“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” Henry Ford
It is usually extremely rare for me get more than a ‘good’ from my sons after asking about their day. The phrase, ‘getting blood out of a stone’ is an understatement when it comes to creating a two way conversation around how we all spent the last 6 – 8 hours.
Since my youngest son was introduced to the Class Dojo system however, it’s been a whole other story. He can’t wait to check the app on my phone when we get home to show me how many points he won today, and to quickly brush over any he may have lost.
It’s proving to be an incredibly engaging tool that teaches the kids the rights and wrongs of class behaviour. Each kid gets an individual overall score for the day, and they may have won points for ‘responsibility,’ ‘whole class manners,’ ‘helping others’ or ‘being on task.’
Alternatively they may lost points for, for example, ‘talking out of turn’ or ‘disrespect.’
Visually it tracks individual and class performance, and so far it has been a big motivator to the class to keep improving.
How would you or your team rank if you were using Dojo points? Is everyone clear about what attitudes and behaviours are needed to create the team environment and the performance improvement you all desire? Does everyone feel they can hold each other accountable to them?
What visual progress tool could you implement to help people see how they’re tracking? To help clarify any unknown, to help communicate how each team member or cross functional team fits into the overall picture, or to help collaboration between teams?
Sometimes all it may take is something as simple as a Dojo point to help us motivate, focus and achieve.
(Image from classdojo.com)