Interview between Janice Walton (Getting Smart) and Stacy Weber (fifth-grade dual language Teacher at Westwood Elementary in Woodstock, Illinois).

Kindness is a relatively easy word to define–according to Google it means “the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate.” Easy enough, right? Then why is “kindness” often so hard to put into practice? How do we go about teaching and learning kindness? I recently spoke with Stacy Weber, a fifth-grade teacher in a dual language program in Woodstock, Illinois, to shed some light on this and understand how she’s teaching kindness.

In today’s hyper-political, increasingly siloed world, social media is often pegged as yet another divider—a place where we reinforce our own views and cut ourselves off from others. But for a growing number of teachers, social media may actually have the opposite effect.

This may be surprising to some, but teaching can be a lonely profession many days. While teachers are surrounded by people, there’s often little time for collaboration or discussion with peers. My days are filled with exciting moments of discovery with students, of course, but also the challenge of sneaking in a lunch or prep period. It’s easy to get to the end of the day or week and realize I’ve had little interaction with the adults in my building.

This month, students are making their voices heard, including those in our Dojo community. We all believe our students’ voices will shape our future world – and there’s no better time to support them than right now!

That’s why we asked ClassDojo teachers to share words of encouragement, and to tell us how they help their students find their voices every day.

Here’s what they shared 😀

Whether you follow educators on Twitter, parents on Facebook, or just talk to any student, you could get an earful about how they feel regarding homework. As a teacher and parent myself, I absolutely HATE homework. I hate it for the same reasons any working parent hates it, but I probably hate it even more because I am a teacher. It is a time suck!

Did you know Halloween is the most shared day on ClassDojo? It’s true!

It’s also one of our favorite days here at Dojo HQ because of the hundreds of monster pics we get from teachers all over the world. Take a look at some of our favorites from this past Halloween. And check out #MonstersInMyClassroom for more! 🙂

Building a positive classroom environment isn’t just about what happens inside a classroom, it’s about building a classroom community without walls, one that includes and engages parents and caregivers. Research has shown that students with involved parents and caregivers, regardless of background, are more likely to be successful in academics and develop better social skills.

As a teacher, I’ve been blessed to have positive relationships with parents since the first day of my career. The friendships I’ve formed with parents last far longer than a 10-month school calendar, and they are among the aspects of teaching that I cherish most.

Recently, during a camping trip, a colleague asked how I knew so many of our students’ parents by name. Developing relationships with her students’ parents was difficult for her, she admitted. She’s a good teacher and a wonderful person, but parents have not warmed up to her easily. In speaking to other teachers, I learned she is not alone. Thankfully, there are several proactive steps teachers can take to ensure the relationships they have with their students’ parents are helpful and rewarding.

Creating student portfolios isn’t simply about recording classwork for teachers. Student Stories gives parents a window into the classroom. Erika Gessler, a 2nd grade teacher, knows that the drawing update coming soon to ClassDojo’s student portfolios means parents will get to see a whole lot more. “When my students and I heard about adding drawings to Student Stories, we were so excited! They keep updating the app in anticipation.”

It can be tough sending your child off to school for the first time, and for Kindergarten Teacher Elsbeth Schweitzer, she’s using Student Stories to put parents at ease. With the new extended video recording time, and capability to upload videos from outside of the app, Elsbeth is excited for parents to be more connected with not only their child, but with the classroom as a whole.