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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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? 

Top Tips to Remind your Students

Over the past five years I have played with a lot of technology to keep in touch with students and make sure that the kids were connected and informed about school. With everything I have done, texting is the most effective method to connect with kids. If a student has a phone it will always be on his or her person and they will be tuned in waiting for  the next update or message that has relevancy to their world. With that I recommend Remind as a tool to help you stay connected. This is a teacher friendly app that safely connects you to students or parents to share information and content relevant to your class.

Here are some tips to get started:

1. Have your class sign-up together as a group on the first day of school. I explain that text rates apply, kids get that, and that you want your kids to stay connected and informed.
2. Make it Interactive right away. My first text that night is a question. The first ten kids who show up at class with the secret word or the answer to the riddle get a giant candy bar or similar prize.
3. Tell kids to save the number you are using to sign up for the reminders as “School Reminders”. This way, if other teachers use the app, they won’t confuse Mr. Smith’s updates with Mrs. Jackson’s updates. This also goes back to not over texting kids especially if multiple teachers at your school use Remind.
4. Encourage kids to get the app if they are able. There are additional features in the app, such as the new Chat feature from Remind, that goes beyond simple texting. Kids can use the app to communicate with you directly. This is a feature you can turn on or off.
5. Put Remind up on your white board or screen, let kids see your admin panel, ask them when they want a reminder for an assignment. This will build trust as your kids see what you are doing and how you are managing the text messages.
6. Create groups for each class. As hard as we try, first period and fifth period may not be on the same pace and updates may vary.
7. Send out extra credit questions via text or leak test questions. The goal is interaction, that is more important than a point on a test.
8. Attach handouts, resources, photos of the agenda or notes taken on the white board. Send out photos of great projects or historical events relevant to the course of study. In my class I send out video tutorials the kids can use on projects.
9. Be aware of times. With high school kids, I target fifteen minutes before school, when the bell rings at the start of lunch, when the bell rings at the end of the school day or between 7-8 at night. I know that is when kids will have eyes on their phones and I will get the most interaction with my text. If you are middle school, I would target before school or after school. If you are grade school or below, find out when your parents are most receptive to getting info for your class.
10. Sync your Remind account to Twitter. Now, you can group text and update Twitter with one push of the button.

Get started using Remind with one of your classes today. What are some ideas you have for using Remind in your class?