FIGURE C

the weighting of the various grade types is shown on the right-hand side of the screen.

The screen in Figure C is the summary of Ninja's performance over the year, including his grades and attendance. On the right-hand side of the screen is the weighting of the various grade types, which can be changed by tapping one of them.

You can attach notes to students as well. The one downside I've seen to using the Memo Pad as data storage is that the notes feature is somewhat inflexible. You create a database of notes (up to fifty), and then attach them to a student.

Those fifty notes are available to be attached to any student, so they need to be kept somewhat generic. My notes database from this past school year is shown in Figure D. As you can see, I still have quite a bit of room left to add new notes.

FIGURE D

Here is my notes database from this past school year. Click picture for a larger image.

Report card time
Lars Lewejohann, the creator of Tiny Red Book, has also made a Microsoft Excel template for use in extracting the data into a human-readable form. To use it, you simply copy one memo at a time into the Excel template, and press CTRL-A. A macro runs and fills the appropriate tab of the spreadsheet with the information. Figure E shows one of my classes (with all of the names changed) and their attendance record for the term.

FIGURE E

Here is the attendance record for one of my classes. Click picture for a larger image.

This picture also shows one of the helpful hint windows included throughout the template.

The template figures out what kind of data it has received by looking at the top line of the memo that has been pasted in. If you don't paste in this line (as I didn't when I first tried the template--did I mention that I don't read user manuals?), the template tries to figure out what it has received, but it doesn't generally do very well. With that line included, it does a great job.

Excellent support
Tiny Red Book was originally created in German, and some of the menus and language show that they don't come from a native speaker of English. All of them are easily understood, however, and the occasionally unusual phrasing does not get in the way of using the application.

I emailed Lars soon after purchasing the program to find out whether there was a desktop version. He sent me the Excel template (which was in German only at that time) and offered me whatever assistance I might need in making it work. I have since contacted him several times, and I always receive quick, friendly, and helpful responses from him.

I find that the program fits well into my own teaching style and routines. I don't need to change my own methods to use it. In fact, the program is so flexible that I think an individual student could also use it to keep track of grades in various classes.

Tiny Red Book is truly a teacher's best friend in the classroom. I have never yet had it crash, none of my data has gone missing, and my students' grades and information are always immediately available to me whenever I need them. Teaching is certainly not an easy job, but Tiny Red Book can make it much more efficient. Let's go back to school!

Calvin O. Parker is the maintainer of a PalmPilot FAQ site on the Internet. He has been actively involved with the PalmPilot online community for over a year, and has recently written a book on the PalmPilot: The Complete PalmPilot Guide. Find out more information at http://www.pilotfaq.com.