Originally published in TEACH Magazine, January/February 2018 Issue
In a teacher’s day-to-day schedule, there is a tremendous amount of information to keep track of—countless things to teach, learn, and manage. One of the most important areas to master is classroom management. If there is a loss of control in the classroom, nothing else will unfold as it should. Here are a few apps that might make management a simpler task.
ClassDojo
(Free – iOS, Android, Website)
This free iOS app makes it easy to keep students attentive and on-task. Incorporating fun, colourful animations, ClassDojo allows teachers to record behaviours and accomplishments of students right in class. Through the app, teachers can improve student behaviour and engagement by encouraging skills such as “working hard” and “teamwork,” and by recording and awarding feedback. ClassDojo also makes learning part of a bigger, meaningful community. Teachers can bring parents into the classroom by sharing photos, videos, and announcements. Teachers can also instantly message with parents through the app.
TeacherKit
(Free – iOS, Android)
With over a million users worldwide, TeacherKit is a free personal organizer for educators. It allows for the tracking and monitoring of the classroom seating, schedule, attendance, grades, and behaviour of students. The logging of all of this information in one convenient, user-friendly place can definitely make the school day a little easier.
Teacher’s Assistant Pro
(Paid – iOS, Android)
Featured in USA TODAY as one of the best teacher apps, Teacher’s Assistant Pro allows teachers to keep track of student actions, behaviours, and achievements in the classroom. The app stores the name of the action/behaviour, the date and time, where it occurred, attached photos, a detailed description, the teacher action that was utilized, and whether the parent had been notified. Data can be shared with other Teacher’s Assistant Pro users via email or Dropbox, and can be backed up in iTunes.
Too Noisy Pro
(Paid – iOS, Website)
This app is a simple, engaging tool that helps teachers keep the classroom noise levels under control. Too Noisy Pro graphically displays a room’s background noise level in a fun way. The app also allows for the adjustment of the acceptable noise level in the classroom, depending on the activity. When the noise level is exceeded for more than 3 seconds an audible alarm is sounded. The app also appears to shatter the screen of the device, and a counter, displayed on the noise meter, increases by one—keeping track of the number of incidents that were just “Too Noisy.”
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