If you haven't heard of ClassDojo then you are missing out. This is one of the most amazing websites for classroom management and behavior. And it's FREE! Teachers can sign up online and then copy your class roster into dojo. It gives each student their own monster "dojo" character. You can create positive and negative behaviors specific for your class needs. You can then click on a student or multiple students to give or remove a point for their behavior. The kids LOVE it!
Student Introduction Video to ClassDojo
Attendance
At the beginning of each class I do my attendance on Classdojo. It turns absent students grey so they are inactive for gaining or losing points. If you have a SmartBoard, students can check themselves in by clicking on their dojo when they walk in your class.
Points
You can award multiple students or individual ones. It makes a happy little sound when students gain points and a sad sound when they lose points. When my students hear those sounds they quickly turn to the board to see who the points are being given to.
Class Rewards
I have competition every year to see which class in each grade level has the highest percent of good points by the end of the year. Every nine weeks I give a percent update so the classes can see where they stand. I give a special class prize to the winners in each grade level at the end of the year. My kids love friendly competition and it's a great motivator for them to work together. It has helped students understand that their behavior choices can affect the entire class and not always just themselves. My sister started using dojo in her middle school chorus classes this year and her students love it! I was a little surprised that middle schoolers were as in love with their monsters as my little ones were.
Log In from Home
Parents and students can log in from home to check on their points. Parents and students are given a code for their log in. Students can change their dojo characters and see if other student dojo characters have changed. Points are confidential and students can't see other students behaviors. My sister told me how her middle school students were using these points to earn rewards (or lessen the extent of being grounded) by proving they were doing a great job in class. Parent communication is easy with this site.
They have an APP!
Yes, you can grab this free app for your smart phone or iPad. Why walk all the way to the front of the room to mark a point when you can do it from your phone in your pocket? All you need is WiFi so your device can communicate with the website. They know how busy teachers are walking all over the room. It helps make life a little easier in the classroom.
Timer
Such a great tool! And it does a countdown. I use the countdown for when we do cleanups at the end of class. You can start and stop the timer throughout the class to see how long certain activities take. It even has a little bell that rings at the end of the countdown.
Art Room Positive Behaviors:
Cleaning
Helping Others
Creativity
Following Instructions
Hard Work
Listening
Team Work
Participation
Art Room Negative Behaviors:
Disrespect
Off Task
Not Following Instructions
Not Sitting Correctly
Disruption/Interruption
Unprepared
Misusing Materials
Not Participating
Documentation
One of the best parts about this program is the documentation. It saves everything so you can email it to a parent, their classroom teacher, or even an administrator. You can see the behavioral percentiles for an entire class or an individual student. At the end of each class you can add comments to the behavioral points given to certain students that day. I love how quickly an efficiently this program works with a teacher who has almost 600 students to keep up with every week! It even has a TrendSpotter to look at specific times for behaviors. Anytime a teacher comes and asks me about a student in their class I can pull up their dojo so they can see their behavior since the beginning of the year. Super easy!
Consistency
One of the hardest things classroom management is complaints about the consistency. This site is great because students know what is expected of them every time they come to class. No more can they claim "I didn't know I wasn't allowed to do...(insert obviously ridiculous behavior)". They know the rewards and they know the poor behavior choices. They know their are consequences if you get on red and have negative points. It is a non-verbal reminder about behavioral choices. Students become very familiar with this program when it's used in other classes. Several teachers at my school use this program, it makes it so much easier for the students to transition classes since they use to the same behavioral system. When you teach the entire school it's hard to keep up with pulling tickets, moving clips, changing colors, or even moving your horse out of the OK corral.
I hope you enjoy this great website and all it has to offer! I'm sure your kids will LOVE it too!
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