This Cross Word Puzzle has made me Cross

All right...All right...All right...I completely understand how literacy and technology can be joined to create a double use lesson.l Yes, I did learn even more about Excel from doing this assignment. Yes, I learned another tidbit about the American Revolution to increase my already vast repertoire of facts. I enjoyed that portion of the assignment very much. However, I worked 4 hours last night and 4 more hours today. Now, I can't submit it or post it to my website. At this point in time, I think I would like to post a few pictures and use voice thread, or it that dread, to let everyone hear my disquiet.

The first thing I did to start this project was to go to a puzzle making site. I created a CWP and then used that as my template instead of doing it by hand and graph paper. I can't remember the first site I used and that is because I did not like the results. The puzzle was ugly and difficult to create and save. Then when I finished my Excel CWP I went to Discovery Education. Their puzzle maker is user friendly. The only drawback was it made the choice not to use all of my words; I had no say in the matter. The benefit of using Excel is you can delete the words you want and add others that may fit better.

Once I find out how to save and finish this project I will be able to voice my rational view that this is a fun and beneficial assignment for students. In many of my lesson plans, I often give the early mastery students a game to create using the lesson content. I learned this from one of the teachers I observed. However, I think I will have a booklet or steps that explain how to complete all aspects of the project as well as how to submit it for grading. Students will be able to choose for themselves if they want to explore on their own or (as a last resort) use the instructions. That way my students will not become disenchanted due to frustration and they still learn about the program. In a few hours (days) you can go to my website: http://www.mrsfigue.tripod.com/ and see the results of my labor.

If anyone out there can tell me how to save an excel document as a .jpg or .jpeg, please comment and let me know. I went under the paste icon and was able to cut and paste the entire document as a picture, but then I cannot save it to any file as a j.peg.