2 years ago, I was teaching high school and our building principal setup the Remind App for our staff. I must confess that at first I found the app annoying. The flurry of messages I was receiving from our fearless leader was invasive. Granted, many of the messages were germain to being a teacher at our school and some of them were essential such as, We’re on a 2-hour delay and Don’t forget, I’m observing you tomorrow. Grudgingly, I began to acknowledge the value of this new mode of communication and collaboration.

This fall, I embarked on a new education journey as an adjunct at Muskingum University. I decided to give Remind a try with my students. I quite simply embraced the old cliché, When in Rome, do like the Romans. Over the past decade, I’d experienced the frustration of unrequited emails sent to students. Young folks aren’t big fans of emails, but they text the hell out of one another. Remind embraces this proclivity. The messages come through the recipient’s device as a text and the receiver can then respond. But Remind isn’t just a group thing. Teachers can message students or parents individually and then carry on conversations just with them.

On its surface, Remind may seem like it’s ripe for inappropriate communication between students and teachers. If those anxieties are stirring in you, please visit this page to read what Remind has to say about its commitment to security and protecting students.

To help describe how this app works from the student perspective, I conscripted some of my current primary sources. Taylor Clemons, Rader Felumlee, and Macy McAdams are my current students. These magnificent future teachers will also speculate on how they’ll utilize this app in their eventual classrooms.

Taylor Clemons, Rader Felumlee, and Macy McAdams

Episode Template

The Problem:

Student-teacher communication needs to be improved.

The Solution:

Setup the Remind App in your classroom.

What you can do Tomorrow:

• Study the Remind App.
• Check with your principal to see if using Remind at your school is kosher.
• Create a small test group of students or parents and try it for a couple of weeks.

Remind transformed the way I communicate and collaborate with my students. It has the same potential for your class.

Listen to “James Sturtevant Hacking Engagement” on Spreaker.