Class Dojo Incentives

The first month of school is almost coming to an end.  At this point, many teachers might have behavioral charts and other modifications in place.  One that my coteacher and I find rather effective is Class Dojo (www.classdojo.com).  It can be individualized or used as a class.  Each child is an avatar and positive or negative points can be given.  Some standard positive awards are participation, hard work, team work, persistence or on task. Some negative points are off task, disrespect, no homework, or unprepared.  If those don't suit your classroom, they can be changed.  

So you're probably wondering, now what happens after a class is created and the students start earning awards.  In our class, once a student gets 5 points, he/she gets to play on the iPad for the day.  It can also be free choice from a choiceboard.  Students can also be entered in a monthly raffle or choose a prize from the prize box.

We also use Class Dojo to account for homework.  We created a new class and changed all the negative awards to missing reading log, missing vocabulary, missing math hw, etc.  We changed the positive awards to makeup.  If a student doesn't have any points then he/she has a clean homework record and gets to enter into a monthly raffle.  If he or she receives three negative points, a note is sent home and he/she might have to miss Fun Friday or recess to do makeup.

Class Dojo is a great behavioral management tool and is highly recommended for any classroom.  A feature I like to use when I'm torn between choosing a student during classroom discussions or a volunteer is "randomly select," it's similar to picking a name out of a jar but digitally.  How awesome is that! The added sound effect for point up *ding and point minus *doom are a bonus too.  Don't forget to turn those speakers on.  It gets the students' attention and right on task. What a useful and effective tool!  Thank you, Class Dojo.