Track Your Time with Google Forms: The Counselor Activity Log

     

Part of getting ready for back to school means updating my Google forms. If you don't know Google forms, they are an amazing tool!  I have used Google forms for years for a variety of purposes like minute meetings, documenting group attendance and session content, surveys, needs assessments, and pre/post tests. However, my favorite is for tracking my time each day.  I liked the Counselor Activity form I used for several years, but felt now that I was at a new school, it was in need of a little makeover. 

NEW this year, sections!
Even though my original form contained everything I  thought I wanted to document, it was long and cumbersome and a little confusing even to me at times. So this summer I learned how to add sections to my forms.  By using the Google form feature "sections" and including branch or skip logic, I was able to create a neater, more concise form. Skip logic changes what question a respondent sees next based on how they have answered the previous question.  Basically, it allows you to create a customized path through your form based on how a question is answered.

When you first open the Counselor Activity Log form, you will see a place for the date and four categories: Direct Services, Indirect Services, Non-Counseling Related Duties and a new, much needed category After Hours Services.  Because honestly, what school counselor is NOT volunteering mega hours after school and from home?  This should be part of your data collection as well.  There is too much to do in the course of a school day and it is important for stakeholders to see how much the school counselor is doing long after the school day is over.

Depending on what you want to record, choose your category and follow the questions until you get to the submit button. The items in each category can easily be deleted/revised or new tasks added to fit your school situation.

Each of the 4 major categories contains a drop-down menu of tasks or services specific to that section. If you choose Direct Services, you will get a screen with a drop-down menu that allows you to choose from 8 different direct services. From there, depending on the service you choose, the form allows you to log specific details for that service such as grade, gender, referred by, and referral type. For example if you choose individual or crisis counseling, the form takes you to a screen where you can choose the reason for the counseling and document essential information about the student seen.

If Indirect Services is chosen an alphabetized drop down menu of more than 30 indirect services provided by school counselors appears. If a phone call is chosen, the form takes you to a screen to document your phone call, including the name and number of the caller.  When Non-Counseling Related Duties is chosen, you will see a drop-down menu of more than 50 activities or duties considered non-counseling related. It also has a place for you to  notate what services were lost as a result of the non-counseling duty. Great for making your case about loss of time with students.  For After Hours Services,  a drop down menu of 8 items including work beyond the contract day and work from home is shown. This allows you to log the number of hours outside the school day you spend preparing for  your job.

The beauty of Google forms is your ability to customize them to fit your needs.  I have included as many different direct, indirect, non-counseling duties, and after hours services as I could think of in the drop down menus. However, I am sure there are other duties and services of which I am not aware or are unique to other schools.  No worries, you can add or delete duties relevant to your school, add teacher names or grade levels, whatever makes this form work for your data collection needs.

You will notice I made the questions on this form required (except for notes and follow-up) so I never forget or skip over any questions which are important for data collection. Although Google forms time stamps when you record your entry, it will not reflect the day and amount of time you actually provided the services unless you are recording responses in real time.  I seldom have time to do that and often do my logging at the end of the day.  Collecting data to reflect the day services are provided is important when giving others a preview of the fullness of your day or of specific times of day or days of the week.  If all your entries are only time stamped when you recorded the activity, you may be missing valuable data to show your busiest days or times.

Why Track Your Time?
There are always questions about what school counselors do with their time. Because much of what we do is confidential, it is safe to say, the majority of people in our schools and communities have no idea what a school counselor does all day.  This Counselor Activity Log provides a record of your responses to school needs, gives administrators an overview how your time is spent without violating confidentiality, and allows you to track your time for personal reflection. All this plus providing colorful graphs provide a clear visual representation to share with administration, faculty, parents, and the community. Data can be shared monthly, quarterly, by semester, or as an overview of the year.  You decide what best meets your needs.

Documenting your activities is a powerful advocacy tool for telling the story of how your position as a school counselor is being utilized. By using the data and graphs from this form, you will be able to tell your story of success or of the changes needing to be made in order for you to provide services to ALL students.

Available on TPT
If you are interested in downloading my new and improved, editable Google form  "Counselor Activity Log" with sections, designed specifically for elementary school counselors, middle school counselors and high school counselors, click on the photo of your level.

School Counselor Activity Log Elementary

School Counselor Activity Log Middle School

High School Counselor Activity Log

Creating a Counselor Activity Log with Google Forms

Another new school year and I am renewing my vow to myself to use technology and give my best effort to going paperless. Again.  I truly LOVE Google Forms and have found lots of ways to use them.  All were successful but one, recording my daily activities.  And it wasn't the form, it was me. Last year, try as I might to make them work, I just wasn't able to keep up with it. When I sat down and analyzed what had happened I identified 3 problems.  One, my form was not on my desk top so it was not readily accessible and  I would spend too much time searching for it in my Google Drive. Second, I think I tried to collect too much information.   Rather just trying to click that I had performed a specific task for a specific amount of time I was trying to keep notes too. A bad idea for time and confidentiality sake.  Third once I got behind, psychologically, it just seemed like to much to do to catch up.

Google forms, round 2!
But now I am ready to try again.  I have redesigned my form a bit, adding a drop down menu of teachers, grade level, reasons students may want to see me, and who referred them.  Anything to make it click and go.  I still have my notes section in case there is something I did not think of or that needs to be part of my record. Another great thing about Google forms is you can continue to edit them even after you have started collecting data. Click the black "edit this form" button at the top of the page of the "color" form and you will get the gray "editable version."  Make your additions, deletions or corrections, close it up and continue collecting  data.  Need to edit a response?  Click on the "edit form" button on the color form, go to the gray form and click on the "View Responses" tab.  When it opens, scroll down to the entry you want to edit and make your needed changes.  I will still keep a file on each student I see with more specific notes and memory aides. This form will allow me to track my daily time  and whether it is spent on direct/indirect services and non-counselor related duties.

How's my progress?
Four weeks in and I am up-to-date on my daily entries!  Looking at my data, already I see I am spending more time with classes than individuals,  However, that is okay, as classroom lessons are a Tier 1 intervention where I lay the foundation of my program and skills training with ALL students. It is where I feel I get the biggest and best value for my time.  With all my classes plus the individuals I am seeing, it comes out to more than 80% of my daily time is being spent in direct services to students and what could be better than that!

Truly, creating a shortcut on my desk top to my form has made a huge difference.  It only takes a minute, literally, to click down the list of items on my form to record each activity.  If you are interested in using Google forms, here is a link to my form to help get you started. You are welcome to make a copy and make edits that fit for you and your counseling program. I love Google forms and find them easy to create and edit.  It is also easy to share data about your program and how your time is being spent (or encumbered!).  Google forms also creates beautiful graphs.  All you have to do is click on summary of responses to see its colorful creations.This is essential as we advocate for the best use of the School Counselor's time and also provides us with a valuable accountability piece.

Google forms step by step.
If you are new to Google forms, I am linking a PowerPoint presentation about some of their many uses and how to create your own forms.  You will find slides 30, 31 and 32 especially helpful for taking a copy of my form and making it your own.  Remember you must make a copy of my form before it will show up on your Google Drive.  Otherwise, your data will be stored on my form, in my drive and you will not be able  to access it.  Also, anyone else who decides to edit my form will also be editing your form. And, I wouldn't want your hard work to go to waste!

Please feel free to contact me with questions or more ideas for forms. Good Luck with your forms!  I think you're going to love them!