Cross Word Craziness!

I love using crossword puzzles in my classroom! Up until now, I had only had experience with creating puzzles using online puzzle maker websites. For this assignment, I made my crossword puzzle at http://www.theteacherscorner.net/. It is a great website that had a lot of useful resources such as sample worksheets and other puzzle generators.
In contrast to Excel, I thought this website was a lot easier to use. Excel was not necessarily difficult (the directions were simple to follow), and the program is easy to use, it was just time consuming. In the real world, teachers do not have time to go on excel and create a crossword puzzle from scratch. Instead, they would ideally use a program like this already set up. However, it was interesting to see how Excel could be used, because in the past I had only used it for organizing and making charts and tallies.
In order to get students more familiar with the capabilities of Excel, I may try to have them produce an assignment similar to this to complement a unit of study. It would be great to use for vocabulary to review before a big unit test, or even to have as an extra assignment on hand for a substitute in your room to use. Software like Excel should be used in the classroom, not just separately in the computer lab. These tools have the abilities to really complement any lesson in the classroom. They should be integrated into the curriculum and by doing so, students will become more familiar because they are using them more frequently and on a daily basis rather than once a week in computer class.
Next time I did this assignment or tried it with my students, I would try to get a little fancier and maybe try to integrate some pictures or icons into the crossword. I think I would also try using more words too to see what challenges there were and how I could get around them. I always enjoy a challenge!