Using Class Dojo in High School Settings

I was very excited to receive this cute Classdojo mentor badge in my e-mail. I have been using this website platform in my high school classes for over 3 or 4 years now and I am proudly considered a Classdojo mentor. Classdojo is mostly used in elementary settings as a behavior and participation tool that allows the teacher to reward students for positive behaviors and discourage behaviors that interfere with the learning process.

Many teachers consider ClassDojo to be a tool that better suits the needs of elementary students due to the cute monster characters and stories. Nevertheless, I decided to integrate it in the classroom due to its great tracking functionality. Students have actually welcomed this tool in the classroom because Classdojo gives them immediate feedback about some areas of their social and academic performance in class.

The positive behaviors encouraged in my classroom include participation, teamwork, speaking in the target language (using Spanish as much as possible), helping others, being prepared with classroom materials, and demonstrating digital citizenship. Some of the behaviors that need to be discouraged in the classroom focus on talking out of turn, using electronic devices for non educational reasons, unwelcome and unnecessary disruptions, and disrespect. As controversial as it might sound, the points that students accumulate every 6 weeks become part of their overall grade. Academics and citizenship are an integral part of the educational process as we aim to prepare students to not only meet academic expectations but social norms and conventions.

I encourage other teachers to take a look at Classdojo or other tool to incorporate an element of character education in the learning process. Some times I bring small treats to class and actually give students a choice to get a treat or Dojo points when we play educational games. Needless to say, many times class ends with lots of treats at the table and several Classdojo points on the screen!

Modeling Good Behaviors in the Classroom

Recently I came across this image on my Linkedin feed. I liked the content in the image so I gave it a thumbs up and reposted it without thinking twice. It looked good and the message kind of resonated with my personal experience of being a High School teacher. Often I find myself reflecting on my role in the classroom and I realize that I do a lot of parenting along with teaching. Students come with multiple home experiences and teachers often become role moles during the time they spend with students. This made me rethink the concept that even though teachers will never replace good parenting, our role in the classroom allows us to model behaviors that may have a lasting impact in the life of students.



How do I think I have modeled good behaviors in students?


1) Using kind words. Even in the midst of the most challenging situations, I always try to treat students by using respectful words such as Sr., Mss. sweetie, honey, or other ways that tell my students I respect them and I expect respect in return. Not only do I respect my students but I care about their future as responsible citizens of society.

2) Setting boundaries and clear expectations for behavior or academic work. Many of our families are led by a single parent, a foster parent, or another family member. Discipline and expectations for behavior may be unstable or unclear to our students. Children need stability and consistency in their lives; it makes for safe places. Despite the conflict that high expectations for behavior and academics may create in my classroom, students know that there is consistency.

3) Allowing opportunities for non-academic interactions. Just as students need clear expectations for behavior and academics, they need to know that someone cares about them. Getting to know the students, asking questions and opening classroom spaces during no instruction times allows students to feel welcome. It makes me so happy when my classroom door is open and I get students from other years come to say hi and share their new endeavors or accomplishments in life.

Often I find myself eating breakfast during instructional hours. I allow students to eat in the classroom as long as they clean up after themselves. It makes all of us feel more relaxed. One of my favorite breakfast items is a greek protein yogurt with added cereal or a peanut butter sandwich with almond milk. It is amazing to see some of my students replacing the morning chips and unhealthy food items with yogurt, cereal, and peanut butter sandwiches! I know students are watching and it makes me feel good to model good behaviors.

My Student Journey Comes to and End

I am only one week away from finishing my learning theory class in the master's for technology program. I know that many students feel a sense of relief and joy when a class is about to come to an end. This is my case to a certain extent as I know that hopefully some peace will come to my life as my days will not be as hectic. Being a high school teacher, a mom, a wife, and a student has proven to be a challenge. One of my colleagues that wrote a letter of recommendation to join the master's program was concerned about the workload coming my way balancing these many hats for two years.

It has been two years already... On December 16th 2016, my journey through the Master's Program comes to an end. I am graduating in a week and this completes a 17 year old dream in the making. When I decided to get married and move to California (I am a Mexico City Native) in January 1999, I was unable to complete my thesis project to graduate with a master's degree in Latin American studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). I never finished my thesis project therefore I never got a Master's degree. Seventeen years later, this dream comes to a completion. I am supposed to write my last reflection about learning theorist Paulo Freire and his pedagogy of education. Paulo Freire reminds me of that journey I started in college as a sociologist of education. Back then, I studied several of his concepts for popular culture, theology of liberation movement, and breaking the culture of silence. I was a dreamer with strong opinions and a desire to use education to change the world. Seventeen years later, my dreams have not changed, they have only become clearer. As Paulo Freire states, education is a vehicle to transforming the world. I would add that education transform us (Piaget), impacts our environment (Dewey), and gives us a sense of identity through the communities that we get to interact with (Wenger).

After two years involved with great people and great educational endeavors, I feel empowered to become a servant leader. I am not sure where the next journey starts and ends, I only know that just as when any other cycle in our lives closes, there is learning and sadness, joy and fear, expectations and disappointments. I will have to find a passion in education to continue moving this blog along. I will try to continue setting high standards and expectations for my own critical thinking and professional development to hopefully continue making an impact in the real and the virtual world of education.

A forever thanks to all my professors and colleagues at Fresno Pacific University. I will be looking forward to our paths crossing again.... may God bless!

John Dewey & Paulo Freire: A Common Core Standards Approach

When the Common Core Standards were introduced in the educational field, there was an immediate reaction to new ways of teaching and learning as many teachers were not familiar with a model of inquiry, relevant learning, and student centered instruction. For more seasoned teachers, the integration of Common Core Standards were kind of a return to a teaching approach where creativity and student thought were seriously taken into account during curriculum planning.

As I continue to engage in reading the work of educational philosophers who have impacted teaching approaches in the Century 21st classroom, John Dewey and Paulo Freire offer similar perspectives that I believe influence Common Core Practices. Both of these philosophers believe in a student centered approach with freedom of action and thought. They are critical of students being "repositories" of information and advocate for an active, relevant, and authentic approach to learning where students are engaged in designing educational experiences. Dewey and Freire advocate for knowledge to be the key component to a transformative power that comes from every learner and the way they impact their world through critical attitudes and dispositions. This is certainly true for the 21st Century classroom where technology serves as a vehicle to expand, refute, recreate, and promote new ways of thinking. I have created a simple comparison chart of the main ideas between educational philosophers and thinkers John Dewey and Paulo Freire.

© Chart created by Adriana Castillo November 2016

Communities of Practice: Places To Find Identity, Meaning & Purpose

Have you ever been tired, stressed out, depressed, and feelings as work demands more of you that what you can possibly give? Do you come home and find yourself lost in papers, projects, grades, and lesson planning to do which just represents an extension of long and challenging days at work? I found myself in that position last week. I so desperately needed a break and a reason to find joy and peace after hectic days at work in my teaching position.

I highly recommend that as teachers we make an effort beyond our work duties and personal duties at home to search groups in our communities that share the same passions and goals in life through fun and interactive ways. Finding a club, a collective hobby, a community that we can join who can bring a sense of belonging, understanding, joy, laughter, and a place where we can grow our passions to fulfill longings and desires is vital for our wellbeing.


As I am reading John Dewey's (1938) philosophies for education, I agree that many times what we learn in formal educational settings does not compare to what we can learn through worthy experiences that have an immediate connection and application to real life. Communities of practice allow us to grow in very natural and personal ways.

Connect your passions and desires in meaningful ways through a club, a networking community, a group of people to share your passions and goals. Communities of Practice can be local or global, face to face or virtual, they meet regularly and have set goals and a common vision in mind.

John Dewey: Practical Applications for Technology Integration

As part of my coursework for my Masters in Educational Technology, I have been reading the work of American philosopher John Dewey. In the first few chapters of his book Experience and Education The Kappa Delta Pi Lecture Series, he focuses on issues of traditional and progressive learning theory and practice in the context of educational endeavors. He comments on the disconnect that may exist between the knowledge that adults impart to new generations and the practical applications and relevance that the new generations attribute to such knowledge. According to Dewey (1998), neither traditional nor progressive education can address the dilemmas that arise in the learning process as these are connected to the context of new and relevant experiences. It is in the process of new experiences that knowledge acquires meaning and purpose for the new generations.

The old is made new by a process of interpretation and adaptation within practical contexts. This is an area where teachers have a great responsibility because "teachers are the organs through which pupils are brought into effective connection with the material. They are the agents through which knowledge and skills are communicated (p.18)".

Some of the current issues with technology integration in classroom settings can be understood through the lense of Dewey's work. Technology functions as a bridging gap between adults and young learners to make the knowledge practical, relevant, and accessible to the new generations through platforms that revamp old textbook material and lengthy boring lectures into interactive adaptive materials that students can enjoy and engage with. Dewey (1998) proposes to focus on experiential contexts to make learning relevant to the youth. Nevertheless, he also offers a word of caution in regards to experiences as not all experiences offer quality in the learning process. "An experience may be immediately enjoyable and yet promote the formation of a slack and carelessness attitude (p. 25)". This rings true when we as teachers, allow students to carelessly use electronic devices in the classroom or allow the use of technology without an adequate pedagogical approach or learning objective in mind. It has been proven that the use of technology for the sake of technology does not provide students with adequate experiences to successfully apply learned skills in the real world. It is imperative that teachers strongly rely on their content area pedagogical training and best practices when choosing digital experiences for their students in the classroom setting.

Dewey, J. (1998). Experience and education. Kappa Delta Pi.

Untaught Technology Skills: The Hole in the Wall Experiment

Have you ever wondered why children cannot resist touching everything when they are little? Theories on the process of learning and knowledge acquisition in the early stages of development confirm that human beings start learning the day they are born. Newborn babies start learning by watching, feeling, smelling, and hearing. Even though formal language is not understood, babies learn to communicate to have their needs met. We learn through our senses and our sense help us understand the world around us.

As I am reading about the Hole in the Wall experiment in India back in 1999, I make a strong connection between the theory of natural learning and the reasons why it amazes me to see babies and toddlers find electronic devices to be fascinating tools.

In the Hole in the Wall experiment, Professor Sugata Mitra conducted an experiment in which a computer was placed inside a man made hole in the wall. There was also a camera installed to record activity near the computer. No instructions were given in any language. The location of this whole in the wall was in the slums of India with high populations of kids with no formal education or English language reading and speaking abilities. The findings of Dr. Mitra's experiment gave rise to the the concept of minimally invasive education  as it was observed that children learned basic computer skills on their own as well as curriculum content through games and other engaging activities. Kids just explored on their own and started to build knowledge structures that eventually allowed them to engage in more complex tasks.

The Hole in the Wall Experiment serves as a reminder that when it comes to technology integration in the classroom, children need to be given the opportunity to explore and learn through technology even if the adults in the room do not feel capable to handle or integrate technology. Fear of technology integration is more pervasive in adults rather than in children. A word of caution when allowing minors to freely learn and explore on electronic devices is the need for an internet filter. Children are capable of finding amazing things online, however, material not suitable for children needs to be kept out at all times. I believe that allowing students to learn with an electronic device has valuable implications for English Language Learners. ELL's can learn valuable concepts and skills by freely exploring an electronic device that has access to age appropriate pre-loaded resources.

I have included one of the only creative commons picture I found on the internet for the Hole in the Wall experiment. The computers depicted in the picture resemble the original one but the first computer and setting looked different.

Mitra, S., Rana, V., Campus, I. I. T., & Khas, H. (2001). Children and the Internet: Experiments with minimally invasive education in India. British Journal of Educational Technology, 32(2), 221-232.

Trucano, M. (2010, June 18). Searching for India’s hole in the wall Retrieved from http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/searching-for-indias-hole-in-the-wall