It’s hard to believe that it’s already the back-to-school season! With so much going on to get your little ones ready for the new academic year at hand, from buying supplies to attending open houses, it’s hard to focus on everything you need to know to help your child do their best this coming year. That’s where apps such as ClassDojo come into play.
ClassDojo is a digital classroom management tool designed to help teachers improve student behavior and communicate more effectively with parents. Using the app, teachers can create trackable classroom goals and behaviors to help keep students on track for success, such as turning in homework, participating in class, or staying on task. Using a smartphone, tablet, or computer, teachers can give or take away points throughout the school day in regards to each assigned goal or task.
Each student’s points can then be displayed via a smart board in-class as well as send electronically to parents daily, weekly, or quarterly as well. Giving parents the ability to see the progress of their student wirelessly.
Something fun about ClassDojo? Each student receives an avatar. Which can be personalized by student, class, team, school, or project! These avatars are a great tool to get the kids to buy into the personal responsibility teachers and parents hope to see them develop. ClassDojo also presents teachers and parents with the ability to streamline their communication which helps to help identify and moderate behaviors. By offering an easy way for teachers to note behaviors as they happen digitally, this app reduces time away from in-class instruction.
ClassDojo allows teachers to gather more personalized behavior and grading data about individual student and in return, communicate feedback nearly instantaneously to their child’s parent. Which is why the ClassDojo app now used in 90% of all K-8 schools in the U.S. and 180 countries around the world!
While some may feel that a public points system doesn’t foster community or promote a positive way for children to feel inside the classroom, I believe that by presenting good behavior as a measurable, tangible incentive it gives children a visual reminder of how they are doing, much like a public behavior chart, and also gives children the ability to self-modify their behavior in a real and lasting way. By attaching names to actions, students can digitally learn better ways to communicate and respond. This also pumps much needed time back into the classroom. While some sensitive children may need extra time to respond to the app, it’s a valuable lesson just the same!
ClassDojo also offers many different ways to use its product, including anonymous avatars and not displaying points at all, depending on the teacher’s needs. As well, ClassDojo is an app that is meant to work hand-in-hand with various districts, parishes, co-ops, and homeschooling code of ethics, to work seamlessly with a teacher’s existing classroom management arsenal.
Something else to consider is how effective ClassDojo can be in regards to time restraints. Imagine the time that can be spent monitoring the behavior of students digitally. While some issues will still need to be addressed in a one-on-one capacity, the ability to use a smart board to display behaviors can be self-correcting if used in a real and lasting manner. Then there is the matter of positive behavioral rewards. While, generally speaking, praise should be delivered immediately in a sincere manner to students, the ability to let parents also onto these same awesome behaviors can continue the praise for positive behavior long after students leave the classroom.
ClassDojo is also a great way to promote direct communication with parents. Every parent wants to be able to check in on their child’s behavior and progress. And sometimes waiting for 9-week reports just won’t do. So when utilizing ClassDojo parents can get a heads up on behavior when they need to know. ClassDojo helps ensure the parents, students, and the teachers are on the same side when it comes to academic excellence at home, including the use of the Classdojo in-app messengering feature.
One of the major reasons for ClassDojo’s success is that it utilized mindfulness. Which has been shown that regular mindfulness practice — even just a few minutes per day- improves students’ optimism, reduces stress, and increases students’ ability to feel empathy for others.
ClassDojo also conducted a national survey that found that only 13% of teachers and parents, including homeschooling parents, reported having a mindfulness practice at their school, while a whopping 70% of those surveyed want to find ways of utilizing mindfulness in their classrooms. Which is why mindfulness is such a key reasons for the app’s success. You can see here ClassDojo brings mindful behavior into classrooms.
ClassDojo gives parents teachable moments and up-to-date information about their students, as well as a functional line of communication directly with teachers without decreasing the amount of face-to-face communication needed outside the classroom. Finally, ClassDojo gives students the ability to shine. Not with food or lost-in-the-moment dollar store prizes but with the child’s ability to excel based on their own merits in their own eyes and in those of their classmates. Who doesn’t enjoy being a hero or the victor who overcame the discourse of the day?
As a parent, who wouldn’t want tools that directly connect their parenting to the classroom in an effective and lasting manner? I sure can’t think of anyone who would. Which is why I can see the value of ClassDojo as one of the best tools that can be digitally implemented in classrooms today. Especially as it can be used in a careful, sensitive way that encourages social and emotional learning for students of all learning and behavioral styles.
I have met numerous teachers, including my husband, that have implemented ClassDojo is truly meaningful ways in their classroom, and continue to use the program because of its ability to streamline excellence in real and lasting ways for students. where they have not used the ranking, nor made it public, but rather used it as a way to track behaviors within the classroom.
The ClassDojo app aims to give students a voice, share moments of praise with parents, and progressively and measurably help to promote a positive in-class culture of sound recognition, up-to-the-minute progress visualization, and gamification of basic classroom behavior management techniques. ClassDojo gives teachers the ability to give students digital high-fives, to reward students with points for a job well done, and give parents immediate feedback on the projects their child worked on in class or behavioral needs.
While there is no perfect system for in-class behavioral tracking, ClassDojo can be the bridge parents, students, and teachers need to help students perform at their very best! Which is why I’m glad to be partnering with Classdojo to bring you a fun back-to-school giveaway! One lucky winner will receive a ClassDojo package, including 2 Large Print Posters, including the new Mindfulness poster, 3 skills print posters, and a limited edition Mojo Plushie; a retail price of $150.00. All of which can be seen here.
To enter, please use the rafflecopter giveaway function below. Please note, this giveaway will be open to US residents 18 years of age and older, all entries will be counted and verified, multiple entries, including ISP addresses, that abuse the giveaway option will be deleted, and all giveaway prizes will be provided by ClassDojo directly to this giveaways winner. The LadyPrefers2Save will not be responsible for missed or lost shipments from this giveaway. This giveaway will end at 11:59 pm CST 8/8/17. Good luck, everyone!
So parents, does your child’s teacher use Classdojo or if you homeschool, is this a program you would consider using at home this academic year? Or do you currently use a class dojo? Tell me how it works in your classroom or how you would like to see it used in your child’s classroom in the comments below!
