Spreadsheets!

     I have recently begun familiarizing myself with spreadsheets. Now there is a tool that doesn't get enough credit! I have been amazed at the available add ons, uses, extras and so forth, that I am beginning to wonder what took me so long to use them. 

     Today I had the task of reviewing and evaluating a spreadsheet. Sounds simple enough, right? Well since I am just a beginner when it comes to this sort of thing, the reviewing and evaluating part was rocky at best. Although it was my duty to simply look at the spreadsheet & take note of the different changes I would make to it, I wanted to go further, deeper, and figure out what it is about spreadsheets that could possibly make my life easier in the classroom or assist my students in learning about history. In this blog however, I will just stick to the spreadsheet itself and what accommodations I would make for my classroom.

     The spreadsheet I selected to review was a 5th grade level history about Feudal Japan, and the Shinto religion. Very interesting topic indeed! The spreadsheet itself was very organized and detailed with some surprising purposes. Its motive was to help the students maintain an 'accounting sheet', by keeping track of assignments in order to compete against the other classmates, while demonstrating their and the other groups' strengths and weaknesses. I thought that the set up was great, and the idea spectacular! I think that it would be very easy to change it up a bit to fit the needs of my classroom. Obviously I would have to change the history subject, timeframe, location, and difficulty level, but the basics of it (assignments, layout, competing, etc) I would keep. Overall, an excellent learning experience! Although this was one of many examples of how to use spreadsheets in the classroom, I am really excited about the possibilities, and what kinds of amazing things I'll be able to do with spreadsheets!