 14 56.0 14 4.00

CUM 84 300 334.6 84 3.98
------------------------------------------------------
FALL 2006

EDU 421 READING CONTENT AREA 4 B 12.0

SCI 352 SCI FND II:AST/ES/PH 5 A- 18.5

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 9 9 30.5 9 3.39

CUM 93 309 365.1 93 3.93
------------------------------------------------------
WINTER 2007

ENG 321 LANG ARTS/LING FOUND 4 A 16.0

HIS 411 EMERGING NATIONS 4 A 16.0

HIS 491 SR SEM:HIST/SOC STUD 6 A 24.0

HUM 351 ART-ELEM SCHOOL TCHR 2 A- 7.4

ACADEMIC STANDING: DEAN'S LIST

ATT ERN HNR PTS GPA HR GPA

CUR 16 16 63.4 16 3.96

CUM 109 325 428.5 109 3.93

......In The News

2007-02-08T10:06:00.000-05:00

Research about Handhelds from the UK's FutureLab can be downloaded from here
Learning with handheld technologies

This article from the Bedford Bulletin in Virginia writes about a school, Jefferson Forest Elementary, that will purchase a mobile lab of handhelds with a grant from a local organization.
Education Foundation funds technology

New App: SequenceM and Video

2007-01-29T12:14:00.000-05:00

This is the sequencing app I started to work on last term. I even had the opportunity to use an unfinished version in a class room with good results.

Features:
*collection of 20+ premade sequences-Download Here
*evaluation check button
*create new sequence
*beam application
*beam Record
*export to memo
*print sequence

Although I messed up the aspect ratio again, here is a video for some basic usage. If you are unable to view the video off my site his is the YouTube Link.

Giveaway of the Day

2007-01-20T05:59:00.000-05:00

Giveaway of the Day is a site that caught my attention just before the New Year. The site, in conjunction with the developer, makes a piece of windows commercial software free for the day. Giveaway of the Day also has an extensive freeware section where I found some pretty cool image morphing, image resizing, screen recording, and .avi splitting freeware.

Addition Update

2007-01-11T09:04:00.000-05:00

The list of apps that have the installer added help prevent beaming problems is:

Change Counter
Jumble
DD Multiplication (which has record keeping, IR Printing, and Export to Memo Capabilities)
Rounding
Subtraction
qNp MATH (which has record keeping, IR Printing, and Export to Memo Capabilities)
Addition

Over the summer I plan to add record keeping and IR printing capabilities to Change Counter, Addition, Subtraction, and others. This may involve a complete rewrite of apps like Addition and Subtraction to increase speed using strategies I learned after I had completed them.

A note on IR Printing: I'm using Palm Print software and an Actisys IR100MP print adapter. I'm looking at trying to develop my own IR printing run but so far that's way beyond my capabilities. It involves using Ir COMM programming and then interfacing it with your app and the different IR printers and Adapters. I'm pretty much at the bottom of steep mountain and looking up. Palm Print is fairly expensive. I believe one possibility for using it in the classroom and keeping the cost down is to created a relay procedure.

Relay Procedure:
1. Students create record on their handheld.
2. Student beams record from their to a dedicated printer handheld.
3. Student beams record on the dedicated printer handheld

Periodic Table of Visualization

2007-01-11T01:15:00.000-05:00

Christine Tomasino's latest post on efriendlylearning links to the Periodic Table of Visualization.

This one is definitely sidebar worthy.

The Beaming Issues......

2007-01-09T09:55:00.000-05:00

There have been a few reported problems with Mass Classroom Beamings of my applications. Over the next month I'll be implementing the same solution to my applications that I've already placed on Double Digit Multiplication, Jumble, and Rounding. My main goal is %100 prevention of "lib not found" messages from occuring at the start of a lesson. The downside is the addional weight of a file on the handheld. Fortuanately, memory has increased substantially on handhelds and this installer file can be deleted when it is no longer needed if space is an issue. The installer file icon disappears from the Palm Screen upon intial use of the application and can be beamed from within the application itself or from Palm's onboard screen page.

1-10-07 Subtraction has been updated. (please note that downloads for previous versions are being deleted.)

Today's new additions are the Change Counter Application which has had a level 3 Apply added to it and the new qNp MATH. The new scenario for Change Counter was requested in the LearninginHand forums over a year ago. qNp MATH is a basic math quizzer that allows for record keeping and IR Printing. I've been using this app tutoring in my daughter school. Kids love IR Printing.

I'll try to do an update a day, but this month will be particulary busy for me because of a double-paced class and the February 1st due-date of my portfolio and application for Student Teaching in the fall.

Double Digit Multiplication video

2007-01-05T00:14:00.000-05:00

I'm new to Youtube and Putfile and I'm really enjoying figuring them out. Hopefully, I get the aspect ratio right next time.

Here is the download for the application: Double Digit Multiplication Application .

Click on the highligted text to view the Video located on PUTFILE.com for the Double Digit Multiplication application if you are unable to veiw the video in the brower.

5 Things Response

2007-01-02T21:23:00.000-05:00

Tony Vincent has a fun request up on LearningInHand for fellow bloggers to post 5 little known facts about themselves on their websites. HMMMMM, I think this would be really fun to do in the classroom with kids and their handhelds at the beginning of the school year.

Anyways, here are mine.

1. My father was in the military and as I result I went to 13 different elementary schools in Virginia, Germany, and Michigan before I was in the 4th grade.

2. I was a blacksmith for 11 years, starting out at the ripe old age of 14.

3. After starting out studying architecture, I eventually wound up with a degree in Political Science

4. I've been a hopeless C-Span junkie for a very long time.

5. Like Tony, I have a fantastic 11 year old cat named Tucker. My wife and I got the name from the 90's song Tucker's Town by Hootie and the Blowfish.

Double Digit Multiplication Application

2006-12-29T11:34:00.000-05:00

The OS 5 Double Digit Multiplication Application can now be downloaded.

This application features:

*record keeping
*beaming uneditable records
*exporting record summaries to memo
*exporting individual records to memo
*IR Print capability (powered by PalmPrint)

Students can also beam the application installer directly to each other from the Main screen of the application which prevents problems of "Lib not found" Messages from occuring.

I'm creating a small manual for it right now, but here are some screen shoots.

Jumbler

2006-12-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

Here Is one of several applications I designed for my EDU 421 "Reading In Then Content Area" class. This one is called Jumbler, and it is designed to help students retain vocabulary. A lot of research I'm reading indicates that children need to be exposed to words 6+ times before they can retain them and transfer them into their own thinking and writing. I want students to create their own Jumble records and share them with their peers. The students would then would have the opportunity to solve their own Jumbles and those of their peers.

I'm also trying to create warmer interfaces, and I'll be adding color to my applications over the next few months.

Feel free to ask any questions about the application

Rounding

2006-12-05T03:38:00.000-05:00

Well, here is the Rounding Application. The main page features a "Beam Application" that beams the application's installer to other users. I did this to prevent "Lib not found" messages from showing up on a bunch of handhelds (just when the superintendent is surveying your handheld program). The installer can be deleted at any time to save memory.

This application also randomly selects between 5 correct messages. The 5th graders who used this program as review loved it (it really generated a fantastic healthy buzz), and it seems to me to be an opportunity to do some graphing and statisical analysis. My future apps are going to have 7 to 10 correct answer messages that are weighted. One message will be common while one will have a 1 in a 100 chance of occuring. Everything else will fall in between. The kids can tally their answers and then analyze the results (find the patterns).

I really want to put messages like "Receiving Instant Message" that switches to "U R Gr8t" in the applications. I know I already have one "no" vote on the rationalle that the slang will show up everywhere. If anybody has any opinions on that let me know. I have some really cool "wrong answer" messages that I won't use.

6th Annual Handheld Conference

2006-11-10T20:35:00.000-05:00

Well, the 6th annual Handheld Conference was today and due to some other obligations I was, unfortunately, unable to attend. I had it in my thoughts as I drove around the Detroit area.

PowerBtn

2006-10-29T13:26:00.000-05:00

I found this little app on FreewarePalm this morning, and its really handy to have if your powerbutton goes bad. Basically, this freeware application turns a hard button (Calendar, Address, Todo, Note) of your choice into the power button. My daughter's Tungsten E button is bad and its nice for her to regain the ability to power off the when she wants it off.

PowerBtn

"That's a goofy way to do it"

2006-10-28T08:54:00.000-04:00

Just so I remember.

I really had fun in my daughter's kindergarten class yesterday. We did a set of measurement experiments on pumpkins before turning them into jack-o-lanterns. I let my group of 5 decide the shapes they wanted to use on the pumpkin by vote, and at the voting one of the kindergartners said "That's a goofy way to do it."

Double Digit Multiplication

2006-10-23T06:24:00.000-04:00

Heres some screen shots from the working Double Digit Multiplication application I've been working on. I've figured out a few processes that allowed me to incorporate a keypad, and the good news is that I'll be able to do rebuild the long division application with a keypad. I don't think the 4th and 5th graders necessarily need a keypad, but I want school administrators who are unfamiliar with palm graffiti to have the ability to use my applications when I push for mobile devices in my future classrooms.

I will make this application available after I finish the other segments. And I will provide working previews at the upcoming Michigan Conference for anyone who asks.

Windows Mobile (PPC) programming

2006-10-12T00:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been looking at a development platform for PPC's for about a week now and I'll be able to duplicate most of my PalmOS programs in a Windows Mobile format.
Here is a shot of my experimentation with a numeric keypad going into multiple text fields.

The big challenge for me was creating a string of numbers, which is necessary for certain applications. The solution was actually quite simple and with that solved I can move forward fairly easily.

AboutFace Application

2006-10-03T15:32:00.000-04:00

Primarily for younger grades, this application consists of 144 images that I used in the DroPairs Time pairboard I created around the New Year. The result is quizzer that is about twice the size of my other applications coming in at 300 kb. This application is intended for color devices.

AboutFace

Subtraction

2006-10-02T23:46:00.000-04:00

Here is the subtraction download. It is definitely a OS 5 Application. The Snap shots are found down below.

Subtraction

Addition

2006-10-02T14:48:00.000-04:00

Here is the download for the Addition application. I'll post the downloads for Subtraction, Rounding, a new time application called AboutFace, and a redesigned AboutTime throughout the week.

Addition is intended for OS 5 devices. It may work on OS 4 devices (I can't find my m500 and sony SL20 at the time of the post), but does NOT work on the 3.5 OS Visor Prism. See the blog post below for images of Addition. I have no idea how my applications interact with PocketPCs and Styletap. If anybody has tried my applications using styletap I would love to hear how they do.

Addition

The software I create for educational purposes will always be freeware. I really hope this software is useful for educators who utilize handhelds with their students. My application are not nearly as cool as the GoKnow suite or the MIT Participatory Simulations, but thats not my goal. I want to create applications that teachers and administrators, who are hesitant about introducing and utilizing technology, know how to fit within their curriculum at first glance. I want people to say "Wow, thats cool what else can you do with these things" instead of "Wow, thats cool. How does that really apply to me and what I have to teach?" I think you have to make strong initial connections with skeptics before you can demonstrate the really cool and transformative capabilities of the handheld

(Please note: I am a student. I'm not even a student teacher. And anything I say about this should be taken in that context. I'll hope I'll come out of the Michigan
Handheld conference with completely different perspectives)

Upcoming Projects: I hope to have Division and Multiplication applications completed by the November Michigan Conferences. Introduce them there.

I'm creating a new Vocabulary application that allows the user to directly link into the now freeware NoahPro Dictionary and Thesaurus.

I love the concept of linking existing applications together. The student operates under the umbrella of an application that directly connects to other useful resources without hunting around. If anybody has any cool suggestions I'd love to hear them.

New Applications

2006-09-25T15:46:00.000-04:00

Here are three new full applications: Addition, Subtraction, and Rounding. The Dean in the Education Department is helping me write a grant and has encouraged me not to put them out as fully functional freeware for the time being.

If requested, I will send out demos.

Here are screen shots of the applications

Working Long Division Prototype

2006-09-11T02:46:00.000-04:00

I'm posting the download and screen shots of a working Long Division Prototype. The application has been tested on a M, T E, Zire 72, and a T E2 with no problems.

The big challenge in this application to create some kind of reasonable regrouping scheme in the editable text fields found during the second subtraction phase of the division problem that children can manipulate accurately. As usual, my 7 year old daughter (poor kid) stood in a 5th grader, and after a single demonstration she was able to complete the subtraction portions of the long division problems presented to her accurately. This wasn't unexpected since she's an experienced handheld user who has worked with my subtraction prototypes. For consistency within the application I then applied the same regrouping scheme to the first subtraction phase.

Download: Divison

Here are the directions for regrouping

1. Tap on the button labeled "R"
a. Text fields will appear.
b. The button is now labeled "C".
2. Tap on the numbers, they can now be "crossed out"
3. Write numbers in the editable text fields above the crossed out numbers.
4. Tap on "crossed out" numbers to return them to normal.
5. Tap on the "C"
a. The regrouping action is returned to its original state.

IMPORTANT: Some answers do not require a Remainder. In these instances, the problem solver must put a zero in a remainder field at the top otherwise the problem will not be evaluated.

Beginnings of my D'Apps Page

2006-08-24T14:48:00.000-04:00

I've just started creating a home for the applications I've made. This applications page will have a permanent link in the upper hand section of the main page of this blog.

State Flash Cards

2006-08-24T07:45:00.000-04:00

This application was created in response to a request from a friend enrolled in my teaching program. The application is a very straight forward Flashcard program quizzing State images.

Here are a pair of images from the application.

I would have liked more color in the application, but color bitmaps of 50 states created an unacceptably large final application. This application works well on older black and white handhelds and handhelds like the Tungsten E and Zire 72. I have not tested it on my wife's E2 yet, (I couldn't find it last night) but I don't really anticipate any problems. I'll update this post when I have a chance to test it on the E2.

State Flash Cards

ElapsedTime and A+MathLauncher

2006-08-11T15:09:00.000-04:00

Here are my two latest applications. I can tell I'm going to have to set up a separate webpage for my creations.

The first one is an Installer/Launcher for Brian Schau's Math applications. All the applications are bundled into one expandable file. After installing the Applications it acts as a launcher for easy use of the math applications. I named it A+ to make sure it would be right at the top of Handheld and ready and easy to use. The applications do have to be in the main memory in order for the installer to read it.

A+ SchauMath

The second Application is ElapsedTime. A few months ago a teacher on the LearninginHand forum asked if there was any application that that tested students on time elapsed, so here is my attempt to create one. This application works, but is in its infancy. I plan on redesigning the application, adding more levels, and adding scoring. I also want to add Minutes-to-Hours and Hours-to-minutes conversion Quizzers. I'm also going to create an application that returns a random time, and then the student draws in the appropriate position of the clock hands on an empty clock face.

ElapsedTime

Note: Place a zero in the hour spot if necessary: see picture

ChangeCounter and ABC Vocab

2006-08-08T23:49:00.000-04:00

This Change Counter is the latest download and is the same that I linked in the LearninginHand Forum. The application features an "Explore" section and 2 "Apply" sections. Change Counter runs Color OS 5 handhelds. I'm keeping the link to the less-featured version active for those not running OS 5 handhelds. Here is the download and screen shots.

Change Counter

ABC Vocab was created after reading a post about JotLog in Lynn Larry's blog. I wanted to create an application with the same basic functions as JotLog, but was more suited to the needs of an elementary classroom. ABC Vocab runs fine on the E2 as well as older non-color palms. I've transfered records from a Palm 500 to the E2 with no problem.

ABC Vocab

I hope to get some feedback on what should be done to improve these applications for classroom use. Some of the plans I have are:

Create a combined SpaceAge and SpaceWeight program for the planets of our solar system. I'll include a Planet Generator that produces random variables of Size, Rings, Moons, composition (the students age and weight) etc. which the students could interpret through art.

Add the designs I've created to the Achievement program.

Home from Vacation

2006-07-23T05:43:00.000-04:00

My family and I just returned home from a 12 day vacation in Walt Disney World. On our way home from Detroit Metro Airport we detoured (to Cleveland!) and added a 10 week old collie puppy, named Kirby, to our family.

Despite some blisters on our toes, we had a fantastic time. The girls really loved their first trip to WDW and they love their puppy. Prior to the trip, My wife signed on to a couple of great sites that really helped up deal with with pre-planning and the crowds which really made our trip more enjoyable. For anyone planning to go I really recommend allearsnet and Tour Guide Mike. Tour Guide Mike gives excellent advice for dealing with the crowds and utilizing the Disney Fast Pass system; the site is really worth the $20.00 cost.

We decided to go laptop free on this trip so I have some catching up to do with emails and so forth.

Achievement Certificate

2006-07-12T08:09:00.000-04:00

This application allows "Achievement Certificates" to be beamed to students when they are caught doing something awesome. There are two sides to this application-the Teacher Side and the Student Side. The teacher side allows creation and beaming of Certificates while the student side only recieves and is Read-only. Until a record is beamed from the Teacher application not much is visible on the Student application.

Here are the downloads

Achievement Certificate-Student

Achievement Certificate-Teacher

Here are the screen shots:

ChangeCounter

2006-07-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

I've uploaded the .prc to a permanent download site and updated the original blog download (see below). They other downloads will be updated shortly.

Over the past few days I've been able to test the app with several children. They enjoyed the application, and understood the interface (which I consider to be slightly clunky)in a matter of seconds.

I'm still going ahead with my original plans to update the interface and include an apply section.

Research and Handhelds

2006-07-06T08:19:00.000-04:00

Here is a nice article that highlights the work of Cathleen Norris and Elliot Solloway concerning the effectiveness of handhelds.

Research Shows Handheld Computers in Classrooms Enhance Student Achievement

Change Counter

2006-07-06T02:30:00.000-04:00

This is the first version of the ChangeCounter. Right now, mark the checkbox of the coin you want to tally and then tap on face of the President. I'm trying to get rid of the checkbox and make it so just tapping on the face of the president tallies the coin amount. I've tested this on a Visor Prism, Tungsten E, Zire 72 and Tungsten E2 with no problems. Here is a screen shot

Here is the download

ChangeCounter

SpaceAge

2006-07-05T12:04:00.000-04:00

Find your age on other planets based on their orbits around the sun.

Simply input your age and hit calculate.

Hit the apply button to figure other planets orbits in Earth days. If anyone has any other ideas to apply these calculations let me know and I'll attempt to incorporate them in the application.

SpaceAge can be downloaded here:

SpaceAge

Comparison Chart

2006-07-04T13:53:00.000-04:00

Here is a screen shot of the simple Comparison Chart I've created.
It can record 5 traits of 3 different Items. There is a Memo (called Thoughts) attached for recording thoughts and other characteristics not captured in the matrix.

The Comparison Chart can be downloaded from here.

Comparison Chart

Downloads For My Applications

2006-06-28T00:50:00.000-04:00

Here are the downloads for the three applications I've created. I've tested them on a Visor Prism, a Zire 72, a Tungsten E, and a Tungsten E2 and so far they've worked fine. The applications do not work correctly on non-color PDA's.

I've decided to remove the Note and Memo option in VennGO for the time being, and I'll include more information on the ListView screen on PyramidGo and TargetGo shortly. Tapping on the numbers inside the target and pyramid take you to memo screen.

VennGO

PyramidGO

TargetGO

My First Applications

2006-06-26T05:08:00.000-04:00

I've created 3 applications to fill in a little void I see in the Graphic Organizer area. They are PyramidGo, TargetDiagram, and VennMaster. Here are some screen shots.

Tapping on the organizer's numbers in PyramidGO and TargetDiagram gives the user extra memo area for details, while tapping on the M and N in VennMaster does the same in that application. I'll have it out as freeware in a couple of days, but if anyone I know wants a preview I email it over.

I'm working on a few other applications that hopefully will be used in the fall.

Preservice Teachers and Technology

2006-06-19T11:09:00.001-04:00

Here is research from Bolick, Berson, Coutts, and Heinecke entitled Technology Applications in Social Studies Teacher Education that sums up why I do what I do.

Presentation Podcast

2006-06-19T07:59:00.000-04:00

This is the Podcast from my second presentation and will be eventually included on a site for the presentation. I'm waiting for my instructor to email some pictures to me.

Click here to download Podcast

I'm also creating a podcast from the audio from my third presentation. This should be up and running by the end of the week.

Well.....There's This Program....

2006-06-17T05:49:00.000-04:00

For the past few days I've been playing around with freeware called SMALLBASIC. It allows the user to fiddle around with old BASIC code and run it directly on the handheld. Since I've never coded anything before all of it was new to me, but I managed to come up with a program that quizzes on basic math facts. While that type of program certainly isn't needed it was really quite a fun exercise to figure out. The addition and multiplication were fairly straight forward while the division and subtraction presented some issues. I had a little help from a 1982 BASIC book that I checked out from the library, but for the most part I came up with everything myself. The result was something that, while not pretty, worked.

Here are a few screen shots.

The code is certainly old, but are the concepts that it employs outdated? Could 5th graders use this and would they want to? Would it be valuable? I find the ability to have instant access to an environment that allows you to employ these type of logical skills intriguing.

Palm Graffiti Font for Windows and Mac

2006-06-13T04:07:00.000-04:00

The Nashville Palm Users Group has PC and Mac downloads for Palm Graffite font. I recieved a weird message when I linked directly to their download site so here is a non-linked URL to their homepage:

http://www.npug.org/

When on their page, click on "Downloads" and then on "Fonts."

Instructions for adding the new font to your PC font selection can be found by clicking "Help and Support" drawn up from the PC's start menu and searching using the phrase "Adding new fonts".

Updated 6/18/06: PalmFont

Handheld Presentations

2006-06-12T08:22:00.000-04:00

I've now facilitated three presentations concerning the use of handhelds in schools. The audience in each of the presentation consisted of preservice teachers with little or no knowledge of handhelds. The first two presentations were conducted for a "Instructional Media" class, while the third was for a "Math and Technology" class.

I really liked what happened in the third presentation, and hopefully I can recreate the situation. Prior to this I had simply passed the handhelds around while I gave the presentation. The "Math and Technology" class was really small so each student had an individual handheld (which I brought), and I gave a few minutes of direct instruction on how to use the handheld before going through the math applications.
For larger classes, I think I'm going to group the students, provide some direct instruction on handheld usage, and then go through my presentation with the students in their groups.

The web page for the first presentation is linked to left, I have a Podcast from the second presentation, and I'm working on a podcast from the third presentation. I'm really enjoy these presentations, and I'm learning a lot. My instructor says she'll have me in for the two "Instructional Media" classes she's teaching over the summer.

Handheld Presentation PowerPoint

2006-05-12T11:26:00.000-04:00

This is the PowerPoint component of a presentation I'm giving in my EDU 346 class next week. The area of the handheld is where I will be interacting with PDA Reach at the same time the PowerPoint is running. I will also be recording it through Audacity

GoKnow Presentation Image

2006-05-11T09:12:00.000-04:00

This is an image I created for a presentation in my EDU 346 Instructional Media class that my instructor asked my give next Wednesday. I plan on using it in a handout covering Handheld Applications that I'm creating.

Go Here, to learn about blogging in education.

2006-04-13T06:53:00.000-04:00

This site is the most concise page I've seen for "Tools and Software" and "Resources and Articles" when it comes to blogging in education.

Using Databases with 7 Year Olds

2006-04-08T22:13:00.000-04:00

Last week, my daughter went on field trip to the Michigan State University Bug House and used a small notepad to record information and draw pictures of some of the insect she encountered. Seeing this notepad, I began to wonder if I could create a database on the handheld that, theoretically, would be easy enough for a 7 year old to use in the field. Using Smartlist To Go, the following is what I came up with:

After a couple minutes of practice, Rachel had no trouble completing the steps. In some cases, it would be nice for younger children to practice inputting information and text with conventional methods. Sometimes, however, speed and accuracy are a necessity, and I think this is a way to accomplish these goals with young children.

Pester 1.3

2006-04-06T09:41:00.000-04:00

Pester is a timing application that allows you to set up repeating timed interval alarms. This application could be beneficial in any sort of timed cooperative grouping structure like Timed Think-Pair-Share-Discuss, or simply ensuring that a group of children have equal access to, say, a computer. Some cool things about Pester are its abilities work in other applications with no screens that pop up to tell you to reset or turn off the alarm; Pester only alerts you with sound.

Draining the handheld's batteries is a potential drawback about Pester. The developer has built in several features to help prevent this from happening, but depending on the user's setting, one minute intervals with the safety features shut off for example, its still possible. I wouldn't allow students to use this application at the end of the day.

Classes starting tomorrow

2006-04-02T23:45:00.000-04:00

Well, The spring term starts tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to the three classes (Instructional Technology, Science Foundations, and Principles of Reading Instruction) I have this term. Instructional Technology will be fun although it suffers because its taught like most other technology classes are taught; in its own separate box with little or no connection to work done outside the technology lab. In a lab scenario, technology is nothing more than an add-on, and I view this as ineffective and unrealistic way to present technology to students. In the real world, people utilize technology seamlessly to complete all sorts of daily tasks, and students should have the opportunity to utilize technology throughout the curriculum the same way its being used by society.

I hope we will utilize classroom blogs, student blogs, RSS, podcasting, and handhelds in this class. I certainly will be vocal about my opinions. I going to suggest (and I'll do the technical stuff) we put together a KWL podcast and a series of student blogs for each session.

2003 SRI Paper

2006-03-28T23:52:00.000-05:00

This is a 2003 paper from SRI based on the PEP grants.

Supporting Teachers Using Palm Computers: Examining Classroom Practice over Time

2006-03-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

Here is more great research with GoKnow connections. The link to this Research has been added to Handheld Articles.

The Palm Project

2006-03-26T07:52:00.000-05:00

This is a 7 page paper I came across written by Soloway, Vath, and Bobrowsky. A portion of the paper discusses Soloway's GoKnow applications. Additionally, this paper contains great information about 1:1 computing and beyond. The link to this article has be added to myHandheld Articles page.

GoKnow's PiCoMap

2006-03-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

PiCoMap is a fantastic piece of software. It can act as a stand alone graphic organizer or as the central organizing hub of a hypermedia presentation. Every node created in a PiCo has the ability to hyperlink to files created in the other 6 GoKnow presentation applications. These other applications, Cells, FlingIt, FreeWrite, iKWl, Sketchy, and ViewPoint allow students to produce multimedia presentations with graphs, downloaded web pages, written reports, KWL charts, animations, and slide shows. GoKnow has produced a series of short videos that highlight the capabilities of their products. In addition to their great software, students hotsynced work is automatically downloaded to a central website where it can be viewed by teachers and parents. When I'm a teacher, and if I have software funds in my budget, the GoKnow yearly subscription will be among the first items purchased

Brian Schau's Language Arts Applications

2006-03-23T15:55:00.000-05:00

Brian Schau has also created a pair of great applications which can be used in Language Arts.

In Dictate, students write a word or sentence given to them by the teacher. The program scores the students "dictation," which can then be exported to Palm MemoPad. This application can easily be used for spelling quizzes.

GoneMad acts as a MadLibs clone. The student fills in the requested parts of speech and reads the story when completed. Exporting finished stories to MemoPad is one of the cool things that can be done with GoneMad. This ability allows the teacher to use this program in a couple of different ways. If the teacher builds spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors into the story then the students could complete the GoneMad story, export it to memo, and then edit the story correcting for these errors. Perhaps the teacher could create GoneMad stories from science, social studies, and even math and have the students edit out errors in MemoPad.
Like his math applications, Brian Schau's language arts applications are freeware.

Teachers should also check out Tony Vincent's
GoneMad web page.

Brian Schau's Math Applications

2006-03-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

Brian Schau has created several fantastic math quiz applications. Every educator using palm handhelds should check out Brian's work at Schau.com.

MathAce is a quiz application for addition, multiplication, division and subtraction. Here is video of my 4-year-old using MathAce and an abacus. LcmGcf is Brian's latest application, and, as its name suggests, quizzes children with LCM and GCF questions. Simplify and MixedUp tests children's' ability with fractions. Finally Angles allows children to experiment with various angles.

Each application highly customizable, most allow scores to exported and printed, and all are freeware.

A+ for Handhelds in the Deer Creek School System

2006-03-08T16:27:00.000-05:00

The Shrinking Classroom

Even though the writer continuously refers to the handhelds as Palm Pilots this is still a great article about a pair of 8th grade teachers sharing a set of handhelds in their composition classes.

Fitaly Letris and Weekly Spelling Words

2006-03-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

Over the past week my second grader has gotten serious about learning graffiti. She's pretty good with Giraffe, and now I'm inputing her spelling words in Fitaly Letris and she's practicing them that way.

Here's a couple of other ideas I have:

I'll input a bunch of time problems (1:30, 2:35, 3:45, etc)into MagicChooser and Rachel will draw the clock faces on another handheld using a drawing application(I think this would really be fun with a pair of students).

This type of activity could also be done with prefixes, suffixes, addition, multiplication, and subtraction problems.

Meap Images and VDI Viewer

2006-03-02T07:52:00.000-05:00

This is one of the projects I've been working on in with the teacher in Linden who has a full set of classroom handhelds.

The Michigan DoE has released a series of Social Studies MEAP questions for teachers to use at their discretion. I've converted these questions (around 20) into a series of bitmap images which can viewed on the VDI Viewer for Palms. VDI is an scrollable image viewer which has a desktop companion for uploading, converting, and compressing BMP images. It works great with maps taken from a computer Screen Capture. We intend to use these as classroom discussion items which can be readily beamed to students and used at the discretion of the teacher as (specifically, some of those moments when there are few extra minutes) . Here are two that I've created:

The following is an example of what is seen on the handheld screen at any given time.

Will this idea work? We hope so, but we don't know. We'll figure that out as we try out the images with students, and hopefully we're not just making a mistake that others have learned before.

Our rationalle in creating these items is that the images would be instantly available in a variety of settings. A cost savings in paper, printing, and time resources would occur. Finally, this would promote cooperative learning opportunities.

I've also fomatted some of these into Quizzler quizes, and we've come up with two strategies for handing these quiz items. The first involves pairing the students. One student will have the Meap content information displayed on his handheld while the other has the Quizzler application running. The students will then work together to answer the questions.
The second strategy has the teacher handing out printed copies (or possibly displaying the items via projector) and the student would be responsible for answering the questions.

I'm currently in the process of converting other Meap content areas.

MathCars

2006-03-01T07:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a working download site for MathCars . The following excerpt is from one of the 4 guides included with the download:

By solving challenges with these graphs, students encounter and master calculus concepts including the meanings of position and velocity graphs, the relationships between slope and rate, and area and accumulation.

The software was designed for middle-schoolers, but I'm pretty sure it could be used effectively with upper elementary students. Despite being older software (1998) it runs well off the the SD card on my OS5 device.

Applications Additions

2006-02-25T02:58:00.000-05:00

I've spend about 5 hours adding Freeware Software to Handheld Applications. There are a few notable exceptions that I'll have to update over the next few days.

Brief To-Do List for my Blog

2006-02-19T23:18:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things I would like to get posted to the blog prior to my Ed Tech class.

1. How to create a Crosswords Puzzle (Something you can do when you have $200 in extra tech money and gobs of extra time.)

2. A printing solution guide.

3. My Cursive, D'nealian, and time BMP templates.

4. Meap images.

5. Update the Application page (I've been going through freeware and finding applications, and copying links. I really want to get this page updated).

More on Projects

2006-02-13T08:51:00.000-05:00

The more I explore this freeware application, the more I like it. Projects is a To-Do replacement which allows the user to place task lists under an unlimited number of headings (or projects). This gives me the best of both worlds, I can use and view personal To-Do list in Datebook5 without cluttering the screen with student assignments. And Projects is, in many ways, more flexible then the built in To-Do application. One cool thing that can be done in Projects, but not the built in To-Do, is manual sorting. Manual sorting can be done in the built-in Memo application, but I find that using the UP and DOWN arrows in Projects is easier. My four year old can sequence the alphabet using Projects but she can't do that using Memo. Here is an example of a math problem:

changed to

Over the past few weeks I've used Projects on my handhelds internal memory. I've found it to be stable and haven't experience any conflicts. Printing isn't possible directly from Projects, but two easy taps will export an item into a printable application.

Picture and AudioBlogging

2006-02-13T08:43:00.000-05:00

My children and I have created two new sites for picture and Audioblogging. My children will supply the content, and I'll manage the technical aspects. The sites are linked under the category "My Kids", which can be found in the side column. Please, feel free to leave comments.

Pass the Palm Competition using QuizWiz or Quizzler

2006-02-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

Hopefully, I can do this in a presentation I'm giving in my Ancient Civilizations class on Thursday. I'm not sure the instructor will let me. If he does, I'll record the presentation and post the video here.

1. Create a list 15 to 20 questions using QuizWiz or Quizzler.
2. Form 2 groups that contain the same number of students. If there is an odd number of students use MagicChooser or Name Picker to pick a student acts as a teacher aid.
3. Have the two group sit cross legged in a row on a carpetted floor (in case the handheld is dropped).
4. Open the Quiz application on two handhelds and give the handheld to first student of the row. 5. The student mark his answer in the application and "Pass the Palm" to the next student. This is repeated along the entire row.
6. The group with the most correct answers is the winner. If there is a tie then the winner is the group that completes the questions first.

Students will have to have prior knowledge using the quiz application on a handheld.

Freeware Choosing Application: MagicChooser

2006-02-06T10:57:00.000-05:00

MagicChooser is a choosing application similar to Name Picker. In both applications you can create a list of pretty much anything and the application will randomly choose from that list.

Example Activity:
1. create a list of prefixes and suffixes in MagicChooser or Name Picker.
2. Using the palm to randomly pick a prefix or a suffix, the students will think of a
word that uses chosen prefix or suffix.
3. This could done in pairs, small groups, or large groups.
4. This could be done as a cooperative list building activity or an Around the World
style competition.

Freeware Math Game: Magic Numbers

2006-02-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

Magic Numbers is a "basic operations" math game in which the student has to decide which basic operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) is needed to solve the expression. There are 3 levels of difficulty for the expression. The easy level expressions have 2 numbers while the hard level expressions have 4 numbers. There is a "training mode" in which the student is only trying to complete the expression and a "race mode" in which the student is trying to complete the expression while racing a handheld to the finish line. The game claims that you can adjust the speed at which the handheld finishes the race, but even at the lowest settings the race is challenging. The game will use negative numbers in the answer, and I'm not sure when that concept is usually introduced to students.

Handheld Video updated

2006-02-04T23:55:00.000-05:00

I have the video converted to a Quicktime format and everything should be up and running.

Handheld Lesson Plans addition

2006-02-03T12:27:00.000-05:00

I've posted some ideas I've created for NoviiAnimator (which can also be used with the trial edition) to Handheld Lesson Plans.

Visit to Linden Elementary today

2006-02-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

I visited Linden Elementary's handheld class for an hour this morning with my daughter. I showed the teacher the content that I'm building that is based on released items from from the MEAP, and she really liked it. As I complete each section (Math, Social Studies, Science, etc) I'll post it to this blog.

New Handheld Video

2006-02-01T20:11:00.000-05:00

I posted two new video clips which can be seen in Handheld Videos. The first concerns Dropairs, and the second is a history presentation I gave in December. This was my first class presentation using handhelds (so be kind!). I plan on using these videos for self-evaluation, improvement, and to demonstrate my commitment to using technology when I'm in a interview a couple of years from now.

Minor Site Changes

2006-02-01T00:18:00.000-05:00

I just completed some minor site modifications. The handheld pages will be static pages that I'll update through the blogger template. When I add content to the Handheld Templates I'll post those modifications to this blog.

Summing Tutorial

2006-01-29T05:03:00.001-05:00

Since there always seems to be confusion about how to play "Summing" I decided to create a tutorial.

Keep in mind that "Summing"is played somewhat like "Mine Sweeper" found on the computer.

The picture to the left has a snapshot of Summing and a arrow pointing to a five. This 5 is the first integer that you will place on the grid. You can place the 5 in any place that's free, however, the goal the game is to get rid of all numbers on the grid. The way you do that is by summing.

On this grid you see two arrows pointing to empty spaces. These spaces are where I can place the 5 and get rid of some numbers.

I will choose to put the 5 in the empty space that touches the 3, the 2, and the 0.

When I place the 5 at that spot all the numbers disappear.

Now, I'm dealing with the 6.

The 2 black arrows indicate where I can place the 6 and get rid of squares that total 6.

NOW HERE'S THE INTERESTING PART.
The red arrow arrow indicates a space that touches 3 squares that total 16 (1+9+6=16). I can place the 6 there and get rid of the those 3 square (see next picture). If there was a space that touched squares that equaled 26 or 36 I could place the 6 there and get rid of those numbers. Its the ones column of the sum your worried about.

This rule works for all number 0-9.

That's basically it. Now the challenge is to develop strategies that allow you to clear the board as quickly as possible. I have heard that it has been cleared in 19 numbers.

Interesting application called Projects

2006-01-29T05:03:00.000-05:00

This freeware application acts as a Task (To-Do) replacement that allows you to name a project and then have a series of to-do items under that particular project name. You can create as many different projects as you want and the project's individual tasks never intermingle with the tasks from another project. The user can also specify which Category (Social Studies, Math, or Science) he wants the Project to fall under.

This is a quite a bit different then how the built in To-Do functions. Under the built-in application if the user wanted to create a title with specific tasks he had to use categories. The categories function is limited to 15 and under the All view all the to-do items would intermingle with each other.

I'm using the V 1.8.3 beta version on my Zire 72 and have have not experienced any problems. I'm going to try to contact the developer and I'll post here if there are any cautions. Unlike the V 1.8.3 release, the V 1.8.2 release does not allow beaming which renders it useless from an education standpoint.

Click here to download Projects V 1.8.3

Blog Additions

2006-01-27T23:50:00.000-05:00

I added several articles, some links on Handheld animations, and a concept map to Podcasting tonight.

Daily Record

2006-01-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

I haven't had time to post over the last few days, although I managed to add some links in other areas of this blog. I'm really trying to get into the habit of blogging everyday, which should help me use blogs when I have a classroom.

I have two exams tomorrow and a project due on Thursday. The project, Ancient Egyptians in the Afterworld (or something like that), may involve an animation and I plan on attaching a sound file to it. Hopefully, I'll have the oppportunity to interview Mrs. Juhl about her first year using handhelds before the end of the month and create an actual podcast.

Looks like I have a pair of long nights ahead, and I'm out of coffee.

In The Classroom

2006-01-19T22:35:00.000-05:00

I was able to spend 6 hours in a classroom that was Palm enabled today. I arrived at approximately 9:45 and stayed until 3:30. When I arrived, the teacher and her students went through a list of the applications they use and how they used them. They showed me a great math application called Summing, which I had never played before. The game plays something like mine sweeper. The teacher was kind enough to show me around the classroom and how they handled their technical issues. The class fortunate is enough to have Tungsten C's with Wireless internet so the children can jump on the Internet anytime the teacher gives them the OK. I spent most of the day helping students, answering questions, and getting advice from the teacher. We may put together a podcast where I interview about her experiences with the handhelds. During the day, two of her students paid me a compliment and told me they thought I would be a really good teacher.

The Summing download site is not in English. Look for the following element on the page to download the game.

Going into a class with handhelds

2006-01-18T08:29:00.000-05:00

After sending sending a letter and trading emails with a teacher in Linden for the last few weeks I have the opportunity to observe a classroom with a full set Tungsten Cs tomorrow. This is the first time I have actually been in a handheld classroom, and I'm really looking forward to it. As usual, I'll have quite a few questions to ask.

Internal Links and feeds

2006-01-18T00:33:00.000-05:00

The links to the 4 components of this blog and their feeds are up and running.

Handheld Animations

2006-01-16T23:38:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had tons of fun figuring out how to embed Quicktime into the blog template. The animations I posted can be seen on my Handheld Animations page.

New Middle School

2006-01-15T20:05:00.000-05:00

These are pictures from the Public Grand Opening of the new Flushing Middle School. Because I worked on the Bond Steering Committee in 2003 I was able to attend a dinner and advance tour last night. Our administration, school board, the architect, and project manager produced a fantastic building that will benefit the children of Flushing for many years.

My First Post

2006-01-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I'll get this blog site up and running. Originally, I planned to create my portfolio using Blogger, but the area-ISD acts as the ISP for the 21 local districts and blogging tools are completely firewalled. I talked to the ISD tech coordinator last night and she said the ISD has a policy and a plan for blogging, and it is about two years away. So in the meantime, since I think it would be pretty awkward to show up for an interview and have my portfolio work firewalled, I'll look for some non-web based solutions that I can use along with the standard paper portfolio that my school's education department says I must have. I'll use Blogger to work on the technical skills I'll need so I can introduce technology into the classroom when I start teaching.