Thing 13 - Classroom Tools

Text Your Class
Remind 101

Often times at the lower elementary level, notes don't make it home to the parents.  Using Remind 101 would send an e-note straight to the parent.  Another problem this app solves is when students come from 2 homes and only one parent is getting the information; the information goes out to everyone that needs to know!  All information is from the teacher and avoids any 2nd hand or 3rd hand mis-information.






Monitor Behavior
Class Dojo

   

I currently use a version of the stoplight.  Students pull a card with each negative behavior.  Green, Yellow, Orange, Red.  Students get a ponder sheet at orange and a visit with the office at red.  The ponder sheet has to be taken home and returned with a parent signature.  After visiting with the Principal, I make a phone call home.  It does display negative behavior and I know it doesn’t work with all students.

I think Dojo would be good to use because it recognizes positive as well as negative behavior.  There are always the students that never get into trouble and this would recognize them because you are able to record good behavior.  I could see students that are competitive trying to up their “score”.  I think students and parents would respond well to the recognition of positive behavior.  Some parents only hear the negative things about their child, this would help you track the positive behaviors to share with parents.  Parents could get notifications on the very day of the behavior with the messaging feature.


Teacher Tools
Power Teacher

Our school has been using Power School for a few years now.  I recently began using Power Teacher for the iPad.  I really like being able to access the gradebook from my iPad.  I can put on an educational video on the smart board (which is connected to my classroom computer), but cannot enter grades since my classroom computer is already in use.  By using the iPad app, I can enter grades while I have a “moment”.  I can also walk around the class and enter grades while making observations.  The only thing I haven’t been able to do is access the standards.  These are marked at report card time using a 1, 2, 3, 4 score for mastery of a standard.  If there is a way to do it, I haven’t found it.




GroupMaker

Learning to get along and work together is such an important skill in today’s work environment.  This skill can be difficult for second graders.  To make it worse, I can often get into a rut by choosing groups and not switching them up.  With group maker, I can have random groups made up everyday or even every hour.  I like that it can make groups of different sizes and variety.  I look forward to seeing my students stretching themselves and learning to get along with all of their classmates.