Excel

Activity Reflection 2

I want to start off by saying I enjoyed working with Excel this week.  I used Excel many years ago when I was teaching to keep track of my student’s averages.  That being said, Excel is a “software application spreadsheet which allows you to organize numeric data in rows and columns” (Gunter 2010).   I feel it is a fantastic tool in a teacher’s toolbox.

Our instructor gave us a real world assignment that evolved completing several task using Excel.   The goal seemed to relate to how Excel could be used to put together a teacher’s grade book.  To start, we used color formatting of the cells to help distinguish columns of homework and test grades for each student.  Instead of choosing random colors, I decided to make all the test score in shades of pink/purple and the homework in blues.  I feel this makes it easier for a teacher when looking for or comparing grades in a large class.

Another objective taught us how to add a new column to the spreadsheet.  We were asked to add new columns to hold each student’s test average and homework average.  We had to add Excel’s formula functions to each cell to compute those same averages.  In order for this to work you need to select the cells you would like to average together and also the cell where you would like the average to be placed in your spreadsheet.  We used this same technique to compute and display the final grade for each student.  I had used all these functions before and was familiar with how to use them, so these steps were pretty straight forward.

We where then asked to sort the students and grades by the final grade we just computed.  This was done to make it easier to identify which students where in trouble, having a grade of a D or lower.  We used our syllabus for EME 5050’s grading guide, which identified what a D or lower was (69.99 or below).  This was a very interesting exercise as I had never sorted by grade before.  The only type of sorting I had done in the past was alphabetical by students last or first name. 

Another new task I learned was the ability to have the names dynamically appear on all worksheets in the spreadsheet when you changed them on the first one.  This was a very powerful feature that I plan to use in the future when I go back to teaching.   Before I added this feature to my tool chest, I use to cut and paste the names to all the pages for each 9 weeks; a much more laborious process if you ask me.

Overall, this was my favorite assignment, so far, for the class.  I’m a hands-on learner.  So, when I went to school you were given a task, asked to complete it and turn it in for a grade.  We were never asked to reflect on our assignments.  But, I have found this to be a very effective learning tool that helps me understand not only the assignment, but the process by which I go through to solve the assignment.  I might take aspects of this process to use in my classroom in the future.

Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom, 6th Ed., Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, and Gunter. Course Technology - Thompson Publishing (2010).