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Thursday 2/26/04 Reported & Photographed by Randy |
Class
Log |
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Thursday night at Willowdale seems to start off as any other night should. We all arrive eager to continue forward on our quest of knowledge. We looked forward to the amazing insights of Tony Vincent (until now I never made the connection that Tony’s initials are T.V.) Anyway, I digress. Tony started the class by announcing that this would be our last nametag night. That means we are going to either have to learn each others names, or resort to generic names like “buddy”, “pal”, or my personal favorite “hey you”. We also noted that the name of lady who usually occupies the couch is Rita. She happened to be gone this evening. The class started with a quick discussion about books that are available for educators about the use of handhelds. He showed us four books:
Tony shared with us a quick summary of each book and who it would be most effective for. Oh, and if you didn’t notice the authors listed on book number four, it’s Tony. The next discussion turned to using eBooks. We talked about the pros and cons of the eBook, things that we had discovered just by reading one. After that, we played “Who Wants to be a Winner”. Our contestant answered questions based on the homework reading. She made it quite a ways along, but was finally stumped by the question “Which of the following uses infrared?” The answer was WebTarget. (Don’t feel bad, I didn’t know it either!) She won a cool palmOne folder and was the envy of many. Next we talked about the application HanDBase (pronounced hand-e-based). This application is used to access informational databases such as Longitude and Latitude listings and Newberry Winners. Tony showed us all a website for teachers located at http://www.ddhsoftware.com/gallery.html that has awesome downloadable databases. Quote of the night goes to Sheri. When the class was informed of the Newberry List, Sheila said, “Oh my God, My 5th grade class has to have this next year. This is so cool!” Tony continued by teaching us how to create our own database using HanDBase. We created a sample database for monitoring classroom behavior/or lack there of. Databases can be used very effectively by teachers as a way to record behavioral activities, grades, assignments, ect. Our next course of the evening was our main course provided by Cindy via her husband. They provided this great dinner of chicken curry with rice among other delicious sides (see pictures to the left). Cindy did warn us that this meal was spicy and not for those who are nut intolerant. After dinner we viewed a short cartoon from a series entitled “Live at the Teachers Lounge.” This cartoon poked fun at the concept of the “paperless” school, and that sometimes the old tried and true methods are better for the students (On a side note, the voice of the main teacher is done by the same guy that provides the voice for Brandon Small on “Home Movies” on Cartoon network’s Adult Swim.) The second half of the evening, we all participated in “The Word Processor Showdown”. We broke into four groups and evaluated the different word processors available for Handhelds: Memo Pad, Wordsmith, FreeWrite, Documents To Go, and Quickword. After meeting briefly and checking of a list of available functions for each document, we re-gathered and discussed which application was the best. The class conclusion was that each application is good, but it all depends it all depends on the user and purpose. Is it logical to get a program with all the whistles and bells for a class that costs $20 to $30 dollars a piece? Not really. That last thing we learned in class was the application Sketchy. It is an animation application that can be used to illustrate simple or complex ideas. It is a simple program and easy to run. Tony showed us several levels of animation done, both by grade school students and college students. I think he scared some of us when he showed the “How to Throw a Clay Pot” animation done by an art teacher this summer for him. As an Art teacher myself, I saw it more as a challenge, a bar was set and I intend to meet the challenge and maybe exceed it. Next Thursday, our assignment is to have a “Sketchy” of our own done. I can’t wait to see what the other students have done, and I can’t wait to share mine. |