Three Ways to Create Online Reading Logs and Progress Trackers
Google Forms and Microsoft Forms and their corresponding Google Sheets and Excel sheets are excellent tools for collecting data then looking at in a variety of ways. Making then grading quizzes is one of the typical uses for Google Forms and Microsoft Forms in classrooms. Another way to use these tools is to create progress trackers or reading logs. Three ways to make reading logs are outlined below. You can modify any of the following to methods by replacing “pages read” with any other goal and numerical increment that you like.
Method 1 – Google Forms + Pivot Table in Google Sheets
The benefit of using this method is that you can have students or a teacher’s aide enter information into a Google Form and then you will see the the data in a spreadsheet that you can manipulate to see the data in terms of tracking progress toward a goal. The downside to this method is that unless you’re willing to share the spreadsheet with students or set your Google Form to “Respondents Can See summary charts and text responses” they won’t see their progress unless they ask you for the information. Scroll through my slideshow embedded below to see the steps needed to use this method of creating a reading log or other progress tracker.
Method 2 – Microsoft Forms + Excel
This is the method for those of you who work in schools that utilize the education version of Microsoft 365. Just like in the method outlined above for Google Forms, the benefit of this method is that you can have your students or a teacher’s aide enter data in a form rather than having to enter data into a spreadsheet yourself. To use Microsoft Forms and Excel to create a reading log simply create a Microsoft Form that has a field for name, goal, and the number of pages read that day or week. Then you can view the entered data in an Excel sheet. In the Excel sheet create a Pivot Chart and Table by following the directions outlined in this short video.
Method 3 – Use Flippity’s Google Sheets Progress Tracker Template
Flippity offers eighteen templates that you can use in Google Sheets. One of those templates is a progress tracker template. This template will create a sheet into which you enter student names, goals, and the units that you’re tracking (pages, minutes, steps, etc). After you enter that data into the template you can publish the sheet and Flippity will provide you with a simple webpage that displays progress as a colored bar graph. Watch my video for step-by-step directions on using Flippity’s progress tracker template.
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Join me on Tuesday for an encore offering of Get Organized With Google Classroom, Calendar, and Keep. You’ll learn all about the new features of Google Classroom and how you can use them in your practice.
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