ClassDojo Full Review for Teachers and Parents

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ClassDojo is a classroom management system that allows teachers to track and manage students behaviour. Teachers can set up their own classes and invite students to join. Parents can also join the conversation taking place in class and keep track of their students learning. Students can create digital portfolios, access resources shared by their teachers or parents, and share their own resources.

ClassDojo's messaging system is a great way for teachers to communicate with parents, invite them to join their classes, and share with them the learning taking place in and outside class. 

The purpose of ClassDojo is to enhance 'classroom culture' and strengthen school community. This is done through a collaborative process in which teachers, students, and parents convene their efforts to create optimal learning experiences .  

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How to use ClassDojo in your teaching?

There are various ways to use ClassDojo in your teaching. These include:

  • Create a class (virtual space) for your students where you share things such as learning resources, assignments, class photos, lessons, PDFs, links, videos, events, announcements, and more. Class Dojo allows you to see who has actually seen the content you shared. 

  • Create events with automatic reminders for important meetings or assignments.
  •  Share class or school newsletters, record  and share updates.
  • Enhance students engagement by sharing different types of learning activities. You can choose how your students respond to your activities. You can select text, video, photo, drawing, worksheet, etc. You can also keep track of students submissions and more.

  • ClassDojo partnered with leading US universities (e.g., Harvard, Stanford, and Yale) to create videos, discussion guides, and follow-up activities to help students hone in their social emotional skills. These resources cover various topics including empathy, respect, positive thinking, mindfulness, growth mindset, gratitude, moods & attitudes, perseverance, among others.

  • Invite co-teachers and work together to create learning activities and lesson plans for your students.
  • Students can easily create their own portfolios where they share learning experiences and showcase their achievements.
  • Connect with parents and share with them their kids learning progress. You can also invite them to take part in the learning process by allowing them to participate in the discussions taking part in your ClassDojo classes.
 

ClassDojo teacher sign up

To register as a teacher, head over to ClassDojo Homepage and click on Sign up and select Teacher. Type in your information including your school email and click on Sign up. In case your school is already using ClassDojo, select its name from the school list and click on 'Join this School'. If your school is not on the list you can click on Can't find school? Add it now or skip to add it later.

How to add students to your class on ClassDojo?

Once you set up a class in ClassDojo you can then add your students. To do so, click on your class from your dashboard and select 'Add students'. You have two options: you can either add your students by typing their full names or you can copy students names from Word or Excel and paste them directly. 

ClassDojo student login

Students can log in to Classdojo using a class code, a QR code, or a Google account. Once logged in, students can use Classdojo the way they want. They can share photos, files, voice notes and many more. They can draw, add captions, annotate images. They can also build their own portfolios to share with others. 

How does ClassDojo's feedback system work?

As a teacher, you can use ClassDojo to share instant feedback with your students. ClassDojo uses a feedback system that is based on the concept of class values. There are pre-existing positive and negative class values that teachers can choose from. 

For instance, positive class values include helping others, participation, persistence, teamwork, working hard, and on task. Negative class values, or what ClassDojo calls Needs Work, include: lazy, good for nothing, unprepared, etc.

You can assign a point weight for each value (i.e., 1 to 5 points for positive values and -1 to -5 for negative values). Teachers can also add their own custom skills, ones that speak to their own teaching needs. Simply click on Add skills, input your value, and determine a point weight.   

Teacher parent communication in ClassDojo

You can use ClassDojo's messaging service to get in touch with parents without giving out your phone number. You can share files and images and schedule messages to set up reminders. Also, ClassDojo's messaging system supports multiple languages and your messages are automatically translated to parents' preferred language. 



How to create team groups in your class?

ClassDojo allows you to set your class into different teams. Setting up class groups allows you to easily grant points and values to the whole group. Here is how to create a class group:
  • Log in to your teacher account 
  • Click on Classroom tab then click on Groups
  • Select Add a group, type in a name for your group, and select the students you want to add to that group.
  • Click on Create a group. You can add as many groups as you want using the same process. 


ClassDojo resources

ClassDojo offers a wide variety of educational resources for teachers, school leaders, and parents. These include back to school resources, remote learning ideas, tips on how to use ClassDojo with your LMS (Learning Management System), and many more.


ClassDojo tools

ClassDojo offers a wide variety of helpful tools to use in your instructional activities. These include a Timer (e.g., to help you time your activities), Random (i.e., random name picker), Group maker (to help you create create groups in your class), Noise Meter (e.g., to help students control their noise levels), Directions (use it to add your instructions so you don't have to repeat them all the time), Think & Pair (a discussion tool to engage the whole class in conversation), and Music.

Attendance is another good tool from ClassDojo to use to take your class attendance. With a single click you can change students attendance applying different options (e.g., present, absent, tardy, left early, ect).  

ClassDojo Apps

Besides the web, ClassDojo is also available as an app for Android, iOS, and Chromebook

How much does ClassDojo cost?

As of writing this post, ClassDojo is free for teachers. But there is also a premium version called ClassDojo Plus available for parents for $4.99/month (or $59.99/year). ClassDojo Plus offers the following features: access to prior year's memories, detailed progress reports, unlimited feedback points, unlimited social and emotional learning content, fun family activities, and 3 additional subscriptions for family.

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