This is what the Class Dojo screen looks like.
You're probably saying the same thing my students did when I first introduced this - class what?!
CLASS DOJO!
This software program is an absolute miracle. The website is classdojo.com and this is what it says,
"ClassDojo makes it easy to keep my students alert and on-task."
"Improve student behavior and engagement by awarding and recording real-time feedback."
"Print or email beautiful behavior reports to easily engage parents and staff."
All of this is true and it's wonderful! One of my paras, Lisa, introduced it to me and then I heard about it a training. I realized it was time for a change because my students' behavior was getting disrespectful and I felt like I was losing control of my classroom! Originally I planned on experimenting with it using my 1st and 7th period because they are the easy classes. After ClassDojo was such a hit on Monday with my 1st period, I just decided to use it the next day with my 4th period. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but it worked like magic!
In Class Dojo, students get to pick an "avatar" from the monsters category or the critters category. Then they get green (positive) points for good behavior and red (negative) points for poor behavior. At the end of the class, I hit "END CLASS" and the computer will average the scores and give each student a percentage! So now instead of having students keep tally marks to earn battle ship, we track it on the computer and if students reached 80% or higher, they get to play battle ship. I absolutely love it.
I can't emphasize the difference Class Dojo made in my classroom! (I feel like this is an advertisement and I'm trying to sell something to you.) My 4th period was completely on-task starting that very day and it was great to see their faces light up when they received a green point. My 7th period was the most drastic change. They were never horrible kids, but they just talked out a lot and weren't always very respectful.
Well, a few days before I started using Class Dojo, Lisa kept track of their behavior without them knowing. She gave students green and red points and then at the end of the class, she showed me the scores. One student had SEVENTEEN talk-outs. Are you joking me? We were going to show the students, but someone accidentally clicked out of it and then the bell rang. But, because they knew they were being tracked and they knew what Class Dojo was, when I introduced it they were all really excited about it. That student who had 17 talk-outs was an angel! He was going so far as to say "please" and "thank-you" and I watched him take all of the other binders and put them neatly on the shelf while saying "Excuse me" to a student he almost ran into while taking the binders. It was incredible! Lisa and I kept looking at each other thinking, "What is happening in here?!" It didn't seem real, but wow, it was quite the change.
These are a few of the text messages Lisa sent me about it:
"I'm so glad it's [Class Dojo] working! It'll be interesting to see how long the honeymoon period lasts, but I've seen a difference in Hillman's self-contained kids during 2nd and 3rd period because they understand the expectations and we're not even running it during 2nd and 3rd period yet, lol. Less arguing, more raising hands...It's kinda weird!"
To explain this, our self-contained classroom hadn't started using Class Dojo, but those students who had me and had used Class Dojo were acting differently in her classroom as well - even though she wasn't using it! So this amazing program works across the board, which is pretty impressive.
You're probably saying the same thing my students did when I first introduced this - class what?!
CLASS DOJO!
This software program is an absolute miracle. The website is classdojo.com and this is what it says,
"ClassDojo makes it easy to keep my students alert and on-task."
"Improve student behavior and engagement by awarding and recording real-time feedback."
"Print or email beautiful behavior reports to easily engage parents and staff."
All of this is true and it's wonderful! One of my paras, Lisa, introduced it to me and then I heard about it a training. I realized it was time for a change because my students' behavior was getting disrespectful and I felt like I was losing control of my classroom! Originally I planned on experimenting with it using my 1st and 7th period because they are the easy classes. After ClassDojo was such a hit on Monday with my 1st period, I just decided to use it the next day with my 4th period. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but it worked like magic!
In Class Dojo, students get to pick an "avatar" from the monsters category or the critters category. Then they get green (positive) points for good behavior and red (negative) points for poor behavior. At the end of the class, I hit "END CLASS" and the computer will average the scores and give each student a percentage! So now instead of having students keep tally marks to earn battle ship, we track it on the computer and if students reached 80% or higher, they get to play battle ship. I absolutely love it.I can't emphasize the difference Class Dojo made in my classroom! (I feel like this is an advertisement and I'm trying to sell something to you.) My 4th period was completely on-task starting that very day and it was great to see their faces light up when they received a green point. My 7th period was the most drastic change. They were never horrible kids, but they just talked out a lot and weren't always very respectful.
Well, a few days before I started using Class Dojo, Lisa kept track of their behavior without them knowing. She gave students green and red points and then at the end of the class, she showed me the scores. One student had SEVENTEEN talk-outs. Are you joking me? We were going to show the students, but someone accidentally clicked out of it and then the bell rang. But, because they knew they were being tracked and they knew what Class Dojo was, when I introduced it they were all really excited about it. That student who had 17 talk-outs was an angel! He was going so far as to say "please" and "thank-you" and I watched him take all of the other binders and put them neatly on the shelf while saying "Excuse me" to a student he almost ran into while taking the binders. It was incredible! Lisa and I kept looking at each other thinking, "What is happening in here?!" It didn't seem real, but wow, it was quite the change.
These are a few of the text messages Lisa sent me about it:
"I'm so glad it's [Class Dojo] working! It'll be interesting to see how long the honeymoon period lasts, but I've seen a difference in Hillman's self-contained kids during 2nd and 3rd period because they understand the expectations and we're not even running it during 2nd and 3rd period yet, lol. Less arguing, more raising hands...It's kinda weird!"
To explain this, our self-contained classroom hadn't started using Class Dojo, but those students who had me and had used Class Dojo were acting differently in her classroom as well - even though she wasn't using it! So this amazing program works across the board, which is pretty impressive.
These are what the positive and negative behaviors look like. You can choose whatever you want and then a little pictures goes with it!
The honeymoon period is over, but students are still on-task much more than they were! And it's great because students can see exactly what behaviors they have been exhibiting during class. It's also great because I can plug in my laptop computer to the promethean board, but use my ipad to give students points. So they can see their scores up on the board, but I can be anywhere in the classroom giving them points. Oh how I love technology! Go Provo School District!
-Ms. Damron-
-Ms. Damron-
This is amazing. I really want to try it! :)
ReplyDeleteHow do you use class dojo while you're teaching? It sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteIt really is fantastic. To use it, I hook my laptop into the promethean board in my classroom. I also have an ipad that I use as I walk around the classroom. (Provo is all about technology, so I have lots of fun things.)
ReplyDeletei whan't to do it to
ReplyDelete