By Martin Burrett
Mersea Island School
Colchester, UK 

I started using ClassDojo at the beginning of the academic year in September and it has completely changed how I manage my class of 9-11 year olds. I use it in every lesson to motivate and engage my class. The mobile feature has proved invaluable for awarding Dojo points whenever and wherever the class goes. I have used in on field trips and during outside sports sessions to great effect.

I have used the idea of ‘friendly monsters’ as alter egos for my children. These monsters try to do the right thing, explore, create, work as a team, but sometimes they make mistakes – just like my class. Acting like little monsters has taken on a whole new meaning. I’ve made displays around my class which featuring the children’s monsters, as well as making certificates and stickers to take home and to show their family.

The parents have found the emailed report cards a useful way to find out how their children have been performing and what they must improve. It also provides me with a record to see their activities, effort and performance over time. We have only just started to use the student accounts, but already the children are using these to show their parents what progress they are making.

The effects using ClassDojo this year have been dramatic. The children have been completing much more self-directed work to earn an extra ‘Going above and beyond’ points and many have been eager to hand in homework ahead of schedule. At the end of each week I make a screen shot of the weekly totals and post it to the class’ website. I award certificates and stickers to the children with the most points and to those who have made some special effort during that week. Lots of other teachers at my school are planning to use ClassDojo with their classes next year.

The class has loved the highly visual displays that ClassDojo offers and have found the competitive element compelling. Finding and using ClassDojo has been one of the best initiatives I have setup this year and I will continue to adapt and use it in my future classes of ‘friendly monsters’.

Martin Burrett is the creator of the ICTmagic Wiki, a teaching resource website that won the Edublogs Educational Wiki of the Year 2011. The site can be found at http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com and you can find Martin on Twitter @ICTmagic.

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

Sheila Unwin
Adjunct Professor and Student Teacher Supervisor
Phoenix, AZ

I have been in education for more than a decade. I have taught both 1^st grade and 7^th grade, and currently teach aspiring teachers how to use technology in their future lessons, as well as work with student teachers to improve their skills in the classroom.

Two things a teacher needs are content knowledge and good classroom management. Just because a teacher is an expert in their subject does not mean the students are getting the most out of the class. In fact, many new teachers struggle with classroom management especially with the increasing number of students in today’s classrooms. Students do not understand how their behavior impacts others. However, ClassDojo can help turn a class of misbehaving students into a class of respectful, aware students. The key is both positive and negative feedback.

Often teachers only dish out the negative feedback, which is vocalized during class.  With ClassDojo, it is simple to document both positive and negative behaviors. As a teacher, it is also nice to see a breakdown of the behaviors at the end of the day. This gives a clearer picture as to how your day was spent.

I was introduced to ClassDojo when I stepped in to observe a student teacher this past semester. I had observed several times previously but saw a change in student behavior on this particular visit. This was a 6^th grade class who were quite easily distracted from the task at hand when working as a group or on their own (as many are). The student teacher put the ClassDojo on the Smart Board and just that small act changed the entire atmosphere in the room. Several students were still testing the waters and received negative feedback instantly. Several others were on task and rewarded with positive feedback. The student teacher said they had been using it for about a month and even the assistant principal had seen a difference when she walked through the room.

What I find interesting is no matter what the grade/age level of the student, they are all engaged by ClassDojo and want to have positive marks. My college level educational technology class got a shock when I introduced them to ClassDojo. They walked into the room and the “Dojo” was on the Smart Board. Each student had their name and “monster” avatar representing them and I quickly went about assigning positive and negative behaviors to students.

When a negative behavior came across the screen students wanted to know how they could get back to the positive side again. This continued throughout class. As a class, we discussed how ClassDojo could help specific grade levels. All stated this is good for instant feedback. Students tend to hear they are misbehaving but do not see a visual representation of it.

Another challenge teachers face at the beginning of the school year is learning students’ names and faces. Middle and high school teachers have one of the biggest challenges in this area as they can have as many as 150 students in a day. ClassDojo can help with this problem. Take a picture of each student (I recommend in alphabetical order) and set up the “class” with actual pictures of the students instead of the “monster” avatar. This will allow you to review away from the classroom as well.

I cannot say enough good things about ClassDojo. In fact, I feel so strongly about it that I recommend it to all my students and student teachers.

Sheila Unwin is a Student Teacher Supervisor and Adjunct Professor in Phoenix, Arizona. You can learn more about her work by following her on Twitter (@Sheila_Unwin) or checking out her Google+ page.

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

By Chris Young
Cactus Academic Center
Levelland, Texas 

My name is Chris Young and I am a Middle School Science teacher at Cactus Academic Center in Levelland, Texas. We are an alternative school that teaches about 57 kids from a local group home. We use different positive behavior intervention and supports (PBIS) in our school, one being ClassDojo. My three colleagues and I decided to try ClassDojo as a way to make sure behavior is documented and have a way to acknowledge the positive behaviors in our kids.

When we started Dojo we wanted to have a system that targeted specific negative behaviors that we saw in our students (i.e. out of chair, interrupting, disrespect, foul language) so we added those behaviors in the negative awards side of the behavior section. On the other hand, we wanted to see more participation in class, more positive interaction with each other, and more effort on assignments. We added great answer, participation, and helping others in the positive award section of the behavior tab.

At the end of each class I run the class report that displays the percentage of positive awards. If it is above 75% as a class, they get to move their assigned super hero closer to a classroom reward. If it is below 75% the villain will move closer to the class reward. The rewards they earn are free to me (board games, movie, computer time, eat lunch with me, etc.).

The impact of ClassDojo has been awesome! Before Dojo we kept track of behavior using a points system that we would have to enter in to the computer later on in the day, so both the teachers and the students would not have any solid feedback until “we had time” at the end of the day. With ClassDojo, my students respond immediately to the real time visual feedback they receive. I do not have to waste valuable class time with conversations, documentation, and redirection. The kids respond with one click and a simple “ding”!

Chris Young teaches Middle School Science in Levelland, Texas.

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

By Troy Seyfert
Horizon Elementary
Pewaukee, Wisconsin

My name is Troy Seyfert and I am a 6th grade teacher in a suburban district about 30 minutes west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  If you’ve ever been around a large group of 11-12 year olds, you probably know how important classroom management can be!

In the beginning of the year I realized that the class that I inherited needed something other than my usual bag of tricks to keep them on track.  After searching for some answers I came across ClassDojo.  Once I had tinkered for a few days I knew I had found THE tool.

I want to share with you how I introduced ClassDojo to my students.  The first thing I did was login and used the demo class to walk them through how the site works.

Next, I opened their class and shared what the “characters” that would represent them looked like.  At first I was not sure how they would react, but much to my surprise, they loved it!  The quirky avatars were just enough to pique their attention.

After sharing the screen of characters I let each student approach the interactive whiteboard and give themselves a positive (+1).  They were all excited to start on a positive note!

Since then I have been using ClassDojo on almost a daily basis.  Students seem much more willing to participate in class.  Not only are they aware that I am keeping track, but they love to see the +1’s added to their avatars.

I’ve really enjoyed the ability to print off reports for parent/teacher conferences, progress reports, and quarter grades.  Here are a few additional activities that I have used ClassDojo for:

• Debates
• Reading/lit circles
• Group work evaluation
• Creating a behavior plan
• Assigning tasks to +1 instead of behavior (“checked off” once completed by the student)

Hope this is helpful!  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Troy Seyfert teaches 6th grade in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.  You can learn more about his work by following him on Twitter (@seyfert6) or checking out his blogs – Seyfert’s Sixth & Tech for Teachers!

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

Jason Whitaker
Perkerson Elementary School
Atlanta, Georgia

My name is Jason Whitaker and I’m a 2^nd grade teacher at the wonderful Perkerson Elementary School in Atlanta Public School System. I’m a returning teacher who taught for five years between 1999 and 2005. I’ve worked in a couple of different areas of business, but education has always been my heart. After realizing my greatest contribution to society could be made in the classroom, I’m very happy to be back teaching!

I have the best group of 2^nd graders around. They’ve embraced ClassDojo quite quickly. I use it in three particular ways:

1. Behavior modification: Everyone who has used ClassDojo long enough has seen what I call the “magic” – having a class that’s off-task and not responding to the normal requests transforming into an attentive and functioning class.  I’ve found it very useful to pop on ClassDojo on my SMARTboard and help students realize their learning habits.  The simple action of giving a student a point for being on-task can spread across the room!  For example, let’s say Billy is hard at work and he gets a Dojo point.  Students will look up, notice the point has been given, look to Billy to see what he is doing right, and then self-reflect on their behavior in comparison.  The result is a class that is much more attentive and effective!

2. Rewards system: I LIKE to do fun things with my fun kids.  My daughter and I bake cookies during the week and they’ve become quite famous around school. Every week I set a goal for ClassDojo points and let the kids know that T and I will be making cookies on Thursday night. I let the students know that they’re welcome to get one…all they have to do is to have 11 points for the week.

This particular week I’m going to throw a fractions pizza party if the class can get to 145 points. If so, each student who has 11 points will be able to enjoy pizza, cookies, and a movie on Friday. By setting up this system I’ve seen a big difference in my students.  They’ve become quite good at self-monitoring and helping each other improve their learning habits.  Plus, they love hearing the ClassDojo “ding” sound when they earn a point!

3. Parent communications:  I LOVE the reports option in ClassDojo. Every Friday I print up the behavior report with comments and send it home with my students. The colorful graph showing behavior over the week is very powerful. It’s hard to speak against it when it’s all there in front of you in glorious color.  I’ve seen some students really turn their attitudes around because they know they are being held accountable for their behavior in class.

My plan is to do a better job of capturing email addresses so I can simply email the report, but having the student know what I’m doing does help a lot.

**Bonus use. As you all know learning all your students’ names at the beginning of the year can be a challenge.  This year I put their pictures as their ClassDojo avatars I was a “Name Master” in no time! Besides they like seeing themselves on the board instead of a monster anyway!

The team at ClassDojo has been the best! I was very honored to be asked to write about my experiences and thoughts of a fantastic program. I hope this helps someone else to discover the “magic” of ClassDojo.

Jason Whitaker teaches 2^nd grade at Perkerson Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia.  Follow Jason at www.jwhit.com and @mrjwhit on Twitter

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

by Peter McAsh
St. Marys DCVI
St. Marys, Ontario, Canada

Hi my name is Peter McAsh and I’m a high school teacher (Department Head) at St. Marys DCVI in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. I’d like to share with you how I introduced Class Dojo to the other Department Heads in my school.

First, I asked the principal for a maximum of 10 minutes at the very start of a recent Department Heads meeting.  I created a short slide show with this picture as the opening slide:

[Note from the ClassDojo team: We've created a presentation you can use to introduce ClassDojo to your colleagues.  Check it out by clicking here!]

I then launched into telling my colleagues why I was presenting, adding in some humor along the way:

“This is a 21C class.  Notice the differentiated instruction (students are obviously not all doing the same task).  Students have been obviously involved in setting the agenda for the day, which includes aviation and oragami (as witnessed by the paper airplane).  Seriously though, I hope this isn’t your classroom – at times it’s been mine – and that’s why I’ve asked to make a presentation to you today about ClassDojo, a new behavior management system that has made a big difference in my classroom!”

Once I was done going through the slides I launched a “class” I had setup before the presentation consisting of all my colleagues!  I decided to leave all the standard pre-loaded behaviors, but you could add your own.  With the ClassDojo screen projected in the background, I sat down and monitored their behaviour for the remainder of the meeting (using my “professional judgement” in many cases!!).

At the end of the meeting I showed them the “class” results and samples of the individual observed behaviours.  I think they all got a good idea of what ClassDojo is about using this simple, fun strategy.  Try it out!

Peter McAsh teaches high school at St. Marys DCVI in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada.  You can connect with Peter here or on his Twitter account at @pmcash.  

Mrs. Lynn Woods
St. Gregory the Great Catholic School
Virginia Beach, Virginia

My name is Lynn Woods and I am addicted to ClassDojo. It is on my iPad2, my laptop, my iPhone, and my classroom’s desktop. I travel the halls of my school armed and ready to award points to my 8^th grade Dojo warriors. I’m a military spouse so during my 20 year teaching career I have traveled throughout the world and I have taught grades ranging from 2^nd to 8^th. My heart lies in 8^th grade where I am presently teaching in Virginia Beach, Virginia at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School. Teaching 8th graders what seems to be their least favorite subjects, literature and language arts, can be challenging. I often feel like I am entering a war zone when I embark on a grammar or reading lesson. My “opponents,” the digital natives sitting in my class.

Since I found ClassDojo last October my classroom management style has moved into the 21^st century. We started to use ClassDojo on the Smartboard and instantly the students’ on-task behavior improved. I thought 8^th graders might think the avatars were too babyish but to my surprise the site caught on right away. This confirmed my belief that 8^th graders and 1^st graders have a lot in common!

After about a week or so of using ClassDojo, my students asked to see how the other 8^th grade classes were doing (we have 3 classes of 8^th grade at St. Gregory the Great). While showing them the totals and percentages for the other classes I hit upon the idea of a “Dojo War” and suggested it to the students. The war was on!  I worked with the students to come up with categories for our “Dojo War.”  We came up with Most Positive Points, Least Negative Points, and Overall Highest Percentage. The classes are of varying sizes so the Overall Highest Percentage category was the most fair of the three. We decided to wage this “war” for the month of November.

Each day at the beginning of class we would look at the overall standings on the Smartboard (I also kept a running total on the whiteboard at the back of the room!).

I found the following effects of the “Dojo war” very interesting:

• Students quickly grew to understand that just a few distractions in class could have a big impact on their class’ overall productiveness.
• Because I put an emphasis on tracking “Complete homework” vs. “Incomplete homework” & “No homework,” I started seeing more complete homework!
• The ClassDojo noises ringing from the Smartboard also really made a difference whenever the students were working in groups or independently. The “groans” caused the offenders to self-monitor and get back to task and the “dings” spurred everyone into a stronger focus.

When the first “Dojo war” ended we realized we had not even chosen how to reward the winners. I polled the students and gave the students a choice of three rewards: candy (always a pleaser for everyone but our school nurse), free time (always fun), and the hands down winner of the poll – extra credit points added on to one assignment of their choice.

For the first “Dojo War” each class won in at least one category and we had a tie for overall percentage. The December/January Dojo War ended with one class sweeping all categories and we are currently engaged in the February Dojo War. Sister Mary, our Principal, loves the idea of this positive competition but did ask if we could come up with another name besides “war”  We explained that this was a war of the most peaceful kind and the results were good for all.

So the monthly ClassDojo wars continue in the 8^th grade at St. Gregory the Great School. Despite its name, this war has brought peace into the classroom and I could not be more pleased. Thank you, ClassDojo, for offering classroom teachers such a valuable tool.

Lynn Woods teaches 8th grade at St. Gregory the Great in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

By Vicki Dabrowka
Eagle Cove School
Pasadena, Maryland 

As an environmental educator, the online, paper-free, simplicity of this behavior recording system has worked wonderfully in my classroom!  Even though it is still relatively new in our 3^rd grade world, it has served as mega-motivation for my class of 8 and 9 year olds.  Expectations have become clearer and the results have been apparent.  At every 20 “delight” points in my class, my students get to visit my “Treasure Trove” box of goodies:  stickers, PlayDoh, mini art kits, highlighters, notepads, fun school supplies galore, $1 books from the Dollar Store, and more!  I think I even heard one of my students the other day say, “I’m going to be good as gold so I can get more ‘delights’ and get to the Treasure Trove as fast as I can!”

The beauty of ClassDojo—you can design it however you see fit.  We started with a list of a half a dozen, all encompassing “delights” (my “great behaviors” = attentive listening, helping others, creativity & great insight, extra mile, on task, and marvy manners)…

I have a slightly longer list of “dings” (the “oops” behaviors) to specifically reach some target behaviors I was wishing to shift (= talking out, being late from specials, no homework or reading record, disrespectful, off task, out of uniform, difficulty in specials, and running not walking on campus).

The result:  a dojo-full of “delights,” with just a handful of “dings,” and a whole lot of motivation and extrinsic motivation (which helps mold and create individual, intrinsic motivation).  Overall, we’re living in the green at our Maryland “Green” School, with an overwhelming “green light” of success!   With a Dojo teacher-tech help center that has also been golden beyond belief, we are loving living in the Dojo!!

Yep…Class Dojo is here to stay!!

Vicki Dabrowka holds a BA in Elementary Education from Illinois Wesleyan University and a MS in Curriculum and Instruction from Hood College. Currently, she is in her fifth year at Eagle Cove School, an independent PreK—5^th Grade Maryland “Green” School in Pasadena, Maryland.  There, she teaches 3^rd grade and serves as one of the two lead environmental education teachers. She also is the author of Green Team Gazette, an environmental education blog for teachers, parents, and other eco-warriors. Vicki is also a semi-finalist for Maryland’s Anne Arundel County Teacher of the Year.  When Vicki is not at Eagle Cove or Green Team Gazette, you can find her on her GTG Facebook page or on Twitter (or, she might be hanging out, having fun with her family)!

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

By Sally Harris
Nottinghamshire, UK 

My name is Sally Harris and I teach a Grade 5/6 class in rural Nottinghamshire, in the UK. I am very fortunate to find myself teaching at a school that has very high expectations of student behaviour, which begins the day they arrive in school in Nursery and carries on consistently throughout the years. As a result, the students know exactly what is expected from them and for the most part their behaviour is very positive.

Even though there are very few behaviour issues, I have still found ways to use ClassDojo.   Here are three ways that I convert the positive awards that the students receive on ClassDojo into tangible rewards in the classroom:

Team Points

At my school, the students are divided into three teams or houses – Curie (Yellow), Shakespeare (Red) and Churchill (Blue).  For excellent behaviour, students can be awarded a team point by any member of the staff.  Students may then add a coloured sticker on the chart in the classroom to keep track of their points.

At the end of the week, the points from across the school are added up and announced at Assembly on Friday.  At the end of term, the highest scoring team gets a reward (such as extra playtime or a special team pencil).

This reward system works really well in conjunction with ClassDojo.  Instead of having students getting up during lessons every time they get a team point, I just add their reward onto ClassDojo on the board.  At the end of the day, they can then see how many points they have received and add their corresponding stickers all on in one go.

Even if your school doesn’t have teams, you could easily set up a system like this using table groups or teams within your class that rotate regularly.

Superboard

My “Superboard” system is a class favorite year after year. Past students always ask if I’ve still got the Superboard going and it is one of their favourite memories from being in my class.

The way it works is simple: If I see someone doing something ‘super’ (anything from handing homework in early, to helping another child in the playground, to going that extra mile in their class work), then I will ask them to put their name on the ‘Superboard’, which is just a designated area of the whiteboard. If their name is already on there, then they may add a tick after their name.

At the end of the week, we hold a class raffle and the number of tickets given to each student is calculated by counting up their name, plus the number of ticks they have.  For the raffle prizes, I usually go to a Pound Shop and stock up on stationery items like erasers or special pens, which the winning students can then draw out of a bag, like a Lucky Dip. (Of course, if they don’t say “Thank you” within 5 seconds of receiving their prize, it goes back and we draw out another student.  Suffice to say, they only have to forget once and they will never forget again!)

With ClassDojo in action, I award ‘ticks’ to students who are the high scorers for the day or week, with consistently great behaviour (and who sometimes might get overlooked because they are well behaved all the time), and also those who don’t get any negatives against their name. 

Star of the Week

At the end of each week, a student from the class is chosen to be ‘Star of the Week’.

As you can see, the ‘Star’ is recognized by having their photograph on display for the week and they also get a special bookmark with their name on it and a note as to why they are receiving the award.  I really like using bookmarks over certificates because it means that the students keep it all year and are reminded of why they won the award on a daily basis.

I like to use ClassDojo to help guide me in choosing the Star of the Week.  I look at the positives as well as the negatives for each student on the report and often reflect on previous weeks too, as this shows up improvements that I might otherwise have missed.

Overall, the students love having ClassDojo running in the classroom.  Seeing their name appear for doing something positive just perpetuates the behaviour and encourages them to continue striving to be great.  Even though my students are well-behaved most of the time, they still like being rewarded for it and ClassDojo has proven to be a great way of ensuring that everyone is getting a pat on the back now and then.

Sally Harris teaches Year 5/6 in Nottinghamshire, UK.  You can read more about her ideas on her blog, Lose the Chalk (losethechalk.blogspot.com) or on Twitter (@losethechalk).

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!

By Dawn De Lorenzo

As a special education teacher I am often faced with students who struggle to manage their behavior, impulses, and degree of participation.   I have been a special education teacher for eleven years and this year I have one of my most challenging students ever.  He is a very sweet, shy boy with a communication disorder that greatly impedes his ability to interact and demonstrate his level of understanding.  Assessing a student’s level of understanding when communication is extremely limited is a frustrating endeavor for a teacher.  When there is no evidence of learning you can feel like you are spinning your wheels.  As the months have gone by I tried all of the strategies and tools-of-the-trade that typically assist students in producing evidence of their learning and progress.  None of these strategies worked with this child.  I was at the end of my rope when I happened to come across a blog that mentioned ClassDojo.  Being a techie and someone who continually seeks to try new things, I went and checked out the site.  I signed up and input my class’s information and decided to give it a try the next day.

I am not exaggerating when I tell you it was nothing short of a miracle when I introduced my students to this new way for me to track their behavior and participation and in particular, this boy, who said barely a sentence the entire school year, was raising his hand to read and participate!  I was astounded.  This boy took to the “game-like” format of being rewarded for positive interaction.  I knew this boy loved video games, but I did not realize how essential a real-time, immediate feedback format was for him.  Sticker charts never worked for him, but this has turned this child’s level of output from zero to within an acceptable range of participation and engagement.  The fact that I can share this data via email with his parents and his case managers is a special education teachers dream!

I was so excited about ClassDojo that I stopped anyone near my classroom just to show them!  As a member of my district’s Assistive Technology Team I shared ClassDojo at our very next meeting and all the principals wanted their teachers to know about this.  Twenty-first century students are different.  It takes a while for veteran teachers to grasp this.  The repertoire of strategies we used for years with success is now met with resistance and minimal success.  I have learned that this is not because the students have become more difficult to teach, but rather their learning styles have changed.  Class Dojo is a 21^st tool for teaching in a 21^st century classroom.

I don’t normally write to companies or blog about products, but when you come across a tool that has a substantial impact on one or all of your students it is hard not to acknowledge it.  ClassDojo places your classroom back into your hands so that you can focus on instruction and empowering your students.

Dawn De Lorenzo holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction.  She is a teacher-author at TeachersPayTeachers.com as well as TeachersNotebook.com.  Dawn’s blog, The Teaching Resource Resort (Facebook page), provides teachers with tools, ideas, and strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners. 

Interested in writing a guest post on the ClassDojo blog or filming a video for our YouTube channel? – Shoot us an email at hello@classdojo.com!