How To Set Effective Classroom Behavior Goals With ClassDojo For Post-Pandemic Success

Teaching post-apocalypse … ummm … post-pandemic (my bad) has been full of trials and tribulations. Some might say (ME. I say it.) that it is almost harder teaching now than it was during the big COVID craziness … things have changed. Children have always been resilient, and I think parents and educators alike (me again!) have grown used to them bending and flexing as times change, but nothing has prepared us for the raw emotional turmoil the epidemic brought to both families and children.

There are just so many young children coming into school that don’t have coping mechanisms, more than ever before. So coming up with behavior goals is tricky, and finding what works one year may not work the next, or even ever again … thank goodness teachers are a flexible kind of people!

Step 1 – Pick a System

Have you been struggling to figure out how to manage your class in a way that reinforces positive behaviors? We’ve ALL been there … and to be honest, every class and every year is different – and needs a slightly different approach.

For the past five years, I set up my class on ClassDojo, which my school has used for many years to increase family communication and reward positive behavior choices in the classroom. We are all co-teachers on each others’ pages, so any staff member can give or take away points for my students. Talk about schoolwide accountability!

A nifty feature allows parents to see the points their child earns at school, whether they are positive or “needs work”.

I tend to give more points to those behaviors that take leadership skills, a growth mindset, or owning their own learning. These have the highest value to me and seem to create a level of community in my classroom that makes it a positive choice to take risks and work together.

See the note button?

A note feature even lets the teacher add a note as to the behavior choice, adding that extra layer of accountability for parents, students, and the teacher.

Anyhoo, since I was moving down to primary for the first time (somewhat against my will!) last year and was nervous about working with second graders (“little” kids scared me!) I decided to give them some tangible incentives to go along with Dojo. Expecting children to have internal motivation magically never really worked out for me. My professors in grad school made it sound like intrinsic motivation was just a given, and yet only 2-3 of my students each year ever demonstrate something like it – and I think it was more parental motivation than intrinsic motivation, if you get me.

So ClassDojo is the point system and positive reinforcer I use most in my classroom. Every year I change it up a bit, change the skills, or use complementary management tools with it, but Dojo is my starting point.

Step 2 – Set Goals

As with any system, setting goals gives your students something to work towards. Using such a visual program, like ClassDojo, manages the points for you. But setting a class or personal goal gets the buy-in you need to get your students on board.

At the start of the year, I set the first goal. After that, I let the class come up with the goals. Because I reset the Dojo points weekly, students have no idea how quickly they can reach the 1,000 point goal as a team. When they realize they have made it, they tend to be speechless (gotta cash in on that quiet minute, you know?!). We brainstorm all the possible “goal-reaching” parties we could have, and then vote as a class. I tend to steer them towards things that are unique and also easy for me … popsicles, extra recess, popcorn and a “movie” (do Bill Nye the Science Guy and episodes of Wild Kratts count as a movie?? LOL!), or something else quick and easy. Our parties are always celebrated on a Friday at the end of the day – sugar them up, and then send them home to their parents for the weekend (WAHAHAAAA!!!).

Step 3 – Determine a Tangible Reward

Besides the class goal, I have individual rewards for my students as well. Each ClassDojo point that they earn is paid to them on “payday” (every Friday) in the form of Classroom Money. This makes their points tangible!

I printed out the denominations on different colors of cardstock so that students would always recognize the color and associate it with the value. Cardstock is sturdier and can be used repeatedly. Each student started with $10 on the first day of school, in a cool little zip wallet that I located on Amazon (26 Clear Zip Envelopes). They held up reasonably well, considering they are shoved into desks, dropped on the floor, stepped on, and ripped open with exuberant little fingers each Friday in anticipation of payday.

Dojo Store – I soon realized that my current students were thrilled with the smallest rewards, and I kind of geeked out finding pens and notebooks, fidgets, and little toys for them to buy with their Monster Money. My 3rd graders last year would have been very happy with the reward coupons I created, but this year my 2nd graders are all about hands-on fun, so I jumped in with both feet. Just Google “fidgets” or search for them on Amazon or other stores, and a jazillion options will pop up.

Just open the cupboard and the “store” pops out, ready to go! The shorter students need some help reaching the top row 🙂

I am not the most organized teacher in the world, but I did want to keep these visible without having to get them out and have a lot of set-up on store days, so I purchased a shoe organizer that fits over my teacher cupboard and I wrote prices on labels for each pocket.

This year, I only let students choose one item each week up until May. Many of them are still learning how to add up the dollars they’ve earned, and the math of subtracting multiple things would be too much. However, I’ve seen 3rd graders up for the task of doing that, some with support, so around May I gave them the option of buying multiple items at once. ***Next year I would cut the store organizer in half horizontally and hang it lower, side by side, so kids could reach all of the pockets. Having them stand on a chair to reach the top makes me worry about them!

So, the time commitment for this is pretty minimal. I have a 30-minute chunk of time on Friday afternoons for independent reading, and I call students over one at a time to give them their Dojo points for the week in the form of Monster Money. After I pay each student, I clear out the ClassDojo points for the week and start fresh on Monday.

The total points for the class still accrue, but I find with everyone at zero on Monday, there is less sense of which students are “the best” or “the smartest” because they have 287 points and another student only has 42. When they start over each week, they are very invested in earning each and every point. Though we have payday every Friday, we have store every other Friday. That way the anticipation is so much more fun! Also, I only have the energy to have store twice a month!

Click here to view the Classroom Economy in my TpT store.