My Favorite: Remind 101 (text students and parents)

One of my "my favorites" at TMC13 was Remind 101 and using it to communicate with my students and their parents. Remind 101 is a free service that allows teachers to set up lists they can send text messages to. The important thing is that users do not know each others' phone numbers. 

• I set up a class called "TMC13" and invited all participants to join the group.
• I sent out the instructions via Twitter explaining how to be added to the list.

click to enlarge instructions

•  The image is generated by the system and is easy to share with students and parents.  Once they follow the instructions, they are added to the list for their class and will receive texts on their phone.
• To send messages, I used the dashboard to select the correct class "TMC13", type in the message and send.

My dashboard as i looked at TMC13

You can even publish your messages to your website or blog by inserting some HTML code. Go to the "My Widgets" screen to access the code you'll need to insert.

The text you'll need to insert can be seen in this image.  There is even a preview of what it will look like on your site. (I covered my token number which is unique to my account)

Here is a quick sample of how you might use on your own website:

Notice I also added a feed from my class blog into the right column.  These widgets will allow one stop shopping for all of my communications.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like more more info or help setting your up.

Twitter: @aanthonya

Common Core, Common Shmore

 I Need to Sort This Common Core Stuff Out!

I am still fumbling around the Common Core Standards in my planning.  In particular, what exactly do they mean?  Where do i fall short?  Where do the students fall short when they come in to my class?

The PDF document that is provided is not very user friendly in my opinion.  I'm more of an Excel guy.  I like to search, sort, filter, report etc....

I did a search to see if anyone had already done the hard work of getting this mess into an Excel document.  Even though I teach in New Jersey, I looked at the Illinois BOE site and found a pdf with almost exactly what I was searching for.

Using that PDF, I was able to copy and paste into MS Excel and then add some fields with additional descriptions and sort fields and end up with a much more usable document (in my opinion).

If you like Excel and use the Mathematics common Core Standards, you might like this.

Common Core Standards (MS EXCEL)

Please share any input you might have to make this better, and feel free to link back to any docs or edits you make.  :-)

How do I plan on using this?  Well...

• I will be adding fields that specify when I cover each of the standards I am responsible for
• Add field to specify which HS course (Alg1, Alg2, Geom, Precalc, etc...) is responsible for each standard for better planning.
• Determine which standards students fall short in when they enter my class and leave my class.
• Note which previously "mastered" standards might need some additional focus.  Share that info with other teachers for their planning.
• Field feedback from other teachers about which standards students fall short in for better planning.

I can think of a lot more to do with it and will share when I finish killing this monster.

Glenn also has another version of a similar spreadsheet.  Worth checking out!

Download Them All

I love using a program called “Download Them All”.   I was at Twitter Math Camp 2012 and showing this program to @approx_normal, @mesimmons5, @druinok, and some others.  It's a FireFox add-in must-have!

Basically, if you come across a page on the web that has various links for downloading files, you can download all of them with one click.

You can also rename, set folders and more.

This came in handy when I had to download the Exeter problems at #TMC12 to my MacBook so I could work on them with the rest of the tweeps.

Trying out "Showbie"

So I saw someone post about SHOWBIE on Twitter and decided to try it out.  This tool allows teachers to assign projects online and collect them digitally.

Saw the recommendation at the "apps in education" blog.  Was pointed to that blog by @MyWeb4Ed (Thanks Carol).

I set up a sample Algebra 1 class at the site and also a student account (aanthonya) so I can try this thing out.

Here is the code for the class that I set up TQK3G.  If you are interested, please join the class and help me try this thing out.


I assigned myself one HW assignment so far.

As a student (aanthonya) I submitted two submissions.  One is a photo and one a file.  I now await feedback from my teacher (me).

Please join my class and submit anything as your assignment.  This could be a really good tool, but needs a good trial.

Go to showbie.com, make a free account and join my class.

class code = TQK3G

Also available for Free in the Apple App Store.  I also have it loaded on my iPhone.