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

My updated room

So here is what my room finally ended up looking like:

Cell phones should not be allowed in school

I really think that cell phones are one of the main reasons some students don't do well in school.  I was way too nice this year in dealing with texting in class.  As a first year teacher I was a bit anxious dealing with this problem.

My plan for year two is to start out very strict.  I will keep this image that I manipulated in Photoshop in mind every time I even see a cell phone.  I need a bit of Darth Vader in me.  :-) (think Captain Morgan ads)

How do you deal with texting in class?