Class Dojo- Classroom Management

Being a first year teacher, I have come to realize that management is a vital piece of the classroom.  Without a clear structure and management technique, even the best lessons can turn out to be a nightmare.  The iPad has lent itself to be very helpful to use with classroom management.
Class dojo is a behavior management website.  Teachers sign on and create classes.  They enter in students' first names.  The websites create avatars for them.

During class, the teacher can click on students to give them positive points or negative points.  The website documents and keeps track of students behaviors.  Next to each avatar, is the number of points the student has earned.  Most of the time it has a green number but if the student is getting a lot of negative points, it could have a red negative number.
The teacher can pick the types of behaviors to select for her students.  Some of the ones that I have included are:

• on task
• helping others
• volunteering
• persistence
• working hard

Some of the negative ones are:

• off task
• talking at an inappropriate time
• disrespect
• hands on others
• not being prepared

As class goes on, the teacher can reward points as she sees students doing those behaviors.  This is a great way for teachers to keep track of behaviors.  Class prizes and rewards can be used to motivate students if need be.  In my classroom, if students have at least 75% positive behavior then they get to go outside for a dojo recess reward once a week.  This is motivating the students because they do not get recess in middle school.

The iPad comes into play for this by being a portable way to document behaviors from anywhere.  There is a class dojo app that makes it easy for teachers to add points from anywhere in the classroom.  This gives teachers the chance to monitor behaviors from right next to the student instead of being on the other side of the room.  I have the iPad hooked up to the computer so when the teacher adds a positive point, the whole class hears the ring, when she adds a negative point, the whole class hears the thump.  This reminds students to be do the right thing so they will get positive points added to their avatar.  Being able to walk around and stand next to a student and add points motivates them to continue the desired behavior or stop the undesirable.  It is also helpful to manage behaviors from across the room.  When students hear the sound, they monitor their own behavior to make sure they are doing the right thing.  If the hear a negative sound, all of the students who are doing something that they are not suppose to all look at the teacher.  The teacher will usually be looking at the person that is receiving the negative behavior point.  This will tell them to stop and to get on task.  

Students and parents can track the behavior from home if the have the dojo app or sign on to the website with a parent code that the teacher prints. 

Class dojo and the iPad work together in my classroom to monitor and report behaviors from all over the classroom.  Without the iPad, class dojo would be harder to manage and would be stationary.

Tablet Drawbacks

It is true that the tablets transform the classroom environment.  In some aspects, it is a positive change, and in other aspects, it is a pain!  With this new technology, students are given the freedom, independence, and resources to achieve far more than the could have before.  This is only if the technology cooperates.

There was an initiative to personalize learning for each student.   WIth the amplify tablets, teacher were suppose to implement interactive lessons to all students at their own pace.  Because there were so many technology issues, such as chargers breaking, wifi not working, or apps having errors for no reason, Amplify and Guilford County decided to suspend the PACE initiative and remove the tablets from the classrooms and out of the hands of students.  This decision was made mainly because there were safety concerns with the chargers.
Since the tablets were removed from the classroom, the daily activity and climate has changed in the classroom.  First off, there is no more cluttery mess of chargers and tablets charging in the back of the room!  The students also are less concentrating more on the details of the lesson because they are doing more writing and more moving around.  With the tablets, the students were more concerned with the text not being centered or having lag time while typing.  Now, it is all about the content and they do not have as much authentic hands-on experience with technology, which is unfortunate.
The students were very frustrated with the tablets.  Everyday, there would be at least 4 people with major tablet issues that would cause me to quickly troubleshoot or find another way to do the activity planned.  I was having to write multiple lesson plans for each class period to use a a back-up plan if the tablets were not working.  It frustrated the teachers because we could not rely on the tablets to do what they were intended to do, personalize learning.  The students would try to maneuver them and work the best they could with them, but many times, there would not cooperate.
Many of the students were relieved to get rid of the tablets.  Some of them stopped bringing them home and using them in class because the tablets were more of a hassle than a helpful tool.
The PACE plan has good intentions.  It was a huge project to bring on, especially given that the program was just vaporware last June.  This initiative should have had a trial period where they could have learned some of the problems and worked out the bugs before putting the tablets in the hands of over 15,000 people.  

MyCreate App

Two months into school (so weird to think that much time has gone by!), our classroom is working on taking advantage of every technology opportunity we have.  Some of the troubles we have been facing have to do with out tablets blocking certain content and websites, our tablet having glitches, or wifi problems.  It is not always a good idea to rely on the tablets or the technology.  That is why I usually have too lessons for each day.  

One for if the tablets and wifi are working and an old-school paper and pencil back up plan.  It is a little frustrating but the technology does wonders when it is working.

In math class, we have been working on ratios and unit rates.  Instead of just doing problems out, students have been doing higher level thinking tasks like creating their own word problems and models to represent the equations.  In this particular assignment, students worked in groups to formulate a word problem of their choice and represent the problem with models.  They wrote the problems and the solutions.

 They also had to work together to show the problem being solved.  It could be a model, a picture, or items to show the what is happening in the problem.  The students will then write the problem out and take pictures every so often to act like it is a movie.  They will also have pictures of the models.  With all of these pictures, the word problem would be written out and shown in the model. 

MyCreate is an app that allows for students to create still motion videos.  It is an easy to use program where kids can animate and make come to life pictures, models, stuffed animals, art projects and more! To create the projects, all you do is take a series of photographs.  Between each photograph, somebody will slightly move the object.  When all of the photographs are put together, the object will look like it is moving.  

This app is great for students to take ownership in their learning. If gives them the responsibility of coming up with a project idea, allotting jobs to different students, working cooperatively, and working with technology.  It also gives them a chance to work with the 21st century technology and editing skills.  This app can be used as a project to keep their interest and have them showcase their knowledge.