In-Class, Wed. 29th: Graphs

Preview: This Friday, Oct. 31st, we'll hear three mini lessons:

1) Andre Dyson (about "style")
2) Leah West (about the "dash")
3) Sharon Espina (about "plural S versus possessive S")

The presenters: Don't forget to submit your 1-page overview of the 6 E's!!!

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Workshop in-class on Wednesday, Oct. 29th:

GRAPHS
(If you miss this class, do the steps at home so you won't get left behind!)


Today, we are preparing the three graphs that go in the Research Essay under the Results section.

Those will be the exact graphs we are going to use later - we will merely exchange the numbers. Today, we simply invent numbers, but the graphs will be the same - xls will update automatically when you modify the numbers in two weeks, when the survey results are in.

WHICH QUESTIONS TO PICK FOR GRAPHS:

1) pick your first matrix
2) pick your second matrix
3) pick one other very important question to your topic
4) do NOT pick a demographic question!!!

You can have more than three graphs (maximum: 6), but the minimum is three.

TASKS:

1) open your survey, and minimize it
2) open xls
3) take your first matrix, and type the headline for your graph (= your survey question) into xls
4) create a table in xls with rows and colums for your matrix question
ATTENTION: Do NOT leave any blank fields, because this will mess up your graph!!!
5) Invent numbers (how many people would have said what. We'll replace those later.)
6) Highlight your whole xls table (WITHOUT your headline! Do NOT highlight any blank fields, for this will mess up your graph!), and then click on the symbol on the top of your xls screen which looks like this:









This icon will create the graph for you.


Example:


Teachers: How often and where do dyslexic students get diagnosed?

....................................often.... sometimes..... rarely..... never
first grade.................. 10.............. 23.............. 5 .........2
second grade..............20...............44...............4..........7
third grade.................57................29...............3..........9
fourth grade...............78................9.................7..........0
middle school.............60...............20..............10.........2
early high school.......70.................8...............0...........0
late high school..........30...............40.............20..........9
college......................0.................0................70.........30






And here is the graph that goes with your table (you just need to type the title above it):















In the end, I want everybody to have three different graphs. One has to be a bar diagram (vertical), like our example here. The second one can be a horizontal bar diagram, or a pie diagram, or a line diagram, or whatever you think proper. The icon mentioned above will create any kind of graph for you. Make sure the graph you choose makes sense - webs generally don't make sense for our purpose.

7) Write a 5-7 sentences statement about the main results you can see from your graph, cumulating in a hypothesis/general statement:

Using the graph above, I would say that:

7) Write a 5-7 sentences statement about the main results you can see from your graph, cumulating in a hypothesis/general statement:

Using the graph above, I would say that:

"According to the results, teachers say that students get often diagnosed with dyslexia in fourth grade (78%). With regard to third grade, 57% of the teachers say that students get often diagnosed, with regard to middle school 60%, and with regard to early high school, 70%. In college, according to teachers' experience, students get rarely (70%) or never (30%) diagnosed with dyslexia. In first and second grade, very few students get diagnosed; only 10% of the teachers think that first-graders get often diagnosed, and 20% of the teachers believe that second-graders get often diagnosed.

These findings suggest that according to teachers' experience, the best time to diagnose dyslexia in students is in fourth grade, and that first through third grade is too early to diagnose a reading disability such as dyslexia. It is further suggested that by the time they enter college, students are already diagnosed."

(This is JUST an example I invented; it's not true, of course!!!)



HOMEWORK for Monday, November 3rd, by class time: Email me your three xls sheets with your three tables, three different graphs, and three 5-7 sentences statements!!!

If we have time on Friday after the mini lessons, you'll get time to work on these components some more in-class.

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This is all we do about the survey components - from now on, we'll wait for our results to come in, and will spend the time with mini lessons and blog posts, and some activities.