M6 Blog

 One educational tool I would like to discuss is ClassDojo. ClassDojo is a digital communication platform designed to connect teachers, students, and parents. It supports classroom management through behavior tracking, messaging, and sharing student progress. Its interface is user-friendly, which makes it especially valuable in lower elementary settings like first grade (ClassDojo, n.d.). ClassDojo encourages informal, instant communication. Teachers and parents can message each other directly, fostering ongoing dialogue outside of traditional parent-teacher conferences. This shifts communication from periodic to continuous, supporting more proactive involvement (ClassDojo, n.d.). Teachers can post announcements, videos, or pictures, which parents can easily access through the app. This reduces reliance on paper newsletters and supports multimedia sharing. Parents consume and interact with information more visually and in real-time (Common Sense Education, n.d.. This provides multiple forms of literacy for families at home in a digital way. ClassDojo supports educational goals by reinforcing classroom culture, encouraging parental involvement, and facilitating transparent communication. As a teacher, I use it to bridge school-home connections and reinforce behavior expectations. Parents support their children by responding to updates and celebrating achievements at home. ClassDojo is safe to use in the classroom because no data is sold and it is complied with FERPA (U.S. Department of Education, 2023).. Teachers can use it to provide positive behavior reinforcement, send announcements, and share class updates with families. Students(with guidance) can personalize avatars and receive real-time feedback on their behavior and class participation. Parents can engage by viewing their child’s progress, receiving messages from the teacher, and staying updated with classroom activities (Common Sense Education, n.d.).

The next digital platform I would like to discuss is SeeSaw. Seesaw is a digital portfolio platform that allows students to create, reflect on, and share their learning. It includes multimedia tools for drawing, voice recording, video, and photo submissions. It is particularly effective for early elementary classrooms where students are emerging readers and writers (Seesaw, n.d.). Students can upload assignments, narrate drawings, or record videos explaining their learning. Teachers can review and comment on student work, assign activities, and track growth over time. Parents can receive notifications and can see their child’s work and progress in real time (Common Sense Education, n.d.). Seesaw promotes multimodal communication. Instead of just text, young learners can express understanding through voice or drawing. This is developmentally appropriate for first graders and gives parents a window into classroom learning (Seesaw, n.d.). Information is shared visually and aurally, which aligns with how young learners best absorb information. Parents can “like” or comment on posts, adding an element of social interaction that boosts student motivation (Common Sense Education, n.d.). A positive to using seesaw is it encourages creativity, supports self-expression, and builds digital skills. Students feel ownership over their learning. One downside of  Seesaw is that it requires consistent device access and may increase screen time. Seesaw is a safe technology to use in the classroom. Seesaw complies with COPPA and FERPA (U.S. Department of Education, 2023). Teachers must control who can see student posts, and parents only see their own child’s work. Student data is not sold or used for advertising.  This allows for students to develop literacy skills by a need digital creation skills and the ability to articulate their learning verbally or visually. Teachers increase their skills with digital literacies as they must curate age-appropriate content and guide students in digital reflection. Parents also build up skills needed to navigate the app to view and respond to their child’s portfolio respectfully. Seesaw aligns with educational goals by fostering reflection, documentation, and family engagement. In my classroom, I use Seesaw to capture student learning in real-time. It’s a powerful tool to showcase growth in literacy, science, and even social-emotional learning. Parents can reinforce classroom learning by discussing portfolio entries at home.

To effectively navigate and engage with platforms like ClassDojo and Seesaw, students, teachers, and parents must develop specific digital literacies. For students, especially in first grade, this includes foundational digital navigation skills, such as tapping icons, recording audio, and uploading photos or drawings. These early digital skills are crucial for participating meaningfully on Seesaw, where students express their understanding through multimodal formats (Seesaw, n.d.). In ClassDojo, students begin learning the digital representation of behavior expectations and accountability (ClassDojo, n.d.). Teachers, meanwhile, must possess both digital and media literacy to manage privacy settings, curate developmentally appropriate content, and facilitate effective communication with families (U.S. Department of Education, 2023). They also need to model responsible online interactions and safeguard student data. Parents require basic platform literacy to access student updates, interpret shared content, and engage in two-way communication with teachers. Additionally, parents benefit from media literacy to recognize credible information and engage constructively with their child’s digital learning (Common Sense Education, n.d.). Across both platforms, cultivating these literacies supports responsible use, enhances collaboration, and ensures all stakeholders contribute to a safe, supportive digital learning environment.

References: 

ClassDojo. (n.d.). ClassDojo. https://www.classdojo.com/

Common Sense Education. (n.d.). ClassDojo Review. https://www.commonsense.org/education/app/classdojo

Seesaw. (n.d.). Seesaw: The Learning Journal. https://web.seesaw.me/

U.S. Department of Education. (2023). Protecting Student Privacy. https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/