Teachers struggle to connect with parents. Parents struggle to keep up with everything their kids have going on at school. In the past teachers have had to count on making sure that notes stuffed into backpacks make it home to parents. Parents hoped that their students didn’t lose or throw away notes from their teacher. Then email came along and seemed to solve this problem. But once again teachers send out emails, but they are never sure if parents opened and read the email. Parents have to weed through the vast amount of work and junk email they receive to find the ones that pertain to their child. Remind is an online tool that works to solve the problems associated with paper notes and emails.

Remind allows teachers to send out messages to parents and students “on-the-fly.” This can be very useful for teachers and administrators to inform everyone about issues as they arise. Messages can also be scheduled ahead of time. This can be a fantastic time saver for teachers. Teachers never know what they are going to encounter in a day. So having messages already scheduled to go out can alleviate some stress.

Remind sends messages right to the cell phones of students and teachers. Let’s face it this is something that they are looking at anyway. Short messages appear on the device. These messages are a great way to communicate upcoming events, assignments due, or just to report something about the day. Imagine how much easier it would be to coordinate field trips and school parties using Remind.

Files can also be attached to messages. This gives teachers a chance to share images or videos of what is going on in class with parents. Documents such as permission slips or assignments could also be attached to messages.

Another great feature is the fact that teachers can see who has read the messages. This eliminates the excuse of “I didn’t know about that.” Remind also helps with privacy. Teacher phone numbers do not appear on the messages.

The fact that messages can be translated into more than 70 languages. This can help teachers communicate with ESL parents.

Teachers should keep in mind that Remind should be used as a supplement for classroom communication, not the sole source. Families have different communication styles. Teachers should consider these as they create their communication plan. It is also important to remember that not everyone has access to the technology necessary to access these messages. Low-income families may not have mobile devices. Some families might live in areas where their cell phone signals might be unreliable or unavailable.

While Remind is a fantastic way for teachers to help students remember when assignments are due. It is also important for students to take responsibility for completing their assignments. Teachers want to be sure that they are empowering students and not becoming a crutch for them. Remind should be used as a tool to foster time management skills in students.

Remind is a business. Remind currently operates for free because of a group of investors. These are some of the same investors who helped fund Google and Facebook. These investors believe in the mission of Remind. Remind has also recently added a feature to collect money for events like fundraisers and field trips. Remind charges a small percentage on each of these transactions.

Remind is another tool in the teacher’s toolkit. It is a fantastic way to quickly and easily communicate with parents and students. Administrators can also utilize Remind to communicate with their staff. Communication at all levels improves with mindful use of this tool.