Article
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Summary:
Ms.
Merino is a reporter for the Vator News. She interviewed and researched
classroom behavior management. Her report stated that 77% of teachers surveyed
admitted that their instruction would be more effective if they did not have to
spend so much of their time handling behavioral issues. The surveyed parents
agreed that their child’s teachers are distracted with behavior management. In
another study, 43% of teacher stated that they spend half of their day devoted
to behavior management. Ms. Merino wondered if the removal of corporal
punishment in schools is the cause of the current behavioral problems. William
Glasser stated, “prior to WWII schools did not have specific discipline
programs. The school would expel the unruly and flunking students if they
seemed unmotivated. The education system today keeps those students in school
and teachers have to find ways to keep them quiet.”
Today,
some schools’ discipline plans are the zero tolerance policies. The zero
tolerance policies remove students from the school for breaking the school
rules. The statistics show that the strict policies don’t help students with
behavioral issues. Instead, schools are looking into preventative measures to
avoid bad behavior. Students learn in positive learning environments that are
safe, secure, and supports caring relationships between the teacher and
students. The studies state that creating a positive classroom management is
about improving the students’ social skills by developing social-emotional
awareness and self-reflection.
A
classroom management solution that the article reviewed is called ClassDojo.
ClassDojo rewards good behavior and encourage character building. It is a free
service that allows teachers to customize the preferred behaviors and instantly
reward students for positive behaviors. When a student engages in positive
behavior, the teacher will award the student’s avatar with a point with a
online device. The student’s and their avatars are for participation, helping
others, creativity, great imagination, hard work, and presenting. Students can
lose points for being disruptive, late, not completing homework, interrupting,
getting out of their seat, and being disrespectful. Students are able to
monitor their own behavior and track their progress. Sam Chaudhary the
co-founder and CEO stated, “For too long, we’ve thought of behavior as
discipline. You get really bogged down in negativity. ClassDojo allows students
to work toward a goal rather than avoiding punishment, and the fact that their
progress is put on display for everyone to see makes good behavior something
the whole class is involved in, rather than just the responsibility of a few
problem students.” ClassDojo also aims to create a sense of community in a
classroom. The students will develop a sense of belonging when he or she feels
like they are an irreplaceable member of classroom community which they will
form an attachment to the class.
In
a survey of teachers using ClassDojo reported 50% to 80% increase in positive
classroom behavior and 45% to 90% decrease in negative behaviors. Special
education teachers found the resource more productive in positive
reinforcement. Instead of using sticker charts to track the students’
behaviors, the special education teachers can use the ClassDojo to monitor
behavior progress.
Reflection
I
think the ClassDojo has the potential to be great resource for classroom
behavior management. The teacher reviews, the study’s results, and the
students’ engagement have persuaded me into thinking the application would be a
great tool to be used in the classroom. Unfortunately, I have some concerns
about the practicality of the ClassDojo. In order for ClassDojo to work, the
classroom would need a tablet or a computer easily accessible to record the
students’ behaviors. ClassDojo is unique by allowing the students to monitor
his or her progress while evaluating other classmates’ performances. Students
without Internet accessibility at home would not be able to monitor their
progress. Another concern of using the ClassDojo is the amount of time and
effort of the teacher to record all the students’ behaviors. In order for the
program to be successful, the teacher must be consistent in recording the
students’ behaviors. The time taken away from student learning while constantly
recording the students’ performances could be problematic. I believe the
program could improve classroom management if the teacher has access to the
Internet in the classroom, a device that easily accessible to record, the
students accessibility to the Internet inside and outside of school, and more
ease recording the students’ behaviors.
Works Cited
Merino,
F. (2012, August 20). Resetting education: An app for classroom
management? Retrieved July 28, 2013, from
Vator News website:
http://vator.tv/news/2012-08-20-resetting-education-an-app-for-classroom-management
