#edchat about Class Dojo

Being married to a teacher is exhausting because you work really hard all day (one on her feet is worth three in the seat, you know?) then spend all kinds of time outside of school prepping and grading and building your PLN (got to keep up with the #edchats and #teachersofinstagram meanwhile annoying all of your non-teacher friends and family all over social media) and then you get to rehash it all at home.  It's nice because we can relate and support, but it's tough because it also never seems to stop being about school.

Dickens when they aren't teaching.

I got an email recently announcing that I am a Class Dojo mentor.  While this has little meaning to many people it caused a small spat in the Dicken home.  I was super excited (there are stickers and badges and FREEBIES involved!) but the Mr. was not.  My husband uses Class Dojo in his kindergarten class like a madman (he wrote a blog about it), and he may have felt a tad slighted that he was not chosen as a mentor.  Prior to this email neither of us had known Class Dojo mentors existed but now it's out there and the Dickens are a competitive group of people.  All this to say that at our house and in our classrooms we love Class Dojo!

Class Dojo is a website/app that can be used as a behavior management tool and a way to communicate in a very positive way with parents and students.  We all used to use the old school behavior chart where Johnny moves his clip and misses recess.  A lot of educators are starting to question that method.  The amazing thing with kids is that they come in all shapes and sizes and they just don't all fit into that clip chart model. Class Dojo provides an alternative for the connected generation.

One of my favorite features is the option to message parents and send photos.  I try to send messages to relay accomplishments in the classroom and send the occasional pic.  I get the nicest messages back from parents.  I feel super connected and appreciated when parents message me questions or praise the job that I am doing.  Most parents want that involvement and feedback.  Thanks Class Dojo for making that possible.

Dinosaurs and ChatterPix

After almost two weeks, we finally finished all our hard work on our research papers.  The kids did such a nice job.  See some examples below.

We also completed a Pinterest art project to go with it.  They look super cute!

(Yes that is a stegosaurus getting eaten by a T-rex).

  A teacher's dream come true to have our science flow right into our writing and then a perfect art project to go along with it.  I love dinosaurs and I love these projects.

The final step once our research papers were published was to add a technology element to the project.  The students got to make a ChatterPix from their finished paper.  ChatterPix and ChatterKid are both apps that allow kids to take or choose a photo.  They can make up a silly greeting or use it as a digital element in their school work.  They loved it!  We lost a little steam in the publishing phase.  Typing is hard work for third graders!  But the promise of creating a ChatterPix helped us find the motivation to accomplish our goal.  ChatterPix is free on the app store and my preschool age daughters, my third graders, and my teacher husband all love it.

That Kid.

I have a challenging student in my class this year.  My friend provides daily entertainment and challenges. This is the kind of kid that you do not forget.  My friend makes you laugh out loud.  My friend sometimes makes you cranky.  Above everything else, this kid makes you question how to reach the unreachable student.  The truth in education (and maybe life) is that I cannot force a child to do something they do not want to do.  I can encourage, plead, bribe, challenge, inspire, threaten, punish, cajole....  But I cannot make a child do his/her math or listen in class or even remove his/her head from inside of his/her desk (yes that happens, btw) if he/she is really determined otherwise.  My friend has figured this out.  So what do you do?!  MINECRAFT.

It turns out my friend has a major obsession with MINECRAFT and everything that goes with it.  So, instead of trying to change the subject back to fractions, or conjunctions, I'm embracing MINECRAFT.  I spent some time looking for things to engage students with MINECRAFT and educating myself about this game, because my world at home is still basically Disney princesses. I found some awesome FREEBIES from TPT, including these editable bookmarks from a seller called Prime and Pi.

 I splurged on a paper craft item at Walmart, and we are off.  My friend is responding, but I am learning a lot in the process.   I discovered that MINECRAFT is being used in many classrooms to teach a variety of different subjects.  I'm planning a math lesson next week with it and exploring how to use it beyond simple motivation in the future.

It takes some effort to get to know your students, but it really pays off.  I'm sure this won't work forever.  Problem students can't be fixed by MINECRAFT.  However, sometimes they can be motivated by it.