iCanHelpLine Update

It’s been a very exciting time promoting and spreading the word on the iCanHelpLine. At the time of this post, we passed the $10,000 mark in money raised for this important cause. Your support means that we can make sure our website is up and running with great content. We will be able to launch our phone service in the fall and Anne and I get to make our trip to the UK this summer….

Speaking of which, Anne and I will be traveling to the UK to learn about their very successful helpline for schools, which has been in place for the past several years. This helpline is our model because it’s the only other one in the world specifically for school staff and other professionals. This training will give us valuable insights and experience that will keep us from having to reinvent the wheel. [the perspective and insight that will make this helpline work for schools.]

In addition, we recently met with Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership (TICAL) and the will be listing the helpline as a resource in their Social Media Handbook for Administrators. We really appreciate what TICAL does for technology and Administrative Leadership.

In the news, we had a great write up in the San Francisco Examiner by Laura Dudnick. She really get’s what we are about and how we will help schools.

We also had a great write up by Amy Jussel of Shaping Youth who wrote an incredible blog post about the impact a social media helpline will have for the United States.

That’s all for now, thanks for keeping up with our efforts and please keep spreading the word.

Internet Data and resources the iCanHelpline has to offer.

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Social Media Helpline for Schools

I remember my third grade experience like it was yesterday. The kids calling me names, running away before I could make them stop, chasing me when I went the other way or finding me playing on the playground so they could torment me some more. I remember going to the yard duty, a woman standing about 5’2″ who I thought was a giant, stared down at me to listen to my plight of being bullied daily. I told her what was happening, and without a pause she looked at me and said, “What do you want me to do? You tell me about this every single day. What do you expect me to do about it?”

To say this is a low point at the age of 8 is an understatement. The adult charged with making sure I stay safe and feel loved blowing me off like a beggar outside of the supermarket. In hindsight I think she posed a good question only because I don’t think she knew what to do about my being bullied, it beyond her skill set, boys being boys. I’m sure the reaction wold have been different had I done something about it and dealt with my oppressors in a different way, but that was not who I was.

That is the challenge we face, kids are being mean and the students we are expected to protect and make feel loved and valued in our schools are not always feeling that way. The post goes up, usually anonymous, through apps like Burnbook, Snapchat, Twitter or Instagram. The kids look to adults for guidance, they look to friends for support, but no one knows what to do or how to respond. Kids need help with a negative social media.

#icanhelp is all about empowering students to act and training adults in what to say or do when encountering negative social media. The iCanHelpLine is an extension of that idea that schools and organizations can contact when needing help with issues around harassment, bullying, sexting and reputation. #icanhelp and NetFamilyNews Inc. have the experience as well as the industry relationships to social media organizations to resolve issues and offer guidance. So, instead of asking, “What do you want me to do about it,” you will hear, “how can I help?”

Help make this Social Media Helpline a reality. Donate and share: igg.me/at/icanhelpline. To see some of the resources and how the iCanHelpLine will be a benefit to schools and education groups, check out this infographic below:

Internet Data and resources the iCanHelpline has to offer.

Connect your School with Remind

After using the Remind texting app with my students to connect my classes, I had a thought to connect my entire school in the same way. I’m constantly hearing from students that they are uninformed and don’t know what is going on at school. So, I set out to get my kids connected on their phones using Remind.

I targeted two groups year one, the freshmen and seniors. I knew that I would have those groups together, and that is key. If kids feel they have a choice to signup, most won’t. However, if all the kids are there at the same time and you instruct them to signup to get updates, they will see their friends signing up. That, and the kids get excited when the teacher tells them to take out their phones and do something with them. So, at freshmen orientation and at senior sunrise the first week of school, I had about three hundred kids sign-up for text updates. My students brought out a giant sign with the info needed to sign up and we parked them in front of the crowd as we explained how and why to signup.

Over the next two years we had all four classes signed up. Now, I had the ability to advertise dances, share deadlines, remind kids to bring books for library check in, and remind kids about spirit days (we started getting a better turnout). I would use the app for spirit give-a-ways (hide items on campus or have kids line-up by a certain door, first ten there get a spirit item).

One tip, have your students sign-up by class. For example, my current list is the Class of 2015, Class of 2016, Class of 2017 and the Class of 2018. This way, I can send a text to all groups, or, if it’s just seniors, I can send the text to just the Class of 2015.

How will you use Remind?