Module 1 - Collaboration with ClassDojo
Overview
This is a simple but important assignment. When you examine the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website, you notice that communication and collaboration skills represent a significant portion of the important skills identified within the Learning and Innovation Skills category. Such skills are arguably much more important for students to learn than more traditional academic skill...regardless of age. From preschool to seniors in high school, communication and collaboration skills need to be refined and practiced. They certainly reflect skills used in college and career, and it is up to each teacher every year to help facilitate them.
The document below presents detailed information about strategies you can use to help students learn skills needed to successfully and constructively get along in the classroom. Most classroom management issues, at any grade level, result from individual students acting or reacting to the types of interactions that define working in groups. Such groups can be small (two or three students) or big (whole class of students working together or independently). Review the information in the document below before proceeding with this project:
The document below presents detailed information about strategies you can use to help students learn skills needed to successfully and constructively get along in the classroom. Most classroom management issues, at any grade level, result from individual students acting or reacting to the types of interactions that define working in groups. Such groups can be small (two or three students) or big (whole class of students working together or independently). Review the information in the document below before proceeding with this project:
cooperative-learning-strategies.pdf |
This project focuses on using technology to help teach and manage positive, constructive student behavior as you build community in the classroom and help your students learn specific constructive collaboration skills. One of the best free tools I have seen that helps teacher manage behavior while providing the feedback needed to help students learn positive and constructive collaboration skills is ClassDojo. This tool is amazing...but it does need to be adjusted to make it useful in providing the feedback for students needed to learn good collaboration skills. You must complete the following steps in order to be able to use ClassDojo in your classrooms to manage student behavior and cultivate constructive collaboration skills.
To Do
Step 1:
Create a free account with ClassDojo. Play with the software to determine how it functions and how you use it to evaluate student behavior. Download the app if you like and use it on your smart phone as well.
Step 2:
Create a class that might be typical of your current or future practice. This might be a preschool class, a self-contained K-5 class, a specific subject-area class in middle school or high school....or something else. You only need to create a test class with 9 sample students enrolled. Create a screen shot* that displays your 9 sample students.
*There are many ways to take screen shots on your computer. This page presents the most common ways. It is an excellent scaffold.
Step 3:
After you create your test class with 9 students, create three separate groups for your class and assign three different students into each of these groups. You can name these groups anything you like. Create a screen shot that displays your three groups.
Step 4:
Edit the positive and negative behavior options for class so that they reflect constructiveness and destructive collaborative behaviors (click on a student and click edit skill). The only way students at any age will learn to improve their collaboration skills is if they get regular feedback over their group behaviors. Use the following chart of target behaviors to help guide your specific feedback options. Note that only some of these will apply to younger children and the wording should be adjusted to reflect the age/grade level of the students.
Create a free account with ClassDojo. Play with the software to determine how it functions and how you use it to evaluate student behavior. Download the app if you like and use it on your smart phone as well.
Step 2:
Create a class that might be typical of your current or future practice. This might be a preschool class, a self-contained K-5 class, a specific subject-area class in middle school or high school....or something else. You only need to create a test class with 9 sample students enrolled. Create a screen shot* that displays your 9 sample students.
*There are many ways to take screen shots on your computer. This page presents the most common ways. It is an excellent scaffold.
Step 3:
After you create your test class with 9 students, create three separate groups for your class and assign three different students into each of these groups. You can name these groups anything you like. Create a screen shot that displays your three groups.
Step 4:
Edit the positive and negative behavior options for class so that they reflect constructiveness and destructive collaborative behaviors (click on a student and click edit skill). The only way students at any age will learn to improve their collaboration skills is if they get regular feedback over their group behaviors. Use the following chart of target behaviors to help guide your specific feedback options. Note that only some of these will apply to younger children and the wording should be adjusted to reflect the age/grade level of the students.
Step 5:
After you have developed your feedback options, take screen shots of them and include them along with your other screen shots on a web page describing your class.
Step 6:
Summarize some specific ways you feel the ClassDojo application might support a feeling of membership, influence, integration/fulfillment of needs, and/or shared emotional connections for your class community.
After you have developed your feedback options, take screen shots of them and include them along with your other screen shots on a web page describing your class.
Step 6:
Summarize some specific ways you feel the ClassDojo application might support a feeling of membership, influence, integration/fulfillment of needs, and/or shared emotional connections for your class community.