Everyone remembers a time in school when they broke a rule. Turning the behavior card from green to red, moving a clip down or signing the behavior book. In today’s classroom, public shaming and humiliation are out as we see a rise in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports known as PBIS. With PBIS, behavior management is a target: students are responsible for their individual behaviors and their positive behavior has a ripple effect that impacts their classroom and ultimately their school. As schools adopt PBIS, the question becomes: How do I manage PBIS? The answer: ClassDojo.

Positivity through points

At our school, students are extrinsically motivated by praise and positive ClassDojo points, which in turn fosters intrinsic motivation. Meaning, eventually, students don’t even rely on the extrinsic motivation of points. We pair points with an extrinsic incentive by giving students a menu or choice board to trade in points they earn. Students save and spend, and as a teacher, I can “redeem points” on ClassDojo when students are ready to “cash in.” There are many free incentives that don’t cost a penny, like: • Choose a virtual field trip • Play games on a tablet or Chromebook • Read a story to a class • Listen to a children’s podcast like The Mister Kay Show

I like to set a classwide goal too so our entire class can earn an incentive together. Some schools even celebrate individual student milestones or whole class points totals school-wide with a movie, dress down, or field day!

Confidentiality is key

Let’s go back to that classroom moment where you “got in trouble” and had to put your name in the behavior book or change your card. How did that feel? Most people would say they felt embarrassed, upset, or even angry. It might be a vivid memory for you, even today! That’s why confidentiality is key for students to succeed, and ClassDojo puts that control into your hands.

Students get confidentiality and you get behaviors documented in ClassDojo. Consider changing the “needs work” value to 0 to create a neutral point. You can give students warnings and still document behavior that you can easily share at home. Try turning off points totals and the points award banner. You can still view point totals on your side and can periodically share with students how many points they have. You can even encourage students to log in to view their points on their own so they can set goals and earn incentives.

School-Wide ClassDojo & PBIS

A major bonus is that administrators and other school staff can participate as well by joining your class as a co-teacher. Counselors, specials and intervention teachers, your school site secretary or nurse, all can access your class to help award positive feedback from anywhere in the school. Imagine your school librarian is awarding your class points from the Library! Or, your principal is walking in the hallway, and gives points to your students. Having autonomy between all three areas (student, classroom, school) allows students to take ownership of their behavior and understand accountability school-wide.

Be consistent

Just like with everything, consistency is the key to success with ClassDojo and PBIS. You might see results immediately or it may take some time. You are the expert of your classroom and know when and how to adjust to your students’ needs based on what is best for them. Just remember with consistency you’ll see that positive ripple flow from every student, to your classroom, throughout your entire school community. So, let’s start with that first drop to start your ripple!

I have a confession: I used to be jealous of teachers who were organized enough to keep track of behavior with marbles and tally marks. I would try using tally marks on the whiteboard to point out positive behaviors and erasing tallies for less desirable behaviors. I would always start out strong, but inevitably it would lose its allure. I’d give points sporadically, never being truly consistent, and in the end, it really didn’t mean much to my students.

I wanted it to work, it just didn’t work for me.

Then, I found ClassDojo.

Forget buying marbles and wasting your Expo markers on tally marks, ClassDojo’s point system allows you to personalize points for your unique group of students, allowing for specific and timely feedback. Do you need to give points for “Always keeping their water bottle in their cup holder?” Probably not, but I do. And, how about the student who always has that water bottle rolling across the floor? In my class, they might get a neutral “needs work” point. These gentle reminders not only help me to be everywhere in my classroom at once, better yet, this is where the accountability factor comes in!

Reflection is vital to growth, so at the end of a busy day full of learning, students get a chance to log in to ClassDojo themselves. Logging in independently gives them the opportunity to see their feedback total and reflect back on the day. Not only do they see the positive, neutral, or “needs work” but they see the reason for each. Better yet, students in my class complete a Google form where they “check out” at the end of the day. They answer questions like:

• What did you accomplish today that made you feel proud?
• Was there something you could have done differently?
• Did you get a point deduction? If so, is there anything you want me to know about it, or one of their neutral points?

Having students self-reflect on their actions at the end of the day, or even the end of the week has really helped build a strong classroom community. Their points are private to them - I never open the classroom view in front of my class, it stays minimized or in a different tab. I don’t share the results of their reflection forms, but instead, review their responses and use them to inform my teaching and what we talk about during our morning meeting. Using ClassDojo in this way has taught me a lot about my students, and more importantly, has taught my students a lot about themselves!

My classroom is filled with positivity, even when students don’t know who is being awarded. The happy chime helps every kid sit up a little taller and the gentle cue signaling a neutral point keeps everyone on task. They even get excited for each other when they know a classmate has been rewarded. This magic combination makes me want to (and more importantly, remember to) keep up with it for my students, even during a busy day full of learning.