Remind 101

One more tool that I want to share with you is remind101.org. This is an app and website for teachers that allows us to send reminders to our students and parents via text messaging or email.

The students sign up by texting Remind101's number with a code, that we assign to our class. Remind101 then sends out a message asking for their name and adds them to your class list. The great thing is that there numbers are confidential. When I have work that is due, I schedule a text message on the website and Remind101 sends out my message in mass to my class.

I am currently trying this out with my 7th and 8th grade students and so far they seem to like it. It is a free site. They don't need to download anything. They just need texting.

Google and Education

I have heard tell that it takes a while to establish a routine or habit. Unfortunately this is one habit that is taking a while to stick.  The focus for the next few posts will be on a tool that we already have at our disposal, that I have fallen in love with and our students are already using: Google. That's right Google. Google is no longer just a search engine. They are expanded into everything from emails, blogs (they host this blog), maps, and cloud servers.

So the question is how can I use Google in the classroom. One fantastic tool that is available to us is Google Maps. Google Maps has a street view option that lets us explore the street view of a particular town or the ocean floor.




They also have collections that you can browse through without having to search the maps. You can find them here: maps.google.com/ocean.

I will leave you with a teaser video on Google Apps. Think of it as a preview of what I will be researching and blogging for you in the weeks to come!