A new take on the second R

At Newport Heights Elementary School on Friday, Gabriel Del Real’s

fifth-graders sat in class doing a simple exercise. They had started

reading “The Sign of the Beaver,” by Elizabeth George Spears, and now

they spent a few minutes writing quick descriptions of the major

characters -- a few sentences, tops.

The students weren’t scratching on notebook paper, however. Each

one had a Tungsten E handheld computer, and the letters they penned

at the bottom of the screen were converted into typeface at the top.

In the process, the children learned a skill that may prove

important for their generation: how to write crisply enough for a

computer to understand.

“It’s kind of difficult in a way, because sometimes it gets a

little confused,” said Madison Mastera, 10, of Newport Beach. “You

try to make an ‘a’ and it makes a ‘u.’”

For the rest of the year, Del Real’s students will use their

handheld computers daily. Along the way, they’ll write compositions

on them, do math and even take quizzes, which Del Real programmed

into each student’s device.

“With the world we’re living in and how globalized we’re becoming,

it benefits our students to have those skills,” said Newport Heights

Principal Kurt Suhr.

Last year, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District started a

similar program at Ensign Intermediate School and TeWinkle Middle

School. This year, the district invited other schools to apply for

the program, an opportunity the fifth- and sixth-grade classes at

Newport Heights took. Del Real’s class is among the few that have

initiated the program already.

A Tungsten E features a tiny screen with a pad on the bottom for

writing letters and numbers. Students use a metal stylus to spell out

the characters, which then appear in type on the screen -- provided

the students write them properly.

On Friday, the second day of using the Tungstens, some of Del

Real’s students were still learning how to properly time the dot on

an ‘i’ and the cross of a ‘t.’ Done separately, a dot signifies a

period and a forward slash a space.

“Some letters are fast and some are slow,” said Konner Speth, 10,

of Newport Beach. “If you don’t do it right, you might have the wrong

letter.”

To hone their skills, some students played a game called

“Giraffe,” in which letters drop from the top of the screen and the

player must write them by hand before they hit the bottom.

For some students, even ones with little expertise with handhelds,

the program appeared to be worth the effort.

“Sometimes if you’re on a computer for a really long time, like if

you’re writing a two-hour summary, it can hurt your hands,” said

Raymond Rosales, 10, of Costa Mesa. “You get to school all tired.”

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Michael Miller visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about his experience.