No need to give your cell phone number to students.
Giving your students your cell phone number can be risky. Once they have it, they have it forever. I get it; you want a quick and convenient way for your students to contact you and to get a hold of them. I generally use email to get a hold of students, but some students don’t check their email regularly. They do, however, always have their phones on them. Google Voice is a free service that allows you to register a new phone number that you can use to contact your students, work studies, or anyone else. Registering a new number and installing the app on your phone only takes a few minutes. From there, you’ll be able to send and receive text messages and phone calls using the app. Your cell phone number will never be exposed to students.
By default, your account will screen phone calls by asking the caller to say their name. When you answer an incoming call, you’ll hear the student say their name and a prompt on whether or not you want to accept the call.
You’re limited to sending a group text to seven people at a time, so there are better solutions for mass communication. If you are looking to group text all the students in your class, Remind might be a solution.
If you insist on using your cell phone to call students, try dialing *67 before dialing their number. It will block your phone number and display “No Caller ID” in their phone instead of your cell number. You risk them not picking up because it looks like a robocall, and students can’t call you back because they won’t have your number.
Watch Tip #12
