Teacher vs. Student

[essingle]

I am a teacher and I really haven't found much use for my PDA (m125) in my classroom setting. I do use it to keep track of upcoming events at my school.

I am also a student (well former student for the moment...I just finished my master's degree...about to head to a Ph.D. program this fall). I found numerous uses for my PDA while in school. I kept track of assignments and due dates. I also was able to load Word documents using Docs to Go and edit them during down time if needed. I also kept all of my contact information for the various groups I was in.

--essingle

[imported_StevenGT]

Actually, there are a number of apps that will allow you to track student grades on quizes and assignments, as well as some lesson plan database formats. Check out the listings on PalmGear.com, using "teacher", "school" or other appropriate keywords.

[Peppy]

I have some programs on my Palm that help me take observations on my students. As a special education preschool teacher I must take careful notes on my student's language skills, social skills, academic skills, EVERYTHING. I can't just give them a test to see if they are learning, I have to observe them. I carry my Palm around my classroom and I use my stylus and a program called Jot to write reems of information about my students.

I also use my Palm to keep track of telephone conversations and conferences I have with parents. I keep track of attendance, PPT dates ( I use my keyboard at PPT meetings to take notes ).

Every single detail I have on a child goes into my Palm.

The best thing is, when I go into a team meeting I have every piece of information about my students (all 30 of them) in my Palm. If my administrator asks me questions about a student then I can pull him or her up and have instant access to everything I know about that child. No more carrying around huge files and digging through endless notecards. It is all right there for me. She wants to know what kinds of social interactions the student engages in, I can give her examples. She wants to know how the child's reading skills are, I can give her test scores. It is AWESOME!

Since I do not have access to a computer that prints while at work I use my Palm to create notices and handouts for parents that I later print on my home computer.

I am able to display myself as more knowledgable and more professional because all the information I could ever want is at my finger tips.

Peppy

[essingle]

Peppy, you sure do use your Palm for a lot in the classroom. I'm impressed! It sounds like you are a very organized teacher. I'm sure having everything on the Palm when involved in a team meeting or mtg. with an administrator is quite handy. Keep up the good work! Maybe your organization will be passes along to others in your building and more will see the benefit of using the Palm in the same manner that you do. Overtime, the usage will perpetuate and Palms will be the norm in classrooms across the country!

--essingle

[Peppy]

My district just recieved quite a hefty grant to research and incorporate technology into the classroom. The two ladies that will be incharge of that grant made a presentation to the other teachers in my building. They briefly spoke of Palms and discussed some of the useful features they have that can be integrated into the classroom. For example, a m100 and a keyboard is far cheaper than a full computer. Wouldn't it be useful if every classroom had at least a handful of the units that could be brought out when it was time to do some word processing or spread sheet work? If you have two regular computers in the room and say 5 Palms, you could have 14 children entering data on a science experiment at the same time. That is at least half the class.

Or, I read somewhere about a teacher who gives quizes on the Palms in her classroom. The children beam the information to the computer, the computer grades the work, the children have INSTANT feedback on how they did. In this classroom it saved the teacher time because she didn't have to grade all the papers, and the students became more motivated because, first of all using Palms are cool, and second, they strived to beat their highest quiz score.

Ok, ok I could go on and on. Just one point, TEACHERS THERE ARE ENDLESS USES FOR YOUR PALMS IN YOUR CLASSROOMS!

Peppy

[Jamez]

Hi Peppy,

I'm starting the 5th year teaching program this month and look forward to spending many years working as a special education high school teacher. I use a PalmIIIc on a daily basis and was very interested in your post. You mentioned being able to give instant information on all 30 of your students. What programs do you use? Do you use the built in programs, or would you recommend third party applications that are a "must have" for teachers? I would appreciate any insight you could give in this matter.

Thanks

James

[Peppy]

Hi Jamez
I definately use 3rd party applications on my Palm for all the information I keep on my students. It just makes life simplier for me. I found most of my programs on Handango (I've written about them so much in here that people are going to think I work for them, I don't). Anyway, I bought a software bundle called Suite For Teachers by ADL Software. The website describes it as this.

This is the big one. This is the real solution for Palm-Active teachers. Includes 1. Discipline Log For Teachers 2. Student Tracker for Teachers 3. Observation Log for Teachers 4. PlanBook for Teachers 5. Quick Grade for Teachers 6. And Teacher Tracker for Teachers. You'll be the most organized teacher at your school.

Each of those six items listed are actually six different programs and I found I don't use them all. I use Student Tracker, Observation Log, and Planbook. Since you teach older students you may get more use out of the others. They list it on the website as $30 and you can download a trial version. It was the BEST $30 I every spent. You can also buy those programs seperately but you get a better deal to buy them all together.

I also use a program I found on Handango called RealTeacher. This was $6.

RealTeacher is a program to help PDA-carrying teachers capture and organize ideas, tasks and thoughts. Created by a real teacher, RealTeacher allows educators to record ideas for lessons, classroom management, teacher support, resources and more. Perfect for pre-service and student teachers as they observe in classrooms. Great for teachers who share ideas with others. Teachers have so much to think about in a day. RealTeacher helps free up some mind-space. Features include:

There are others on Handango and on other sites such as TeacherPlanner, TeacherTools, Teachers P.E.T. v2, etc.

I have Documents to Go from DataViz and I use the Word To Go program in that for word processing and I use the Sheet To Go program to keep track of my student's standardized test scores and other details.

Here is a link to Handango
www.handango.com

Hope this helps you!

Let me know what you end up using, if anything. I am always curious to see what other Teachers are up to, especially since right now I am the only one in my building and my department using a PDA.

Peppy

[Jamez]

Hi Peppy,

Sorry I haven?t responded until now. I?m in classes this summer and I wasn?t prepared for it. The school crams a 12-week term into 4 weeks! I?ve been using WordSmith and a GoType keyboard, with my Palm IIIc, to take notes in class. It has been great, I wish I had started this with my undergraduate studies. I see that you were using 4.0-Student. I downloaded Due Yesterday, but this term has been so fast I really haven?t had time to input anything. I find myself using the ToDoList more than anything. However, this fall when the terms are a little more normal I will probably give it a try. It seems there is no desktop companion for 4.0-Student, is that true? It looks like I would have to sync with their website if I wanted to save my info. I?m also going to try the programs you suggested (Suite for Teachers and RealTeacher) soon. I don?t actually start my student teaching until after Christmas, so it won?t be until that happens. I?ll let you know,

James

[Peppy]

Hey!
Gosh I know something about cramming classes into a short time. I'm taking one class in 6 days. 8:30am to 3:30pm, with only 3, 15 minute breaks! YIKES! Anyway, like I wrote on antoher forum I use my palm and my Stowaway keyboard to just sit and type away as the professor lectures. A couple of times I was stuck in the library all night after that and my m515 stood the abuse of 9 or 10 hours of use all in one day. I couldn't do this class without it.

Anyway, I do use 4.0 Student and I like it although I'm starting to think their might be something better out there because like you say, no desktop conduit and you do have to subscribe to their website to keep your information. I have do not subscribe hence I loose all the information when I delete the classes at the end of the semester.

I'm transferring from one graduate school to another this fall (the old one changed its program and it really stinks now) so I'll basically be starting my Master's over again from scratch. Maybe I'll look for a new program.

Anyway, I have to get to class. Good luck with yours!
Peppy

[imported_marisa]

I've been following this thread and forum for a couple of days, so I thought I'd just jump in and introduce myself. I'm a university professor in Thailand, and I've been using my 515 to manage all my teaching and research work.

I use Teacher's PET to manage two of my courses (with more students) and the Suite for Teachers to manage a smaller, Seminar-style course I teach, which is more project-based and gives me an opportunity to really get to know my students. My university is English-language, but the students are mostly (99%) Thai, so even though I don't teach language, I have to monitor the students closely to make sure they are keeping up in the course (I teach literature and research-paper writing courses). These 2 programs have come in very handy.

I also use Wordsmith for writing documents, Mobile DB to keep files on student grades and research info, RealTeacher to keep track of ideas, TinySheet to make gradesheets and export to Excel, and BrainForest to outline projects and lectures. And I have PalmReader stocked with tons of books (all of Shakespeare, for example) and with the Palm eBook Studio I'm creating my own e-books to distribute to students.

I can't emphasize enough how this technology has saved me time and weight: I have a serious back problem, and can't really carry a laptop around, or heavy documents/books.

I do have one question, though. How many of you are Mac users? The programs I'm using are mostly compatible with my laptop for synchronizing. I'm using OSX, so I'm always on the lookout for the newest desktop versions. Wordsmith, BrainForest, and other programs are OSX compatible now, but I'm wondering whether some of the larger suites, like Documents to Go, will upgrade soon. Anyway, what programs are the Mac users here especially fond of?

Marisa