In my role as student teacher, I have acquired more responsibilities in the classroom. One of the questions I have with regard to students in the classroom is how to truly motivate them. My cooperating teacher uses an app called "Class Dojo," through which points are awarded to students (or the class) for either being on task, participating in class activities or displaying good behavior. As I have looked into Class Dojo I have determined that the purpose is for teachers to encourage students and to share positive moments with parents.
I think it is a great tool to connect with parents as they can view their child’s progress. However, the ability for the teacher to add or subtract points digitally seems the same as posting a chart and receiving stars for good behavior. Depending on the setting used, all the students in the class are able to view how many points each student has accrued. I would assume the private setting is best to use so that other students and parents do not have access to the points that others have accumulated........or not accumulated.
During the first week of student teaching I was asked to award points to students for being on task. However, I began to question myself with regard to awarding individual student points, I decided to give the class as a whole a point for being on task. I did not feel it was the right thing to do to award individual points on this app. I have some concerns............I believe this is a form of extrinsic motivation that only will work in the short term. Further, I believe that we as educators must seek to motivate our students through intrinsic means. Thus, my question to you is this....... what kind of motivational strategies do you use to engage and encourage students?
I enjoyed reading your post! If I were you I would try to make up your own classroom management plan which may motivate your students to pay more attention to you while you are teaching. Thats what I have done with my students and it worked! The class dojo seems to be a great system but some things work for certain people. I love how you started to give the class a point for the whole group which makes them work together as a team. The strategy I use to encourage my students is the warm fuzzy jar which they receive a pom pom in their jar when they are doing something good and when they fill it up they receive a class party. Also, I use a lot of visuals which keeps their attention and if you see them start to doze off and not pay attention throw in a brain break which you can find on GoNoodle or any type of fun video on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I agree with you. I do not believe in public individual reward systems which, in my opinion, publicly demoralize some students. We need to create life long learners, people of character, contributing members of society....I motivate my students through my absolute passion and love of, not only math, but their success. I believe in my students. I know that each one of them can be successful in math. I let them know each day I believe in them....they come to my class eager to learn and on most days, they don't want to leave. I run a pretty tight ship and have extremely high expectations for my students. They are there to learn in a joyful and safe learning environment. That's their motivation.
ReplyDeleteFollow your instincts, follow your heart....Also, read Nicole's post above again...what she does with the pompoms creates and instills a sense of community. Fantastic! As a class they are rewarded, all students, with a class party when the pompom jar is full.
Be amazing....Roe
What a great post! I have been wondering some of the same things myself. In my classroom there is a behavior chart that is visible to all students. While I do not think that is ideal, it does seems to work and is a school-wide method of classroom management. Along with that, we also have a warm fuzzy jar for collective class behavior and are having a movie/ice cream party next week (that the children chose and voted on) as the class has earned enough for the party reward. Class dojo is a great tool, but I agree, the setting should be private so classmates cannot see each other's score. We also use GoNoodle for our brain breaks. It's great seeing all of the similarities in our classes, but I too am curious to see all of the other responses from the different classrooms for suggestions on how to motivate my students.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post Jim! In my classroom we have two forms of behavior charts that are also visible to the students. The first has students names on clips and everyday they start on "ready to learn". Depending on behavior clips can either go up or down. The second is table points so if a whole table is ready and everything is cleaned up they get a point. Table with most points at the end of the week gets prizes from the basket. These systems work, I've seen it myself. It helps with classroom management and behavior. I feel teachers should notify parents through email or phone because that is more personal. I don't agree with class dojo because not all parents may look at it. There are many ways to motivate students. I liked one idea where my teacher taught a lesson on pennies. She gave each student a penny and had them each answer a question about pennies and in exchange for the penny she gave them erasers. Different teachers have different strategies, it depends on what works for you and your students. You all need to be on the same page so that the day runs smoothly.
ReplyDeleteLauren I enjoyed reading your post. I personally do not agree with the clip system within the classroom because I feel as though it effects students learning because they may be more focused on the clips rather than paying attention in the classroom. I believe there are many other ways to motivate students in order for them to succeed.
ReplyDeleteMotivation should come from the materiel. Henry Wong talks a great deal about different ways to motivate students. I personally prefer to just point out great behaviors. Praise is a great way to motivate students.
ReplyDeleteMotivation should come from the materiel. Henry Wong talks a great deal about different ways to motivate students. I personally prefer to just point out great behaviors. Praise is a great way to motivate students.
ReplyDelete