To Non-Spreadsheet Users:

     Although many English teachers are now accustomed to using word-processors, far fewer are familiar with spreadsheets. Like word-processors, spreadsheets save data in files which can be copied and/or retrieved. As a result, you do not really need to know how to design a spreadsheet to use one for recording and calculating, either the results of students' syntactic analysis or grades. Once you have decided what you want to record and calculate, you should easily be able to find someone who will design a model for you. It will only take a few minutes for that person to set up your model and save it. You can then copy and use it over and over again. (If you do not have a spreadsheet program, there are several good ones - either in public domain or shareware -  on most computer bulletin boards.)

     Spreadsheets consist of "cells," which are organized into rows and columns. The columns are referred to by letters, "A," "B," "C," etc., and the rows are designated by numbers. In the example below, "Total Words" is written in cell A5; the word "Class" is in cell B3, etc. Some of the cells will contain data; other cells will require formulas (which someone can set up for you).  In most spreadsheets, cells can be "locked." This means that once someone has set up the model for you, you will not be able to accidentally change the formulas. In the example, cell D8 would need a formula to calculate the percent of words in prepositional phrases. This formula would look something like: D7/D5*100. This formula would then be copied to the right,a matter of two or three keystrokes, so that it would work for each student. The formula for cell B5, Class Average of Total Words, would look something like: AVE(C5:F5). This formula would then simply be copied downward however many cells needed to calculate the average for each category you are interested in. My point here is that the spreadsheet you would need is very simple for anyone who is at all accustomed to working with spreadsheets. You will not be asking a lot if you ask someone to help you.

To Experienced Users Also:

     After using spreadsheets for several years to record grades, I attended a conference presentation which showed me why I should not list the students in column A, as I had been doing. Giving each student a column makes much more sense if you want to share the data with individual students. By placing the class averages in column B, you can easily share this information as well. Most spreadsheets enable users to define and print "Titles." In the example, by defining columns A and B as the title, you can block column D, print it, and give Bob Jones a printout which includes all the information in columns A and B plus his individual statistics. You can then block column E, print it, and do the same for Sally Smith. It's a neat trick: I wish I could remember the name of the conference presenter so I could give him credit.

     One final note: I have filled columns C and F with non-numeric characters. As a result, I can insert  or delete columns (students) without changing the formulas. (In adding, you need  to copy the formulas into the student's column.)
 
 

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