It's time to admit that your school phone number and extension aren't working for you. You don't even have a landline at home anymore, right, so it's time to snap your classroom into reality too. It's time to get relevant and start communicating with your middle school and high school students and parents the same way everyone else is communicating with them. Remind 101 is a great app and web-tool that allows you to do just that - text your students and/or their parents without giving out your personal number. You can download the app onto your iphone (sorry, no android app yet!) or use the web-tool at www.remind101.com.
When I was substitute teaching for a high school math class and I told them I'd be back another day the same week, they asked if we could do a potluck lunch that day I came back. I made the deal that if they finished everything that the contracted teacher assigned we could do a lunch thing (after all, there were four students in this class, so not a big deal). Then they all volunteered to bring something. I was thinking to myself, "There are only four of them, so if someone forgets something this could quickly turn into a not-so-potluck lunch." So I turned to my trusty companion: Remind 101. I logged in, set up a "class" (this makes a group and then provides a code word for your students to text and phone number to text to so they can join the group). They texted their code word, @subb, to the phone number I provided on the whiteboard. When I saw all four had signed up, I scheduled a text to be sent to them the night before our mini-potluck. That easy!
Imagine the things we could remind our students!
Homework assignments, due dates, bring your book to class, extra credit if you go to ____ event/museum, ect!
And imagine texting the same reminders to their parents too! Great accountability!
Or imagine texting their parents different reminders, like, "Your students will need to have a reading book, in class, starting on Friday. Please help them choose a book from the list I sent home."
Pretty handy, and definitely more relevant and realistic than calling each parent or believing our students will remember everything we tell them.
When I was substitute teaching for a high school math class and I told them I'd be back another day the same week, they asked if we could do a potluck lunch that day I came back. I made the deal that if they finished everything that the contracted teacher assigned we could do a lunch thing (after all, there were four students in this class, so not a big deal). Then they all volunteered to bring something. I was thinking to myself, "There are only four of them, so if someone forgets something this could quickly turn into a not-so-potluck lunch." So I turned to my trusty companion: Remind 101. I logged in, set up a "class" (this makes a group and then provides a code word for your students to text and phone number to text to so they can join the group). They texted their code word, @subb, to the phone number I provided on the whiteboard. When I saw all four had signed up, I scheduled a text to be sent to them the night before our mini-potluck. That easy!
Imagine the things we could remind our students!
Homework assignments, due dates, bring your book to class, extra credit if you go to ____ event/museum, ect!
And imagine texting the same reminders to their parents too! Great accountability!
Or imagine texting their parents different reminders, like, "Your students will need to have a reading book, in class, starting on Friday. Please help them choose a book from the list I sent home."
Pretty handy, and definitely more relevant and realistic than calling each parent or believing our students will remember everything we tell them.