We have all probably been in classrooms where it seemed as if the teacher was teaching to the wall. Few students were focused, participating, or even in their seats. What these teachers lacked was a classroom management system. There are several basic tenets of classroom management that can smooth the rough edges of any school year, no matter what the student population.

Set boundaries. Discuss with students well-defined rules and consequences, as well as rewards. Help them build ownership in the rules by brainstorming reasons for each guideline.

Accentuate the positive. Recognize and reward worthy behavior publicly. This will sharpen students’ hunger to please you and be recognized in front of the class. Appropriate and positive behaviors should receive public accolades each time they occur. Consistent positive reinforcement will do more to curtail negative behavior than consequences!

Be fair and consistent. Negative behaviors should receive the same consequences every time. Let students know that any behavior that impedes learning is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Refrain from making threats without following through. This will do wonders for your credibility! Students need to know that you mean business.

Give warnings before giving penalties for negative behavior. We all need to be urged to step back in line at times without consequence. Simply say,“This is a warning,” and make sure the student understands what the warning is for. Use “the look”. All teachers inherently have this facial expression that warns students they are on thin ice.

Stay calm when negative behaviors occur. If students make bad decisions and you react as a “loose cannon”, they often do not know what to expect. As one of their primary role models, students need and expect you to be cool, composed, and consistent. Simply give the student who made the bad choice a consequence and move on.

Choose a management system that is easy to use and that students are interested in. Whether it is a program like ClassDojo, a clip chart with colors and clothespins, or card pockets with multi-colored cards, be enthusiastic and consistent when using it. Routine and structure are crucial here.

Communicate with parents. This should be an integral part of any management system. Begin the school year with a positive communication for every student. When you have completed one positive contact for each student on your roster, start again! The rewards you will reap are invaluable!

Make parents your partners. Consider making home visits to build a rapport with families and students. Keep the lines of communication open with parents throughout the year with positive phone calls, written notes, emails, ClassDojo messaging, and personal contacts. Not only will this help build your relationship, but it shows parents that you are dedicated to the support and success of their child. This will garner parent support and make things easier if you ever need to contact them with news about negative student behavior. If you have their support, half of the battle is already won!

Document everything. Negative behaviors, positive behaviors, as well as parent contacts need to be documented. This can become quite tedious, so find a system that works well for your teaching style and preferences. Choose something that makes documenting simple. If it isn’t easy for you, or you don’t have a system, you are more likely not to do it. For example, ClassDojo keeps record of specific positive and negative behaviors as well as what dates they occurred.This makes data collection easy when needed for RTIs, IEPs, or conferencing.

Being a strong classroom manager is never easy! Remember to be consistent, accentuate the positive, and make parents your partners. Utilize these tools to help make your school year as smooth as possible. Keep calm and teach on!

Keeping the lines of communication open between teachers and parents is the key to unlocking a wealth of support and favor that will most certainly increase student success. However, the relationship between teachers and parents is often a tenuous one. How and when should teachers contact parents in regards to student behavior issues?

As a precursor to contacting parents, be sure that you have a set of clear expectations for students posted in your classroom. This gives students a visual reminder of the rules with no question about what is expected. You might also want to send a copy of those rules home at the beginning of the school year for parents to read and discuss with their children. Start on the first day of school! This lays the groundwork for you and your students’ parents to be on the same page.

Next, make parents your partners! Start the year off on a positive note by contacting each parent within the first week or two to praise their child. You may want to try ClassDojo Messaging for this! This will help you build a positive rapport with parents, which they want! Traditionally, parents only receive communication about their children when there is a problem. Parents don’t like negative surprises. Turn the tables and pleasantly surprise them! Build a positive classroom environment and culture of respect by bragging about students to those who love them most. The amount of support and cooperation you will receive following these acts will be astounding!

In the case of a student who is repeatedly making poor choices, he or she should consistently receive the consequences listed in your behavior plan. A grace or warning period is traditionally granted before consequences are given. Every school setting has a different protocol, so it is important to be stay on the same page as other teachers.

Behavior that is consistently impeding the student’s learning and disrupting the learning environment is unacceptable and must be addressed. Behavior that is deliberately aggressive and malicious toward other students cannot be tolerated. Parent communication about the student’s behavior choices is often effective when trying to curb or curtail the behavior. If the unwanted student behavior continues, repeated parent communication or a referral to administration has proven to be effective.

If you’ve already shared positive feedback with parents previously, sharing negative student behavior becomes more impactful and more deeply understood by parents. Start by expressing gently your concerns over the poor choices being made by the student and provide concrete details. This puts you in the role of the supportive teacher who only wants success for the student.

Choosing the best means of communication to a parent is often situational. Phone calls seem to be the time-tested favorite method of contacting parents. Many parents use technology daily and prefer emails. However, some parents do not have a consistently working phone number, or Internet access, so written correspondence would be the most appropriate. Many educators use student agendas or planners as a communication tool with parents. Some teachers even allow parents access to their personal cell phone numbers so that they may communicate by text messaging.

The use of ClassDojo as a means for parent communication is also very effective, if parents have any internet access at home. In fact, if you use ClassDojo as a behavior management tool in your classroom, parents can create an account that allows them to view their child’s behavior progress and receive messages from teachers. ClassDojo’s Messaging feature is extremely effective, convenient, and free. Parents love ClassDojo because they receive instant feedback during the work day, and are more involved in their child’s school life.

There is no handbook on parent communication. However, if parent communication is frequent and positive, it will play a large role in the success of their child in your classroom. Your proactive behavior in the realm of parent communication sets the stage for supportive attitudes and smoother communication throughout the school year.

There is no “right” way to implement ClassDojo in your classroom. The ways to utilize ClassDojo are as varied as the number of teachers using It all over the world. So how does one begin?

Start by familiarizing yourself with ClassDojo. Take the tour, and explore the website to discover uncharted territory. Enter your students’ names. Peruse the behaviors listed and decide whether or not you will add to what already exists to personalize your behavior plan for your classroom. Create and customize new behaviors as needed.

Introduce ClassDojo to your class by first building interest and ownership in the program. You might ask questions like, “Who likes monsters? What would you think if we used a behavior plan in which YOU were represented by a MONSTER? How would you like to be able to design your OWN monster?” Student buy-in will be astronomical — guaranteed!

Show students the student video. This will get them fired up and excited about using ClassDojo. Be ready with copies of the parent letter immediately following the video, encouraging students to share it with their families. Offer an incentive for students to bring it back signed, saying their parents will participate. Take a look at ClassDojo Messaging, too! This will open up a whole new medium with which you can communicate effectively with parents. Parents with wireless mobile devices love ClassDojo because they have access to instant feedback about their child’s behavior progress.

At the beginning of each day you can “check reports” and view graphs to analyze student behavior data as a class. This aligns with the Common Core graphing and data analysis standards and it helps students take ownership and control of their own behavior and learning. Commend students for the positive behaviors shown on the graph, and discuss ways to improve the negative behaviors. Set a goal for the percentage of positive points to be reached at the end of the day. Offer students a reward for reaching that goal.

Download the ClassDojo app on your mobile device and use it as you are teaching, circulating, and monitoring the classroom. Be sure that the sound is turned up enough for students to hear when you give a positive or negative point. This is highly effective! If you have ClassDojo projected on your ActivBoard or SMART Board, students love to see who received a positive (or negative) point when it pops up on the screen. Be consistent with your expectations for behavior and the assigning of points. This will ensure that your classroom management is uniform, and that student behavior remains as stable as possible.

From experience, hearing the positive or negative point sounds are even more effective if students cannot see who is being awarded points. Hearing sound immediately causes students to self-check and monitor their own behavior. This is called the “Dojo Effect”. They will literally sit up straighter and focus on the task at hand when they hear the sound. Students think, “Was that me? Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing?” You might even create a bogus student in your class to award positive and negative points to just for strategic implementation of the “Dojo Effect.”

End each day just as you began, by reviewing and analyzing the behavior graph available in ClassDojo reports. Discuss what you are doing well and what behaviors you need to focus on improving in the future. Cement the effectiveness of ClassDojo by rewarding students for reaching their positive point percentage goal. Small individual candies like Skittles or M&M’s work well.

There is no “yellow brick road” leading to the one, true way to use ClassDojo effectively in the classroom. Explore, experiment, and discover the possibilities with your students and ClassDojo. Never will students be so excited about and take such ownership in a behavior plan as they will with ClassDojo!

A classroom where every student is hanging on your every word? Absolutely. Focused and learning every second? Without question. Even during whole group instruction? One hundred percent! Interested in what this level of student engagement looks and sounds like? Read on.