More on Class Dojo

I know I have blogged about Class Dojo already, but I absolutely love their program. Recently they have done something that my students have been begging for without me even writing to Class Dojo, STUDENT ACCOUNTS!!! After a week of using class dojo in the classroom, my students were asking if there was any possible way for them to access their points at home. A few months later, their wish has come true and now every child in my class can access their weekly points and see why they have earned points. Another awesome feature is the ability to change their avatar, which has definitely become a huge hit. Student avatars seem to be changing on a daily basis.

With a 1:1 iPad classroom, it was easy to get the student accounts started. Thankfully, everyday my students are becoming more and more tech savvy. I went through the basics of how to get them started and for the most part they were able to set up their own student accounts. Way to go fourth graders! I had a couple students who had some difficulty, but I have learned a little comment that makes life so much better in a 1:1 iPad classroom. "Yes, I will help you, but you are going to have to wait a few minutes." Within a couple minutes, I start hearing, "Never mind I figured it out." Before people start thinking I am a mean teacher, my goal of making the students wait is to see if they will attempt to figure out how to solve their problem on their own. I find that with certain students in my class, they will automatically try to figure out how to do something on the iPad without my encouragement, but there are a few students who will not attempt trying something new on their own and causing them to wait will encourage them to try, especially when other students are commenting on what they are currently doing. I'm not looking for my students to be able to do everything on their own, but I am looking for them to try.

I think I have gotten a little ahead of myself, so let me rewind here rwrwrwrwrwrw. Just in case you didn't know rwrwrwrwrw means rewind. One of my students used this in her journal today, entertaining, YES! When I introduced student accounts to the class, I told the students I had exciting news for Class Dojo. Before I continue, you should know that my class has mixed feelings about Class Dojo. The students who always wear the correct uniform, have their homework done, get their assignments completed on time and follow classroom rules love Class Dojo. The ones that have some difficulty throughout the day are not big fans, because it forces them to be good students! Now you understand why I love Class Dojo! But when I announced student accounts, all the students were excited.

The first day with student accounts did not work out as well as I had planned. I currently project www.classdojo.com onto the Activboard and use the mobile.classdojo.com site on the iPad to give and remove points quickly anywhere in the classroom. Unfortunately, there was a small glitch in the system yesterday and students could not see their points on their iPads using their personal accounts. Although I will say, the fact that the children could design their own avatar by changing their monsters body design and color was enough to make them happy.

Today I tried a different approach for Class Dojo. I used the Class Dojo app that isn't available yet in the app store, but hopefully will be soon. The app is very similar to the mobile site but makes it easier to see all your positive and negative behaviors because they fill up the entire screen. Today the children were able to see the points they were receiving throughout the day without me projecting Class Dojo. This is great because there are times that I need to project something related to what we are covering in class and students cannot see their Dojo points. Usually, when this happens students get a little antsy and will start requesting me to show their points, now they can see their points on their own iPad without me having to stop a program that we are currently using with Activboard. For example, today I was using Poll Everywhere and it was easy for students to submit their answer and then view their student account on Class Dojo if they wanted to monitor their points. This usually happens when they hear the positive or negative sound chime in the speakers. They want to know if they were the one to earn or lose a point.

I must say that since the start of student accounts, Class Dojo has been awesome for help. When I mentioned wanting to start the student accounts they responded telling me to let them know if I need any help. Yesterday, I replied mentioning the fact that the children could not see their points. They apologized and explained that they were having some server issues and that they are working on it. For a free program, Class Dojo really goes above and beyond.

Follow Class Dojo on twitter @classdojo.