When news broke in March that we were moving to remote learning, the first thing that came to my mind was “Thank God for Class Dojo.”
Let’s Get Started with Remote Teaching through Class Dojo!
I knew right away that Class Dojo was going to be a focal point for my class. With the tools available to me with Class Dojo, I knew communicating with my students and their family was going to be a breeze. Let’s take a closer look at my typical day of remote learning with Class Dojo.
- Morning Routine
- Post morning announcements using the record option in Class Story.
- Morning announcements usually consisted of any school and/or district news, learning expectations for the day, and any reminders.
- Using the Events feature, post the Zoom class schedule for the day/week. In the description the Zoom links and codes/passwords are shared.
- Post links to lessons recorded on Loom and/or Youtube. These videos are usually related to what we discussed on Zoom and will lead into activities posted (see next bullet point).
- Post assignment(s) using Class Dojo Portfolios/Activities
- Meet with students via Zoom.
- Post morning announcements using the record option in Class Story.
- Afternoon Routine
- Send messages to individual families to check in.
- Post a choice board to Class Story for students to complete using Portfolios/Activities
- Meet with students via Zoom
- Post a closing announcement
- Usually summarizes the day, provide any reminders needed, finish with a closing of “I love you, I miss you, I will see you tomorrow.”
Class Story/School Story Record Option
Recording a Video
The ability to record a video in Class Story and School Story really helped in communicating with my students (and their families) while remote teaching. It also allowed for some feeling of “normalcy” for my students. The possibilities are really endless. I have used my “Morning Announcements” as a way of delivering a greeting to my students. Again, I wanted to bring some sense of “normalcy” for my class. Below is an example of something I would have recorded using Class Story for my students (and their families).
A sample Monday morning announcement
Another great way to use the “Record” option in Class Story/School Story is to read to the children. Before doing so, I would practice and time yourself- you only have about 8 minutes of recording time.
I have heard from other Class Dojo Ambassadors that the staff of their school would take turns reading books to the children by posting it using the School Story record option.
Another idea is for the Art teacher to post a video on School Story showing students how to do an art project. Students could take pictures of their final product and add it to their portfolios.
Events
Scheduling your Zoom/Google Meet lessons using the Event feature is a really great way to keep students and parents “in-the-know” for lesson times. I used it in this way. I have outlined for you how to do this and have included a video demonstrating the entire process.
Directions for Zoom
- Navigate to the Chrome Web Store. Search for Zoom Scheduler. Install. *Only necessary if using Zoom*
2. Open Google Calendar.
3. Choose Create.
– Choose “More Options.”
– Give your event a title (ie: Math Lesson)
– Make sure you change it to reoccurring and enter in all details.
*See video for step by step directions*
Now that you created your reoccurring meeting in Google Calendar, it’s time to share it with students and parents in Class Story!
Directions for Google Meet
There are two ways to generate a reoccurring Google Meet. One way is to do it directly from Google Classroom. This feature is currently very buggy. The other way is from Google Calendar.
*See video for step by step directions*
Now that you created your reoccurring meeting in Google Calendar, it’s time to share it with students and parents in Class Story!
What’s Next?
In our next post we will look into different ways to deliver instruction with Class Dojo. We will take a deep dive into Activities and I will provide you some assignments that I have used in my own classroom.
