In the past month, my class has become very close. The sense of community has been established, and now I am fine-tuning some things. For example, seating arrangements have morphed, the class library has a system, class jobs have a smooth schedule, all the teaching components are working out and lesson planning is finally down.
For this post, I want to share two technology tools that have helped my year get off to such a great start. I have plenty more, but I'll share them as the year goes on. I'm trying some for the first time myself, and I need to decide if they are worth it.
ClassDojo
I'm tired of hearing about it too - everyone has an opinion on it, good or bad, but it works for me. I use it as a student motivator, an accountability system and a parent connection. ClassDojo is a fun addition to my classroom. I don't show the kids their points all the time, usually when I need a timer (it has one on the website) the kids can see their points. The kids can use their points every two weeks on various items like 'lunch bunch,' sit by a friend, etc. For the program to work, I make sure that I add importance to the point, and its getting to the point where all you hear is the "ring" and students suddenly adjust their behavior. It's pretty awesome. As well, this app has basically eliminated the need for the Remind app because ClassDojo has recently introduced a Class Story which is sort of like a social network only for your students' parents. You can share visual updates, standard text updates and more. It brings your parents into the classroom and solidifies the parent connection every efficient classroom needs. The app and website both work seamlessly. No need for any other behavior or parent contact program.
CommonTeaching.com
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| www.commonteaching.com |
This is an amazing, very clean website where you can organize your lesson plans. It's an interactive lesson plan book that you can use all year, every year, with any class. It takes teacher collaboration to the next level because it's easy. You can customize every piece of it, and my favorite is that you are able to directly attach any documents, anchor chart ideas or websites. It's 100% free to plan and store your plans on their website, but if you wanted to print them out in a really nice PDF format they have an "upgrade" option. Although, I think it works just fine to have open on my computer all day. However, if you really wanted to print them, or have them with you at all times, just screen shot the screen and print them out. If they had an app for the iPad (which I'm sure they will soon) that'd be great, but they don't so I just screen shot. Again this site is one of my favorite!
