I am loving Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper's Tried It Tuesday linky. Each week I think "What can I try this week to blog about?" It is encouraging me to use many of the ideas I have heard or read about instead of just filing them away for "someday". Last Tuesday was the day I spent in the hospital- I don't recommend trying that!- and I didn't get to share, so today I'm going to talk about 2 new technology tools I've been using.
The first is Symbaloo. Symbaloo is a visual bookmarking tool. This has made it so mcuh easier for my little firsties to find the websites I want them to use in the classroom! Creating the webmix was super easy; it took me MAYBE about 15 minutes!
A few months ago I began to use Twitter as a source of professional learning. Something called Class Dojo kept popping up so I finally got around to checking it out this weekend. What is Class Dojo? From the website:
ClassDojo is a classroom tool that helps teachers improve behavior in their classrooms quickly and easily. It also captures and generates data on behavior that teachers can share with parents and administrators.
The teacher can award or take away points throughout the day for various behaviors which can be customized to fit your needs. The best part is there is an app for your smartphone so points can be awarded from anywhere. You can project the screen so students can instantly see when they have been rewarded, or they can log on at home using their secret code to track their progress. Parents also have access, and once they sign up, they receive a weekly report. My kids are loving this so far! If they even see me reaching for my phone they immediately get back on task! This week was a perfect time to test it out as we have been trapped in our classrooms without specials due to STAAR testing and have had to be super quiet in the halls. I've heard from a couple of parents who said their students came home Monday very excited about the program. The students can design their own avatar which was very exciting for my little friends!
Here is what the screen looks like using the sample class from Class Dojo:
I can't wait to share this tool with the rest of my first grade team!
The bookmarking tool looks so useful! I have to check it out. I started using class dojo too and it has been great so far! That might have to be a future "tried it" topic:)
ReplyDelete~Holly
Fourth Grade Flipper
P.S.
Sorry to hear you spent time last week in the hospital. I hope everything is okay.