Now it was time to read the manual. The user manual (available online at http://www.tiny-red-book.com/screenshots.html) shows that you can, in fact, enter data through the Desktop application rather than directly through Tiny Red Book. As I have a Microsoft Word file with all of my students' names, I spent ten minutes copying and pasting so that I had all 165 students in Tiny Red Book. This is a huge benefit of this application, as students can be easily added to or removed from classes, or moved from one class to another, if necessary. Memos are created in the Unfiled category but can be moved into any category without affecting the program. However, the class itself must first be created in Tiny Red Book or manually added to the "Classes" memo. Otherwise, the program cannot recognize the memo as being data.

Day to day use
I have a Bond Latch (see the review by Claire Pieterek at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200103/bondlatch001.html), and I wear my Palm handheld around my neck at school. I'm the computer teacher, so I can get away with looking slightly more nerdy than usual. Others might want to store the Palm handheld in a pocket between uses.

When a class arrives, they come in, sit down, and start work on a small assignment. While they work, I tap on their class in Tiny Red Book and then on the Attendance button. I can quickly indicate whether a student is away or just late (and how late, as well).

In computer class, we often don't complete an assignment in one day. However, I still want to know how well the students are working from day to day. Before Tiny Red Book, I tried on several occasions to create a record-keeping system for myself, but it was always too cumbersome for regular use. With Tiny Red Book, I give each student a grade in the Daily Grades section as I move through the classroom, and I find it very easy to remember to do, since the Palm handheld is around my neck. Figure B shows the daily grades screen for my three felines.

FIGURE B

Here is the daily grades screen for the first day of school of my three felines.

Tiny Red Book also allows you to enter grades for homework, major grades, tests, and "other." What it does not allow you to do, at this point, is to attach a name to a given grade. For example, if my Grade 7 students hand in an essay on January 14, I'd like to be able to tag the January 14 major grade with a note that says "essay." This is minor, though, as my lesson plans make it clear what project produced the grade.

Each class can have its own weightings for the types of grades. My Grade 1 students, for example, rarely have assignments; most of their grades come from their daily work. So, the daily grades category is weighted 80 for them, with 10 for major grades and 10 for tests. My older students have heavier weighting on their tests and major grades. Tiny Red Book allows this to be changed from any student in a given class, and the changes apply to the entire class. Figure C shows the weighting screen, which is also the summary screen for a given student.