I don't know about you all, but my classroom management system has always taken a lot of time to do. In the past I have had a card pulling system. Each student starts the day with 4 cards: green, blue, yellow and red. As children exhibited negative behavior they would pull a card. Green was a warning, blue meant 5 minutes of walking during recess, yellow meant 10 minutes of walking and red meant walking during the whole recess period. At the end of the day I would give students who did not pull a card a sticker on a calendar that was sent home. For the students who pulled a card I would write the reason the child pulled a card (if I could remember by the end of the day).
I may have "discovered" a new and exciting way to change all that! ClassRoom Dojo!
If you haven't heard of it, you really need to check it out. It's an online tool that is very easy to customize to your needs. Plus it's FREE! I love free, don't you? You can set up a single classroom or multiple classrooms, depending on what you teach. Students can choose an avatar from 2 categories: monsters and critters. As a whole class you determine what positive behaviors students can earn points for and what negative behaviors students can lose points for. When you see students exhibiting positive behavior, you click the child's name and choose the reason they are receiving the point. Same goes for negative behavior.
There are different ways parents can see their child's behavior chart. Each student receives a PIN that allows them to edit their avatar. Plus, parents with internet access receive their own PIN so they can set up their email address. On Fridays, the behavior report is emailed to the parent. If a parent doesn't have internet access, you can print a behavior report to send home. You can reset the points at the end of the week and start all over on Monday.
What type of management system do you use? I would love to hear from you!
Happy teaching!
Jeannie
