Feelings elicited while using ClassDojo

In week 9 of the project the Focus pupils filled in a questionnaire about issues to do with homework (Appendix 1.4), one question (open-ended) related to how they felt using ClassDojo points. From 22 respondents to this question, 20 were positive comments – feelings of happiness, good, great and ok – while 2 comments were less positive – one pupil did not really like the points and one did not know. In week 12 of the project, the Focus pupils were asked open-ended questions about their experiences using ClassDojo and again how they liked using Dojo points (Appendix 1.5). I used their answers to create a scale of feelings (figure 6.1) on which was graphed the responses to show how opinion shifted during term 2.

The percentage of positive to negative comments for both questionnaires was very similar (91% positive in week 9 to 90% in week 12) however the second questionnaire elicited 30% more comments than the first questionnaire from the same number of respondents and a wider degree of opinion. On the scale of feelings suggested in figure 6.1, the second questionnaire stimulated stronger, more positive feelings than the first questionnaire, with two pupils who stated they did not like the scheme. However, when asked if the system should be kept or not, only one pupil said it should go because it was annoying – the noise associated with issuing points was distracting.

When asked about how they felt when they received green and red points (Appendix 1.5) the Focus children were predictably polarised in their feelings; receiving red points generated 100% negative feelings – sad, upset, angry, depressed, cross and annoyed – while receiving green points was 100% positive – super, happy, good, proud and relieved. A rather more mixed set of answers was generated when the children were asked the deliberately vague question: ‘How do you feel when your name is on the board?’. 43% of the answers were positive – happy, excited, great, I like my friends to see, I am safer – and 57% of the answers were negative – embarrassed, nervous, scared, disappointed, sad and worried. This might suggest for some pupils even being awarded green points has an associated moment of distress as they take time to read their name on the interactive whiteboard and the type of points they are being issued with and for what behaviour. Alternatively, perhaps some pupils experience a level of embarrassment having their name displayed publicly and compared with their peers no matter whether it was for positive or negative praise.

Figure 6.1 shows the terms used by pupils when asked how they felt about using ClassDojo points during the project (week 9) and after the project had finished (week 12).

6.1.2 Conclusion

Research Question 2: What are the benefits and drawbacks of a reward / punishment behaviour management system?

Behaviour management strategies are intended to support children in their behaviour choices (Glasser, 1989; Grigg, 2010) by helping them understand what is expected, what is undesirable and why. This is a social construct (Bandura, 1977; Dreikurs,

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 I don't like it Not really I don't know Ok Middlish Fine Like It's fair Learning is easier Helps us Yes Good Happy Great Laughing Funny Silly Very much Very good Excited

Pupil feelings about using ClassDojo points during and

after the project

Grunwald, & Pepper, 1998) built on comparison with peers, modelling desired behaviours and understanding the consequences of undesirable actions but, as the questionnaire (Appendix 1.5) reveals, the process is an emotional one too. Using ClassDojo exposes pupils to emotional turmoil, they report experiencing strong positive and negative feelings with regards red and green points and even having their names on the interactive whiteboard. The social factor of this behaviour management strategy is evident in some of the comments about friends seeing a pupil being rewarded; the competition element in table 6.1 as well as the wholly positive experience of working as a team towards a class goal. The use of rewards and punishments in this strategy are used more for social and work related behaviours than work outcomes, breaking Shreeve et al’s (2002) observation that rewards are associated with work and punishments with behaviour. This is reflected by the children’s comments that the system makes them work harder but no comments about their academic achievement. Despite the pressure to work harder and the emotions created by the system, a very large percentage of the children in the study liked using ClassDojo and evidence suggests it encourages them to demonstrate more desirable behaviours than other behaviour management systems that have been tried.

It is interesting to notice the gender split found in table 6.1 with regards how more boys than girls enjoy competing with friends and how more girls than boys prefer to see how they improve over time. This could be interpreted as a goal orientation approach to learning, suggesting that more girls than boys are likely to demonstrate a mastery orientation and more boys than girls are likely to be performance orientated but without seeing how these opinions translate into classwork it is impossible to establish any futher connection. What is possible to conclude is that using ClassDojo can support the

behaviour choices of differently orientated pupils as they can interprete the rewards and punishments in accordance with their individual needs. If they require their Social-Self needs to be rewarded, getting Dojo points can be interpreted this way; or if challenge is required then this too can be the outcome as well as the Psychological-Governance needs of progress, choice and control (figure 3.1) which are the most intrinsically rewarding behaviours to experience. This means that although the rewards / punishment behaviour management system is emotionally charged and experiencing emotional punishments is a real threat, the children are given the autonomy to choose the desired behaviour and to receive the reward for it. This reward can support a wide selection of needs (figure 3.1), in line with what the child will experience as the most rewarding from the activity.

Many teachers do not like to use negative Dojo points as the evidence clearly associates them with negative emotional reactions for the children. However, this form of punishment should be compared to the school wide behaviour management strategy (figure 2.1) used in term 1 with the Focus class and throughout the project with the Comparison class. This strategy involves a warning card which is placed on the child’s desk as a reminder of their poor behaviour for the first verbal warning, then for a second verbal warning the child’s name is put on the orange zone of the behaviour board (figure 2.2) and the child gets ‘time out in another classroom’ (figure 2.1) – a practice Nye et al (2016) says should be avoided as it is detrimental to self-esteem. If behaviour does not improve step 4 is taken which moves the child’s name to the red zone and parents may be informed. In this scheme punishments escalate rapidly to the child being removed from the class environment and placed in a different classroom with unfamiliar children and teachers, a public humiliation far worse than a negative Dojo point. This

removal from the classroom, as Nye et al (2016) suggests is very damaging to emotional well-being and hard for the pupil to recover from which is likely to impact their academic engagement and achievement (Wearmouth, Richmond, Ted, & Berryman, 2004) and could lead to pupil defiance and further disruptive behaviour (Way, 2011) rather than motivate compliance and demonstration of the desired behaviours.

The school wide behaviour management strategy which is displayed in each classroom (figure 2.1) could be interpreted as a controlling (Hart, 2010) form of implied threat (Yilmaz & Göçen, 2015). A way to humiliate and embarrass children if they misbehave (Bledsoe & Baskin, 2014). As indicated by the children, using Dojo points although still emotionally charged is preferable and positively motivating. The impact of using ClassDojo on the pupil well-being is reflected in their motivational profiles (section 6.2) and an interesting improvement in their feelings of emotional security and protection from psychological threat.