I’ve had enough of the class dojo

[Myleftfoot39]

Every week one or two children win the dojo and get a prize. Some children have won it twice or three times. Today a child who defaced another child’s clothing (had written all over it in class) won it (they are in Year 2).

My ds is quiet, well behaved and works really hard. Does all his homework, is reading and writing and working hard. It’s awful but today he came out of school crying his eyes out because he thought he might win the dojo.

Even at bedtime he was upset about it.He doesn’t understand why the naughty kids get rewards but he feels ‘invisible’. He said there’s something wrong with him and is very upset.

I have reassured him and told him the dojo doesn’t matter but it really does matter to him. The teacher makes a big deal out of giving the dojo out as theres a photo of the child on the dojo for all to see.

I’m really fed up of it!!

Interestingly my son got his for writing which is the one thing he finds hard.

Certificates tend to be given out for extra effort or overcoming struggles, rather than ability, so it would be in keeping with that your child got a certificate to motivate him.

And yes, reception is very young to know how writing will turn out.
Perhaps get him outside in the sun with a watered paintbrush when it's sunny this week and write magic disappearing words. 😊

I get it OP.

It feels unfair and counterproductive for encouraging desired behaviour but I am no teacher so 🤷‍♀️

Maybe try discussing why they think that child won? I try and discuss with my DD the potential motives etc

But they are kids so it will be a bog deal to them.

@ArianaDumbledore

Well a lot of you would have loved DS3s Yr2 teacher. He has SEN and is also naughty. The TA awarded him the class reward one week, but the class teacher overruled and told my son what he'd done was not exceptional enough. He's out of mainstream now and in a school that does things very differently.

I have an academically able well behaved child who was overlooked through primary and it carries on in secondary. He knows why and can now just shrug it off. I have brought it up with his school before, but just get told to take it up with the individual teachers. I don't want teachers to get annoyed with him which I'm sure is all that would happen.
He'll have an easier time long term.

I think this just shows why the behaviour rewards and sanctions systems so prevalent don’t work for the vast majority of children.

My DC’s school use Class Dojo but there’s no weekly prize. They just earn individual dojos. Why don’t you suggest they keep the app but ditch the weekly prize?

And yes, it is unfair when the focus is overly on the less well-behaved children. They might need encouragement but it shouldn’t be at the expense of upsetting the other children. It just makes them not want to bother when ‘Bobby’ gets a special prize for being good all week, and the rest of them get zilch even though they’ve been good all term.

My two kids were a year apart in school and both had the same teacher one after the other. Both were the only pupils missed when it came to 'pupil of the week'. My son had high-functioning autism and my daughter was the quietest and most hard-working little girl you could meet - they are very different.

The only thing they shared was being the only dark-skinned pupils in a semi-rural primary school.

Yes, that teacher was reported and disciplined.

@Myleftfoot39

A bit on a tangent here but just now wondering how the child managed to write all over another’s clothing in class without being seen? There’s a teacher and a TA so really not sure how it happened.

If it happened during a full class lesson, fairly easily; particularly at the moment where all the children have to face the front rather than being around tables.

I'm a TA in Y2. The other day a child drew a moustache on himself with a whiteboard pen. Teacher was writing instructions on the board (so had her back to the class) and I was handing out workbooks. I was towards the back of the class when he did it, so all I could see of the front two rows was their backs. The teacher saw it as soon as she turned back around, but neither of us were in a position to actually see him do it.

It's so easy for something quick like that to happen, even with the most diligent staff in the classroom.

My dc school rewards is bolkocks too. Though they dont reward fkr bad behaviour.
It's more that you cant get it for doing really well at something. So doesn't improve motivation.

@ChocolateDeficitDisorder

My two kids were a year apart in school and both had the same teacher one after the other. Both were the only pupils missed when it came to 'pupil of the week'. My son had high-functioning autism and my daughter was the quietest and most hard-working little girl you could meet - they are very different.

The only thing they shared was being the only dark-skinned pupils in a semi-rural primary school.

Yes, that teacher was reported and disciplined.

That's awful @ChocolateDeficitDisorder, your poor kids!

Been there done that with my DDs who are both now in their 20s. Worst of all was the yearly achievement prize. DDs are both bright & articulate. DD1 was always very studious, DD2 is more of a mini-me so can and will stand up for herself and got into trouble a few times. Both were in a small semi-rural school with mixed-age classes. The end of year achievement cup was for someone in the top class. There were 8 in DD1's year. 2 were heading for the grammar school, another was a county-level martial arts person - not academic but sporty and funny, a pair of twins were lovely and kind lads, DD's friend was a gentle and caring soul. Did they give it to any of these year 6? No, they gave it to a Justin Bieber obsessive year 5 girl who drifted through school. Both DDs were appalled. I had to explain then that it was a life lesson and a long game. Mine had the certificates for dance and music that this girl didn't, mine would (hopefully) go on to get good GCSE/A level results, which they did. My message was: who gives a crap about a poxy cup in primary school? An employer won't! They do care about your English & Maths grades at GCSE though. It's a shame the OP's DS is a bit young for that message but sadly, it's one that seems to keep coming.

I don't even see why there needs to be a weekly winner. If you're going to buy into this behaviour system why not just reward any child who has tried hard? For one child sitting still and engaging in one lesson might require susbstantial effort, for another child working consistently hard might have required an effort, for one child getting up in assembly and doing a reading would require huge effort (and for another it would be a treat). I don't think it makes sense to pit kids against each other and make comparisons. Their individual efforts and successes can be recognised - it's not a zero sum game.

I was also really surprised that the child who had written ‘kick me’ all over another child’s clothing (on the back of her t shirt in school) got rewarded

That's ridiculous but commonplace tbh. Same way that a child with a learning disability can't have a one to one in mainstream school but one with no learning disability that kicks off and is disruptive can.

We have star of the week. It's one or two children get it but teacher makes sure its different children each week. Also have table of the week - bit more contentious as they earn table points as a group

I'd just drop a message to teacher saying that DC is getting really upset about never being dojo winner.

My dd had similar problems all through infant school, not just class dojo but in general badly behaved children getting all the attention and hard workers flying below the radar. We ended up changing schools due to a housemove and the next school was so much better.

This is something that comes up a lot on here and it's really difficult.
My daughter asked me in nursery why she was good every day and never got star of the day but Harry was naughty every day but he didn't hit anyone today so he got star of the day.
She was 3/4 and had already noticed the bullshit that these awards can be.

When she was in reception I got called in to be told that some boys much older than her had been caught bullying her. I was so upset that I hadn't noticed anything wrong and she hadn't told me. After she talked about it and it was really awful what they'd been doing.
Guess who got the big special award and trophy for behaviour and effort in school and being a good friend in assembly a few weeks later?! My face

My kids have won plenty of certificates and awards through the years for their work and behavior though so I can't complain too much.

I don't know what the answer is really it's frustrating and it's hard for the kids.
It's a shame it's not always fair. I'm not sure sometimes that some teachers even realise how unfair it is.
Schools would have to do it like those weird sports days where there's no winners or losers and I don't think that is great either.

I loathe this sort of thing. Dd1 once went three academic years without winning the good behaviour award. Three years! I ended up asking the teacher if there was an issue with her behaviour. That conversation came thr week after the girl whose behaviour toward dd was so poor the girl's mum had to come in.

My eldest is now 26 and this was the case all through primary school.The sad thing was that they quickly sussed out what it was about so the children with less issues would not have expected a reward.

My ds in reception was really naughty- not listening not doing work etc. I was called into school at end of day as it's so out of character. It turns out he was copying John as hes worked out of hes naughty one day then good the next he will class class dojo!🙈 teacher was mortified but ds had a point!

OP, if there are only two pupils who haven't had it yet then they can't just be giving it to the naughty children can they? But there are only so many weeks in a year and someone has got to be last.

I'd point out to the school that they have misinterpreted the word "dojo". A dojo is a school /workshop for training in various arts.

It's not an award, a reward, or a status.

So, having fucked up their terminology and reward system by taking on some sloppy woke term whose meaning they don't even comprehend, it's high time they get their act together.

Instead of praising /rewarding aberrant behaviours, and making heroes of classroom PITA s, teachers should recognise and celebrate normality and consistency . The kids who role-model good behaviour, , politeness, co-operative behaviour , and learning.

DDs friend at school had issues with another boy bullying him relentlessly. School did nothing and it resulted in boy punching friend in head without provocation.
School sent him home for half a day (not sure if that was a punishment really). Next day he was allowed to go on a school trip, which friend didn’t go on as he was scared. School said boy couldn’t be singled out and punished like that by missing it.
Total shitshow. School only started to do something when his mum threatened with getting police involve and (I think this was really the only reason) withdrawing her son from school before SATS. Her son was/is very smart and was expected to get full marks.

Something needs to be done in school which isn’t just reward based.

" Instead of praising /rewarding aberrant behaviours, and making heroes of classroom PITA s, teachers should recognise and celebrate normality and consistency . The kids who role-model good behaviour, , politeness, co-operative behaviour , and learning."

They've been doing that I think. Everyone except two children have had it. Presume that includes plenty of role model children.

ClassDojo is the name of the software.

Yeah the disruptive kids get alot of attention in my kids school, working and keeping your head down are not rewarded enough

The system is completely fucked at my kids' school - same kids every single week (there's no limitation on the number who can win awards and a newsletter mention) - granny's a governor... mummy's a school teacher... mummy is forever shouting the odds at every perceived slight to her "precious" (who was strangling the girls the other week)... ALWAYS in the awards.

DD1 who can be a bit of a pain but responds well to praise - gets one occasionally
DD2 who is always so quiet and well behaved to the point she's almost mute in class now after the teacher once told her off for chatting in line has not had one for the entire year.

It's absolutely bullshit.

@Macncheeseballs

Yeah the disruptive kids get alot of attention in my kids school, working and keeping your head down are not rewarded enough

Rewarded by not getting into trouble, getting positive comments on your work, getting verbal praise, being proud of your work on the wall, being given jobs or responsibilities, just knowing that you understood that lesson and did well, getting a great report, having parents who say that they're proud of you.

Hate reading how much people resent the challenging children getting any sort of positive reinforcement when they do the right thing.

@Cattitudes

We had similar until one day the reception teacher called me over and said my dc had been unusually disobedient that week. Turned to dc standing next to me and asked why. They said that they had noticed that 'weekly top star of the wonderful universe award manky toy thing' always went to a child that had been doing something naughty for a while but then did something good, so they had planned to do something naughty for a while and then be good so that it would finally be their turn. Teacher shuffled somewhat uncomfortably. They got their turn next. Really don't miss that fake prize aspect for not being quite so bad that day of primary school. Secondary school, you misbehave you get detention rather than an award.

I hope the prize was for critical thinking skills.

That lad will go far

We had opposite issue when my ds was year R. They had a sun they started on - 3 clouds to go down and a rainbow to go up to.
Ds is autistic. He forever went down for not meeting basic expectations (usually sitting still!). His teacher refused to move him up for meeting behavioural expectations "because he should be doing them". One day he tidied her bookshelf during wet play as an extra desperate to do something to please her. When play needed and she cam in and said "tidy up" he ran over to tell her and wanted to show her. She moved him down for not tidying up. (The irony!).

I think reward systems do have a great place in classrooms when used effectively but I've also seen the result of when they aren't and it causes a negative feeling in some kids - which defeats the point!