Topic: ClassDojo in the Middle School Classroom
Introduction
Since the beginning of the school year, behavior in middle school students has declined dramatically. Students have pushed the boundaries on what is appropriate behavior and in some classes in particular, it has become extremely difficult to reign them in. This disruptive behavior has impeded many lessons and become a topic of much discussion. Students have not been responsive to traditional classroom management practices causing the middle school team to become increasingly frustrated. This constant behavior problem has been a source of much debate within the school as a record 32 students have been put in suspension this year. The overwhelming question on everyone's mind is "What can we do to turn around the behavior?" In the past, positive behavior reinforcement was enough to turn behavior around, but it is clear that additional support is needed this year.
Hypothesis
It seems logical in this 21st century of technology that teachers would turn toward some type of technological solution. ClassDojo has made waves recently and has become a topic of discussion among educators. ClassDojo is an online behavior management tool. It allows each student to be represented by an avatar (some sort of green monster) which can be awarded points for positive displays of behavior. However, points can also be taken away from these little monsters for displays of negative behavior (Byrne, 2012). By default, there are six positive behaviors (teamwork, helping others, participation, hard work, on task and persistence), and six negative behaviors (disruption, disrespect, no homework, off task, unprepared, and talking out of turn) loaded in the program. While some of these would be widely used, you also have the ability to customize the actions for your class (Byrne, 2012). From there, it seems to be as easy as "point and shoot." You select the student you wish to recognize, and select why. The points are awarded or taken away, and you're done.
There are a few different ways this data can be changed and displayed. The website hooks up with an iPhone and iPad application where the data can be managed. This allows for real time updating as teachers don't have to remember who they want to reward as they are walking around and monitoring groups. They can do it from where they are standing without a second thought. There are also two ways for the data to be displayed. There is a public and private mode. In public mode, all updates are displayed on the screen in real time. In private mode, all students hear is a noise when points are given or taken away. They don't know who it was given or taken from. However, they do know the difference between the positive and negative. If a point is added, there is a sound of achievement, and if one is taken away, there is a disappointed sound (Singer, 2014). This presents an interesting discussion. Should the data be private or public?
Singer (2014), argues that it should be private. She mentions that this program could potentially harm students into believing that they are "the problem child" should their behavioral data be displayed for the entire class to see. This is obviously a concern that teachers take very seriously. However, this seems no different than the student constantly being on the "red" part of the traffic light. Nevertheless, keeping the data private would work best in the current school environment.
As well as the data being private, the researcher proposes that the system only be used to give positive reinforcement. As this is the behavioral philosophy of the school, using ClassDojo in this way would be reinforcing the primary attitude of the school culture. In a study conducted in one classroom using only positive reinforcement, the changes in behavior was dramatic. MacLean-Blevins (2013), conducted a study in one classroom for 3 weeks where she used ClassDojo only to award positive points. In some students, she saw a complete 180 degree change in terms of behavior. Students who weren't raising their hands, were suddenly raising their hands every time they wanted to speak. Disruptive behavior decreased and engagement went up by 10%. Students were less likely to talk to another student and were much more likely to check over their work when they were finished. While this study was only three weeks long, it was a dramatic improvement.
I propose that starting January 5th, 2015 the teachers in the middle school in question begin using ClassDojo with their students. ClassDojo will only be used for positive reinforcement and will be on private mode in the classrooms. From the research conducted, I hypothesize that behavior will change in a positive way. It will be up to the teachers to keep up with this method, but should each teacher use it to their full ability, the behaviors will change.
Implementation Plan
Implementation Requirements:
Each teacher must participate
Each student must be included in the program
Teachers will only give positive points
ClassDojo must be used in "Private" mode
At the end of the week, if a student has 30+ positive points, they will have access to the middle school store where they can "spend" their points
Points can only be given for the following actions
Working collaboratively
Raising hands and waiting to be called on
Assisting other students
Using positive words when talking to classmates
Following directions during transition times
The researcher will need to receive approval from administration in order to implement this plan. Once approval is given, two accounts will be created, a sixth grade account and a seventh grade account into which all students in each grade level will be loaded into their appropriate account. As students transition from class to class, the teacher will be able to track the points received by students throughout the day. At the end of each week, data will be collected and documented for comparative analysis.
Program Start Date: January 5, 2015
Reevaluation Date 1: January 26, 2015
Reevaluation Date 2: February 23, 2015
Comparing data each month will allow for to the researcher to assess effectiveness over time as well as from week to week.
Evaluation Process
The researcher will evaluate the amount of points awarded for each of the six behaviors per student and over all in each grade level. This will be documented and compared on a weekly basis. At Monday data meetings, the researcher will present the findings from the previous week and discuss how the implementation is working for each teacher, and make sure that each teacher is using the platform correctly and often.
Should the program be successful, the number of positive behaviors will increase. The students earning "school store" benefits will increase and student engagement should also increase. Positive behaviors will be measured by the ClassDojo accounts and will be recorded. The number of students being able to go to the school store will also be documented to track trends.
Teachers will be asked to review the program on a weekly basis in terms of student engagement. This will be on a Likert scale to allow the researcher to evaluate their answers and notice trends.
Conclusion and Discussion
Should the program be successful, the research will be presented to the administration to propose continued and expanded use of ClassDojo at the school in question. Each grade level could choose their own six behaviors to track depending on the age and current behavior problems of the grade level. As time goes on, new behaviors can be addressed if current ones are mastered. Should ones that are mastered and replaced become an issue, the teachers could simply begin to track that behavior again.
Should the program be unsuccessful, the research would still need to be presented to administration as to why the continued and expanded use of ClassDojo would be discouraged. A sounding board would need to be created to find alternate ways of helping the behavioral problems of the school in question. There are other programs similar to ClassDojo and ones that are completely different. All of these would need to be considered and evaluated at that time.
With the research completed, the researcher is confident that the implementation of ClassDojo would dramatically increase the positive behavior of middle school students. It would save teachers from many frustrating days, and students from falling behind in their content. Overall, the change would be one of a positive nature and will hopefully alter the behavior for the long term.
References
Richard, B. (2012). Classroom Management Made Fun. School Library Journal, 58(11), 15-15.
Maclean-Blevins, A. & Muilenburg, L. (2013). Using Class Dojo to Support Student Self-regulation. In . Jan Herrington et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2013 (pp. 1684-1689). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Singer, N. (2014, November 14). Clicks, not gold stars. New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1625282990?accountid=11411