BE HERE NOW: ClassDojo, an online and mobile platform that aims to improve classroom culture, announced this week they’re partnering up with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to bring more mindfulness into the classroom.
In the coming weeks, ClassDojo members (reportedly found in 90 percent of K-8 schools) will have access to a new series of videos and activities designed with Yale to help K-8 students stay present and manage stress. The videos will feature familiar ClassDojo characters like Mojo and Katie, who in the new series will learn how to deal with the anxiety of class presentations.
Cindy Price, a 1st grade teacher and ClassDojo Ambassador, says the new material is a welcome complement to Dojo’s current social-emotional offerings. “We always start the year off with the growth mindset videos, then go into perseverance and empathy. And now that we have mindfulness—it’s amazing,” gushes Price, who already practices mindfulness in her class with weekly yoga. She plans to use the new material as she has in the past: with a full-class screening of the videos followed by discussions.
And although Price has yet to see all the new videos, she says the first in the series was a big hit. “It was perfect timing because we just finished a unit on presidents and that’s what Mojo and Katie are presenting on! When kids get stage fright, now I can say, ‘Remember how nervous Mojo was,’ and they can persist.”
