From targeting students with specific behavior issues to enabling substitute teachers to quickly identify students, seating charts can be a great help in the K-12 classroom. They also can be an annoyance to keep neat and up to date, however. So how do you make a chart that's easy to read and easy to edit as classroom furniture and students change? Consider using Microsoft Excel. In addition to its role as a spreadsheet program, Excel excels as a basic drawing program, allowing even beginning users a chance to create professional looking work in just a few simple steps.

Next: The basic layout.