DING! BONG. The Sounds of Class Dojo

It begins as a muffled conversation as they walk in line down the hall to lunch.
Next, a quiet laugh with a classmate sitting nearby during independent reading time.
Soon, someone is dabbing in the middle of a math lesson and another kid has a fidget spinner whirling across his nose. Ah, how quickly they grow up in the month of September!

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Managing student behaviors has taken many forms in my classroom over the years. I've tried paper money, behavior color cards, raffle tickets, donuts, songs and dances, bribes, individual behavior contracts, class pets- you name it. And while some of those things, or combinations of those things were highly effective for some groups of students, nothing has been as effective as Class Dojo.

Class Dojo is a simple to use app that assigns a cute little monster (see what they did there?) avatar to each student's name. Teachers customize behaviors they want to award (DING!) or take away points (BONG) for (smart teachers like me link them to the work habits and behaviors on the report card... see what I did there?). Parents are linked to the Dojo via an app, so they have live updates on their child's behavior. Teachers can also send messages to parents through the app (no more hunting down e-mail addresses, just shoot them a text!) to report on behavior, academics, to send pictures, you name it!

While teachers use Class Dojo in a variety of ways, in my classroom it is primarily used as a positive reinforcement. At the beginning of the year, students are earning points from every miniscule thing that they do correct. Oh, you put your backpack in your cubby? Awesome, that's a point (DING!). Oh, how nice of you to help your friend get on the computer, that's a point (DING!). You get the picture. I completely frontload my students with positive reinforcement from DAY ONE. At the end of the day, students points are revealed and they squeal with delight to see how many points they've earned in "just one day!"

As the year goes along, point giving becomes more and more infrequent as students must work harder to earn points. They are no longer rewarded for following standard routines in December, but they may earn points for collaboration, or giving a presentation to the class. Certain projects may even be worth 5 points (DING DING DING DING DING!). However, students are also beginning to hear the dreaded sound of points being lost (BONG) as they engage in behaviors that are not conducive to the classroom. Passing notes instead of completing your writing goal? BONG! Running down the hallway? BONG! While the sound of points being lost is rare for my classroom in general, it does happen, and students have a conditioned response to those sounds. DINGS make them giddy, but a BONG makes them freeze in their tracks and wonder... was that ME? Did I lose a point?

But for the most part, kids are racking up the points in room 2. In my classroom Dojo points are used to “purchase” items at the end of each trimester. My kids decide what they should be able to buy and how much it should cost. They have come up with things that are SUPER important and valuable for 3rd graders, like: free homework passes (20 pts), lunch in the classroom (50pts), taking home a stuffed animal from the classroom for a night (75 pts... really, 75 pts...), pajama day (50 pts), bring in a bean bag chair for a week (100 pts), and so much more! It is always interesting to see how they decide to spend their points and to see what items they come up with for purchase. It may take some kids WEEKS to earn 75 points, and they are willing to blow it all for the chance to borrow a stuffed tiger for the night. Imagine the math that goes into this too- what can I afford to buy? Can I buy PJ day AND lunch in the classroom? How many points are left over?

BUT let's look at what's in play here- positive reinforcement for doing the right thing, motivation to meet the expectations, and socially constructed rewards that are NOT material in nature (meaning, they earn privileges, and I don't have to go spend all of the huge buckets of money I make teaching on pencils or erasers or other glitzy prizes that I obviously can't can afford). In addition, parents are happy, I'm happy, and kids are happily rewarded every now and then for working their tails off for me all day, everyday.

Revamping... for Motivation's Sake!

The air is heavy inside your classroom. It’s hot. Some kids are slouched onto their desks. Others are barely propped up by an elbow. You even see a yawn or two. Student mood and motivation is in a slump, and subsequently, yours is too. Not even a Snickers will help at this point. Mood, motivation, and emotion all have tremendous impacts on learning, and in order to avoid an outright Bueller moment, we need to ensure that we are empowering our students to take control over their learning and that we are planning authentic learning experiences to help keep motivation high!

One way to boost motivation is to reconsider how we evaluate students. Intrinsic motivation for learning is negatively affected when students are aware of a formal evaluation process. Formal evaluation can cause feelings of anxiety, which have proven effects on learning, performance, and cognition. Think, for a moment, about what taking the SBAC test must feel like for an eight year old. A silent classroom (how often does THAT happen?), one-to-one computer devices with text directions and 50 questions to do (or THAT?), the teacher circulating around the room for an hour NOT HELPING YOU AT ALL (Okay, that NEVER happens!). It’s unauthentic. It’s anxiety inducing. It’s terrifying. And, it’s not ok. While certain things are out of the realm of our control as teachers, we can work to design authentic learning projects, and evaluate for learning without the students even realizing it. In doing so, we preserve students sense of self-worth, confidence, and can keep student morale high.

This is all easier said than done, right? Wrong. It sounds scientific, but teachers do this kind of thing all the time. We’re always evaluating students informally, whether it’s listening in as a partnership discusses a book they’re reading, watching a student manipulate geotiles, or having a conversation with a student as they try to work out a real-life math problem like how many buses are needed for the school field trip.

In my classroom, students must develop a general understanding of the major organs and their location within the human body. Rather than drill and kill, which we know isn’t effective anyway, I put students into groups and have THEM become the teachers. Groups select a major organ of their choice to research about (they could even use this cool app) and then have to work together to somehow “teach” their learned information to the rest of the class. Groups have written songs, made slide shows, acted out skits, and even made “real size” models of the organs (you’ve never seen a party-streamer intestinal tract like that before!). Their presentations are always a great indication of their learning, and no “test” is needed. Students are relaxed, motivated, and they have fun learning content while I can easily and authentically evaluate them.

So, if you want to avoid the Bueller scenario, think about how you can REVAMP your evaluation process to improve student motivation.