One would guess, looking at my blog, that I'm a real data nerd.  I'm really not, but I do see the value in tracking certain information in order to be more efficient and effective in my job.

​At the start of the school year I posted about my SMART goal to provide more parent outreach.  I mentioned in that post that I was also going to start using a time tracker. I know there are several commercially available trackers, but since I'm never happy unless I'm reinventing the wheel, I made my own.

I'd never used spreadsheets in either Excel or Numbers.  The learning curve for Google Sheets was steep.  I figured out a lot through trial and error, and when I couldn't figure it out I asked the people at our iSchool. I now have a totally customized spreadsheet that has only the general headings and sub-categories I want.  The set-up makes sense to me and I made it pretty, which means I don't dread using it.  

We're now halfway through the year, and I've faithfully spent 5-10 minutes at the end of every day entering my numbers.  All I have to do is type the number of minutes I spent in each category. (I round them to 5-minute increments because I'm not that anal-retentive). The spreadsheet is set up to automatically add up each row, column, and general heading.  At the end of the year, I'll be able to easily compile it into a colorful pie chart to share.

Here's a link to a copy of my spreadsheet so you can see how I set it up. I've had to disable the sharing option, but at least you can use my example as a jumping-off point for your own.

So far I'm noticing some things that I wouldn't have noticed without tracking my time (like I actually do manage to get some planning time most days even though it feels like I never get my prep). You may also be surprised what you learn (and so might your administrator).  Give it a try.

     Much like the school nurse, I am responsible for the well-being of every child in my school regardless of whether or not she is technically on my caseload.  Unfortunately, in a school with 500 students I have a lot who are on my caseload, and they keep me very busy.  I often worry about those kids who may be quietly having a hard time but don't know who I am, what I do, or that I am available to help them. 

So I was very psyched to come across the idea of Minute Meetings on a couple of school counselor websites.  I don't know who first thought of them, but I'm giving credit to Andrea Burston and Danielle Schultz.  

I e-mailed teachers telling them I'd like to spend 45 minutes or so with each of their classes.  The first 5-10 minutes is for me to introduce myself to the class, and the remaining time is for me to sit in the hall and meet individually with students for literally about a minute each to ask a few get-to-know-you questions.  In my schedule I set aside two blocks per week for Minute Meetings between now and Thanksgiving.  I put an old-school (i.e., paper) sign-up sheet in the teachers' room.  Since I'm quite new to the school and the previous counselor was not very visible in the building, the teachers were excited about the idea. 

I created a survey form using Google Docs. When I'm done I'll be able to use Google Docs to sort the information I gather (yo, here's a golden opportunity for ever-lovin' DATA COLLECTION).  You may notice that I'm asking some different questions than other counselors do in their Minute Meetings.  For me, it's hugely important to know how connected kids feel at school, so I chose to focus on that.