Spreadsheets

I view spreadsheets as an opportunity to organize information and present clear outcomes quickly and efficiently.  In my high school art classes, I would use a spreadsheet project to show relationships, solve problems, and estimate.

During the time I spent in my high school art classes, the thing most of my peers and I struggled with was time management.  Procrastination was the name of the game almost everyday leading up until the final due date.  I had to learn my lesson the hard way time and time again after having received a less than perfect grade and feedback on the picture I had stayed up all night attempting to finish.  This approach only ever produced more work in the long run and was definitely not worth it.

At the tenth grade level and above, I would have the class participate in grading past work by both students who had spent the amount of time needed to successfully finish an assignment, and those who had not.  Comparing the finished pictures side by side to see the difference working in class can make.  After having discussed and graded the images presented, I would have the students enter the grades given with the amount of hours spent into a spreadsheet clearly displaying the outcomes of poor time management. 

A spreadsheet like this one will do a number of things; show the relationship between hours spent on a project to the success and grade given, allow students to plan ahead and solve issues of time constraints, and estimate their ability to accomplish tasks given to achieve the results they desire.