ClassDojo

ClassDojo is amazing! ClassDojo is a behavior management tool for the classroom. Each student has a profile- complete with their own avatar-to which teachers can assign positive and negative points throughout the day. Its mission is to reinvent classrooms by bringing teachers, students, and parents closer together. The main thing I like about using ClassDojo in the classroom is parents and students have access to it as well as teachers. Students are able to earn points and receive instant encouragement from their teacher. Also, parents can receive instant messages, videos, announcements, etc. from the teacher to keep track of their children in the classroom. For some teachers, classroom management is one of the biggest challenges they face and they are always searching for something that will work. Well, at least that is what my practicum teachers have told me during my practicum experience thus far. Although I haven't had a practicum teacher to use Class Dojo in their classroom, I have heard a lot of other teachers talking about it and implementing it into their classroom.

Flipping the Classroom

If we think back to elementary, junior high and maybe high school, most of us were probably taught in a traditional classroom. We all should be familiar with a traditional classroom, where you basically listen to lectures and other guided instructions in class and take notes, but what about a flipped classroom? A flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typically lecture and homework elements of a coursework are reversed. Let’s break it down… in a flipped classroom the lectures are viewed by students at home by their teacher before the class section. So, basically the content is being delivered at home, while in class time is used for discussions, activities, and any questions that the students don’t understand after viewing the lesson. 

 I know that you’re thinking that this sounds great, but what if students don’t have access to a computer at home or what if they have access to a computer, but don’t have access to the internet? For the students who don’t have access to a computer at home, teachers can load the videos onto a flash drive or students can go over to a friend house. Most schools have Wi-Fi! Therefore, the students can bring their own devices to school (Mac/iPad) and download the videos from iTunes U App to watch later at home. NO CONNECTION NECESSARY! The students who don’t have access to the internet at home, teachers can burn the videos onto a rewriteable DVD (discs that can be rewritten, but they must be erased each time you want to record new data. In addition to the flipped classroom, I like the fact that Tracy came up with something called the Faux Flipped Classroom. With a faux flipped classroom, students can watch the assign videos in class. This is typically for students who don’t have access to a computer or internet at home. The video below is a great example of a faux flipped classroom.

Apps to flip your classroom:
Educreations (This app is my absolute favorite)
Screenchomp
Doceri
Nearpod
Edmodo
ShowMe
Explain Everything