Remember in elementary school when you’d wait all week–which felt like an eternity to little you–to go to the treasure box? Those were the days. Class Dojo, if you don’t remember, was the platform many teachers used as positive reinforcement in the classroom, assigning each student a monster avatar that could earn points for various good deeds throughout the week. On Friday, the kids could redeem their points for a prize at the class store. In the primary grades, we could earn points for being kind to one another, taking a leadership role among classmates, and going above and beyond in our work or our interactions with others. Class Dojo was our life, it was our identity, and it determined who wanted to hang out with you at recess. Now, Infinite Campus is where we seek validation and how we define success (read this if you can relate). What Infinite Campus doesn’t do is promote kindness. My proposal? Class Dojo at CHS!
What if, in high school, we were celebrated instead of only disciplined? Back in the glory days of Class Dojo, the program was a classroom-management method for instilling good values into children, rewarding them when they exemplified honorable traits in the classroom through Class Dojo’s points, sound effects, and monster characters. By the time students hit high school, the goal is graduation, not good values and beliefs. However, many high schoolers and adults are not very kind… which could be the result of schools not putting emphasis on kindness, really after the sixth grade. And it shows. Our world is cruel, and if you think you’re the exception, you’re part of the problem. People are self-absorbed, selfish, and greedy. It doesn’t have to be this way, though! If schools were to reward student’s good behavior more often, then maybe everyone would grow up to be just a little bit kinder in this world.
A more recent addition at Chamblee is the use of 5 Star Student. This program can be used to create bathroom and tardy passes, sign up for tutoring sessions, and give school-wide surveys to students. Along with these functions, it also has a points system, something the school has been trying out since the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. While the prizes are good–chips, sodas, and candy–not every teacher knows how or remembers to allot their students points. And when they do, the points are for attending a college information meeting or doing an H-PRIDE craft activity during Bulldog Time. Unlike Class Dojo in elementary school, 5 Star at CHS isn’t used very commonly, and when it is, it’s for hall passes or detention passes. Again, discipline over reward. Class Dojo was more fun, and it instilled good values into students, with points given for good behavior and not just good grades.
I know now, in high school, we’re simply expected to do both: be decent humans and make good marks on tests. And when we don’t do those things, especially getting good grades, we feel like we’ve failed in our education. This is another reason for positive reinforcement: praise rather than punishment pushes students to succeed and helps them feel a sense of accomplishment when they do. Plus monsters and treasure boxes, those always help.
Success is more than a number, but it’s how you help someone in need and go out of your way to give someone a compliment. Let’s tap into our inner child–our inner whimsy–and start celebrating the things that make a difference in our world like kindness and helpfulness. We can start here at Chamblee with Class Dojo and treasure boxes.
