header

rooms family

Tech Tip Tuesday: Rooms

Dear WSD Colleagues,

Welcome to Rooms, Apptegy's two-way messaging platform that lives right inside your school's app! It's a simple and secure way to communicate with students and guardians, keeping everything in one place. Here’s what you need to know to get started. 

rooms class

Why Use Rooms?

  • One App, One Login: Parents don't need to download another app. It's the same district/school app they already use for news and calendars.

  • Direct & Secure: Message individual guardians or send announcements to the entire class. It's more secure than group text chats.

  • SIS Integration: In most cases, your class rosters and guardian contacts are automatically synced from the Student Information System (SIS), saving you tons of setup time.

  • Share More Than Text: Easily attach photos, documents, and links to your messages.

Teacher "Need-to-Knows" Before You Start

Set Communication Expectations Early: Send a welcome message that outlines your "office hours" or when parents can typically expect a response. This helps manage expectations from the start.

  • Example Welcome Message: "Welcome to our 3rd Grade ELA class on Rooms! I'll be using this to send reminders and updates. I typically check messages between 8 AM and 4 PM on school days. Looking forward to a great year!"

Announcements vs. Messages:

  • Use Announcements (the megaphone icon) for one-way communication to the entire class (e.g., "Picture Day is this Friday!").

  • Use Messages for two-way conversations with individual students, guardians, or small groups like room parents or school clubs.

Guardians Must Accept: Remember, parents won't see your messages until they accept the invitation to join your class in Rooms. If a parent says they aren't getting messages, the first step is to check if their status is still "Invited."

Check Your Notifications: Make sure your app's notification settings are turned on so you don't miss any messages from parents.

thrillshare app logo

Wrapping Up

Rooms simplifies everything by putting all your class messages into the one school app parents already use. This saves you time, boosts parent engagement, and builds a stronger home-school partnership, all while eliminating the clutter of multiple apps and emails. 

All the best,

WSD Digital Teaching & Learning Specialists

Monica Widdison, mowiddison@wsd.net DT&L Specialist for Elementary Schools 

Alan Rhees, arhees@wsd.net DT&L Specialist for Elementary Schools 

Jaymee Barrowes, jabarrowes@wsd.net DT&L Specialist for Secondary Schools 

Blake Pope, blpope@wsd.net DT&L Specialist for Secondary Schools