Guest Post: Dojo and PBiS

Today's guest post is brought to you by 5th Grade teacher, Olivia Alkema.
  
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I had heard great "buzz" about the Class Dojo app. So I downloaded the app, set up my class, and started brainstorming with colleagues about how to best use this tool in my classroom. I love it AND my students love it! My students love their little monster icons. I use it along with the school wide PBiS system. Anytime I would normally hand out a Bee Cool slip I give my students a Dojo point. Also anytime I see "off" behaviors I can deduct a point. This has saved me from carrying around my little clipboard of Bee Cool Slips and helped me to focus on the positive side of PBiS rather than the discipline part of it. The students also respond really well to the system. When they heard the "ding" of a point being given, I see them immediately check their behaviors to see if the point may have been given to them or if their behavior might earn a point. At the end of the day, the total positive points they get a Bee Cool slip for each positive point they received throughout the day. As a teacher I love this, because I only hand out Bee Cool slips once per day, the kids have a time to fill them out once per day, and they are eager to see how many they earned. There are reports you can run for a data piece, but I have not looked into that quite yet. Try it out! It might work for you too!