Teacher-to-Student Messaging is a new feature that lets high school teachers message students directly in ClassDojo—one-on-one or in groups- and middle school teachers send messages to students in a group message with their parent(s)/guardian(s). It’s designed to help students stay engaged, informed, and supported.
Here’s how to get started:
1. School Leaders must turn on messaging
A School Leader needs to enable Teacher-to-Student Messaging in their school settings.
Please note: Turning it off later will close all active chats.
2. Teachers enable messaging for their class
Once it's turned on schoolwide, you can enable messaging in your class settings.
Please note: This step must be done on the website (not in the app).
- Log into your ClassDojo account from the app or website
- Choose a class
- Open the class Options menu
- Select Edit Class
- Navigate to Settings
- Look for the toggle to Enable teacher-student chats
- Switch it ON if it isn’t already
⚠️ If you don't see this toggle: Messaging may not yet be enabled at your school level. Contact your school leader or your ClassDojo onboarding contact.
Repeat this step for each class you want to use messaging with.
3. Teachers invite students
After student messaging is enabled, you’re ready to invite students
Please note: For middle school grades (6-8), students first need permission from a parent/guardian to be involved in a message. The invite process will both invite the middle school student and request permission from the parent/guardian.
- From a class, go to Options > Edit Class or Student Login
- Navigate to the Students tab if you’re not there already to see your list of students
- Look for the purple buttons to "Connect all", “Connect remaining,” or "Connect student" — you can select “all/remaining” to send all at once.
For middle school students, the button will say "Request and Connect" - You’ll see a confirmation that the invite was sent.
- ClassDojo will send each student an email invitation to their school email address, and if the student is in middle school, ClassDojo will also send a request to the parent/guardian to approve the student's ability to chat.
Use these printable instructions to guide your students.
4. Confirm students have joined
After a student accepts the invite, you’ll see “last active” next to their name. If they haven’t joined yet, it will show “resend.”
5. Start the conversation
Students can’t start chats—only teachers can. To begin:
- Go to your class landing page and click Chats
- Click the purple pencil icon to start a new chat
- Choose New group or search for a student to message individually
Middle school students can only be in chats with their parent(s)/guardian(s), not with other students.
Once you’ve sent the first message, students can reply!