The Pocket PC Goes to High School

It may seem that the only time you see a Pocket PC is when a busy businessman walks past you at the airport, but they're beginning to be seen in other settings (like my high school, for instance). My Pocket PC assists me in my coursework and allows me to be continually successful in my high school career.

The ultimate tool for Spanish

As more universities in the US require two years of a foreign language, high school students have to sign up for Spanish, French, German, or other languages. The Pocket PC is the perfect tool to help students succeed in these classes. I have used mine many times in my Spanish class throughout this past year to help me learn vocabulary, pronounce words correctly, and even to write a paper.

To learn vocabulary, I use the Notes application to create makeshift flashcards. I write the word in English, make a voice recording of the word in Spanish, and then place the link to the recording next to the typed word. When I study using these flashcards, I speak the English word, speak the Spanish word (if I remember it), and then check to see if I'm right by clicking on the link to the recording.

This system also helps my pronunciation. Whenever I'm in Spanish class and have a little downtime, I record the Spanish words for my flashcards. If I pronounce them wrong, my teacher helps me out, thus insuring that I have the pronunciation right.

Flashcards help me to expand my Spanish vocabulary.

About a week ago, we had an assignment to write a paper about the conquest of the Aztec empire. That day in S.E.B. (Student Enrichment Block), I typed up the first draft of my paper on my Pocket PC using the thumb keyboard I purchased for my Dell X30, thus getting a head start on the other students. When I got home that night I then wrote my second draft while most other students were still working on their first draft of the paper.

Polishing a speech

Two weeks ago I was assigned to deliver a speech in my English class. I only had four days to find a topic, write the speech, and deliver it, so I got to work on it immediately. My Pocket PC assisted me in many ways with this task.

First I made an outline of my speech in Pocket Word. This was helpful because whenever I ran out of ideas as I wrote, I could quickly refer back to this outline. I then typed up my speech, again in Pocket Word. After getting all of my ideas on paper, I practiced my speech in front of a mirror. Although this seems to be the strategy that most people use when preparing a speech, it didn't work very well for me. So, I made a voice recording of myself on my Pocket PC, and then listened to it in order to polish the speech. This worked very nicely; I could hear where it seemed to lose its flow and where it totally rocked.

Homework, homework, homework

The one thing that most high school students cannot seem to keep organized is their homework. When is it due? What class is it for? Which pages do I have to read? Which problems do I have to solve? It's a lot of information to keep organized. The paper day planner that the school provides is okay, but for me it's often more of a hassle than a help. Once again, the Pocket PC was the perfect way to solve this problem. The Tasks application allows me to organize my homework into categories. I am able to make certain tasks, such as studying for quizzes, higher priority. Tasks ensures that I know what I need to do and when I need to do it in order to stay successful.

The Tasks application keeps me ahead on my homework schedule.

The Pocket PC not only replaces a bulky written planner and is much easier to use. It only shows me what I still need to do, and I never have the problem of searching for assignments that I might have scribbled on some forgotten page. This completely eliminates the possibility that I won't know when I have work (assuming I always enter it onto my Pocket PC), allowing me to handle this important part of my studies.