Year: Lower to upper primary
What is this? Class Dojo is a app that aids with behaviour management, as it helps monitor and guide student behaviour. It can be used by both the teacher and the students. It enables students to become responsible for their own actions, reactions and behaviours and can also help develop students’ ability to self regulate. This app can help create a sense of belonging in the classroom as students are shown as a whole class and can even be broken down into groups. This app can be used for more than just behaviour management however, as it can be used as a timer, as an attendance record, track homework and it has an instant messaging system to be used to keep in contact with parents. Parents can ask queries and seek responses from the teacher, and they can even be updated through the class blog. All students have the ability to post on the class blog but posts require teacher approval. In this way students are able to have access to their dojo from home, and the site even provides custom QR codes for students to scan in order to reach their dojo. As of last year, teachers are now able to use the site to send other teachers resources, which keeps the resources in one easily accessible account. The site also provides an introduction video for students and a letter to parents explaining how the app works. Not only is this a wonderful app that is beginning to be used in many schools, but it is also 100% free, making it easy for whole schools to adapt due to the lack of cost.
Here are some praise and examples for how other teachers use this app:
https://www.classdojo.com/en-gb/wall-of-love/?redirect=true
How this app aids with behaviour management: In this app, the teacher enters their class list into the app. Each student is represented with a customise-able monster avatar. The teacher can give individual or groups of students points and select a specific reason why from a list of observable behaviours (eg. listening, participation). Points can also be deducted from students. The app can either be displayed on an interactive whiteboard so that all students can view it, or can be operated from a computer, iPad or iPhone. This makes the app portable and provides access from where ever the teacher may take the students within the school. To make the app most effective, teachers should negotiate with their students a list of desirable behaviours that they can achieve points for. This way all students are aware of what behaviours they should demonstrate and creates a sense of accountability. Students can also be broken up into groups (either as desk groups or even spelling/maths groups, etc.) and can give group points. The points can be reset whenever the teacher chooses, for example at the end of each day or week. What the teacher chooses to do with the points is completely up to them. They can provide students with individual rewards or can even decide to give out whole class rewards. Reward systems and needed points can be tweaked to suit the year level.
Application in classrooms via the use of the curriculum: I have seen this app effectively implemented in a range year levels, such as year 2/3 split class and even a year 5 class. However I will relate this to the year 4 curriculum.
Year 4 curriculum (SCASA)
Subject: Technologies
Strand: Digital Technologies
Sub-Strand: Knowledge and Understanding/Digital Systems
Content Descriptor: Digital systems and peripheral devices are used for different purposes and can store and transmit different types of data (ACTDIK007)
This content descriptor was chosen because aspects of the app directly relate to this. The app enables teachers to track, mark and keep record of student homework. Students each have their own individual accounts, which students can use to upload their homework and assessment pieces. The uploaded work is presented as a portfolio, and allows parent and peer access.
References
Class dojo. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.classdojo.com/en-gb/?redirect=true#LearnMore
School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/p-10-curriculum/curriculum-browser/technologies/digital-technologies2
Hi SNEALE1,
I have previously used Class Dojos on one of my earlier professional practices. The students absolutely loved interacting with the interactive app. They took the responsibility into heir own hands when awarding and taking off points during my time.
it was a greats way to entice the less motivated students when completing lessons.
Hi SNEALE1
I absolutely LOVE the idea of using Class Dojos in the classroom! I’ve seen them work really effectively in managing student behaviour and ensuring that students were consistently accountable for themselves in the classroom.
I think it’s fantastic that it can be used for individual as well as group and class management strategies as well.
This is cool!
I’ve seen Class Dojo in two of my professional practices and it has been extremely effective. In Class Dojo you can also change out the avatars and replace it with other avatars that relate to the students interest which I feel really maximises the use of the classroom Behavioural Management
The only area I would be conern with is not to make it a complete focus of the Behavioural Management System as students may only work towards getting their points. I’ve seen in one prac once students receive their points that went off task.
Hi Sneale1,
I absolutely LOVE the idea of using Class Dojos in the classroom! I’ve seen them work really effectively in managing student behaviour and ensuring that students were consistently accountable for their own learning and behaviour in the classroom.
I think it’s fantastic that it can be used for both individual, group and whole class behaviour management strategies. Another way to use the Class Dojos could be to create groups within the classroom. It could be used as a random selection tool and automatically put the students in groups. This is a great way to ensure that students are working collaboratively with all members of the class.
In my experience, it enticed and motivated students who were less on track with their work to complete their tasks in the allocated time. Also, the fact that you can modify the types of rewards and points based on the year level is very handy and allows this resource to be easily transferred between various years.
Hi,
This app is fantastic. I have seen this used in many different Practicums and it has been effective in every single classroom. I believe that being able to modify the behaviours gives the students the ability to be responsible for their learning and the consequences of not meeting the correct behaviours. Giving the students the responsibility for choosing their behaviour and consequences gives them the accountability that many students require. I cannot wait to use this fantastic app in my classroom to help manage behaviour.
I love class Dojos! This is a great way to incorporate digital technologies into a behaviour management system that has individual and whole class rewards. Having it accessible to the students to take ownership and have accountability of their behaviour through the app is great. Links well with the curriculum as the teacher can monitor and track the students using this system.
Hi SNEALE1,
I also think Class Dojo is a fantastic resource! It can be used in so many ways and you can really adapt it to suit the needs of your class. Thanks for including the information about uploading homework and assessment pieces- I wasn’t aware Class Dojo had that feature. I’ve also seen that they’ve recently added a “toolkit” to their app which includes some great features for teachers such as a noise meter, group maker, timer and music, amongst others. I think I’ll definitely be giving Class Dojo a go in my own classroom!
– Sarah
I have heard of Class Dojos but I have never used them nor really understood what it is exactly. I love the idea of teachers, students and parents all being involved in the same space and allowing that opportunity for parents to contact teachers and vice versa! It is definitely a program I will look into using when I get my own classroom!
Hi SNEALE1
This is an overall great blog post. I found it both informative and visually appealing while scrolling through the other blog posts. I have seen Class Dojos used previously in other practicums and at a special needs school I work at. However I never really knew much about the program and wasn’t inspired enough to investigate any further.
Your blog post has definitely inspired me to use or at least try Class Dojos in my own classroom, especially now that the platform is changing and adding more features such as sharing. I also believe Class Dojos would make a sound piece of evidence for behaviour management when putting together a professional portfolio.
Thank you for sharing, Jonathan.
Hi SNEALE1,
This was an amazing blog post! I loved the last photo/poster of everything that can be found within this program. I think Class Dojos are great and have found them to work really well for behaviour management in younger aged students while on practical placement. It is a great tool as it allows students to see the data in real time of their behaviour and allows communication between teachers and parents. Overall if used effectively in class in line with the behaviour management policies of the school, it can be both a teaching point and can be very engaging.
Hi SNEALE1,
I have seen this resource used a few times now in my teaching experiences, and have seen that it has had such a positive reaction in classrooms. Although I did not know that students can upload their homework and assessment pieces on their individual accounts for the teacher to see and mark.
I am looking forward to using this feature of the application one day when I have a class of my own. I also think it is absolutely fantastic that parents have access to this too, as this will create another platform to communicate with parents.
However, I am concerned about peer access to the work, as this means parents would then have access to other students work at all times. This is certainly something that I would have to look into a little further before using this resource at this level. Hopefully there is a way in which an individuals’ material can only be seen by peers once it has been approved by the teacher.
I look forward to looking further into this resource and am very excited to once day use it. I believe this resource would motivate students through friendly competition.
Thank you for sharing this great blog post, it is both appealing visually and informative. I especially appreciate the way in which you have linked it in with the curriculum.