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Remind101 Partnering with Brown University to research texting in schools

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:59:54 -0400

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Fancy new logo finally went up in the office entrance today -...

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:09:14 -0400

Fancy new logo finally went up in the office entrance today - Welcome to Remind101! #decorating (at Remind101 HQ)

Meeting the students where they are

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:30:21 -0400

I always love making new friends on Twitter. Recently I got connected with Chris Stanley, an English and 21st Century Literacy Teacher at Fraser High School in Fraser, Michigan.

I knew Chris and I would be fast friends when I saw him use, “FOR-EV-ERRRRR”, in a tweet. (Reminiscent of The Sandlot scene when Squints tells the story about The Beast, anyone?)

Chris has been using Remind101 with his kids for some time and finding great use for it. I asked him if he would write a guest post for us on his use of Remind101:

I am lucky enough to work in a school that provides a tablet to every single student in the district. As a high school teacher, the use of these devices has certainly changed and enhanced the way I teach on so many levels. The lack of communication that was once lost between teachers and students have changed drastically, and our technology has eliminated the four walls of the classroom and opened it up to the world. However, as nice as it is knowing that all of my students have a tablet to enhance their learning, their cell phone continues to reign supreme. This is exactly why I have found Remind101 to be THE BEST way to contact my students and know that they are getting they information they need.

In a world that works around e-mails, our students have their phones in their hands at all times. My high school students haven’t yet wired their brains to constantly remind themselves to check their e-mail on a minute-by-minute basis as we adults tend to do, but they certainly check their phone every 30 seconds. This is why Remind101 has been the most successful reminder (hey…so THAT’S how they came up with that name!) to my students that I have ever used in my five years of teaching. I would have to say that the scheduling feature is a dream, as it allows me to set up texts to be sent to my students right around dinner time. Honestly, I have tried just about everything: a Facebook page, e-mail, phone calls home, but if I send them a Remind101 text at 5pm, they seem to respond better than anything else.

I also like the application for those “WHOOP! I forgot to tell them about THAT!” moments. I can’t even begin to explain how many times it has happened where my students have left my classroom, and I forgot to tell them something EXTREMELY important about their assignment (Ex: I accidentally gave you an assignment in Portuguese - so study up!) - this is where Remind101 is at its best.

We need to meet the students where they are! Honestly. Our students know their phones, and they respond to them as if everything is an emergency. Let them respond that way to YOUR messages! Rather than constantly fighting the fight of “what to do with these phones”, I love that we now have options. Let’s be friends with technology and create a better workflow opportunity - this is why I LOVE Remind101

Thanks Chris! You rock!

You can connect with Chris on Twitter @StanleyTeach, and check out his blog here.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:42:03 -0400

We wish we could troll Pinterest for the best DIY gifts and make every teacher we’ve ever talked with an adorable present in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week. But sadly, unless they involve 1’s and 0’s, arts and crafts are not our thing. So we’ll have to settle with a lot of virtual hugs and this honest message:

At Remind101, we go to work every single day feeling great. Not because we have a good product, or have great coffee (we do), but because we are tasked with the privileged mission to find ways to make the lives of teachers just a little bit better.

Teaching is the most admirable profession. Without teachers none of us would be here today. It is because of the guidance, support, and life lessons that come from learning that we’ve been able to grow into self capable individuals.

We respect you so highly! Few people have the skills, or the thick skin, to do what teachers do. Which is why, with undying respect for your career, we wanted to say that we find working for you to be the ultimate pleasure. (That’s right. You’re in charge of this company.)

From the Remind101 team to all our teachers, thanks for everything you do! But more importantly, thanks for inviting us to be a part of it.

We look forward to many more years as friends.

Lindsay giving IL teacher Kirk Humphreys a sneak peak at our new...

Tue, 07 May 2013 20:23:39 -0400

Lindsay giving IL teacher Kirk Humphreys a sneak peak at our new Android App designs on a Google Hangout! (at Remind101 HQ)

A day at Clintondale! By Christine Garland Many of you may have...

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:35:42 -0400

A day at Clintondale!

By Christine Garland

Many of you may have already heard of Clintondale HS. They were featured on CNN in a segment on flipped learning.

Clintondale High School is a flipped school in Clinton Township, MI. Before the term “flipped” had ever been coined, Principal Greg Green realized that the old way wasn’t working (a song we all know very well), and it was time to try something new.

Using TechSmith’s screen capture tools, Clintondale teachers began creating video lessons to be absorbed by students at home, and freed up classroom time for activities and assignments.

After flipping the ninth grade (their initial pilot grade), Clintondale’s student failure rate dropped by 33% in one year. In English, the failure rate went from 52% to 19%; in math, 44% to 13%; in science, 41% to 19%; and in social studies, 28% to 9%. So they flipped the entire school, and have remained “upside down” ever since.

Today the school is a mecca of enthusiasm for flipped learning.

I was lucky enough to be invited out to spend a day at Clintondale on a recent visit to Michigan. I’m proud to say Clintondale uses Remind101, and our relationship with the school has earned me many interactions with Greg over the past year. I’d been wanting to put together a video for Remind101 on how students and teachers have been using the service, and why they like it, and he graciously offered to serve up his school as my subjects.

I should mention - I’m personally a very big advocate of the flipped model. My passion for the change is a direct result of my own experiences falling behind as a student in a traditional learning environment. So when the chance came to both make my video, and experience a flipped school, I was eager for the opportunity.

My first reaction when I arrived at Clintondale was how very normal it was.

There are no 1-1 iPad classes, or even technology carts. Classrooms are not equipped with fancy interactive whiteboards or media stations. The school does not even have Wi-Fi.

None of which has kept them from flipping.

My second reaction was how proud the school was of their success. Teachers, students, and administrators were overjoyed to share the stories of their flipped classrooms.

My third reaction was probably the most important, I’d never seen so much engagement. Classrooms were bustling.

Teachers who had previously worried that they were being evaluated based on how much time they spent lecturing (because that was what a classroom “looked like”, right?), were now enjoying their day moving from table to table interacting with kids directly and experiencing the material in an entirely different way.

But the interaction didn’t stop at the teachers. The students were sharing, guiding and collaborating too. In one class students were put into groups that evenly distributed them based on their grades. Students with A’s were able to help struggling classmates by re-teaching the lesson, and in-turn benefiting themselves with a deeper understand of the material.

Unsurprisingly, the most common response I got from students when I asked if they liked being at a flipped school was that they loved not having homework.

Partaking in lessons at home doesn’t feel like work to them. It doesn’t involve the frustration that trying to complete a worksheet based off a lecture they hadn’t been able to follow used to cause. They repeatedly told me, “If I don’t get it, or I lose track of what the teacher is talking about, I just rewind.”

I’m so appreciative of the Clintondale community for hosting me for a day! The interactions continue to be inspiring.

Check out the fantastic video, filmed and edited by the exceedingly talented Colin Marshall and George Henry, that came out of my day at Clintondale!

How to add the Remind101 widget to your Moodle site

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:07:00 -0400

Guest post by Ben Spieldenner, Intro by Christine Garland

Huge “THANKS!” to friend and teacher Ben Spieldenner for writing this guest blog post for us!

Moodle lovers - have you been struggling to get the Remind101 widget on your site and getting stuck with formatting issues? Have no fear, Ben’s blog post is here:

Since the advent of the Remind101 widget, I have been trying to figure out a way to incorporate it into the tech resources I use- namely Moodle. At first, I tried to create a “Block” for it on the sides of my Moodle pages only to discover just how frustrating Moodle can become (formatting never worked out well). So, I decided to try something different. I figured I would highlight the Moodle widget. In the hopes of making a few other educators’ lives a bit easier, I have a simple six step guide on how to effectively integrate the Remind101 widget into Moodle.

This tutorial will instruct you on how to post your Remind101 widget in the “topic” section of your Moodle page. Also, remember to do this for each and all of your Moodle pages.

Step 1

“Edit Summary”

Login and open up the Moodle page where you would like to post your Remind101 widget. Then click on the icon that looks like a hand with a pencil (see image below) in the heading of the “News Forum” (it will be the first topic). In the image below I renamed this section “Welcome.”

Step 2

“Edit HTML Source”

Now click on the “HTML” button (see image below).

Step 3

Open a new internet window, login to Remind101 and click on “My Widget” under “Account”

Step 4

Copy the HTML widget code by highlighting the HTML text (see image below) and pressing CTRL+C on the keyboard (PC) or by right clicking the mouse and pressing “Copy” as you see below.

Step 5

Paste widget code in “HTML Source Editor”

Go back to your Moodle window where your HTML Source Editor is still open. You may never have seen this before…it’s ok! All you have to do is paste the code you just copied at the end of any text you see on the HTML Source Editor (see image below). Simply place your cursor at the end of the text and press CTRL+V (PC) or right click on the mouse and press “Paste” to paste your code. Be sure to click on “Update” (green button on the bottom of the window) in order for your code to save.

Step 6

“Save Changes”

Finally, click on “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.

The Finished Product

You now have your Remind101 widget posted on Moodle!

If you run into trouble or have more questions, feel free to reach out to Ben on twitter!

ISTE 2013 Giveaway!

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:38:28 -0400

Summer is approaching fast! Time for backyard bbq’s, block parties, family vacations, and ISTE 2013!

The ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) is the world’s premier ed tech conference and exposition! Once a year, ISTE brings teachers from all over the world together for a 4 day, unforgettable, conference to collaborate with like-minded educators passionate about using technology to engage students.

If you haven’t been to ISTE before, this conference is truly amazing!

This year, the 4 day conference is happening June 23rd - 26th in San Antonio, TX.

We know that many teachers, and their schools, may want to attend ISTE, but don’t have the funds to cover the cost. So we’ve decided to do our part by offering to pay for the registration for one lucky person to attend the conference.

Interested?

You can enter for your chance to win on our Facebook page.

We’re asking you share a photo on your timeline, and then leave a comment on the original photo about why you want to attend ISTE 2013 this year. We’ll choose one random winner at the end of the month, and cover their registration for the 4 day conference.

Already bought your ticket to ISTE 2013? Doesn’t matter! You can still win.

Afraid you wont know anyone? You can hang with Remind101 - we’re cool, I promise.

TIP: Remember to leave your comment on the original picture on our Facebook page timeline, and not the shared photo on your timeline, or we won’t see it.

Happy commenting!

Details:

ISTE 2013 will be in San Antonio, TX, June 23rd - 26th. For more details on the conference go to here.

Remind101 will cover registration fee only. Flight and hotel accommodations will not be covered.

Winner will be announced May 1st, 2013.

"The Student is Still Responsible" - Guest Post

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 20:12:08 -0400

Intro by: Christine Garland, Guest post by: Jacqueline Roth

If you haven’t read my blog post from a couple weeks ago titled, “Should you worry that texting students is “hand holding”?”, I hope you have the chance to do so.

That post was in response to many conversations I’d been hearing, and having, with teachers and administrators regarding concerns that texting students reminders took away their accountability for success.

One teacher in particular inspired me to write that post, Jacqueline Roth, a High School teacher from GA.

Jacqueline shared with me that she had personally struggled with whether or not to add Remind101 to her classroom for the very reason described above. After considering both sides of the argument, she did end up implementing Remind101, and has been very happy with that decision. I found her story fantastic and asked if she would write a guest post to share with all of you why she believes it was the right communication move for her kids.

As you’ll see, her passion as a teacher is to prepare her students for life after her classroom, not just for their test on Friday:

As a high school literature teacher, I know all too well the difficulties in transitioning from middle to high school. In fact, I’ve found one of the primary issues freshman have is merely keeping up with all of their assignments. Day after day of witnessing this struggle, I wanted to find a solution that would produce the desired result of completed assignments, yet keep the students accountable without enabling them. As I shared my concerns with my mother, Dr. Billie Jean Holubz, who is an educator and a member of International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE), she introduced me to Remind101.

At first I was skeptical: Homework sent straight to the student via text? Is this making it too easy? Am I taking away all responsibility and enabling these kids? But then, as I mulled over these questions, I stopped to consider my most basic goal for my students: I want my students to successfully function in whatever they choose to do post-graduation. I know that in my own life, both personal and professional, I send and receive electronic reminders constantly throughout the day. Whether it is a text from my husband reminding me of a social obligation, or an email from a colleague reminding me of a parent/teacher conference, I am constantly in need of reminders to keep up with my busy schedule. Those reminders do not serve as a form of enablement, because I still have to follow through with my responsibility of preparing for the meeting and getting there on time. So it is with my students. When I send a text through Remind101 reminding my students of their upcoming test, they are still responsible for studying and showing up to take the test.

Let’s face it, our schedules are becoming increasingly busy with parent/teacher conferences, grading, lesson planning, and meetings. It’s not too different for our students either; they have a full load of classes, extra-curricular activities, and sometimes a part-time job. A quick text that says, “Don’t forget, your project is due Friday” does not enable the student, but rather simply remind them. The student is still responsible to complete the project and turn it in. So if you’re looking for a convenient way to remind your students of their upcoming assignments, yet still hold them accountable to complete their work, then give Remind101 a chance.

Jacqueline Roth

English Teacher

Lassiter High School

Marietta, Georgia

Thank you Jacqueline!

Interested in sharing your Remind101 story on our blog? We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to: christine@remind101.com

Should you worry that texting students is "hand holding"?

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:23:00 -0400

It is our job as a company to know the obstacles teachers face when communicating with their students and parents.

When I started to hear educators discussing whether using a texting service, like ours, was considered “hand holding” with students or not, I knew I had to take a step back, learn where the concerns were coming from, and how we could overcome them.

Educators are concerned that by texting information to students, we’re not teaching them how to organize.

I think it’s a very valid question to raise! One of the many tasks put on the shoulders of teachers is helping students develop into self-capable adults. As any teacher considers the adoption of our product, or any edtech product for that matter, they should always be asking, “what’s best for the kids.”

My first thoughts were obvious - don’t you hand out syllabuses? Write assignments on the board? Post information to class websites? How is that different?

But after talking to many administrators and teachers about this, what quickly became clear to me is that this conversation should never be about how you let your students KNOW what your expectations are. It should be about how the methods you use MOTIVATE students to want to succeed.

I could probably spend a 1/2 hr on Google and find over 50 resources confirming that engagement in school is directly related to a student’s motivation and sense of self-efficacy.

You can send students one text about their exam tomorrow, or you can send them 20. In the end, it is always the responsibility of the student to study.

The true value of our product has never been the content of the messages teachers are sending. It is the impact the direct communication has on the relationships teachers develop with their students, and their students families. Using texting as a communication tool increases a students feeling that their teacher is dedicated to their success. It literally has changed classrooms.

I asked for some help, and confirmation, from our fans on this topic. I needed more proof that I wasn’t just being overly optimistic. Here are some of the responses I received:

Kate Porter McCauley:

“I started using Remind101 this school year for each of my health classes, fitness PE courses, general PE courses, an entire high school group and my 9th grade class sponsor group. I have seen a huge change in my students participation in school wide activities/events and better return on assignments and event tickets being purchased.

At back to school night and conference meetings I’ve been thanked by parents for keeping them informed and questioned by others as to how to join. I truly believe this app is one of the reasons for the positive change in my classroom and school.

Students have thanked me for the reminders and informed me that they have reposted my text messages on social media sites to spread the word on upcoming events.

I myself receive text reminders regarding bill due dates, upcoming events, and news related information. Most people, including my students have a phone and often use texting as a quick form of communication. Remind101 is an additional tool to communicate with students and the school community. I do not view it as a form of hand holding my students. It is a quick and effective use of technology that increases student success in the classroom & involvement school and community events. I love anything that promotes student success and for me that’s what Remind101 is about! Thank you for helping me relate to my students and keep them informed.”

Michael Everett

“Remind101 gives instructors and teachers access to a new communication method. If you consider it hand holding then we should also consider all communication methods between students and teachers “hand holding” The simple fact is effective communication between students and their teachers is key to the learning process.”

Dustin DuFort Petty

“I’m not an educator but I helped coordinate a tutoring program in Chicago’s homeless shelters for two years and I WISHED the teachers had used Remind101. You wouldn’t believe how many times students would come for help only to say “I can’t remember what the homework was.” It seems silly to me that anyone would say that texting students is “hand holding”. Shouldn’t we ensure that our students have every instrument for success?”

Angela Brooder

“Even as an adult, I get e-mail/text reminders about my bank account balance, when bills are due, how much of my data plan I’ve used, when people’s birthdays are, etc. How is that any different than having a way to communicate with my students? I chose to set up those reminders, just like students choose to sign up for Remind101 knowing it would be a tool they could use.”

Nicholas James Frank

“Give students every chance to succeed.”

Melody Niesen

“Remind 101 embraces changing technology and converses with students using one of today’s primary communication tools. It’s irresponsible to disregard the technology as hand holding when it can further student engagement, understanding, and encourage more personal responsibility.”

Craig Nobiling

“Texting is no different than calendar reminders/emails sent by administrators reminding educators to attend meetings/events. It helps in increasing productivity and ultimately responsibility - isn’t that what we’re striving for in school?…life?”

We’d love to hear what you think - how is texting changing the motivation of your students? How do you overcome the concerns from yourself or colleagues about students being overly reliant on your messages?

10 Reasons to Add Texting to your Classroom

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:03:50 -0400

Effective classroom communication is a key ingredient in any teaching strategy.

On Remind101’s first Hack Day we pulled 10 of our favorite stats about texting in schools and put them into a beautifully designed site to show how adding texting to your classroom communication plan can benefit students.

Click on any image to check out the full interactive infographic created by our lead designer, Lindsay!

Visit the interactive infographic to share and learn more!

Remind101 Hack Day 3/1/13

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:26:00 -0500

By: Christine Garland

Last Friday the entire Remind101 team paused our normal tasks and spent a day creating something new for the company. It was great way to finally put to fruition some of the fun ideas we’re always talking about, but never have the time to do.

Here are the fun projects that came out of Remind 101’s first Hack Day:

The Development Team:

Jeremy made us a robot! Her name is Rosie. We can talk with Rosie in our team chat system (we use HipChat), where she is able to answer questions about the status of our servers and delivery in seconds. Rosie can also start Google hangouts, make fun of us, solve math equations, and more.

Ben put on his anti-bullying hat and created filters that detect hateful content, or inappropriate messages attempting to be sent out. As a team, work needs to be done to better train the system on what is and isn’t appropriate. Once done, we’ll be able to add another security layer to the Remind101 service.

Max is our Android developer (more on Max soon). He spent his Hack Day making an Android widget for Remind101 subscribers. When live, students or parents receiving messages on their droid will be able to drag and drop a widget that shows them their unread Remind101 messages in a single feed. Stay tuned.

David worked on building a chat room that displays any tweet where someone mentions Remind101. Now the entire team gets to enjoy the 140 characters worth of pure motivation.

Design and Marketing:

Lindsay and I worked together on a project. Lindsay had the amazing idea to spend Hack Day compiling and sharing nuggets about how texting in the classroom benefits students. So we put together 10 of our favorite stats, and Lindsay created a beautiful website showcasing them. Check it out here.

Brett wrote a blog post welcoming Ben to the Remind101 team, and embarrassing the heck out of him by posting an adorable photo of him at age 7.

It was a great day! So great, that we’ve decided to make it a regularly scheduled activity. We’ll be implementing a Hack Day every 3 weeks. Can’t wait to see what else gets created!

Want in on the next Hack Day? We’re hiring. See available positions here.

Brain Teaser: Remind101 is more popular down South - help us figure out why!

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 20:12:25 -0500

By David Kopf

It’s true, of the 50 US states, we are disproportionately popular down south. We’d love to explain this phenomena, but our theories have run dry. We were ready to give up until a good friend and advisor, Andrew gave us the bright idea of soliciting our readers for help. If you have a theory that could unravel this riddle, post it to the comments section below.

~ The Data ~

In pure aggregates, Southern users make up 60% of our base. The leading states are (in order):

Texas
Georgia
California
Michigan
Florida
North Carolina

Aggregates however, don’t tell us the full story (think of it this way, 100 users in Wyoming is more meaningful than 100 in New York).

For deeper insight, we calculated density by dividing the number of users by that state’s population. The results are even more conclusive: Twelve of the top thirteen most densely populated states using Remind101 are down South. Here are the top six, ranked by population density:

Georgia
Arkansas
Texas
Kentucky
District of Columbia

Ok, so we’re kind of popular down South in aggregate, and even more popular as a percentage of the population. The question, is why?

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~ Extra Credit ~

Dear students,

Why did the author decide to rank states by density?

How many messages should you be sending home a week?

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:12:36 -0500

By: Christine Garland

The concern that started my research on messaging frequency was from a number of teachers who asked how many times a week they could send a message without being annoying. In other words, “at what point am I just bugging them?”

It’s hard to make generalizations about how often you should be sending out messages to your students and parents. Our data can tell us averages on how often teachers are sending out messages, sure, but it’s based off of so many varying types of classes, teachers, students and schools, that the numbers seem too unspecific to be the basis for any communication strategy.

Nonetheless - they are interesting!

I used two methods to find out how often teachers are using Remind101. First I asked around Facebook and Twitter to see how many messages teachers said they were sending out to students in a given week. The results:

Most teachers responded that they send at least one message every school day, but right behind them were teachers that said they average about two messages a week.

Then we looked at our own data. We pooled all of our regularly active teachers (we qualify someone as “active” if they have logged in or sent a message in the past 30 days), and found that on average our users are sending 5.8 messages a week.

(Not sure how to quantify .8 of a message, but you know, statistically speaking.)

Unlike my social media poll, that number includes Elementary teachers, that are communicating with mostly parents, as well as the teachers communicating directly with students.

Based on this first round of data digging, a message a day seems to be the norm. Does that mean sending 8 messages a week puts you over the threshold? I’m not sure, but I promise to keep trying to find out for you!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from some of our teachers on this topic:

Have you found the right formula? Is there such a thing as too few or too many messages a week? What about a day?

Wondering the same question as I am, help me get more teachers in the conversation by sharing this post - just use the sharing links below!

Welcome Ben!

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:11:00 -0500

It’s my absolute pleasure to introduce our most recent full time hire, Ben. Ever wonder how messages get sent each and every time you hit send, or when you click ‘schedule later’ it actually sends later? Well, Ben’s one of the fellas that holds the fort down at Remind101. He’s a software engineer.

Remember the widget that just launched? He built it from scratch. More cool stuff to come.

Ben was born and raised in Northern California and went to the University of California, Santa Cruz.

When he’s not hacking, you can catch him working on his boat with his brothers.

Ben, we’re so excited to have you!

Thanks Mrs. Whitefield

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:36:00 -0500

Most people don’t know this, but I struggled in high school. A lot. I learned slower, I took tests separately from other students because I needed time.

Everyone has had a teacher that has created an impact on their life. Mrs. Whitefield changed mine (she keeps telling me to call her Denise but I just can’t!). She spent HOURS a day reviewing papers with me, ensuring I did the reading & being patient. Very very patient. It’s fair to say she was the reason I got into college. I learned slower. I read slower. But she was ok with that. I think I found a lot of confidence in her patience. “Keep trying, you’ll get it”.

Anytime I thank her for spending that time with me & tell her how much she impacted my life, she shrugs it off and say’s ” oh stop, you did it yourself!”

A sincere thanks to Mrs. Whitefield at Niles West High School!

New Feature Release: The Remind101 Widget

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:26:47 -0500

Last week we slyly launched our latest feature. The Remind101 widget!

What is it?

The Remind101 widget allows you to display recently sent Remind101 messages on your class website or blog. It’s extremely easy to install and, completely safe to use.

Step 1: Log into your account on any computer and go to “Account”, and “My Widget” in the upper right hand corner.

Step 2: On the next page you’ll see a preview of what your widget will look like when embedded on your blog. To get your embed code and add it to your site, click the blue “Create Widget” button.

Step 3: Highlight and copy the embeddable code on this page. That code is what you will use to add the widget to your class website or blog.

Step 4: Navigate to your class site or blog. Locate where your sites editable HTML code can be accessed. Every website is different.

Step 5: Decide where you would like your widget to be on your website, and find the corresponding code in your HTML view. Once you’ve found it, paste in the code for your widget and update the display.

You’ve now successfully installed your Remind101 widget!

We’re hoping the new Remind101 widget makes communication in your classroom just another small step easier.

Disclosure: The widget is a brand new release for us! So if you run into any bugs, or notice any glitches, let us know at contact@remind101.com

So excited about the widget you just can’t hide it? Help spread the word about our new widget on your social networks!

Thanks for making Remind101 a part of your classroom communication!

Teacher-family communication increases homework completion by 40%.

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:16:00 -0500

We’ve always believed that increased communication outside of class will foster a better work environment for students, and ultimately impact their success.

But a study conducted by Harvard Graduate students, Matthew Kraft and Shaun Dougherty, has now proven it.

By splitting middle and high school classes at a charter school in Massachusetts into treatment and control groups, Kraft and Dougherty were able to measure the differences phone calls and text messages home after school hours actually made.

They found that consistent communication with students and their families, outside the classroom, increases students participation in class, their homework completion rate, and their ability to remain on-task. Their results found that added communication:

Built stronger teacher-student relationships
Expanded parental involvement in students studies
Increased students motivation in school

Kraft and Dougherty specifically found that,

Teacher-family communication increased the odds that students completed their homework by 40%.
Decreased instances in which teachers had to redirect students attention to the task at hand by 25%,
Increased class participation rates by 15%”

In the teams interviews with the treatment group, they learned that teachers felt that calling and texting home, “foster(ed) a better rapport”, “heightened our relationship” with students, and “helped them to be more effective at classroom management and behavior modification.”

And that only skims the surface of what these graduate students found!

Studies such as this one will help Remind101 continue to pave the way in classroom communication tools.

We want to know if this information is valuable to you! Let us know on Twitter, Facebook or by emailing contact@remind101.com and we’ll gladly follow up this post with more of their findings.

We moved. Literally!

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:18:48 -0500

This week the Remind101 team moved into our new office space in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco. It’s fully equipped with lots of granola bars, sparkling water and gorgeous views. Check out our new thinking pad!

Teachers in, or visiting, San Francisco, our doors are always open to you!

If anyone would like to stop by the office we’d love to have you. Reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter or directly at contact@remind101.com.

How to use Remind101 in Elementary, Middle, and High School

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 21:12:00 -0500

This fall we decided to write a blog post on “The 10 ways to use Remind101.” Since that post, we continue to discover creative use cases that open up fantastic new possibilities.

It’s not unusual for me to stumble across a teacher using Remind101 in a new way. When that happens, I try my best to share their story on Facebook,Twitter or here on the blog.

One memorable recent message was this gem:

Teachers have found ways to implement Remind101 into every grade from K-12, and higher ed. As one would expect, we’ve recognized distinguishing difference in the ways Remind101 is used at each level.

I decided to delve a little deeper into what those differences were, and asked a few teachers to help me out by offering their story on how they use Remind101 in Elementary vs Middle vs High School.

Elementary:

Eric Carlson:

5th Grade
Northwinds Elementary
Buffalo, MN

Summary: Communication with parents/families. Bridging gap between school and home.

“I stumbled upon Remind101 a year ago and it has made communication with my fifth grade families a breeze! I use it to let parents know of upcoming tests and classroom/school news. I love how quickly and easily I can get word to parents. Parents love the texts and/or emails. It makes them feel more connected to classroom happenings.

The best feature is the scheduling of future messages. I can plan ahead and schedule a message to go out whenever I want. Want parents to know you have a test coming up but don’t want them to know too far in advance? Schedule the reminder to go out 2-3 days in advance. Slick! The possibilities are endless here!

I have a few 5th graders sign up for Remind 101 but for the most part it is my student’s parents. They appreciate the communication. It’s easy to sign up for and a great school-to-home communication tool.”

Todd Nesloney:

5th Grade Math, StuCo Advisor, & Tech Ninja
Fields Store Elementary
Waller, TX
You can read Todd’s blog at: http://nesloneyflipped.blogspot.com

Summary: Communicates with parents/families and students with phones. Keeping everyone informed, and on task, with due dates.

“I use Remind101 to remind my students and parents about upcoming field trips, homework that is due, and other school events. Because I do a “flipped Classroom” model they have to watch several instructional videos a week, and Remind101 really helps me with reminding students and parents what is due when. It is also a great way to quickly send out reminders about events. I don’t ever even access the Remind101 website, I do all my messages from the Remind101 app on my iPhone because it is just so easy to use! I also made sure to sign up for my own class reminders so that I could ensure messages were being delivered! That has really helped with the “well I never got a message” excuse.”

Elementary Takeways:

It is much more common to communicate with parents during these years as the students are less likely to have their own phone. Giving parents the “inside scoop” on what’s happening in their child’s classroom lets them be involved without being there. It fosters more parent involvement in their studies, and short quick messages on a regular basis make it less work for the teacher to keep families informed.

I also love hearing stories about Remind101 being used at this age to give parents tools to help teach at home. Teachers can send spelling words and reading lists to the parents, or trivia questions on what they did in class that day. It takes learning into the evening, and I love that.

Middle School:

Laura Fenger:

6th Grade Reading and Language Arts
You can read Laura’s blog at: www.mrsfenger.wordpress.com

Summary: Easiest communication method to notify parents about classroom work.

“As a 6th grade teacher, I use Remind101.com to send daily messages about homework to parents. The ability to text message parents makes a huge difference. Parents who don’t have access to email, often can receive text messages. I’ve had several parents tell me they really like getting my messages. Several other teachers in my school use it for this purpose, as well. Being able to communicate easily with parents makes my job easier.”

RDW, @tknologlvr:

Summary: Communicates with both students and parents/families about homework, scheduling adjustments and class announcemnts.

Middle School Takeaways:

Most middle school teachers communicate with both students and parents.
More students are getting their own phones now, but it’s still a good time to keep the parents involved in messages. It can give the parent a birds eye view of what their student is intended to accomplish, while the simultaneous communicate with students empowers them to feel like adults. Sharing messages directly with students gives them an opportunity to prove their own accomplishments…without Mom and Dad.

In middle school I also see trivia questions and motivational messages start to spur. Motivational messages are a particularly important aspect of communication. No child going through the difficult life adjustment that is puberty can hear, “you’re doing amazing, keep it up” enough.

High School:

Adalia Davis:

AP Human Geography
George Ranch High School
Richmond, Texas

Summary: Communicate directly with students as secondary measure to “writing assignments on the board,” routine changes, and reminders of what to bring to class that day. The option is open for parents to sign up as well, which many do.

“I use Remind101 to communicate primarily with students although most of my parents subscribe to the updates as well. At open house one parent after another told me how much the loved getting texts from me. They like to be “in the loop” of what’s going on in class. My students actually prefer to get text reminders via Remind101 rather than having them written on the board. Mostly I send out reminders about due dates and what supplies should be brought to class on a given day but recently I’ve utilized the system to alert my students about last minute changes in our routine (ex. meet in the computer lab instead of class).”

Tammy Neil:

Branford High School
Algebra 1/Honors, Intensive Math 6th & 7th
Branford, Florida

Summary: Use for classes and organizations. Both students and parents can opt into recieving messages. Send messages on many topics including homeowork, necessary supplies for days work and scheduling reminders.

“I found Remind101 on Pinterest this past summer. I have set up classes
for each of the preps I teach. I also sponsor two student organizations.
I provided both the students and the parents with the same group sign-up
information. I send all types of information. I try to send homework
reminders at a reasonable hour so parents can assist their students. I
also send reminders about club meetings, and school holidays. I’ve even
sent requests for supplies for my classroom. It has been a wonderful addition to my resources.”

High School Takeaways:

High School means cell phones are abundant (not like you need me to tell you that). Students are already texting like crazy. So communication via Remind101 has done something we didn’t expect, it’s bridged the teacher-student gap. Something about the communication via text actually makes students more comfortable with their teachers and more open to asking questions and getting involved.

Most high school teachers make parent sign ups optional at this level. We believe you should always give an enthusiastic parent appropriate access to their childs education. So I love to hear about high school parents still excited to get the messages.

Again, motivational messages, and texts including opportunities to learn after 3 pm (trivia, study tips, etc) are great at this age. You’re now getting into a good place where current events and historical dates can be learning moments, and Remind101 is a great way to foster that.

If you have a story about how you’ve been using Remind101, I’d love to hear from you! Reach out to us at contact@remind101.com, on Facebook or onTwitter and tell us all about it.

Christine Garland is the Marketing Engineer at Remind101, you can tweet her @cagarland