Google Charts

Browsing around the web I found this handy little chart tool from Google which seems to be very easy to use and perfect for sharing data in your classroom or even on your class website.  You can choose your chart type and then customize every aspect of the data and specifics.  One of the maps I found interesting was the country map where you can show such data as population density, computers per person or any other information about a group of countries.  Check out the chart that I made below based on a sample grade distribution.




Now What?

Using your CFA data or Edline information you can create some sweet graphs and get them up onto your walls.  Once there, discuss the data with your students.  If you are looking for more solutions for data walls, click here.

Color Coding Data in MS Excel

At the middle school we have been using a data template that color codes the student scores on CFAs.  Several teachers have approached me about using that same formatting for other data that they use in their classroom (e.g. CMT, CAPT, Grades).  It is really a simple function of conditional formatting in Excel.  Check out the video below to put it to use in your data collection.