In this week's technologies class we spent a lot of time looking and exploring Microsoft Excel. It was interesting to learn that spreadsheets can be used in a number of ways - not just for report cards and not just for math. Being an English and History teacher I'm far more rehearsed in Microsoft Word than I am in Excel.
Whenever I think about using Excel, I think about math, and graphs, and equations, and formulas, and I usually get a headache; I hardly think about rubrics and grades, and words. The resources that were given to us in this particular technologies class opened up a whole new world for me. Excel proved to be very useful - even in my subject areas.
One website that was given to us used a typical math class; it taught students about Rational Numbers and their relationships to each other. Students could use Excel to explore fractions and the relationship between fractions and three other ways we represent numbers (decimals, percents, and pie graphs). Click here for the website.
As for my subject areas, Excel could be used to create a "Branching Story." As the teacher, I would create a very basic story in Excel with two possible directions that it could go in. Like the branches of a tree, students could interactively decide how the story would unfold by clicking one of the options given. As an assignment, I would have the students create their own stories; they would responsible for creating the two different directions that the story could travel in as well as creating an Excel document to display their story.
On the same website, the classic Mad Libs game comes to life using Excel. Students input the required fields like nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. to create a funny story. I think this would be a great way to review the parts of speech and the elements of a sentence. It would reinforce proper writing and that writing can be fun.
As an English and History teacher I would never have thought to use Excel in my classroom except for grades and attendance. Knowing what I know now, it would be easy to integrate Excel. I would most likely use it as a study tool as seen on this website where students can study and test themselves before coming to write the test in class. I really liked the "Branching Story" idea - it allows the students to use the technology they love some much, as well as exercise creativity to create a story with all of the elements (character, plot, etc.) discussed in class.
Prior to this class, I associated Excel with math and numbers and headaches; but now, it could be a very useful, interactive tool that adds variety to the classroom.
Until next time,
LC
Mad Libs is a creative idea and could be used for other language classes as well.
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