Communicating With Students Using Google Voice

There are many options available today for communicating with our students and parents. Many of us use Remind, Celly, Schoology, Gmail, Blogs, Websites, etc. to help stay in touch with students and remind them of important events.

One other option is to use Google Voice. Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all of your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text.

I discovered GV years ago when going on overnight field trips. I wanted students to be able to communicate with me while not in my presence but didn't want to give them my cell phone number. With Google Voice, I created a new number and forwarded calls, texts, voicemails, etc., all to my personal cell number. Students were able to communicate with me but my actual cell number remained anonymous. The best part was when I was done using the GV number, I shut it off.

Google Voice is available to all of us in the Google App Launcher (the 3x3 grid in the upper right hand side of the screen while on a Google site). Click the launcher, scroll down and click "Even more from Google" which will take you to a Google App page. From there, scroll down to Home and Office and select Voice. Follow the prompts to then create you own Google Voice account! If you're having trouble, please stop by the ARC during Blocks 1, 2, or 3, or contact Ann, Dawn, Kevin, or Steve.

Here are some helpful screen captures: