Using Technology to Make My Life as a Teacher Easier!

Last year our literacy focus was on read-alouds. So, we made it our goal to do a read-aloud every, single day. We picked stories, thought of our goals, and focused on teaching one comprehension skill per month. We made them engaging, exciting, and had students sharing their knowledge like crazy! These times became sweet and a "looked forward to" part of our day. But, we realized we wanted a way to record all of the wonderful things are students were sharing. We started with paper, and that just wasn't working. We had a large file of notes and rubrics that were a nightmare to organize and keep up with. Also, jotting notes just isn't fast and by the time one student would share, I would miss the next 3 comments. So, I went looking for an app where I could record information, and give "points" to certain topics for each child. I ended up discovering ClassDojo. This app allows us to track the skills that each child is demonstrating during our Read-Aloud time, and make notes on things to work on or any areas they may shine. So, I plan to explain the parts of the app I use, how I use it, and other features that I don't currently use, but are available.

*As a disclaimer, I am in a 2 teacher classroom, so 1 teacher is reading and interacting with the students, while the other is taking notes (and also interacting periodically as well, and dealing with any issues like nose bleeds, lost teeth, student conflict, etc.) Just so you know our classroom structure. :)

Before you start, you need to add in each child in your class. This part is pretty basic, and this is what the class list looks like.

For my purposes, I was focused on the "skills" portion. One of the best parts of ClassDojo, is that you can add skills. So, I've added "Monitoring Comprehension," "Using Background Knowledge," and "Making Connections," since these are the comprehension skills we are currently focusing on. I will add more skills as the year progresses. Once these are added to the class skills, you can award points to each child.

Another fabulous feature is that you can add a "note," once you give a child a point in a specific category. This is where I say why I gave them the point. For example, I might write "Text-to-text connection with The Great Kapok Tree" after awarding Daniel a point for connections. To award a point, you simply click on the child, and click on the category.

Each child also has an individual report. This details all of the points they've been given, and the notes that have been taken. This is a great way to reflect on their individual growth. To be honest, I wish the categories were shown in a table format, but being able to see them all overall is very helpful. You can also select the amount of time you want to focus on.

Starting here are the features that I don't use on a daily basis, but are still really great! ClassDojo allows you to share each child's story with their parents, developing that partnership.

There is also a feature that allows you to create a "class story." Either the teacher, or the students can take pictures and videos during the day and share them with parents. When it is on "student mode" students can take pictures and video without accessing the rest of the app. It requires the teacher's password to get out of student mode, which is pretty helpful. Also, student shares are pending for permission by the teacher. It's a great way to get the kids involved and sharing their learning, in a manner that still has teacher control, and limits what they view on the app, so that the teacher can keep scores private.

A final feature, is that you can actually put students into groups, and award points to each group. This could be helpful with desk group points (you can determine whether you want students to see these scores or not.) This can be used with games, determining which desk groups are "working" or not, or a variety of other uses. It's definitely unique and has potential to be helpful!

Overall, ClassDojo has helped me organize information on students, in a manner that is easy, efficient, and thorough.