Spreadsheets/ Data

This weeks topic was on data and spreadsheets so I will reflect on how I take grades and use spreadsheets in my class...

As far as grading goes I let ProgressBook do most of the work for me. ProgressBook is an online system that my district uses across the board so that every teacher inputs grades into the same system. It does all of the calculating as far as interim grades and averages etc. Something that I do not deal with is weighted grades. I know some colleges that use weighted grades and I am not sure I even fully understand the math behind it... I work my grades into point values. Each project is worth a different amount of points according to the difficulty and time it takes to complete a project. The points are all added up in ProgressBook and it spits out their grade.

I do use Google Sheets (excel) for my SLO data and various field trip or collection check offs. I like how it keeps everything organized and it is so easily shared with anyone. I can share the list with the secretary and all the teachers and that way instantly they know who is attending the field trip and it is automatically updated with the current list of names. I think Google Docs and Sheets has really helped in this way because I do not have to have multiple copies and send different versions of the same document.

I think I use spreadsheets more for myself and not necessarily in my classroom or for students. They make sense to me but I'm not sure if my students could decipher my thought process sometimes. Spreadsheets are great tools to collect evidence for OTES and for my personal use of organization.