Photo by Eco Warrior Princess on Unsplash

I have had numerous questions about this set-up, and it’s included in my “G Suite 4 You” presentation around Danielson Model’s Domain 4. Keeping track of students locations and where they are going is important, but teachers are still using paper logs and clipboards to do it.

Paper data is bad data. That’s because it’s impossible to see trends, analyze patterns…etc. If a parent or admin asks me “how many times has this student used the bathroom, or gone to the nurse, this quarter?”, what are you going to do? Count up 20 sign-out sheets by hand?

So, I created a Google Form. It’s very basic, but with a little bit of coding, Apps scripting, or add-ons, you could utilize this for a number of different purposes.

Step 1: Set-Up the Form

You want to create your form with a few options to filter. For me, that’s the group name and teacher they see at the time. I also add a “time” question to give students that reminder to check their time before they leave, but Google Forms timestamps each entry anyway.

Step 2: Edit the Confirmation Message

You want a quick and easy way to confirm that a kid has “signed-out” and submitted the form. As of right now, you cannot add a picture to the confirmation page of a Google Form. Instead, what you can do is replace the “Thanks for submitting this form!” text with a pattern that’s easily viewed from across the room.

I like the patterns at this website, but you could find numerous options by searching “ASCII patterns”. Under the Gear icon on the Google Form, then select the Presentation menu, and copy/paste your pattern into the box.

This ensures that whenever students submit the form, they can show you their Chromebook screen from across the room and you can confirm that they’ve signed out. Make sure “Submit Another Response” option is checked.

Step 3: Copy/Paste Student Names

I choose to copy/paste student names so that I can do more with the data. I just copy/paste the rosters into a drop-down style question on Google Form. Asking them to input it, even in 8th grade can causes errors in the data validation. Kids putting their last name first, or just their first name, or just a nickname.

Step 4: Add an “Other”

I always try and add an “other ” category just in case. A majority of these sign-outs are to the bathroom, but just in case it isn’t, you can have your data covered, too. There you have it! A Google Form that can help you track students and where they are going. The bright side is you could share the form with your colleagues and track students’ data across classes or rooms. Then your data is searchable, and right at your fingertips!