As educators, we all know how important it is to keep organized and accurate records, manage our classrooms, keep strong communications with parents, collaborate with our team members and motivate our students. What if we could do all of these things at once.... with one tool? It is not just hopeful wishing!
Two years ago, I was introduced to a tool, Class Dojo, that claimed it could do all of the above mentioned. I did not give it much thought and instead resorted to tried and true methods to complete these tasks. Last year, however, I decided to give Dojo a little test run. I loved it. It made my day so much easier and run smoothly. Without sounding too much like a promotional advertisement for Class Dojo, I want to share with you some of the awesome and beneficial aspects of the tool.
Class Dojo is a FREE program used by millions of teachers that allows you to keep track of your student's progress and behavior and to easily share it with parents. A cool thing about Class Dojo is that you can log on from any computer or download the app and reach it from any phone or tablet.
The first plus of the program is how it bridges you with your student's parent and ensures constant communication. As I mentioned, Class Dojo makes communication with parents simple. You can use to program to send out messages to parent groups like "Class A will not have homework tonight" as well as holding conversations with individual parents. These conversations can happen on your computer or if you download the app, you can have the conversations on the go!
A second plus is record keeping. Through a few clicks of a button, you can easily keep attendance in your class and keep track of who did assignments.
Class Dojo makes it easy to track data and see trends in your class. In Dojo, you assign students positive or negative points for classroom behavior such as being prepared, leading conversations or supporting classmates. You, your student and the student's parents all have access to a nicely presented and easy to read graphic showing these behaviors and any trends in them! It makes spotting trends so easy!
A cool aspect of Dojo is the ability to link teachers to students. I found this valuable in my co teaching settings when more than one teacher had access to the same student. Simply put, two teachers could reward and track the same student. Not only is this great for the student, more chances to succeed, but it is very helpful for teachers and makes our collaboration even easier!
One of the best attributes of Class Dojo is the involvement of students. Students have avatars that are assigned to them through Dojo. They get to customize these avatars to their own personalities and likings! As I mentioned, students see their classroom behavior in the nice little pie chart the same way parents and teachers do so they can see how they are doing and what they are excelling in. Although I have not used it this way yet, I've seen teachers who present the graphics of all of their classes so students can compare themselves to each other in hopes to spark a competitive spirit to motivate achievement!
There are so many options with Class Dojo. It makes my day easier, students have fun with it and it opens parent communications. There are so many positives and it is free so why not make it a tool in your arsenal. Check it out if you haven't already! http://www.classdojo.com/
Is anyone else using Class Dojo in their classrooms? What are your experiences with it?
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