Ninja-Style Management with Class Dojo for iPad

I’m a big fan of martial arts, and even though I don’t have any moves of my own, I am working hard to develop the ninja frame of mind.  Aside from being potentially useful in dark school parking lots and deserted copy rooms, ninja skills have plenty of other real world applications.  In the case of this blog post: classroom management.

Through the recommendation of a colleague, I discovered Classroom Dojo, which is a super effective online management system that not only made me want to watch The Karate Kid on Hulu, but also try out the Dojo mojo in my own classroom. 

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(This is what the ClassDojo interface looks like on the web.)

Ninjas achieve balance through focus, which is awesome because that’s what ClassDojo provides.  My students spend at least half of each period engaged in collaboration.  Any middle school teacher will tell you that sometimes it is difficult to get kids to keep their eye on the target. This is where the ClassDojo iPad app comes into play.  Using the app, I get to be stealthy, walk around the classroom, and facilitate.  No more verbal ninja star reprimands or redirects!  As I observe or interact with students, I add points to their group for positive behaviors and subtract points for negative behaviors.  My iPad screen is mirrored on the projector using an AppleTV, and I keep the ClassDojo app open so students can gauge their own effectiveness as a group.  They get excited when they earn points and quickly redirect themselves when they see points slipping away.

This might be a good time to mention that each group is represented on the screen by a pretty-gnarly-but-still-cute monster avatar.  There are other avatar themes you can choose from when you set up the class.  Or, students can even design one for themselves. Whatever you decide, they tend to view the avatars as their mascots and get totally into it.  

A few super cool features of ClassDojo that every Sensei should note:

• Teachers are able to print out reports and graphs of student behavior using the website.  This could be especially important to Special Education teachers or those who have students with behavior support plans.  

• Students can log in and view their own behavior progress.  If you want to enter your kids one by one into the system, then you can issue each student a username and password.  This can do wonders to increase ownership over behavioral choices and also offers a cool home connection. 

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• Positive and Negative behaviors are customizable.  For example, my school has a ton of English Learners and the staff works hard to ensure they are always speaking in complete sentences.  I customized the app and made “using whole sentences” one of my positive behaviors.  Now, my EL’s are deliberately speaking in complete sentences and receive positive attention for doing so – which in turn reinforces the habit for the future.  
• Track unlimited behaviors.  Need more behavior options?  No problem.  You can add (or subtract, for that matter) behavior categories with the click of a button.

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Well, what are you waiting for?  Turn your classroom into a dojo and develop your mad ninja skills, Sensei.  And just in case you need it, here are a few more wise words from Mr. Miyagi:

Click HERE to go to the App Store to download this insanely awesome app!
Price: FREE!

Click HERE to go register on the ClassDojo website.
Price: FREE!

By Jessica Pack
Follow Me on Twitter @Packwoman208