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.

Delanie Walker, a tight-end in the NFL, recently responded to a question regarding his former San Francisco 49ers coach, Jim Harbaugh: “Why is Jim Harbaugh such a great football coach?”

He’s a player. He’s just like one of us. Jim Harbaugh is always in the locker room. He’s in the locker room playing basketball with us, he’s in there joking around. He eats with us. He doesn’t sit with the other coaches, he sits with the players. He just wants to be a player, he goes to practice and sometimes puts on the full gear, throws the ball, he conditions with us.

I think that’s what makes everybody buy into his philosophy: he believes in it so much that he does it.

On TV, you see him yelling, jumping around, going crazy. I think that’s his gametime self, but in general he’s always joking around, laughing, playing. You don’t see him at practice yelling and going crazy, he’s always kind, asks you how your day was.

Having played basketball growing up (in fact, I still play regularly even though my recovery times are now weeks instead of days), my coach’s impact has been a lasting one and is undoubtedly weaved deeply into who I am. Sure, we learned basketball fundamentals, set plays, and ran a lot in practice (seriously, a lot). But, like Delanie with respect to his 49ers coach, that’s not what I remember — and certainly not what made my coach a great mentor for me and my teammates.

Breaking down Delanie’s points a bit, three traits seem to be prominent in his response:

• Values relationships

• Leads by example

• Encourages with positivity

These are fantastic traits to find in a football coach, a basketball coach, a manager, a friend, a significant other, a CEO, or a teacher. The parallels between team athletics and the classroom environment are fascinating, and I look forward to diving into this space more deeply in future posts, hopefully with the help of teachers and coaches (if interested, email me: Manoj@ClassDojo.com).

The ultimate goal for an NFL coach is to win games. There is no ambiguity in terms of results, as it all comes down to your season record, playoff record, and who takes home the Vince Lombardi Trophy. But the path to get there for an NFL coach is not just a well-conceived playbook and carefully crafted strategy for each game. It’s cultivating players like Delanie Walker to be constantly motivated, inspired, and always contributing to the system.

Photo: Harbaugh surrounded by his players after NFC Championshp win in 2013, Credit: Reuters