Reflection Journal Entry #6: Excel Project

I always never fully knew how to use excel because instructions were pretty much given to me by teachers when I did have to use it. Also, the only thing I ever made on excel were line graphs for science classes. Therefore, trying to make different graphs was a bit difficult but also very frustrating. The bar graph that I made wasn't as bad but the picture graph was very irritating. I had to make it from scratch and without a template sort of thing. Then, when trying to copy and paste multiple copies of the same picture the sizes would keep changing so that just took a lot of time. Also, mid way through the project, the program closed out and wouldn't reopen my project so I had to redo half of it all over again. I guess for the future using excel as a grade book would be a good idea and probably much easier. Although annoying, I could try to make different sorts of graphs to teach my students about various graphs but also to teach them how to read certain graphs and why they are used. I think just from this experience I've been a bit turned away from excel just because it was giving me so many problems. However, I know overall this is a great tool to use and can be useful for many different things such as for my own personal assignments, but also for grade books and to teach about graphs. I think before making a graph, one should be taught how to read graphs and what different parts of the graph mean in order to make the process a bit easier. I think in the future I would want to try to make a grade book using this tool since I didn't get to do it for this assignment.

Excel Project: Learning to Read Graphs

Purpose:

• To create a fun way for second graders to learn about different graphs but also to learn how to read them. In this project, a bar graph of skittles and picture graph of fruits were created. Students are then supposed to try to to figure out many of each colored skittles exists in a bag using the graph and also how many fruits were bought using the graph.
  

Excel Project was e-mailed

Personal Growth:
In the past, I have only used excel to make lines graphs for science classes and even then I had a lot of difficulty. Therefore, trying to make different types of graph was a bit challenging. The picture graph was especially frustrating because I had to make it from scratch. I didn't know whether the data sheet was needed and trying to place the pictures in was irritating because when I copied and pasted the sizes of the pictures would continuously change. I did find new graphs that I could use to teach younger children but overall just using excel was difficult.