Excel Spreadsheet

Today we learned some some useful tools in Microsoft Excel.  We learned how to make grade books and turn them into different graphs.  When fluent with the program, this can be a very important and useful tool.    It is a good way to keep students' grades neat and organized.  When using the spreadsheet grades can easily be changed and distributed to parents and students.  They can also be charted to see students shortcomings on tests, topics, and individual questions.  With this information the teacher can focus his or her attention on where the most students struggled. For example if all the students did fairly well on a specific test but the graph shows one question with very low marks, that question may be erroneous.  Likewise, if a single student's bar on the class' graph is lower than his or her classmates, that student may need extra help. Over the course of the class I will be able to see whether or not low scores are consistent. If they are, it would indicate a learning disability or other factors leading to low achievement.  I would definitely need to meet with the student in private.