Diggin' the Dojo! (part 1)

Many years ago, a good friend of mine came to work at my school mid-year to take over for another teacher who was leaving.(Hi Gina!). Gina is my friend, not the crazy interesting teacher I'm going to tell you about, we'll call her Miss RewardsALot. Gina is by all accounts a master teacher. One whom I credit with many of my good teacher habits, but that's a whole 'nother post. Gina and I are very similar in our teaching and management styles, both very down to earth, very real with the kids and sometimes just the teensy-tiniest bit of sarcasm sneaks out (not the mean kind, I promise. The kind like when a kid comes to you with a nearly invisible paper cut and you ask if they want you to call 911. That kind.)

Around lunch time, I saw Gina looking less than laid-back. I just figured Miss RewardsALot's class was giving her a run for her money, which surprised me because she can handle just about anything. When she started telling me what was going on, it was like someone was setting her up to be on Punk'd- Sneaky School Edition.

Apparently, up until this point, in Miss RewardsALot's class the kids earned a cotton ball in a jar every time someone moved their stick in their pocket which allowed them all to get a marble in the compliment box as long as they walked quietly in the hall so they could also get a link on the hallway chain which also earned a point toward the pizza party reward if they reached the top of the behavior chart by getting 100 points in class bingo. Following? Yeah, neither did Gina, or the kids. This has become a running joke between the two of us. This teacher seriously had about 8 different behavior management strategies and none of them were working. It didn't take Gina long to empty the cotton balls, sticks and marbles and put one good system in place.

Now, why do I tell you this rambling story? Because lately I was starting to worry that I'm turing into a Miss RewardsALot. True Confession. I implemented the Clip Chart system two years ago and LOVED it. Still do. Then I found Behavior Bingo and it was a nice little addition. Then even with that, I felt like I needed a little something to motivate the class as a whole group, so the Fun Friday Bus drove into town. Now I recently stumbled upon Class Dojo and I'm hooked! I've been introducing my students to Dojo this week and it's really working. I actually have figured out how to seamlessly  make all of my plans work together, but I really am starting to feel a little like Miss R. eek!

ClassDojo is an online, interactive classroom management system that has really got my wheels spnning. Go ahead and check out Dojo and I'll be back again tomorrow to give you my review so far, complete with some changes I'd like to see and some that are already in the works.

I'm off to take down my Christmas decorations. Don't judge.