WAP 6 - Parental Communications: ClassDojo

I see communication with parents falling into three different categories. The first, I would call “official communications,” and at my school, those all have to be handled by our RenWeb system. Anything that we send to a parent about a student’s progress or behavior or concerns we might have, are required to be sent using that system so a record of the correspondence is kept at the school. If a parent reaches out to us via email about such matters, we are encouraged to respond through RenWeb rather than just reply to their email, so that at least half the conversation is documented. So I have no choice in the matter here.

The second form of parental communication I would call “classroom happenings.” Currently, we send home a newsletter every other week with updates about we have been doing, and any important dates coming up or notices we have to pass on. That letter takes the form of a Google Document with view only permission and the link is sent to parents via RenWeb.

The third form of parental communication I would call “informal day-to-day updates,” where a parent gets a glimpse into their child’s day, and this is the piece I think we are missing out on. We are fortunate that children have to be dropped off and picked up in the classroom by a parent/guardian, so we do have the opportunity to quickly make a personal connection with most parents on most days. But there are some children who take part in our before or after school programs, or are transported by grandparents, and those parents we rarely see. I welcomed the opportunity to investigate ways to include parents in our day-to-day operations.

My initial thought was that we should create a class blog, which would be great, but not really an avenue for more personal individual updates. I looked at a number of lists of top parent messaging apps and saw ClassDojo listed on most of them.  It looked very comprehensive, so I decided to check it out and compare it to SeeSaw which I had investigated for an earlier WAP. 

In ClassDojo there is space for recording individual portfolios, a class story (class blog), and instant messaging options to connect with parents, who can also be invited to view the other areas.

My Demo Class

When I signed up for an account on my laptop, ClassDojo asked for my school and I was surprised to be connected to the “Mentor for my School,” a second grade teacher whom I did not realize used the program. I thought this was a great idea!  Since I was encouraged to go to her with any questions, I did just that to see what she thought of the program. She loves it!  But why?

When I asked that question she raved about the fact that she could use it on all platforms, she could post items to her class story (which is like a classroom blog), her students could post to their portfolios, and she could use it to instant message parents individually. In fact, she had just celebrated a birthday of one of her students that day and showed me the video she sent his parents of the class singing to him.

Screenshot of parent messaging page for my Demo Class

The thing she spoke most excitedly about though, were the behavior management tools that came with ClassDojo and how they helped manage her classroom. She could award or take away points based on behavior and invite parents to view their child’s progress.  The skills were editable, also.  She felt that inviting parents into this process helped them help her with classroom management.

Feedback area - positive points that can be awarded to students

ClassDojo makes daily informal parental communication quite easy, but not perfect.  The thing I am always wary about is the consistency launching such a program would require.  And the “plus” my mentor mentioned of being able to do it all real-time on her phone seems like it could be a “minus.”  I really don’t want my preschoolers to see me on my phone, because I feel it sends the wrong message. They don’t know what I am using my phone for - it all looks like “ignoring” to them.  In all, though, ClassDojo seems like a great solution for inviting parents into our day-to-day activities.