Dojo

I've been using a behaviour tool called Class Dojo, or Dojo for short for just over a year and I'm HOOKED! Why? It appeals to my IT obession, the reward scheme is portable as it's an app and it hooks the kids with the cute avatars and sense of accomplishment of doing the right thing.

I love the fact I can make the behaviours specific for my class and change and add as the year progresses and as a need arises.  I also have the kids on board to look out for specific behaviours i.e someone who is packing up straightaway or someone who is using their whisper voice, a big one we are struggling with.

The other side to Dojos is the accountability for the children as their parents sign up for weekly automated updates.  Getting parents on board isn't hard as some of them have commented they would love to use it at home. 

This year I found an idea that a lot of American schools are using, trading their Dojo points for an incentive within the class.  So after trawling Pinterest (I will post about this AMAZING site in the near future) I found some already made incentive cards. 

So this is how it works in our class. 2x a term the kids trade their Dojos for a reward that they want (we came up with some ideas at the start of the year - another ITY strategy, kids will be motivated to earn points when they have buy in of the reward/incentive).  Yesterday was trade in day and the class was a buzz. Great conversations like "oh if I remember to take my books home without being told I might get a dojo, if I stopped straightaway I might have had more Dojos, well done" ... "You can pick anything you want because you have so many Dojos."

Also the age of my children allows me to teach the children about delayed gratification and setting goals. 

Monday is reward day, which got me thinking some rewards require children to bring something from home i.e a hat, a favourite toy or a night off homework. So I made up a little certificate letting home know what their child has picked. All children receive a Dojo reward as the minimum is 10 points with a lot of children receiving over 20 points, so even those naughty students have an opportunity for a reward. At a glance I can see who doesn't have many Dojos at the start of the day and I make it my goal to find something positive about that child that is a genuine and meaningful reason. 

Another POV