On the Seventh Day of Christmas…
Another video….this one is a commercial for Cisco Systems. The Prince Arthur Palm Project is just a baby step in the participation of the Human Network.
On the Sixth Day of Christmas…..
On the Sixth Day of Christmas my Tungsten E2 gave to me this VIDEO!
12 Days of Christmas
On the Fifth Day of Christmas my Tungsten E2 gave to me a much easier way to do my homework. Hi, I’m a 14 year old here at Prince Arthur Community School. The Palms have definitely changed the way the teachers teach here. The palms have helped us by making it easier to find and use things, we can find all our work, and we are prepared for class. We no longer need to waste paper and time writing down assignments or notes; Mr. McIntosh or Mrs. Dalgarno just beam it to us and we get started right away. It is much more fun to come to school now that we have a cool device to do our school work on, plus we aren’t being yelled at to quiet down as the teachers write assignments on the board.
Writing on the wireless keyboard and Palm keyboard is much faster then printing, though there are only a few wireless keyboards so we have to keep sharing with our friends. Some of us are faster with Graffiti, some with the Palm keyboard, but we are all better with the wirelss.The stylist and Graffiti program are a bit complicated, but we’ve pretty much gotten the hang of it.
Using the Palms have made a big improvement for the learning experience for us. We have much more fun learning and coming to school. We are very thankful for this opportunity and that we were choosen to participate in this Palm Pilot project.
Twelve Days of Christmas
On the Fourth Day of Christmas my Tungsten E2 gave to me my teaching partner, Mr. Angus McIntosh!
The truth be known, Mr. Mc as we all call him, was on board much earlier than this fourth day but I’m trying to work him into my Christmas theme.
Mr. Mc teaches Language Arts and Math to most of my homeroom students, so it was important that he become a part of this project. He is a “tech guy”, needless to say he was very excited and ready to jump in with both feet!
Angus and I spent a 1/2 day working on the “written” part of this project before we even received the Tungsten E2’s. He then spent a half day on the “First Day of Christmas” when the PDA’s arrived.
Since then he has been the one exploring the PDA’s with the students in the afternoon during Language Arts and Math. In the mornings the elves and I have been preparing for Christmas concerts, which does not make them too happy as they miss their Tungsten’s!
I am going to hand Day Four over to Mr. Mc so he can fill you in on his Christmas preparations!
That must be me……
This has been as much fun as I’ve had teaching with technology since the schools first access to high speed internet! I have been using the handhelds frequently during language arts class and have made the following observations:
- The students are highly motivated to use the handhelds and have been discovering and sharing many of the technical details on their own. It doesn’t take long to realize just how comfortable adolescents are with technology today. Very few students had any experience with a Palm Pilot when they arrived last week. Within the first hour they had mastered the basics, by today they are truly experts.
- The handhelds promote communication between students. I have witnessed many positive interactions between students as they share their knowledge and skills. Whoever says that technology is a detriment to students and their use of Social Skills needs to witness some of this!
- The students see the Palm Pilots as a tool for learning. They have asked to use them for note taking, charting information, and writing. They have gone ahead and used the calculator function, and have read (and shared) e-books during silent reading without asking or being asked too. Some of them have “beamed” me their homework assignments! (No more assignments lost on the black hole known as my desk!) I think the students see these as valuable to school as a pen and paper!
- Setting up and managing the software for 30 Palm Pilots is challenging! (More on this at a later date. I am still trying to figure out the best way to have students hot synch the handhelds)
- The program PDAReach has and will be invaluable! It allows the handheld to be connected to a computer, and then to an LCD projector so the students share their learning with the large group.
It has been a busy yet rewarding week of teaching with the E2’s. I am looking forward to really getting this project going in full force in the New Year!
Merry Christmas to all.
Mr. Mc!
Twelve Days of Christmas
On the First Day of Christmas my Tungsten E2 gave to me that Christmas morning feeling! I thought that since we are in the spirit of Christmas I would have my reflections be a part of the holiday season.
The excitement felt just like Christmas morning. The students had been anxiously waiting for these special gifts to arrive; constantly asking when the hand-held computers were coming. Now the day was here and watching the students struggle to open the hard, plastic boxes that protected their very own PDA and seeing their faces light up once they actually had the little device in their hands was PRICELESS! And just like Christmas morning, they played, pushing buttons and experimenting with their new “toy”. They learned quickly how to create contacts, practice graffiti and beam to each other. ” This is too cool!” was definitely the phrase of the day!
As for myself, just like on Christmas morning, I concerned myself with the collection of torn, empty boxes and focused on labeling and cataloging each of these precious, new teaching tools.
By the end of Day One all of the labeled PDA’s lay nestled with their charge chords, resting peacefully from a hard days play; as students dreamed not of sugar-plums but rather their new PDA!
On the Second Day of Christmas my Tungsten E2 gave to me a classroom filled with peace and quiet.
I have a fairly “chatty” group of students, as I am sure most grade 8 classes are; however on this second day as I walked into my classroom, the students were silent. I thought I was in the wrong room! Each of them were focused on the Tungsten E2 in their palm…. QUIET… it was beautiful! A sound that can truly be appreciated by a teacher!
On the Third Day of Christmas my Tungsten E2 gave to me a parent and a solution to the question: ” Now that Christmas is over where do you store all of the gifts?”
The issue I had been facing these last three days is finding a safe place to store these expensive teaching tools. A helpful parent walked into the classroom and asked if he could lend a hand,with my hands full of PDA’s, I quickly asked if he could create slots in the plastic container (that I had just “borrowed” from the caretaker) to store the PDA’s. He spent the weekend working on it and walked in today with the perfect container! What a creation!! Needless to say, I was more than grateful! Now I can relax knowing that the Tungsten E2’s all have a special spot in the labeled box and at night they will all be locked up in a cupboard. There is also a locked back-room where they can all be charged when necessary. Now that the storage and distribution has been simplified, the elves know just what to do when they arrive in the morning!
They’re here!
We passed out the Palms today. Each student received a Tungsten E2. Today was about getting a quick tour and setting them up including, charging, syncing, beaming applications and files, labeling, and other basics. Still a long way to go but so far, so good.
It all started….
The idea for this project began over a year ago as Prince Arthur School faced the challenge of having their school under construction for the year due to a mold issue. With classrooms scattered throughout the city of Moose Jaw, teachers and students were forced into less than ideal learning environments. Although handled extremely well by all, one area of concern became access to computers. I (Dean Shareski) saw an application for a grant from the Educational Technology Consortium. Knowing Mrs. Dalgarno’s adventurous spirit, considered here a perfect candidate for something new….One to One computing.
While the funding was not enough to provide laptops for every student, handheld computers were a possibility. Knowing of several schools using handhelds, I suggested the idea to Mrs. D and she quickly agreed.
The application was accepted but funding was delayed. So when the 2006-2007 school year began, Prince Arthur students were back to their regular classrooms. The urgency of access was gone but the possibilities of exploring a one to one computing environment still is alive and well.
Stay tuned for more as we begin shortly.
