Using Google Forms

To record conferences and the work done in them, I wanted to try out google forms.

Here was my first form:

From here, I realized several things:

• No need to have a date, google will time stamp it when it goes into the spreadsheet
• The more drop downs, the faster you can fill out your form
• It is necessary to have more than one strength/needs section so that you can more easily sort needs for groups
• If you are going to record Text Level or any other level, make sure to include an N/A choice in your drop down list or else you'll inadvertently end up with incorrect information
• Adding an "additional notes" column helps with anything that might not quite fit in

Having the form bookmarked has made it super easy to find at the start of conferences. Once you submit the form, it gives you an option to reload the form, which makes it easy to complete the form again.

I might make separate forms for Read to Self, Word Work and Work on Writing. This would allow the data to be much more specific and searchable.

Right now I have the spreadsheet with all of my information bookmarked, as well. When I am looking at who to conference with I am able to see who I conferenced with. As I conference with more students, the data on the sheet will be come too much and it will be hard to see who I have conferenced with. I wonder if creating a google doc with a table (listing each student name down the left hand column) and then multiple columns where either Xs or dates could be entered.

This digital pensieve is highly internet dependent, which I don't love, but I will see how it continues!