Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
A Calendar of Social Emotional Learning Activities
Disclosure: Kikori is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Last month I wrote a blog post about a new app and website called Kikori that provides
My Five Favorite Flipgrid Video Features
Over the last few years Flipgrid has added so many great features that it has evolved beyond being just a platform for teachers to ask
What’s Onomatopoeia Mean? – Another Question from My Daughters
Every night my daughters (ages 4 and 5) ask us all kinds of interesting questions. Some of them are about things that I haven’t thought
Paper, Programming, and Games – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it feels like spring this morning. The wind is blowing away the clouds of yesterday and it should be a
Eclecticism – Some Good Weekend Reading
It’s the weekend, it’s spring (in the northern hemisphere), and that means some of you will be looking through job listings in hopes of finding
Five Random Name Pickers to Use in Your Classroom
From creating groups to choosing a line leader to establishing the order of presenters there are plenty of times that a random name picker can
My Three Favorite Tools for Creating QR Codes
There are lots of practical and clever uses for QR codes in schools. Over the years I’ve used them to make sign-in/sign-out sheets easily accessible,
Reading and Games – The Month in Review
Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the last day of March, 2022. The old saying of “March comes in like a
This Could be a Great Opportunity for a History Teacher
The Library of Congress has a program called Innovator in Residence that provides funding for one person to develop innovative tools that incorporate artifacts housed
How to Create B-roll Media Galleries to Share With Students
In last Sunday’s Practical Ed Tech newsletter I wrote about the idea of creating a b-roll media gallery to share with your students. The idea
Seven Sites and Apps to Help Students Learn Coding and Programming
The other day I was in a Zoom meeting with someone who is relatively new to field of educational technology. I was asked about any
How to Use Google Slides in Canva
This is an update to a blog post that I published a couple of weeks ago about the same topic. In that blog post I outlined
A Huge Collection of Resources for Fun Phys Ed Activities
OPEN Phys Ed is an organization that hosts tons of great resources for physical education teachers. Additionally, OPEN organizes initiatives to encourage students to participate
Make a Word Game With Google Sheets – A Fun Way to Learn About Formulas
Google’s Applied Digital Skills website is a good place to find lesson plans and activities that you can use to help students learn how to
Spaghetti Trees and the History of April Fools’ Day
This Friday is April Fools’ Day. It’s a day that I’ve always enjoyed a little bit at home and at school. I’ve always enjoyed the
ICYMI – How to Create & Sell Your Own Digital Products
Last week I hosted a live webinar titled How to Create & Sell Your Own Digital Products. Since then a bunch of people have reached
More Easy Ways to Save Paper & Ink When Printing
Last week I published a blog post titled Stop Printing the Internet in which I shared some ways to limit the amount of ink and
Maple Syrup Sunday! And Maple Syrup Sundaes
Today is Maple Syrup Sunday here in Maine. It’s a day when many maple syrup producers open their operations to visitors. All of them offer
Chronicling America – A Great Place to Find Historic Newspapers
Chronicling America is digitized newspaper archive hosted by the Library of Congress. The Chronicling America collection contains millions of copies of newspaper pages printed in the
Games, Teams, and Mud – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where sunny weather has returned after a couple of days of sleet, snow, and rain. That sleet, snow, and rain is
Try This New Google Chrome Feature
Those of you who subscribe to my YouTube channel might have seen me share this yesterday. There’s a handy new feature in Chrome that appears
How to Edit Your Videos in YouTube Studio
A couple of days ago a reader emailed me to ask for help cropping a video. Specifically, he wanted to know what I thought would
Newspaper Map – Find and Read Newspapers Published Around the World
Newspaper Map is a neat tool for locating and reading newspapers from locations all around the world. Newspaper Map claims to have geolocated 10,000 newspapers. To
Kikori App – Social Emotional Learning Activities for All Ages
Kikori App is a new mobile app and website that offers a large library of social emotional learning activities for students of all ages. The
Three Ways to Share Videos Without Using YouTube
The days of heated arguments about whether or not YouTube should be accessible in school seem to be behind us. That doesn’t mean that YouTube
New Whiteboard Features in Microsoft Teams and New Excel Formulas
If you regularly use Microsoft Teams or any component of Office 365 and you’re not subscribed to Mike Tholfsen’s YouTube channel, you need to subscribe
How to Add Videos to Google Earth Projects
I’m currently developing a lesson plan that is loosely based on the reality television show, The Amazing Race. In my lesson students have to use
Stop Printing the Internet
Last weekend I got a new television (our old one died) just in time to watch some great NCAA basketball games. While watching one of
Dan Russell Teaches Us How to Search for Audio Files
Dan Russell, whose book and other work I’ve referenced dozens of times on this blog, recently published a good lesson on how to find audio
Last Call – Webinar – How to Create & Sell Your Own Digital Products
This afternoon at 4pm ET I’m hosting a new webinar titled How to Create & Sell Your Own Digital Products. Register by 3pm to join
Plays.org – Educational Games Your Students Will Love to Play
Disclosure: Plays.org is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.comPlays.org is a new website that offers hundreds of games for students to play online. Students can play all
Take Your Students on the American Ideals Virtual Field Trip Hosted by Discovery Education
Disclosure: Discovery Education is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Discovery Education hosts some fantastic virtual field trips throughout the year. These are open to all teachers
Spring is Here! Kind of…for Some of Us
Today is the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. And even there is still plenty of winter-like days to come, here in Maine
Chrome, Cookies, and Canva – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where a steady rain is washing away the last of snow that is in my yard. We’re heading into the time
A Lesson About Gas
Whenever I fill up my car’s gas tank I’m thankful that I don’t have a car that requires high octane gasoline. What is high octane
A Short Overview of the Wayback Machine
In yesterday’s blog post about unraveling an email scam I mentioned that I used the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine as a part of that process.
What Happened in 2008? – A Crash Course in Economics
In researching for Wednesday’s post about inflation I ran across one of my old posts about Crash Course Economics. Within that thirty-six part course there
Watch Me Unravel an Email Scam
As you know, I am a huge advocate for teaching students and teachers to respect copyright. To that end I always advocate for using your
Alternatives to Vialogues for Annotating Videos
Yesterday morning I answered an email from a reader who was looking for some alternatives to Vialogues for annotating videos. Vialogues has been one of
An Interactive Map of Surnames in Ireland
Mapping the Emerald Isle: a geo-genealogy of Irish surnames is an interactive map depicting the distribution of Irish surnames across Ireland according to the 1890
Why Do We Say Ok? – Another Question from My Daughters
Last night during dinner one of my daughters asked, “what does ok mean?” My other daughter quickly followed up with, “yeah, why do we say
Good Explanations of Inflation, Recession, and Bubbles
Turn on any financial news network like CNBC these days and you’re likely to hear some discussion about inflation and concerns about recession. Even if
Try Choice Eliminator Lite for Removing Choices from Google Forms
Twice in the last 24 hours I’ve been asked about options for removing choices from Google Forms as they get used up. The tool that
Use Canva’s Design and Recording Tools With Your PowerPoint and Google Slides
The other day a reader sent me an interesting question that I hadn’t thought about before. That was whether or not you can use Canva’s
How to Change Google Calendar Notifications
I have some good news for you if, like another reader who emailed me this morning, you are trying to keep Google Calendar notifications flooding
Join Me Next Week for a Webinar About Creating Digital Products and More
Creating and selling digital products like webinars, on-demand courses, and eBooks is one of the ways that I’ve been able to keep this site going
My Five Favorite Canva Features
Canva is a tool that I use nearly every day of my working life. Like some of the other tools in my daily work life,
Readlee – Know How Your Students Read Online Assignments
Every once in a while a new edtech service comes along that as soon as I try it I know that it’s going to be
Why You’re Seeing More of My Face
You may have noticed that my face is appearing in more of the cover images for my blog posts and in more of the cover
How I Created Outdoor Bingo Boards
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I highlighted some templates for creating in-person educational games. One of the templates that I featured was Flippity’s
Five Chrome Settings You Need to Know
Google Chrome is far and away the most popular web browser amongst readers of this blog (68% of you use Chrome, the next most popular
ICYMI – Two EdTech Guys Take Questions – Webinar Recording
Last week Rushton Hurley and I resumed our Two EdTech Guys Take Questions webinar series. If you missed it, you can watch the recording right here or as embedded
Pi, Clocks, and Games – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’ve awoken to rain that is forecasted to turn to snow. We had a couple of spring-like days this week
It’s Maple Syrup Season!
The saving grace of the change to Daylight Saving Time is that it coincides with one of my favorite things about spring, maple syrup season!
How to Manage Browser Pop-ups – Not All of Them Are Bad
Yesterday morning I answered a question from a reader who was having a little trouble accessing the sharing function on a website. From the description
Actionable Insights for Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams
Last week Microsoft added some new aspects to the Reading Progress tools in Microsoft Teams. One of those new features is called Actionable Insights. As
How to Share Your TinyTap Courses
Disclosure: TinyTap is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Earlier this week I published a lengthy blog post and video about creating and selling TinyTap courses.
How to Quickly Create and Share Narrated Presentations
Yesterday afternoon I published a video highlighting my five favorite features of Canva. After I published it I thought about it some more and decided
Pi Day is Coming!
Pi Day (March 14th or 3.14) is next week. If you’re looking for some Pi Day activities to do or some videos to share about
A Short Overview of Library of Congress Digital Collections
I reference the Library of Congress nearly every time that I talk or write about searching for historical maps and images. If you know where
How to Add Narration to Google Slides Without Add-ons
Earlier this week someone replied to my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter with a question about narrating Google Slides. Specifically, she wanted to know about options
How to Suppress Background Noise in Loom Recordings
If you use Loom to create screencast videos, there’s a new feature that you should be aware of. That feature is an option to have
WordTune Helps You Quickly Revise Your Writing
WordTune is a tool that I wrote about last year when it launched as a Chrome extension. It is still available as a Chrome extension
Creating and Marketing Online Courses With TinyTap
Disclosure: TinyTap is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com In last week’s post about using TinyTap to create your own online courses I mentioned that there
Daylight Saving Time is Coming! Here are Some Explanations of It
At this time next week many of us will be moaning about our “lost” hour of sleep resulting from moving our clocks forward. That’s right,
Two Webinars Coming Up This Week
As I shared in this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter, this week I’m hosting two webinars. On Wednesday I’m hosting a webinar for everyone who
Five Ways to Create Online Drag-and-Drop Activities
Last week I wrote about Classwork’s new drag-and-drop online activity creation tool. It’s a nice tool for turning documents into online sorting and matching activities
How to Make Your Own Wordle-style Game
I’ve yet to play Wordle and by the time I do the fad will probably be over. That said, I know a lot of people
Games, NASA, and Timelines – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where I’m solo parenting for the first time in a few years. Wish me and my kids luck! I think we’ll
PowerPoint Cameo Looks Cool and Could be Useful
On the heels of yesterday’s post about making better Zoom presentations here’s another post about a tool that could improve your online presentations. Microsoft recently
Library of Congress Resources About Ukraine
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve received quite a few requests for resources for teaching and learning about the Russia/ Ukraine conflict. In response
Try These Zoom Presentation Tips from Garr Reynolds
Garr Reynolds is one of the world’s foremost experts on presentation design. If you haven’t seen any of his TED Talks or read Presentation Zen,
How to Create and Share Clips of YouTube Videos
Over the years there have been many third-party tools that offered ways to clip and share portions of YouTube videos. Most of those don’t last
A Better Way to Update Charts in Google Slides and Docs
Google Forms provides handy charts and graphs summarizing responses to the questions within your form. Those charts and graphs can be embedded into Google Slides,
eStory – A New Multimedia Timeline Creation Tool
Whenever I see a new timeline creation tool appear on the Internet, I can’t resist giving it a try. So when eStory appeared on Product
Winter Scavenger Hunts and Bingo
The sun is shining longer in the northern hemisphere these days. We’re really starting to notice here in Maine where the sun is still shining
MHDL Lantern – Media History and Lesson Plans
The Media History Digital Library is a huge archive of books and magazines about the history film, television, and radio. The Lantern is the name of the
Use TinyTap to Create Online Courses Featuring Your Favorite Games
Disclosure: TinyTap is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com For the last couple of months I’ve highlighted all of the ways that you can create online
Canva, Groundhogs, and Docs – The Month in Review
Good evening from the Free Technology for Teachers World Headquarters in Maine. The sun has set on last day of February, 2022. As I do
Create Drag and Drop Activities With Classwork
Disclosure: Classwork is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com At the end of January Classwork added a bunch of new features to their popular platform for
New Spaces Digital Portfolio Features
Spaces is a digital portfolio tool that I first covered around this time last year. Since then it has steadily grown in popularity. As it
Try the Game Templates in Canva
Last week I was recording a demo of how to use existing slides to make video lessons when I came across a neat slide template
An eBook and a Webinar – 50 Tech Tuesday Tips
Back in January I hosted a webinar for those who had purchased a copy of 50 Tech Tuesday Tips. That webinar proved to be popular
Slides, Houdini, and NASA – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where a fresh coating of seven inches of snow is covering the ground. The cold and snow is a stark contrast
A Dozen Neat NASA Resources for Students and Teachers
On Thursday I wrote about NASA’s From Hidden to Modern Figures collection of videos and lesson plans. Creating that blog post inspired me to look
Now You Can Schedule Exit Tickets in Ziplet
Ziplet is one of my favorite tools for hosting online exit ticket activities. There are two features of it that make it great in my
Three Ways to Create Video Lessons With Your Existing Slides
Last week I hosted a webinar about creating videos for asynchronous instruction. One of the points that I made in the webinar was that you
Five Frequently Forgotten Google Docs Features
Perhaps it’s just me, but do you ever feel like you’ve been using Google Docs for so long that you forget about the basics until
NASA From Hidden to Modern Figures
NASA’s From Hidden to Modern Figures is an excellent resource for teaching about the women who made significant contributions to the development of NASA’s space
Brush Ninja – Make Animated GIFs, Emoji Art, and More!
Brush Ninja is a tool that I’ve been using and recommending for a few years now. Brush Ninja makes it incredibly easy to draw a
How to Record Screencasts in Gmail
Nimbus Screenshot is a Chrome extension that I’ve featured in the past as a good tool for creating annotated, scrolling screenshots and for creating screencast
How to Link Within Google Earth Projects
Google Earth in all its forms has been one of my favorite educational technology tools for well over a decade. The web version of Google
PhET Releases Ten Updated Simulations With Interactive Descriptions
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have already seen this news but it’s worth sharing here as well. PhET now has ten simulations
An Often Overlooked Flipgrid Option for Starting Conversations
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I shared some tools and ideas to use to try to make sure that students actually watch the
What is Sub-image Search? – And Why Would Your Students Would Use It?
Sub-image search is one of the search strategies that I use a lot when trying to find out what an unfamiliar object is. I’ve used
Create TinyTap Educational Games With Houdini Effects, Videos, and More
Disclosure: TinyTap is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com TinyTap is an educational game creation tool that I’ve been using and writing about since its launch
How to Use Canva Designs in Google Slides
Last week a reader sent me a question asking if it was possible to use Canva design templates in Google Slides. The short answer is
Cupcakes, Canva, and Docs – The Week in Review
Good morning from Connecticut where I’m visiting family for the first time in two years! My daughters had a blast having a slumber party with
I’ll Host Your Next Professional Development Session
Yesterday afternoon I hosted a webinar for an organization that had purchased a bunch of copies of my 50 Tech Tuesday Tips ebook. I would be happy