Schools take advantage of ClassDojo app to engage students and parents
Rebecca Cissel, fourth grade teacher at Forest Heights Elementary, uses ClassDojo to communicate with parents and to keep students
motivated and engaged in the classroom. Cissel uses the app on her iPad and on the class SMARTBoard.
It’s a fun game for students and a helpful classroom management tool for
teachers, and it helps parents know more about how their children are doing
each day.
With the new school year underway, a growing number of classrooms in
Gaston County Schools are using ClassDojo, a free app that helps improve
parent-teacher communication and motivates students to stay engaged in the
classroom.
Designed to look like a game, the app features colorful cartoon monster
characters. Teachers can reward students with virtual points for good
classroom behavior such as bringing materials to class or helping another
student.
ClassDojo also functions as a link between home and school. Parents can
check it to see how their child is doing and send and receive messages from
their teacher throughout the day.
According to the app’s developers, more than 35 million individuals
across the country are using ClassDojo at one of every two schools.
Here’s a look at how ClassDojo is a success at two of our schools:
■ Forest Heights Elementary
“We have a higher level of parent engagement with ClassDojo compared
to other methods of communication,” said Tim Hardin, school counselor at
Forest Heights.
Not all teachers use the app -- it is done on a voluntary, classroom-byclassroom basis -- but of those who do, Hardin has found it helps parents
stay more involved.
Nearly 70 percent of the parents at Forest Heights are connected through
ClassDojo, he said.
As a fourth grade teacher at Forest Heights and parent of a second grade
student, Rebecca Cissel has experienced the app from both sides.
“From a parent’s point of view, it’s awesome,” Cissel said. “I can see on
a day-to-day basis exactly what my son is doing, what he’s doing great and
what he’s having issues with.”
From a teacher’s point of view, Cissel said, “It’s an indispensable
communication tool … I am able to contact parents that in the past I have not
been able to contact.”
She sends group messages to her classroom parents at least once a week
just to let them see what’s happening during the day and can also use it to
remind them about field trips or to bring a notebook to school.
It also makes a difference in the classroom atmosphere, Cissel said. She
ties ClassDojo’s virtual points to paper tickets, allowing students to earn
prizes like lolipops and pencils.
“Students are trying really hard to gain points,” she said.
■ Grier Middle School
At the beginning of class, a Grier Middle School student helps the teacher
by using an iPad to give out ClassDojo points. She walks down each row of
desk and awards points to students for having a sharpened pencil, being
on time, wearing their lanyard, and bringing their homework and agenda to
class.
ClassDojo makes a difference, says Grier principal Loretta Reed. The
students are making more of an effort to be on time a