Hello all and happy Friday! I'm considering using Remind101 this year and will draft up a paper to give to my parents on Day One. I have a question for Remind101 "veterans" - (or more than one question? ) How do you handle, what do you do, with parents or students who do NOT have phones with texting capabilities? Do you put some type of disclaimer saying that this is just an optional feature and a courtesy? Do you bend over backwards to also send out reminders via email (thereby doubling your work)? I thought I saw a video where Remind101 also allows for email reminders, but when I went to sign up, all I saw was texting. I don't want even more work by having parents asking me: "Will you also send out email reminders along with text reminders?" I want to send a text and then be done with it...but what about those who don't have/use texting? How do you best handle that? Thanks much!
parents/students have an option to sign up for text reminders, email or both. I use Remind101 with my students. Parents are welcome to sign up too, and I usually have three or four that do, but it is mostly students that sign up. I seldom have students that do not have texting, so this has not been an issue. I can only think of one student out of the hundreds that had the option, that did not get texts and that was because her phone was taken away from her as punishment I primarily use it as a reminder. So that covers my butt if a child doesn't get a text. Once I used it to tell students that I wasn't going to be at school the next day so they had the weekend to study for the test instead. I consider it a backup for communication. As such, it doesn't matter that much if some people do not have access to the texts/emails.
I just found this on the Remind101 website. I hope this helps! http://help.remind101.com/kb/parent-or-student/as-a-student-or-parent-how-do-i-sign-up-for-my-teachers-messages
Since I am elementary, I only used it with parents. I advertised it as an optional way to receive reminders. About 1/2 of my parents signed up. And, yes, they can opt for email rather than text message alerts. I typically only sent things like- "Reminder- science test Friday- study ecosystems!" or "Remember to wear your tennis shoes tomorrow!" for a field trip.
Thank you all VERY much for the help and ways to use Remind101. Mrs. Giggles, thanks for the link. I had no idea that FAQ even existed. Much appreciated! Ted
Can students and teachers text back? I love the idea of being able to contact everyone with reminders, but I'm afraid of anything that would force me to deal with school stuff 24/7...
Tami: Is the issue not having cell phones? If the kids or parents have phones or computers you can also just use Twitter and have them follow your feed.
Yes, definitely one reason I'm liking the concept. I do wish there was a way to specify which parents. So, for example: "Just a reminder we have our parent-teacher conference tomorrow" to the Wilson family. But now I'm being greedy!
If anyone has written a parent letter, would you care to share it with us? I have had Remind101 on my "back burner" for awhile now and I really want to give it a whirl this year. Problem is, I don't know what to say in my letter because I have zero experience with it... I just took the first step and got an account. I'm about to send a test to my cell.
Pisces, when I first signed up, I got an image of a cell phone with the necessary information. I saved the image to my computer. My plan is to insert that image into a document and then maybe give some bulleted information below it. I will either send it home, or present it at Back-to-School night and allow parents to register (or send home AND give at BTSN)
I don't see a printable letter on the site, maybe I'm just not seeing it? I do hope I don't overwhelm my parents this year. I will absolutely be asking my parents to link up on Dojo and I may also be trying out Edmodo (my district may force me to use it, still not sure.) There's also a cool website I want to try but that's mostly going to be school-based. https://www.xtramath.org/ Thinking about it, I also use SpellingCity. Maybe I need to rethink all my tech, but I just love tech
How much action is required by the receiver to get the message? I need something entirely passive. If they have to call in or send a text to get the message, a lot won't do it. I want their phone to beep when they are at work and when they look at the message they see a note from me telling them what their child's homework is.
Sarge, what I did was create an account and then had it send a test text message to me. It basically comes in as a text (as any text they'd receive from a friend, family member, colleague): "Text from Mr. Sarge: Remember the math test tomorrow." Something like that, I believe.
I found some examples online and whipped this one up: Dear Parents: This year I will be using a website called Remind 101 that allows me to send group text messages to all the parents in my class. No phone numbers are ever exchanged, individual text messages cannot be sent, nor can replies be sent to me. This will simply be a means for me to relay important information to parents quickly, such as upcoming deadlines, important field trip reminders, special event reminders, and the like. Using the service is free, but you will be charged the standard text message rate from your carrier if you don’t subscribe to a texting plan. If you would like to sign up, please follow the easy directions below. Once you sign up, you will receive a text message with more information. You can choose to stop messages at any time by replying STOP to any of my messages. I hope you will find this feature useful and I look forward to working with your child this school year. Warmly, Pisces_Fish
It does require some effort to sign up. Not much, but enough that my laziest of students gave up. You have to text a certain code that is specific to your class to a given number. Then you'll receive a response if it went through correctly, asking you to reply with your name. Then you'll get another text and have to respond with an OK or Yes. Some of my students typed in the wrong number/letter to start, didn't get the message they needed and quit. Then when their peers were getting the benefits of reminders that they weren't, they tried again I did have one mother, during Open House, say "Oh, I ain't doin' all that!" I guess I should have just been happy that she came that night. To the other poster: I don't have any letter that I send home. I include a short paragraph with the number and code in the welcome letter and that's it.
This is wonderful, Pisces_Fish...and with your permission, I may borrow some (most) of it. I may include the fact that the parents could opt to have the reminder emailed (for those who prefer to a) not have a text charge or b) get emails). Much appreciated!
Wow, this program is a gold mine! THANK YOU for sharing! (And thanks to Pisces for the parent letter!)
I think I'll have to try it! So, when they sign up, they're automatically included when I send messages? I don't have to physically enter all of their numbers into my account?!
no, their cell numbers are stored under the class that they joined. Since I teach multiple classes, I have a code for each individual class. The students in first period would sign up using a code for first period only. All of the students/parents in 1st period would be grouped together. When I send a message, I will determine if it goes to just first block, first and second, or all, etc. Don't forget to download the iPhone App! It is what makes life so easy
Anyone is welcome to use my letter however you want! If you think of any useful revisions or additions, please let me know. I wanted to keep it short and simple. At the bottom, I added a screenshot of the cell phone from the sign-up page (the one with the 2 arrows) and at the very bottom, in big letters, I typed Text @PiscesFish to (555) 555-5555. One minute to enroll, a year of being informed!
I used Remind101 last year, and got positive feedback from students and parents. I only had one glitch with it. Somehow I sent out the same message 6-7 times one night. Otherwise, I found it to be a great service, and other teachers began using it, as well. I liked the iPhone app. I saw that they recently came out with a Droid app, too.
Wow, I'm impressed! I like your better, may I steal? There's an email service?? Does that mean my text messages will go to email rather than a cell? Whew, this is a cool but confusing service!
Thanks, Pisces_Fish! Yes...so when you send the message (as normal), those who have elected to get the message via text will get it via text; those who have entered their email address will have it sent via email.
Thanks for posting this--I had come across this last year, but forgot about it. This is perfect timing; I'm going to show it to our principal before faculty meetings next week.
I think so. I linked my cell phone to test it, and my name appears on the side bar. When you get your first message it asks you to reply with your first and last name.
Lots of teachers at my school use this. I am considering it this year. My hesitation is that I also use Edmodo, which also sends out messages (too many, if you ask me) to users who have selected to receive them. I don't want my students to tune out my messages. I'm thinking that Remind101 might be a little better because I can have more control over the quantity and frequency of my notifications.
And I believe it may have already been mentioned, but there is an app for the iOS (not sure about Android). I figure that will be getting more use than my computer.
Caesar, do you know if you could disable the Edmodo notifications (i.e. if a teacher were to use both Edmodo AND Remind101, would that be message overload?)
The teacher can't control the notifications for the whole group. The notification settings are up to the individual users to control. It's one of my only complaints about Edmodo.
Ugh... I can see how that would be frustrating. I'm sure it's been suggested for the teacher to have more control.
