ClassDojo works well across all grade levels, including high school. For example, it can help facilitate group work in a multi-lingual setting where students speak a myriad of native languages. Managing group work in her highly heterogeneous classroom was tricky, says Tara Hobson of SF International High School. She uses ClassDojo to encourage group lab work in her 11th grade chemistry class. Points are awarded to students asking good questions, speaking in English, and following their roles during lab time. As Hobson moves around the classroom, she uses the ClassDojo app on her smart phone to track these behaviors, reinforcing them and bringing classroom expectations to a higher level. The dynamic of group interaction during lab assignments has since really improved she says. Hear more from Tara in the video below!

Hear how other teachers like Tara have used ClassDojo in their classrooms.

Evan Wolkenstein of Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco takes a telescopic view in his use of ClassDojo. He works backward from his desired outcome, asking the question “What kind of people do I want my students to be at the end of the year?” Wolkenstein’s 10th through 12th grade classroom is a place to not only learn material, but to learn great interpersonal skills for life. Evan believes one of the ways to bring this about is through cultivating active listening skills. Understanding the core concept — or the most important idea — of what you are hearing someone else say, builds the ability to reflect. Wolkenstein records instances when he observes his students’ applying this skill, and he rewards them for building on this somewhat ineffable quality. “The goal is listening to understand,” adds Wolkenstein. “The ClassDojo tool trains me as well; it helps me to remember what’s important to me.”

Hear more details on how Evan uses ClassDojo in his high school classroom:

Find more “Ideas from the Classroom” from other teachers, and see how you might be able to adopt new approaches to using ClassDojo 🙂

Miranda Hanson, a teacher at Travis Elementary School on Travis Air Force Base says ClassDojo helped her become a more positive teacher, and preventing her from only focusing on students who “act up”. Hanson focuses on conveying her expectations for good conduct with the visual interface of ClassDojo, and customizing behaviors to those important to her classroom. The visual cues help students understand the kind of behaviors she is looking for. By encouraging the good behaviors in children, other children strive to learn the same to receive positive encouragement as well! The students now even compete with one another to be the “Player of the day.” Watch more about Maranda Hanson’s use of ClassDojo:

Hear other teachers who use ClassDojo share their “Ideas for the Classroom” to improve motivation, classroom management, and student encouragement.

Kaytlyn Flynn of St. Joseph Elementary School in Alameda, CA finds ClassDojo an effective tool for easing the transition time between subjects. Flynn gives positive points to students for preparing for the next subject quickly and efficiently without stalling. Similar to Maranda Hanson’s students, Flynn’s students thrive on the competition of positive point rewards. When one student is rewarded for preparing quickly, the rest of the students then follow suit. Overall, “this cut the transition time in half,” says Flynn. Watch Kaytlyn share more details on how she reduced her transition times:

Hear from other teachers like Kaytlyn on how they used ClassDojo improve the classroom environment through student motivation!

We all remember classrooms in which the same three bright students would volunteer to contribute insights and opinions, while the rest of the class offered little but the “blank stare.” Net result? Risk-averse, introverted students miss out on the chance to move out of their comfort zone and the rest of the class misses out on the opportunity to elevate the discussion. Who is to say the girl at the back of the class doesn’t have a most original, quirky idea to bring to the table? Too often, the fruits of that shy girl’s imagination are kept under lock and key.

Astute teachers will do most anything to shift this imbalanced classroom dynamic. This is where ClassDojo’s “random” feature can make a teacher’s life easier. Emily Wood shares her thoughts on how the randomizing tool has focused and engaged all of her students.

Watch more “Ideas for the Classroom” to uncover other great ways teachers incorporate ClassDojo into their workflow.

One of the best parts of working at ClassDojo is hearing directly from teachers how ClassDojo has been helpful for them and their students.

Every now and again, we hear some stories that we can’t help but want to write them down, and share with others. We’ve been lucky enough to chat with about 30 of these teachers, take some great photographs of them, and post them on our Stories page.

Take a look at ClassDojo.com/Stories, and if you’d like to share your own personal impact story, email us at Hello@ClassDojo.com 🙂

Photograph shown of Phylecia Palmer, a middle school special educator.

Note: This post is Part Three of a three part series, each individually sharing ideas for elementary school, middle school, and high school.

Evan Wolkenstein, high school teacher at Jewish Community High School of the Bay, San Francisco, who blogs his inspired lesson plans with creative comic strips at magnetiCClassroom.com, has the following plans for his classroom to offset the “slide” that happens just before summer vacation:

• Develop a long-term project that involves: a) problem solving b) an interview c) designing a prototype, and d) sharing the prototype with people off-campus. Evan brought his students to a nursing home to show their projects, and not only did they get the benefits of presenting their work to a loving and enthralled audience, but also it opened their eyes to what elders have to give back to teenagers.

• Have students write and work on a speech, starting in January, as “anchorwork” whenever they finish their class-work on any particular day. They can deliver the speeches, one per day, in spring. Use the speeches as a springboard for 10 minutes of discussion.

• Take students outside for discussion. Don’t forget to talk about class norms before you go outside. If you will require books to be open and won’t permit laying down and closing eyes, best to clarify that before everyone runs out the door. Bring your clipboard or tablet / smartphone with ClassDojo to record their conduct. They will see you do this and know that it’s outdoor class day, not recess.

• Choose a topic and “gamify” it – provide a resource with essential questions and information. Let them design a game to test each other, and then throw a “games festival.” Winners get lollipops…and learn the material for the quiz!

• Watch a movie (or 45 minutes worth of curated clips, rather than full films), and form discussion groups. The groups generate material than can be used for the final essay or exam (in which an optional prompt might ask for an analysis or comparison/contrast between the class text and the film).

• Team up with another class or section – offer a chance for the classes to compete, showing what they have learned (or created) to a panel of judges. Watch how fast students who have relational trouble in class become loyal teammates!

Contrary to the myth, the post-spring break segment does not have to be a crucible to slog through. Rather, it’s a time to coalesce the class into a collaborative project that will have the students riding high on successful teamwork.

Note: This post is Part One of a three part series, each individually sharing ideas for elementary school, middle school, and high school

Spring fever brings with it a notorious frenzy both in the classroom and at home; It’s the time of year when teachers get exasperated with a room of wiggly students who have trouble focusing. Thankfully, this notorious slump in the academic year can be flipped, and turned into a boon rather than a bugaboo. In fact, the remaining weeks in the semester can be a time for students to set short-term goals, and decide how they want to finish out the year. Parents who broach this subject will send their kids back to school after vacation with a fresh resolve to finish up on a positive note.

From the teacher’s perspective, a go-to for thriving in the last few weeks of the year is to pick a favorite classroom-wide project that can take several weeks to produce, such as a science fair or a theater production.

Below are tips from an elementary school teacher, and over the next two posts, we’ll share ideas from middle school and high school teachers, who all agree that one thing works consistently at this time of year: A change of scenery.

Elementary School

Ms. Kay Kirman veteran teacher of a 4/5 split class at a San Francisco primary school, Miraloma Elementary, catalyzes her class in one collective effort with a Shakespearean play. Her class studies the source material eight weeks before school ends. She assigns parts four weeks in advance, and pull props and costumes together two weeks ahead. In the last week of school, the class performs for the school and for parents. For source material, Kirman turns to Aaron Shepherd’s comprehensive retelling of folktales, 30 Minute Shakespeare series, Folger’s Library teacher series, or a book titled Teaching Shakespeare in the Classroom.

A few other in-class tips will fill the gaps and help keep students on track hour-to-hour until the very end:

• Schedule “Brain Breaks” using online resources, including “Go Noodle” to calm everyone down or get everyone moving.

• Plan a Science Fair the week before school ends where most of the projects are done after school/at home. Students work in groups of up to 4 students to conduct hands-on investigations with pre-approved testable questions, present them to their classmates. One particular tip for planning a science project is to be very clear on how each student will measure and evaluate test results. While professional scientists often encounter valid experiments with negative results, this type of experiment may not be the most positive outcome for a young student’s science project experience Observing a change is more rewarding and less frustrating.

• Take the classroom outside. Sketch the school, clean up the schoolyard, plant plants, create a chalk art mural.

• Perform community service in the school or a nearby park. The school librarian or PE Teacher will always appreciates a little help with spring-cleaning at the end of the year.

Continue reading Part Two for ideas from a Middle School teacher

Image courtesy of Marti McGinnis

Note: This post is Part Two of a three part series, each individually sharing ideas for elementary school, middle school, and high school.

Mr. Rodriguez, Math teacher Everett Middle School uses the following projects to lead his classroom, and counter springtime sluggishness:

• Reciprocal teaching- students are taught how to prepare lesson plans on new skills and they work in groups to teach 5 seventh grade preview skills. This encourages students to not only collaborate, but also begin devising mechanisms to organize, synthesize and present new information on their own.

• Retaking exams. Students are given the opportunity to boost their grades by retaking previous exams. I make a competition out of it by having blocks compete against blocks based on the amount of retakes completed and mastered. Students not only boost their personal grade but also boost the class average for the given units.

• This year I will working with students to develop digital narratives of real-world math dilemmas. The idea here is create a cross-curricular project that engages students with technology and integrates literacy and math concepts in one. It allows students to interact with math questions in a different way. Continue reading Part Three for ideas from a High school teacher, or read Part One for Elementary school ideas

Our team really enjoys attending and participating in education technology conferences. The presentations on new tools/technologies and the platform to share ideas are wonderful. But, our favorite part is spending time with all the wonderful faces behind those ‘edufamous’ Twitter handles (thanks, Bill Selak!), WordPress blogs, and classroom desks from around the country 🙂 And #CUE14 was no exception! More pictures after the break…

We wanted to bring together as many teachers as possible at a special ClassDojo event at the Tropicale in Palm Springs, CA to thank them for doing so much for the Education community. Liam (co-founder of ClassDojo) and Ben C hosted the event and were so grateful to all our friends for spending a few hours with us.

Cheers!

Liam, Ben and the ClassDojo team 🙂