1) Beam from one CalcuScribe to other CalcuScribes.

A) Use CalcuScribes to Practice Keyboarding Skills! A teacher can prepare a file, on CalcuScribe, with prompt lines followed by blank lines and beam it to several other CalcuScribes. Students can open the received file and begin keyboarding.

Alternatively, prompt lines can be printed on card-stock and given to students to type on their CalcuScribes.

Allow a fixed amount of time for typing. When the time expires, press the COUNT key on each CalcuScribe to see how many words and characters were typed. Evaluate each student's typing speed: WAM (words a minute) or CAM (characters a minute).

To measure the typing accuracy, create prompt lines with proper English words. When students finish keyboarding, run the spellchecker, on each CalcuScribe, to see which words are misspelled. Count the errors and quantify the accuracy. It helps if the prompt lines rhyme or if interesting words are used.

B) Prepare a file with story prompts, or keywords, and beam it to the students. They may borrow ideas, sent by the teacher, via copy 'n' paste. If a student borrows little assistance, it could be either that he is not grasping the ideas or that he is independent-minded.

C) Measure a student's grammar skills by sending a file which he can edit and punctuate.

D) Measure reading comprehension level by beaming a story which has questions weaved into the story or presented at the end of the story (or in a separate file). Let students read the story on their CalcuScribes and answer the questions.

One way they can demonstrate reading comprehension is by performing a word search or a text-string search in the story. Thus, in setting the questions, use words that are in the story (like nouns). Students can perform searches by first placing the cursor at the top of the story (by pressing the Home key 3 times) and then using the Find command (by pressing the Alt + F keys together). CalcuScribe will prompt them to: type a text-string and press Enter. It will then search for the first occurrence of the string and move the cursor there. This will allow students to concentrate on the section of the story where the answer is most likely to be.

The teacher may use words in the question that occur several times in the story. Students can press the FIND AGAIN key (F2) key to repeat the search and look for subsequent occurrences of the same word. Thus, they can be tested for their ability to analyze and differentiate the information provided at various locations in the story.

2) Teach kids to do research: A lot of information is available on CDs and on the Internet. An important research skill is performing searches effectively. By using the method described above, students learn the art of researching and analyzing content.

3) Students may collaborate on projects by exchanging files with other members on their team. Provide a theme or a project to students to work on as a team. Let each student develop a different aspect of the story on their CalcuScribe. When they have finished writing, they can beam their file to the other members on the team - one at a time. Each student would then have every other member's contribution. They can merge the content, via the copy/paste technique, in ways that make most sense to them and present their version of the entire story to their team members. They can then discuss the merits of each version and jointly develop the final version on a desktop computer by sending the files from their CalcuScribes into a word processing application or into any desktop publishing application.

IMPORTANT: beaming can be switched off on each CalcuScribe, via the master password, so that students don't send missives to each other while the teacher is instructing or when students are taking tests on their CalcuScribes.

4) Teach your kids to become great rewriters. It is said, "there are no great writers just great rewriters". One of the more difficult aspects of writing is taking the risk to revise it. Kids get attached to their initial ideas and are reluctant to try other variations. If, however, a copy of their work is saved, they are more willing to revise.

Thus, encourage kids to make copies with the File-Copy command and develop multiple versions of a story. Or, let them enhance the story but retain each versions so that they, and you, can see the progress as the story evolves. Students can revisit an earlier version - a more promising and a spontaneous one - or if they have lost track of an important idea they can recover it by going back to an earlier draft and copying the idea (via copy 'n' paste) and developing it in the latest version. Students, with feedback from a parent or a teacher, can decide which version they like best.

5) Teach kids to organize and reorganize their thoughts. A big part of writing is moving the text around. Cut, Copy 'n' Paste from one file to another (or within a file). To remove a large paragraph, simply mark it and use the Cut procedure to remove it. If you are not sure that you want to permanently remove it, just paste it into a 'scratch' file (or at the end of the story). Later, if you change your mind, resurrect the old idea by moving it back to where it should be in your story. On CalcuScribe, you may delete entire blocks of text by first marking and then cutting - instead of deleting one character at a time.

To receive positive feedback, or to be succinct while writing, students may press the COUNT (F10) key for word and character count to monitor their writing progress.

6) Teach kids to be better spellers. If they are better spellers they will use a variety of words which will enrich their compositions. CalcuScribe's spellchecker works in 2 modes:

a) Pressing the Alt + S keys together provides suggestions of properly spelled words for the current word, where the cursor is located, if it's misspelled.

b) The SPELL key, however, spell-checks the entire document for misspelled words. CalcuScribe shows where the misspelled word is in the document by displaying the story on the screen with the cursor located at the misspelled word. Students may either type the correct spelling (it could be a word that is suggested by CalcuScribe or a different word) or they may select the word from the list of suggestions by moving the cursor to it and pressing the Enter key. CalcuScribe automatically replaces the misspelled word with the new word. However, by typing the correct spelling, it is reinforced in your mind and you are more likely to remember the correct spelling the next time.

CalcuScribe remembers words, like proper nouns, and ignores their reoccurrence in the same story if the student instructs the machine to 'Ignore'. A temporary list, of ignored words remains in the memory. If CalcuScribe encounters the same words in the story, that are in the temporary list, it does not identify them as misspelled words. This saves the child a lot of aggravation and monotony.

But, CalcuScribe can do more! For example, if a misspelled word is found, CalcuScribe can auto-replace all its occurrences within the story. Thus, a child is not frustrated by being reminded, over and over again, that he misspelled the same word.

CalcuScribe does NOT format text! It increases computer access but does not replace a computer. We like kids to compose their thoughts on CalcuScribe but to format and publish their work on a desktop computer which has powerful applications. Familiarity with desktop applications makes kids skilled and employable. CalcuScribe's operating system, its File system, and its Menus and Folders are similar to the desktops' in structure. Thus, kids become computer-proficient by using CalcuScribes. They must use the computers for the publishing tasks.