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A Tech Teacher on a Mission

Remind101: The Safe Way To Communicate With Students and Parents

9/2/2013

 
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Remind101 is a free, safe, and efficient way to communicate with students and parents via SMS (text) messaging.  You can sign up for the service on their website or through their iOS or Android apps on your phone or device. 

Remind101 does not give your subscribers your personal phone number and does not allow for them to reply to your reminders.  Likewise, you cannot access the personal phone numbers of your subscribers. Messages cannot be edited or deleted once sent, either. 

Once you sign up and create a class, Remind101 will generate a domestic phone number and unique class code so that subscribers to your class can begin to sign up.  Any phone that receives text messages will be able to subscribe to your class reminders.

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Through both the web portal and the app, you can schedule SMS messages to be sent out at specific times.  Another cool feature is that if you are composing a message at a late hour - let's be honest, teachers work often work late - you will be prompted to schedule the message to roll out at a more reasonable time.  After all, your subscribers probably don't want to receive a text message at 12:30 AM! 
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The text message interface is set up exactly as a regular SMS message.  In the screenshot below, I have sent the code to subscribe to my class texts, and followed the prompts sent back to set up the subscription.  Having your parents and/or students inputting their full name is important so that you can manage your subscription lists.  You don't want to have anyone on your subscription list that isn't a part of your class.

Near the bottom of this same screenshot, you will see that every time I send out a text message via the Remind101 web portal or iPhone app, my name will appear at the front of the text.  This will remind parents and students who don't save your Remind101 number into their phones that the text is from you. 
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It is my hope that these instructions can help you get set up with this awesome app.  Communicating is easy when you have Remind101! 
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This post will be available for future reference under "Remind 101" on my site. 
Diana Williams link
9/2/2013 01:21:49 pm

Thanks for a very helpful post, Victoria! I'm going to give it a try this year :)

Victoria Olson
9/2/2013 11:36:47 pm

Thanks, Diana! I can't wait to use it with my class either :)

CJ
9/6/2013 01:15:23 pm

I had my middle school students and parents sign up. However, I found many were not getting all the messages, I had to have those people delete their account, then reinstall in order for it to work correctly. One problem I have seen is that some phone services take a much longer time to deliver the message. One in particular has sent them the next day, too late for them to be of use.

Victoria Olson
9/7/2013 02:40:50 am

Thanks for commenting, CJ! I'm confused, though. When someone "signs up" for your messages, they simply text a subscription code to the number that Remind101 provides for you. They do not need to download the app themselves or have an account. Once they subscribe to your group code, it is then that they should receive the messages that you send out,

As far as phone providers go, I don't think there is any way to control that. Remember, this is just a tool to better communicate and by no means should it be the only one you're using to relay information to your classes. For me, I'm happy if it makes a difference for even a few parents, giving then multi-modal access to class information and events.

Bob Mozer link
9/6/2013 10:00:25 pm

Victoria...thanks so much for this instruction. I learned about Remind 101 from another teacher last year and will be trying it myself this year. Do you get a pretty good percentage of the parents signing up? I'm sure there are a few holdouts, right? but it's no reason not to use it and hit as many parents as possible.
What grade do you teach? I teach 7th, so most, if not all students have cell phones, and can sign up as well as the parents.

Victoria Olson
9/7/2013 02:44:03 am

As with any form of tech use, there will always be hold outs for different reasons. Honor their decision and use it to work with the people who are willing to try it. Often, word of mouth is what ends up getting the fence-sitters to jump on the bus!

As I have said before, this shouldn't be the only form of communication available to your parents and students anyways. I also have a class site and devices for students and parents to access it at school if they don't have them at home.

Ken Jeffery link
9/8/2013 03:43:02 am

Thanks Victoria! You and I talked about this in an edchat about a month ago, and I hadn't got to trying it yet. You have provided lots of great information here that reassures me that it will be a helpful tool. (nobody likes signing up for services only to find out they don't do what they thought).
Appreciate it!

Victoria Olson
9/8/2013 05:37:54 am

Awesome! Glad it was helpful, Ken!

Mary Barela
9/8/2013 12:56:22 pm

I started using this app when school started a few weeks ago and my students and I love it! Unless absolutely necessary, I typically schedule all my texts during off-school hours so that other teachers' classes aren't unintentionally iinterrupted by my texts.

Victoria Olson
9/8/2013 01:09:43 pm

Thanks for reading and commenting, Mary! Good choice to respect other teacher's classrooms through thoughtful scheduling of your text reminders. I'm sure they appreciate that!

vicky link
8/18/2016 12:37:54 am

Remind 101 is a website that provides a safe way for teachers to text ... Why does my child's teacher want to use Remind 101 to communicate with students

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    Victoria Olson
    A curious and passionate educator in Langley, BC

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