Parent involvment/communication!

Class Dojo- A tool for behaviour management!

What is Class Dojo?

Class Dojo is a digital classroom management tool designed to help teachers improve student behaviour and communicate more effectively with parents. Each student gets an avatar, which the child can personalise, and teachers create goals or behaviours to track, such as turning in homework, participating in class, or staying on task. Teachers can use a smartphone, tablet or computer to give or take away points throughout the school day. Each student’s points can be displayed via a smart board, and teachers can generate reports to send home to parents. This past spring, Class Dojo announced that its product was being used by two million teachers and thirty million students across 180 countries, including one out of every three classrooms in the U.S.

Class Dojo Messenger feature!

-          Instantly send a one-way message to all the parents in your class

-          Instantly message parents 1-on-1, keeping them engaged and in the know

-          Know when parents have seen your messages

-          Send home documents, homework, permission slips and report cards from the web

-          Share exciting moments from school using Class Dojo Photos!

-          Teachers and parents never share their personal contact details

How do I use Class Dojo?

Points - I rarely assign negative behavior points. My students know that if they earned a negative, it is a big deal. I also try to comment on the negative points so parents can read why their child received it! I found that positive points motivate my students and have a greater impact on their behavior. Students love getting "dojo" points! They love hearing the sound of a positive dojo, and dread the sound of a negative one. A positive or negative sound has everyone looking at the board and then getting back to work.

Parent reports – Class Dojo automatically keeps track of the behavior in my classroom by tracking the behaviors that were clicked. I have set it up to create reports that are emailed to the parents. Parents have connected through printed or emailed invites. Now they are connected, they receive an email every Friday reminding them to view their child's reports. The parents of my students enjoy receiving the reports because it keeps them in the loop. The reports are easy to read. I can set the range, daily or weekly, that I want parents to view. The information is provided in a donut that shows the percentage of clicked behaviors and underneath a written version of the data for each day. This data can all be accumulated into end-of-year reports. Students also have access to their data because I have provide them with accounts. They can customize their avatars, which they love, and keep track of their dojo points even when they’re not in school.

Classroom use - I leave Class Dojo on the Smartboard all day. It's not always visible, but the sound can be heard. Whether I'm working with small groups or greeting students at the door, I have my laptop or iPhone in my hand always and I can give out positives or negatives without leaving my seat or entering the classroom. A definite time saver!

Rewards – My students keep a “Dojo folder” in which they tally their points in each Friday. At the start of the year the students came up with prices they wanted to buy with their points. They came up with things like “device day”, “sweet treat”, and “free arvo with a friend.” They can choose to spend their points on smaller items or save their points to purchase larger items or activities.

What do I like about Class Dojo?

This year I wanted parents in my grade to be engaged with how their children were doing. Last year, it was difficult to keep sending notes, collecting notes and making phone calls for a class of 27. Now that I'm using Class Dojo Messenger, I can easily send short, quick, positive messages home, with no hassle! I’ve never seen parents so engaged - and I’m doing WAY less admin work after school. I also never used to know if parents had read my notes - but now with the “Read Receipts” feature on Dojo! It’s not a problem anymore! I also love sending photos to parents through Class Dojo. I will often take a photo of a positive moments in class that students are proud of and send it through to home! I love that the ethos behind Class Dojo closely mirrors my own pedagogy of creativity, collaboration and innovation, using new technology. Class Dojo has helped me develop a positive culture in my classroom. Students love receiving positive encouragement through Class Dojo. Building solid relationships between teachers, students and parents is vital to every child’s growth, and using Class Dojo helps me do this.

What do the students like about Class Dojo?

-          I like the way we can work hard to earn points and the rewards we can buy- Sarah

-          I like how you can save your points up to buy something you want – Chloe

-          I like that you can get feedback from the teacher about how your day went. You can see what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong – Chris

-          I like that it slows you to buy things with the points you earn – Ailyish

-          I like it because Miss Walters can give and take away points. You can see how you have been doing during the week - Ella

What do my parents like about Class Dojo?

-          I have found Class Dojo to be an excellent way of communicating with my daughters’ teacher. It has taken away the stress of wanting to speak to the teacher but not wanting students to know.
I can chat when I have time, ie; stuffing my lunch in my gob! It is a great way to remind parents as some students (beloved son) are not so good at passing on notes! Overall awesomeness :-)- Cynthia

-          I love Class Dojo. It’s an awesome way of being able to not only communicate with the class teacher but to see how my son is going. It’s a great way to know his doing well with his points and why his points were given to him. It’s also beneficial as I’m always forgetting class notes or special days at school. I feel very lucky as a quick notification with all the reminders pop up on my phone like a text message. I also love getting pics of the kids working hard or seeing them doing different activities at school. I love everything about this app. I like keeping in touch and getting to see the kids working hard. It is a great to put your mind at ease knowing that your kids are safe, having fun and doing the right thing. To think that all of this is in 1 app is great! :) – Kylie

-          I like that I can contact my child's teacher at any time, without disturbing the class room, & that the messages are private. I also like that my child's teacher is able to contact me 1-on-1, or all parents as a group. It keeps us up to date with our child without wasting paper & trying to catch up on phone, which is not always convenient. - Kellie