Using Spreadsheets in the Classroom

Spreadsheets are an extremely effective tool in the classroom because they can help children see collected data visually. You can collect information as a class or leave it up to students to create their own spreasheets.

This method of teaching is vital for my essential question on the importance of numbers because numbers are needed in order to create ANY spreadsheet. With the numbers in the spreadsheet, students will be asked to do certain functions such as addition and subtraction in order to compare data. It is also a good way to use inquiry-based learning in the classroom beacuse the teacher can ask their students about their favorite type of candy (example shown below), how many brothers and sisters they have or how long they watch TV during a week. When all of this information is put together, the class can see how their answer compares to the answers that their friends gave.

I could use spreadsheets in almost every learning subject in the classroom. Here are some examples of unit questions that I could ask my students and later turn the information into spreadsheets in the subject areas of math, science and language arts:

What is your bedtime and what time do you wake up in the morning? (How many hours of sleep does this give you?)

How many seconds did it take the marble to roll down the slope when the incline was at 1in, 3in and 5in?

How many pages did you get finished in your reading of the assigned text today?

Below is my example of a spreadsheet that I have created for a wedding budget. I have also included an example of a spreadsheet that I could use in my classroom to look at the variety of preferences that my students have when it comes to candy.

Here is the graph for my wedding budget spreadsheet:

Making Movies: Not Just for Directors Anymore

This week was my first time to use Window's Movie Maker to make my Digital Storytelling movie project. As mentioned earlier, I incorporated the 7 Elements of Digital Storytelling into my project in order to make it easier and more exciting for the students to understand and watch. I used many technological tools that were new to me this week in order to make my project a success.

The goal of my project was to inspire my students to create their own movies and explore the importance of numbers in areas other than math. In this case, I challenged them to focus on history and their own lives by giving examples of how numbers are used in each.

By using a camera with video capabilities, I was able to record my beginning and ending instructions for my students. In the middle of my movie presentation is an example of a video project that the children to follow. This was created by collecting pictures from not only various websites, but also from my personal photo albums. By using the tool AVS Audio Editor, I was able to record my voice over my selected music track so that I could have soft music playing in the background of my movie. This tool helped me successfully mold the two audio files together while making sure that my voice was clearly heard and the music was not distracting. After I had perfected my audio and video clips, I imported all of these along with my pictures into Windows Movie Maker and was able to use this tool to make my movie. This made it extremely easy for me to blend all of the elements of a movie together with the correct timing and save it in a proper file. From this, I was able to upload it onto the internet with ease to share with others.

Using these technological tools to implement the important aspects of digital storytelling, I was able to create a movie that would inspire my students to do the same. Both parents and students alike would be able to watch this movie and be able to make their own example of why numbers are important.

Here is my first attempt at a digital storytelling movie project which will aid me in teaching my students....