Excel is a great spreadsheet program to use!

There are so many ways to utilize Excel. For ideas, you can search the Internet. Also, you can go to Microsoft.com and view the available templates for the version of Office that you are using and download for free the templates of your choice that you would like to use.

Here is an example of a template from Microsoft Office Excel 2007 of a Linear Calendar. Right off the bat, I am able to think of many ways that I can utilize this template with students when viewing the months of the year.

Here is a timeline template from the same version of Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Timelines are another great graphich to utilize with students to create a visual while placing information into perspective.

And, do not think that Excel cannot be all fun and games. How about this template from Microsoft Office Excel 2007:

Excel can be so much more: Color charts, multiplication tables, speech boxes, surveys, timelines, calendars, schedules, grade books, compare/contrast charts, writing prompts, etc.

Once you become familiar with Excel, you, too, can create your own templates and share them with others! Then you become a part of the 2.0 environment by giving back to -- sharing with -- others.

An example of a chart that I created in Excel using Office 2007:

This chart is ready to be filled out with the formulas in place to keep track of the number of copies that I have and those I have on order.

The following graph was created in Office 2003 Excel using data looking at the numbers of boys and girls assigned to each class. It is created from a very simple chart.

If you are intimidated by Excel and the appearance of the blank spreadsheet page with all of the empty cells, kick off your experience with a tutorial. By completing a tutorial, you will build confidence, see examples, and learn ways that you can manipulate Excel to your benefit. You will begin to realize the potential of utilizing such a powerful tool! So, let's begin.

To get started with Excel, you might want to try one of these tutorials. There are many that are available to help you, but here are a few that I have found useful.

Baycongroup.com has a clean tutorial that provides the basics of Excel XP with great graphics.

GetIT is another tutorial that is crisp and easy to follow for Excel 2003. GetIT stands for Gaining Experience Teaching with Instructional Technology from the Rutgers Writing Program.

Learnthat.com has a tutorial for the XP version of Excel. It has a lot of graphics to help you understand the layout of land, so to speak.

Internet4Classrooms has a decent explanation for using formulas, plus additional information concerning Excel broken out into nice chunks. The site also has templates that might be of interest and of use to you.

Microsoft.com has their own training courses that you might find very useful.

Florida Gulf Coast University has a section on adding graphics to Excel 2000.

Brad James has created a tutorial with a quiz at the end if you want to check you learning.

If you feel that you want a text to supplement your learning, I suggest:

For the 2007 version of Microsoft Excel:

Cronan, John. (2007). Microsoft Office Excel 2007: Quick Steps. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07-226372-5