Welcome to the world of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.Presentation exercise creating a chart and if time allows a graph(i'm thinking this is good opportunity to show students why we use certain materials in the shop and why these products were chosen.)  After talking to some collegues about the software they use in their place of business. They tell me that they use Excel because it does things like wrap text in cell where Corel (Quapro) dosen't.

Rationale : for using Excel in the classroom/ 

• Intergrates real life situations with technology
• pricing for student and public projects
• increases communication
• a great management tool
• engages students in higher level thinking
• Computers = happy students

Reflecting back on my presentation and after reading the comments from edtechtalk.com that was posted by my critical friend,  I should have done an example of Excel first. Although I toyed with the ideal I thought it would be better not to do a demostration at the start.(mostly because of my own insecurities regarding the software) I noticed around the classroom that people were working at many different levels.That is understandable when one is using something for the first time or they don't use the software daily. I really enjoyed reading the comments whether positive or negative they both serve a purpose.This type of feedback should be used in more of my courses. So will i be using Excel anytime soon the answer is yes i have already started doing my home budget. It is when we reflect on what we done that we see the gains one makes in the greater scheme of things.

Microsoft Excel Website

the web site below is the one I will be using in my presentation

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/excel_create_chart.htm

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/FX100487621033.aspx

cxevans@edu.pe.ca