Long gone are the days of manually collecting parents’ and students’ personal contact information into spreadsheets! With Remind, students and parents can subscribe to your classes and personal contact information is never exchanged. The more students and parents that are subscribed to your Remind class, the more effective your messages are!
There are several ways to invite students and parents to your Remind group.
1. Invite students and parents via e-mail
2. Send home a parent letter (English) (Spanish)
3. Share the Remind app QR code
Directions for getting started can be found on the support page.
12 Great Ways to Use Remind in your Classroom
1. Deadline reminders. A project is due. There’s something students must bring to class this week. A quick text reminder goes a long way to making it actually happen on schedule.
2. Extra credit question. If this fits your educational philosophy, extra credit is great motivation to be signed up for class text messages.
3. Something to think about. Giving students a question or problem to ponder in their downtime — posed at the right time — could yield very interesting ideas.
4. Kudos to students. They love praise. When they deserve it, if we can broadcast it to their classmates and others on your list, the boost in morale could last a long time. Praise in-class — and out-of-class — successes. Praise little things and big things.
5. Kudos to entire classes. If test scores for an entire class were excellent on average, give them a digital pat on the back. If parents are on the list too, it’s even better to praise in front of them.
6. Link to a photo from class. Create a class Flickr account and upload photos from your class (Ensure that you have parental permission to post students' photos), from the hallway outside your class or from school events. Then send a shortened URL (Google Shortener) of it to everyone on your list. It’s a great way to build classroom — and school — community.
7. A “this day in history” fact. Whether you’re a history teacher or not, interesting historical facts are fun. Send a quick one to students to interest them. Search “this day in history” in a search engine for lots of options.
8. A poll question. Poll Everywhere allows you to set up poll questions online for anyone to answer. Or create a google form. Both generates a link to the poll/form, which could be texted to your list. Ask them for their opinions about class or topics you cover. Then report back in class later.
9. Interesting school news. Pass along interesting, relevant, exciting school (or district) news to students — especially the type that they might not find out about otherwise. Everyone likes to break news!
10. Field trip updates. If you’re on a field trip with older students and many have cell phones, use text messages as a reminder of how much time is left or interesting things that they might want to check out. If you have a list of parents, send updates of what you’re doing on the trip, giving them instant access to what’s happening.
11. A question from an upcoming test. If you’re willing to divulge a question from your next test, this could be a great motivating factor for students to be on the list. Use this as a hook to get them to sign up and then you’ll be able to send them whatever you need — or want.
12. Anything interesting and relevant. As long as it’s entertaining and connects to your class or school, there’s a good chance your students will appreciate it. But be careful not to overdo it. Don’t send too many messages, and don’t use it as another method to cram more classroom facts down their throats. They’ll unsubscribe and you’ll lose your new avenue of communication.
What other ways could you use text messaging services with students? Which of the above is the best? Leave your ideas in a comment below!
I LOVED using Remind to keep my parents in the loop. It also helped me reach out to small groups who needed a little more attention. The new polling feature is awesome. Thanks for REMINDing us all about this great resource!
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