Communicate With Students And Families 

Using Remind

@LisaBerghoff

With the wide range of ways we get our information, texting seems to be at the top of the preferred list for both students and parents. It makes sense because it is fast and easy and text messages tend to be short and to the point. If you are sending lengthy emails, chances are, they are not being read carefully. While this may be frustrating, it can also be liberating. You don't need to craft long email messages, hooray! And you don't need to be stumped by how to send text messages safely because we have Remind, a communication platform designed to reach students and families that is approved by our district for educator use.

What Is Remind?

Remind is a communication platform that gives you the ability to communicate solely by text with parents, teachers, and students without giving them your personal phone number. You can also adjust the settings so students can text you back in a district approved environment. Since we have a district account, Remind automatically creates classes based on your Infinite Campus roster so there is no need to give students a code to join. Yes, there is an app, but it is not necessary to have the app to receive messages. Everyone can customize their notification preferences to determine how they want to receive messages. 

How Do I Use Remind?

Remind can be accessed from your computer or your phone. It's a good idea to start on your computer. 

1. Go to Remind.com and log in using your school Google account.

2. From the dashboard, choose a class and click "New New Message" 

3. Select or search a class or a specific person and click continue

4. Type your message at the bottom and click send. 

You can also schedule your messages, add content such as photos and videos,  and translate to other languages. 

Types of messages:

Announcement: These messages can be sent at the class level and allow you to send something to everyone in the class, or multiple classes, at the same time. Even though the message is being sent to the entire class, replies will only go to you.

Role-Based Messaging: You can select specific roles to receive your messages, like students and parents. Just like with a class announcement, only you will see the replies.  

Let's take a look at the Remind dashboard from the computer. As you can see, you have the list of classes that you own followed by the list of classes you have joined down the left side of the screen. At the top, you can see all messages sent, files, the list of people in the class, any calls that were made, and the settings for that class. It is in the class settings where you can see the class code to join, as well as the class settings for visibility and messaging options. 

To adjust your notification settings, click your name in the upper left and then click on Account Settings and then Notification Preferences. This is where you can decide if you want text messages sent to your phone so you don't need to use the app. The choice is yours to make.

Want to know more? You can check out the Remind Learning Center where there are articles and short "courses" you can take to learn more about how to get the most out of your Remind account. Just click on your name and then click "Learning Center".

Want some help getting up and running with Remind? Let me know. I'm always happy to lend a hand.