Overall it is a great tool to manage student behavior and communicate it to parents.
Community Review for ClassDojo
My Take
This product isn't exactly a "teaching tool" but it is a great app. I work in a difficult school district and many teachers have trouble getting students to behave long enough to actually teach. This app allows for better classroom management so teachers spend more time teaching and less time disciplining students. Even if you do not have difficult students (which I only had a few) you can use this app to reward the students that are on task and monitor negative behavior on daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
How I Use It
I have this on my Smart Board as soon as students come into my room. Rather than staying, "Sara, sit down and do your bellwork," I would give positive points for the students that were on task. Most of the time this redirected the off task students. Once a student had 5 positives in a week they would get a treat from the treasure box. One negative is a warning, two negatives is a phone call home, three negatives is a detention, and the fourth is an office referral. I keep this on my board all class period unless I need the board for something else. Even if it is not up, I have the app installed on my smart phone (and the students know this!). So let's say Billy is not on task while ClassDojo is not visible. I would simply say, "Billy you are off task and that is one negative." I would log it into the app and Billy would be able to see it when Dojo is back up. What makes this work in my classroom is consistency. Students know what to expect from me every day. IT WILL NOT WORK IF YOU ONLY USE IT OCCASIONALLY! I have seen several teachers complain about it not working but they only use it to show negative behavior on days students are misbehaving. You must use it every day and show the positive things students are doing as well.