Helpful Teacher Websites

If you are like me, I am sure your email inbox explodes with numerous websites claiming to be a teacher's best friend.  Many times, you glance at the information and bookmark the link to take a look at later.  Unfortunately, later often never comes. 

I want to share two sites that did grab my attention amidst their claims to helping organize my classroom.  I have since put both into practice and am very happy with the way things are going.

Appointy:
Appointy is an online appointment scheduler.  While set up for businesses, I started using this site to streamline how my GIEP meeting scheduling process.  The site allows a user to create open appointments and then provides you with a link to send out.  I was able to block off half hour time slots over the course of a week to schedule my GIEP meetings.  Parents signed in with Facebook, Google, or an Appointy account.  They were able to see what times were available and schedule a meeting at their leisure.  I was sent confirmation emails when an appointment was made.  I am able to log on and see who is scheduled when and what slots are still open.  Appointy even sends out reminder emails 48 hours before the scheduled meeting.  You can customize the information that you would like parents to complete when scheduling.  It has saved me a lot of time because we normally scheduled these through email.  I am using the free account and everything I need is available.  I have not looked into the paid accounts, because I haven't come across needing something that isn't available.

VolunteerSpot:
This is a teacher's dream website.  Long gone are the times where I have to manually keep track of volunteers or items that are to be donated.  VolunteerSpot does this all for me.  My students run a school store and I always have one parent there monitoring the sales.  This website allowed me to post the details and times that I needed volunteers and it keeps track of who has committed.  Parents are able to switch times with each other, without me getting involved.  It even keeps a database of volunteers' names and email addresses in case I need to quickly contact someone.  You can also use this site to post items that are needed for the classroom.  Parents can go on to your site and sign up to send something in.  Duplicate items are a thing of the past!  The free account allows you to have up to 30 events going on at a time.  A paid account gives you more events and the option to collect money for things such as field trips.  I definitely plan on using this when I am seeking out volunteers for the Science Olympiad that I organize.  With over 140 volunteers, this site is sure to relieve some of my anxiety.  :)

As I use these sites in new ways, I will be sure to post.

Here's to STEM!
Mrs. Giran