Researching New Tools - Daylio Journaling App!
Nowadays, it seems like every other week there is a new app or online tool that people rave about, whether it's a new filter in Snapchat, or an app that can take your photo and predict what you'll look like in 50 years. Having recently joined the Twitter universe and gaining a new professional learning network (see my recent post), I feel like I'm in the "in" crowd again hearing from other teachers about new apps and new tools that are being used with great success in their schools. It's great!
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| Photo from Daylio |
One app that I recently found after doing a search on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) amongst other teacher Twitter accounts, is an app called Daylio. However, before I get into the details of the app, I'd love to give a little background as to why I wanted to showcase an SEL app. Our school has historically been a Title 1-A school, where the majority of our students receive a free or reduced lunch and we have several students coming in from local homeless shelters. This year has been especially rough as many of our new students that have come in are having a hard time adjusting to the routines and structure set in place. As a result, we are seeing a lot of increased behavior incidents, a lot of peer to peer arguments, and peer to teacher issues which are affecting the school environment overall.
For me personally, it has been a challenge this year trying to provide the appropriate amount of social and emotional support for our students as I feel like I'm trying to extinguish one fire after another. We've had several peace circles and restorative conversations with the students for them to share and express themselves freely, but it's been difficult because the unwanted behaviors have already occurred. One practice that we decided to implement recently is a check-in, check out practice with several of the students, which essentially is where a student is checking in and checking out on a consistent basis with a staff member to see how they are doing. We thought it would be a good idea to find a way for the students to self reflect on how they are feeling throughout the day as a discussion piece for their check-in, checkouts.
Which, as I stated before, led me to an app called Daylio. In a nutshell, Daylio is an app that allows the user to chart how they are feeling through emojis. It keeps a journal of all the entries and offers a slew of other data that you can incorporate, such as setting goals. The main reasons I chose this app over other apps is because 1) It's free-there is a premium version as well, 2) it appears simple to use with students, 3) it is available on both the Apple store and Google play.
I created a short video showcasing the app, so please enjoy! I look forward to trying this out with our students in the next week and hopefully it works the way it was intended to. If you know of any similar apps please feel free to leave a comment and share!
Which, as I stated before, led me to an app called Daylio. In a nutshell, Daylio is an app that allows the user to chart how they are feeling through emojis. It keeps a journal of all the entries and offers a slew of other data that you can incorporate, such as setting goals. The main reasons I chose this app over other apps is because 1) It's free-there is a premium version as well, 2) it appears simple to use with students, 3) it is available on both the Apple store and Google play.
I created a short video showcasing the app, so please enjoy! I look forward to trying this out with our students in the next week and hopefully it works the way it was intended to. If you know of any similar apps please feel free to leave a comment and share!
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty cool, even for adults. I learned in therapy to write down my feelings and it helps a ton. Letting students have that ability through a nifty app is pretty exciting. I teach world studies and a sophomore seminar class that heavily focuses on SEL skills. Maybe I could use this app for a project and see if they are more conscious of their emotions on a daily basis.
Wow, David, this looks like a fantastic app. What a great tool for kids to use. I also appreciated how you explained a bit of what you chose it and that you linked your post to your Twitter post! I hope your students enjoy using this.
ReplyDeleteHi David, our school also implements CICO. We just started this week and it really helps my students have an additional mentor to talk to and set goals with. I have 4 students in CICO and they are more cautious about their behavior throughout the day. Our school motto is "Be respectful, be responsible, be safe, and be kind. After each subject, the teacher and the student record if they were at a 1, 2, or 3 within each category. Daylio looks like an awesome tech tool to incorporate in the classroom. In the past, I have seen bulletin boards in classrooms where students can move their name to the emotion they are feeling. With Daylio, teachers can still monitor their students but in a paper-free way!
ReplyDeleteHi David, While I'm watching your video and reading your blog, I'm thinking of a number of students that would benefit this from in my classes. I constantly have students that come up to me asking to see the social worker or psychologist. I, then, send a text to the appropriate person, letting them know that a student would like to meet. This app would be great for these students and our CICO students. It would be great for the social worker and psychologists to use this app to stay in touch with these students. I love the goal setting feature! I'm going to share this app at our next grade level meeting.
ReplyDeleteExcellent app. I think students could benefit greatly from using it and as Geri previously said, it could be used by social workers and psychologists to establish better rapport with the students. I think the report functionality could be something cool to explore because you can export a snapshot of your feelings over a span of time and maybe identify trends of why you are feeling the way you are feeling. Overall a pretty awesome tool, thank!
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