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Friday, November 25, 2016
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Hi all! We all have those days when we reflect on what is and is not working in our classroom. I've been reflecting the last few days on what is working for my 4th grade classroom this year.
First of all, I credit the mostly positive student behavior in my classroom to the great Classroom Dojo. I've been a Dojo addict for the past 4 years and swear by it! Those not familiar with this app, should check it out! Did I tell you that it is free? Well it is!!!
Key items:
First, it has an easy classroom setup. It takes maybe 10 minutes to type in your students' names. Then the computer assigns a different Dojo monster for each child. (The students do have the ability to change their monster.)
Next, you get to choose what skills you want you students to follow (stay on task, homework, participation etc.). If they do well they get green or positive Dojo points. If they aren't doing well in a certain area you can give them a negative or red mark. These points are tracked throughout the year. You can, at any time, check out how an individual student is doing. You can check daily behavior, weekly, monthly, or yearly. This comes in real handy for monthly incentives and during parent teacher conferences. Yay, instant data!
Another great feature is the parent account. Each parent can download their own Dojo App for FREE and follow the daily progress of their own student. I can also send out group messages or individual texts. I have 95% of my parents on my classroom Dojo and they love it! I also have the ability to send pictures of activities going on in our classroom. For example, yesterday we went on a field trip to the wonderful Hershey Museum, and I snapped a few pics and sent them out to the parents. They can view the pics, like, and/or comment on all pictures. Dojo also offers translation. I work in a high Spanish speaking community. If the parents don't know English, they can hit a translator button and magically they can read it. Love that!
I also appreciate the "share it" feature. I can invite other teachers that work with my students to join my classroom. Those teachers then have the ability to give or take points in their classroom. This works well with small groups and specials! My specialists are all connected.(tip: make a skill for each of those extra teachers ie. gym teacher pushes the "specials" skill button only. I have a specials button for green and red points)
Lastly, I can't tell you how much I use the random student button in my classroom. I use it instead of pulling sticks out of a cup. (I always lost sticks...ugh) I also use it for my Mystery Walker. Whenever we leave the room I choose a random student as my mystery walker. That student has no idea if they are the mystery walker, so they all walk in a straight line silently and keep their hands to themselves. This also works wonders for lining students up prior to leaving the classroom lol.
Alright then, that is the first of many things working in my classroom. Check back for other great ideas that are making my classroom successful this year!
First of all, I credit the mostly positive student behavior in my classroom to the great Classroom Dojo. I've been a Dojo addict for the past 4 years and swear by it! Those not familiar with this app, should check it out! Did I tell you that it is free? Well it is!!!
Key items:
First, it has an easy classroom setup. It takes maybe 10 minutes to type in your students' names. Then the computer assigns a different Dojo monster for each child. (The students do have the ability to change their monster.)
Next, you get to choose what skills you want you students to follow (stay on task, homework, participation etc.). If they do well they get green or positive Dojo points. If they aren't doing well in a certain area you can give them a negative or red mark. These points are tracked throughout the year. You can, at any time, check out how an individual student is doing. You can check daily behavior, weekly, monthly, or yearly. This comes in real handy for monthly incentives and during parent teacher conferences. Yay, instant data!
Another great feature is the parent account. Each parent can download their own Dojo App for FREE and follow the daily progress of their own student. I can also send out group messages or individual texts. I have 95% of my parents on my classroom Dojo and they love it! I also have the ability to send pictures of activities going on in our classroom. For example, yesterday we went on a field trip to the wonderful Hershey Museum, and I snapped a few pics and sent them out to the parents. They can view the pics, like, and/or comment on all pictures. Dojo also offers translation. I work in a high Spanish speaking community. If the parents don't know English, they can hit a translator button and magically they can read it. Love that!
I also appreciate the "share it" feature. I can invite other teachers that work with my students to join my classroom. Those teachers then have the ability to give or take points in their classroom. This works well with small groups and specials! My specialists are all connected.(tip: make a skill for each of those extra teachers ie. gym teacher pushes the "specials" skill button only. I have a specials button for green and red points)
Lastly, I can't tell you how much I use the random student button in my classroom. I use it instead of pulling sticks out of a cup. (I always lost sticks...ugh) I also use it for my Mystery Walker. Whenever we leave the room I choose a random student as my mystery walker. That student has no idea if they are the mystery walker, so they all walk in a straight line silently and keep their hands to themselves. This also works wonders for lining students up prior to leaving the classroom lol.
Alright then, that is the first of many things working in my classroom. Check back for other great ideas that are making my classroom successful this year!
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