I’m a big fan of martial arts, and even though I don’t have any moves of my own, I am working hard to develop the ninja frame of mind.  Aside from being potentially useful in dark school parking lots and deserted copy rooms, ninja skills have plenty of other real world applications.  In the case of this blog post: classroom management.

Through the recommendation of a colleague, I discovered Classroom Dojo, which is a super effective online management system that not only made me want to watch The Karate Kid on Hulu, but also try out the Dojo mojo in my own classroom. 

On ClassDojo, teachers can input student names and easily chart the positive and negative behaviors of each child.  Because I already utilize an individualized classroom economy, I decided to input groups of students. 

My decision to enter seating groups into Dojo worked out well for two reasons.  First, it was a whole lot less work to input eight names instead of ninety, and second, collaborative activities can be the most difficult to manage.  Some teachers have quiet classrooms, but not me.  Learning to accomplish tasks and effectively communicate with peers is a major part of the Common Core standards, not to mention an important life skill.  As Karate Kid’s Mr. Miyagi once said, “Lesson is for whole life. When whole life have balance, everything be better.”  See?  Smart man.

Another school year is about to begin in Palm Springs Unified, and we've spent the past two days enjoying various forms of staff development.  This morning at our district kick-off, it was revealed that our district has decided to implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) network that will be made accessible to teachers and students.  Our reaction?  Finally!

With the impending advent of an open network and the sudden ability to increase the amount of technology in our classrooms, one of the first practical uses of BYOD is being able to use QR codes and with greater frequency and effectiveness.  So, let's talk about QR codes and I'll take this opportunity to also practice my colloquial middle schooler speech in preparation for the first day of school...

One of the most persistent reasons that I hear for why some teachers choose NOT to implement mobile technology is that whatever task they are asking students to do can be done using more traditional methods.  As one colleague casually mentioned to me recently, “The iPad isn’t offering anything that I can’t have my students do using a pencil and paper.”