This year, teachers have entered the digital age, using text messages to help them stay in contact with their students.
On the first few days of school, teachers had their classes sign up for a service run by remind101.com. They did this by sending a text containing the name of the course they were enrolled to a teacher specific phone number. These texts are to help keep students up to date on their assignments and due dates.
Teachers say though students have this reminder system, they should still be writing down their homework in class in the event the teacher doesn’t send the reminder.
“It’s a little much that we have to go to such great lengths to get students to do their homework. They should take personal responsibility to write it down,” psychology teacher Barbara Caley said.
Teachers can set up the reminders to send days in advance.
“I sent out reminders for a project on three different days. One on Friday, again on Monday and on Thursday to remind them it was due the next day,” history teacher Megan Padgett said.
Teachers hope to notice an increase in the number of students who are completing their assignments and doing better on tests and quizzes due to the reminders.
“At the teacher in-service we went to the week before school started, we heard about remind101. The presenter said there had been a 65% increase in students completing their work. We haven’t had it long enough to see how effective it will be yet but we hope it helps,” said Caley.
While some teachers only remind their students of a few of their assignments, others remind their classes of the majority of their assignments and projects.
“With the exception of long term assignments, my teacher has sends me most of my homework and reminders about upcoming tests,” junior Chris D’Anna said.
Teachers can send the texts to a student’s phone or email through the service to ensure they are always connected.
“Everyone can be included in the remind101 service, some students don’t have phones or unlimited texting so the reminders can be sent to them through email,” psychology teacher Coulter Weaver said.
Though students check blackboard and copy down their homework in class, should they forget, their teachers provide them with the new opportunity of having a homework update sent to them via text message, with the purpose of prompting them complete their assignments on time.
D’Anna said, “It is a nice reminder, if I don’t think I have homework, I won’t check blackboard, so it is convenient to have assignments sent to my phone and be thrown in my face so I can do them.”
