Keeping in Touch

"Youth are leading the transition to a fully wired and mobile nation" (Berger & Trexler, 2010, 7). Our students are immersed in a technological world and as educators, we need to meet our students where they are at. This is a simple way to communicate to students, and even parents, in a format that they are comfortable with. 

Image from mooneyclasses.blogspot.com

"A safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents. Free." remind101




Not every student in the class may have a cell phone or an email address, but chances are many of them do, and many parents have them as well. Here is a simple and safe way to send reminders regarding class assignments or upcoming events. 

One teacher commented, "I like to use remind101 to send out a brief message about an upcoming test. It's simple to use, and private - I don't even have access to student phone numbers. I even had a parent that wanted to be sent messages so she would know about upcoming assignments for the class" (Brown, M). 

Need students to remember to bring skates on Monday? Or a simple reminder to parents that library day is on Friday? Here is a simple way to get the message out!

Create an account at remind101.com

Decide on a name for the class. Make it specific enough so you can create different classes. You will be able to add more classes at any time.

Once you create a class, you will receive details that you will provide to parents and/or students to invite to receive your messages (numbers and text are blocked out in the photo - you will receive your own message information). 

Once this information is provided, it is then up to the student/parent to text or email that information to join the class. For privacy convenience, teachers DO NOT enter phone numbers or email addresses. 

You will receive notifications in your account for who has joined the class. 

You can then send messages to the members in that class, and they will receive a convenient message on their phone or by email. 

*Note* It is not possible for students/parents to reply to these messages, so you do not have to worry about being inundated with replies! If students try to reply, they receive a polite text message: "Sorry, you can't reply to your teacher."

At any point, you can delete a class, or a student/parent can remove themselves from getting reminders. 

If you lose track of time and decide to send out a message, remind101 sends you a friendly little reminder...

As an added feature, for those who have a class blog, remind101 provides a widget that enables you to send your messages to the website or blog.  

With remind101, no one can complain that they didn't know about the upcoming test!