Thursday 4/15/04 Reported & Photographed by Debbie

Class Log

What a day this has been! I finally made it to class on time -- perhaps the first or second time all semester. And that is nothing short of a miracle considering that I had to go to my daughter's track meet first. But getting to class on time was especially important tonight since I am the Roving Reporter AND I am providing dinner. (What was I thinking?) Anyway I knew that we were going to have some visitors at the start of class. Tony's students were stopping by to talk to us. Tony is out of town and Beth Sanborn is filling in for him. As soon as Tony's students arrived, Beth matched us up with them. I would guess that these students were handpicked by Tony -- no shrinking violets here! They were outgoing and quickly took charge of us as they demonstrated how they use handhelds in the class. Sam, Chris B., Chris W., Helen, Jordan, Andrea, and Taylor H. showed us their favorite applications. I worked with Sam (a girl) who told me that she really likes most of the applications, but her favorite one is Summing. After we had spent some time talking in small groups, Beth beamed a new application to each of us. The title was EFC (Ecological Footprint Calculator), and we had to figure out how the application works and what its purpose was. As I sat there 'thinking' about how to get started, Sam was already clicking away. So I followed her lead and started clicking away (I didn't want to get left behind!). It didn't take too long to figure EFC out. We simply had to complete a survey of 13 questions. The goal was to calculate our consumption of resources. The results were presented to us in several ways. A pie chart analyzed our consumption by category: transportation, housing, food and others. Each category listed the number of acres that our consumption would use. Another graph compared our consumption to that of other countries. The US average consumption was much higher than other countries. After comparing our results, Sam and I changed our answers in the survey to try to bring down the number. Then we tried it again to see how high a number we could get. This led to a discussion of how long the earth will last if we continue to consume at our current rate. A very worthwhile application! In addition to learning what the students' favorite applications are, we learned how excited they are about using handhelds in the classroom and how fearless they are about using them. After the students left, the pizza arrived from Valentino's. I also brought salad and brownies. As always, we continued to talk 'shop' throughout dinner. I don't think you can bring together two or more teachers without that happening! After dinner we moved on to a new discussion -- classroom management of handheld computers. Beth had placed large pieces of paper around the room with topics on them. We moved around the room with a partner and wrote our thoughts on the following topics: Software & Games Damage, Loss, and Theft Contracts should be signed by both parent & student. An inventory should be kept. Is there any insurance and if so, who covers what? Consequences need to be clearly stated prior to student usage. There should be a replacement agreement prior to student usage. Those students who do not agree can use a lesser/older model. We need the backing of the administration. Afluent districts can require parents to pay for replacement (about $350). If kids care about them, they tend to take better care of them. It is a good idea to specify the type of damage that qualifies for a fine. Written Policies Taking Handhelds Home Do not allow handhelds to go home. Allowing students to take handheld home teaches them responsibility. They are proud to be able to take these home and teach their parents. This has helped encourage good communication at home when students were able to show parents how to use the handhelds;Class rules Through our discussions, it was clear that our opinions of class management of technology reflected our experiences and our demographics. The ideas shared At the end of the class, Beth beamed a new application to us: Xr0w. Back