"I forgot that at work."
"I was so busy last night by the time I got home I forgot."
"I can't remember that!"
"That was due?!"
"Oh right, we're doing that today.... I don't have it."
I get it, our students are very busy and most of them have afterschool jobs, work one (or more jobs), care for younger siblings while their parents work evening shifts, etc. I know, however, that when I start student teaching tomorrow that I want to be able to assist them without consistently nagging them or threatening lunch-hour detentions. While as I was creating my course outline last night I was reminded of this awesome resource I had heard about a few months back, Remind101.
Remind101 is an automated communication service that allows for teachers to text reminder messages to their students in the evening after school or in the morning before school. This site is SO EASY to use and in literally 5 minutes (probably less) I had set up an account for my class. Here is what I like best about Remind101.
1 ) Its FREE
- I don't have the money to pay for lots of resources while I am student teaching
2 ) I NEVER see my students personal cell phone numbers
- They sign up by texting a pre-assigned code and all I see is the name they
sign up with
3 ) I don't have to use MY personal cell phone number!
4 ) Sign up is SUPER EASY for myself and for students
- They provide a specific screen to show to your students when they are
getting setup
- I also included the signup screen image in our course outline itself
Once students are signed up, I can see my list online of who is all using the service (remember, I don't see they cell phone numbers, just their names). I can then send out messages to be texted out (ex. Chapter 3 questions, #1-5, are due at the beginning of class tomorrow). I can even schedule messages beforehand so if I think of something while I am lesson planning, I can schedule an appropriate text to send out at the right time!
I am pretty excited about this because I feel that cell phones are the easiest way to reach students at the high school level! I hope they think it is as cool as I do.
The parents of my 2nd grade students are loving it.
ReplyDeleteEmily @ Second Grade Silliness
I think if I had my own classroom I would definitely have it as an option for parents too but for student teaching I will just use it with my grade 11 and 12s. I can't wait to try it out tomorrow :)
DeleteThis seems awesome! Let me know how it goes once you use it!
ReplyDeleteIt is going really good! 95% of the students think it is really neat and have thanked for me for the reminders. I have a few who I can't get to sign up (even though it would benefit them most probably!) but it is their choice whether they want to participate or not.
DeleteIt is so easy to use, I will definitely keep using it in other classes too!