Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
Mark Your Calendar for Three Free Smithsonian Learning Lab Webinars in January
The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a great resource that I’ve featured dozen or more times over the years. Later this month the Smithsonian Learning Lab
Volley – Video, Audio, and Text Messaging for Learning
Disclosure: Volley is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.comAt the end of 2021 an old friend from the early days of Free Technology for Teachers introduced me
Consider This Tech Tuesday Planned! – And the Next One and the Next One…
I’m clearly not good at self-promotion otherwise I wouldn’t have released an ebook right before the winter break when most people aren’t thinking about everything
How to Create and Publish Your First Podcast
If you’re looking for a new classroom project to try in 2022, give podcasting a try. Recording and publishing podcasts is an activity that can
How to Record and Embed Audio in Google Docs
Last Friday I published a video about all of the things that can be done in Google Workspace when you have the Mote Chrome extension
Add Audio to Almost Anything in Google Workspace
One of my absolute favorite new tools in 2021 was a Chrome extension called Mote. With Mote installed you can add audio comments to Google
All About American Buffalo
I read Steven Rinella’s American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon last week. It’s a fascinating book about the history of humans’ relationship with
Buffalo, Sledding, and The Best of 2021 – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we had a great week off. My daughters and I did some sledding and played with new toys. I read
How to Blur Backgrounds in Flipgrid Videos
One of my favorite new things in 2021 was Flipgrid’s addition of a background blurring tool. With this feature enabled everything behind you is heavily
Chrome, Canva, and Code – The Month in Review
Good evening from Maine where it is not only the end of the month, it’s the end of the year! Here’s to a better year
The Science of Fireworks
Today is New Year’s Eve and while there aren’t any fireworks displays planned for my little town, the nearby ski resort will have a little
Best of 2021 – See What’s Behind Bitly and TinyURL Without Clicking
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – Ziplet Exit Tickets
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – The Science of Cake!
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – 27 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – 700+ Free Typing Games for Kids
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – Save Google Forms Progress
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
50 Tech Tuesday Tips – My eBook for Busy Tech Coaches
I interupt this week’s “best of series” to bring you something from the shameless commerce division of my life… Are you a tech coach, a
Best of 2021 – Email Addresses for Cats and Dogs
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – Five Helpful PowerPoint Features You Might Be Overlooking
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – Fling the Teacher!
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – Combine Canva and Classwork to Create Online Activities
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – How to Make Chrome Run Faster
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – How to Find Public Google Workspace Files
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – Three Good Options for Annotating PDFs
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Best of 2021 – Interactive Checklists in Google Docs
As I do every year, I’m taking this week as a break from publishing new blog posts and will be republishing some of the most
Winter, Animals, and Fun – The Week in Review
Good evening from Maine where my daughters are eagerly anticipating Santa’s arrival. Tomorrow morning I won’t be in the mood to write blog posts or
Building the Hoover Dam – A New TED-Ed Lesson
Blood, Concrete, and Dynamite is a new TED-Ed lesson that tells the story of the building of the Hoover Dam. The lesson explains why the
4,000+ Maps of Military Battles and Campaigns
The Library of Congress housed hundreds of thousands of maps covering a huge array of topics from maps used by fire insurance companies to population
Reindeer Facts and a Ride With Them
My daughters are very excited for Santa and his reindeer to visit our house tomorrow night. We’ll be leaving out snacks for him and his
How to Create Videos of Augmented Reality Animals
During my Best of the Web webinar on Tuesday afternoon someone asked me how I made the videos of the augmented reality animals in my
How to Create Google Docs and PDFs With Hyperlinked Chapters
A kind reader who purchased my new ebook asked me how I was able to create the hyperlinked sections within the ebook. There are a
How to Embed Blog Posts Into Canva Designs
A few weeks ago I discovered that you can embed Google Forms and Microsoft Forms into Canva designs including website design templates. Then yesterday, as
Best of the Web 2021 – Webinar Recording and Slides
Yesterday afternoon I hosted my annual Best of the Web webinar. More than 100 people attended the live session and even more asked to view
21 Activities and Lessons That Have a Winter Theme
Today is the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere. To mark the start of winter I’ve put together a list of twenty-one activities
Free Webinar Today at 3pm ET – Best of the Web 2021
Every year I review hundreds of new websites, apps, and other educational technology tools. And every year I give a “best of” presentation about my
A Platypus in My House! Fun and Learning Through Augmented Reality
My four-year-old loves Gus the Platypus in the Pete the Cat series. A couple of weeks ago that led to her asking questions like “can
How to Use Google Keep as a Comment Bank
Last week I had a reader ask me if there was a way to have a comment bank in Google Documents without using Chrome extensions
Voices, Keyboards, and Birds – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it is chilly and we’re expecting our first real snowstorm of the year! That means that tomorrow I’ll be shoveling
A New Way to Add Students to Flipgrid
This week Flipgrid released a bunch of helpful updates. My favorite of those updates is a new way to invite students to join your Flipgrid
Best of the Web 2021 – Free Webinar Next Tuesday
Every year I review hundreds of new websites, apps, and other educational technology tools. And every year I give a “best of” presentation about my
50 Tech Tuesday Tips – A New eBook for Tech Coaches
Are you a tech coach, a tech integrator, a media specialist, or a teacher who gets asked to put on workshops after school or on
Nine Interactive Maps Depicting the History of the United States
American Panorama is a great resource from the University of Richmond that I first reviewed six years ago. Since then it has expanded from four interactive
Six Reasons to Try Tract for Remote & Hybrid Learning
Disclosure: Tract is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com As we head into winter (in the northern hemisphere) there may be more opportunities to try new approaches
How to Create a Simple Website With Adobe Express
For that last five or so years Adobe Spark has been one of my top recommendations for creating simple, focused websites. This week Adobe rebranded
All About Cats and Dogs – A SciShow Kids Compilation
SciShow Kids has produced a lot of fun and educational videos over the last six years. I’ve featured some of those videos in blog posts.
How to Create Videos With Adobe Express
Earlier this week Adobe Spark was renamed Adobe Express. It still offers all of the great creation tools that made it one of my go-to
How to Modify & Share Canva Templates
On Sunday I published a blog post about the winter bird survey we’re doing at my house. In that blog post I included a link
An Easy Way to Quickly Add Voice Notes to Google Docs
Yesterday morning I published The Easiest Way to Add Narration to Google Slides. In that blog post I featured a Chrome extension called Mote. Mote,
Add Comments to Word Docs to Spark Discussion
Last Monday I shared directions for using Google Drive to add comments to PDF and directions for using Formative to add questions into primary source
The Easiest Way to Add Narration to Google Slides
When Google finally added native support for audio in Google Slides people were excited until they found out how clunky the process is. You have
Use Google Drive to Add Questions and Comments to PDFs
In my previous post I shared directions for using Formative to add questions to PDFs. Another option is to use Google Drive to add questions
Use Formative to Build Questions Into Primary Source Documents
Formative is a great tool for creating all kinds of online activities from simple multiple choice quizzes to in-depth examinations for documents. One of the
The Story Behind QWERTY – Why Keyboards Aren’t in Alphabetical Order
Thinking back to my middle school typing class (done on electric typewriters, not computers) I remember wondering why the keyboard wasn’t arranged in alphabetical order.
We’re Counting Birds! – A Lesson in Citizen Science and Canva Template Creation
Here in Maine the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is conducting a survey of birds in our state. This is known as a bird
Why is Snow White?
On my phone I keep a list of questions that my daughters (ages 4 and 5) ask me. The questions are about things that I
Chrome, Wheels, and Voices – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where snow is covering the ground as the sun rises. The snow might not last much longer though as we’re expecting
How to Use Seesaw to Annotate Historical Images
In my previous post I wrote about and shared a video about using Jamboard to annotate historical images. Another way have students annotate historical images
How to Annotate Historical Images on Jamboard
From magnetic poetry to collaborative brainstorming sessions to mapping activities, there are lots of ways to use Google’s Jamboard in online and in-person classes. One
The Future of Flickr’s The Commons
Flickr’s The Commons has been one of my go-to resources for historical imagery since I first wrote about it nearly fourteen years ago. That’s why
How to Embed Google Sheets Into Websites
Earlier this week a loyal reader named Judith sent me a question about embedding Google Sheets into websites. I was happy to answer her question
Five Short Lessons About the Start of Winter
Even though it has been cold and snowy here in Maine for the last week or so, the start of winter is still eleven days
Helpful New Table Options in Google Docs
This week Google added a handful of helpful new features for customizing tables in Google Documents. A couple of the new features are things that
Blackbird Code Offers Two New Self-paced Coding Lessons
Blackbird Code is one of my favorite new educational technology resources launched in 2021. For Computer Science Education Week they’ve released two new self-paced, self-directed
Why Do We Have Winter? – Another Question from My Daughters
Yesterday afternoon I was playing outside in the snow with my five-year-old daughter when she asked, “why do we have winter?” She didn’t ask in
Google’s Favorite Chrome Extensions of the Year
On The Keyword Google has announced their favorite Chrome extensions of the year. I have no idea what the criteria was to be included in
Vocabulary Video Challenge
The 9th annual vocabulary video challenge hosted by The New York Times Learning Network is underway. The challenge asks middle school and high school students
Add Voice Recordings to Google Forms Questions, Answer Choices, and Feedback
Mote is a Chrome extension that became popular this year because it made it easy for teachers and students to add voice recordings to Google
Webinar Recording – Two EdTech Guys Take Questions for the Last Time in 2021
Last Thursday evening Rushton Hurley and I hosted our last 2021 episode of Two EdTech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff. We’ll be back
Derek Lowe Has a Science Blog? – A Lesson in Using Context Clues
In The Joy of Search Daniel Russell reminds readers that sometimes you have to provide your own context for the information you find online. Additionally, he
Try Virtual Backgrounds and Immersive Views for Virtual Events
This afternoon I was asked to help organize a virtual holiday concert for my daughters’ preschool. The event is going to happen in Zoom and
Classroomscreen – Timers, Names, and Noise Meters
A couple of weeks ago my Practical Ed Tech weekly newsletter was all about timers and random selectors. A reader named Erin replied to the
Seven Ideas for Crafting Comics in History Classes
My first teaching position was as a mid-year replacement for a literature teacher who left to become the head of an ESL/ELL program in another
SpinnerWheel – A Great Random Name, Number, and Word Picker
SpinnerWheel is a new-to-me site that provides an easy way to create custom spinners for random name selection, random number selection, and even random image
Germs, Math, and Videos – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it’s a clear and cold morning. Earlier this week we had our first real accumulation of snow. That snow covering
Two Options for Automatically Removing Choices from Google Forms
Earlier this week a reader of my newsletter sent me a question looking for a way to limit the number of times that an answer
Why the Moon Seems Brighter in Winter
We had our first coating of snow this week. (It’s unusual to go this late into fall without having a snowfall). As I was putting
View What’s Behind a Website With Mouse X-Ray Goggles
Mozilla used to offer a great little tool called X-Ray Goggles that let you view and modify the code behind any webpage. Unfortunately, they shut
A Science Lesson for Winter Application
Winter temperatures have arrived in Maine. There’s a light coating of snow on the ground. And my daughters and I are excited about the start
What You Should Know About Pings and Traceroutes
As I wrote in my recent weekly newsletter, using the ping command on your computer is an easy way to check if a website is
Scan Documents and QR Codes With Your Chromebook
Chromebook users will be happy to learn that Google has released an update that provides more utility for the camera that is built into Chromebooks.
Two Easy Ways to Make Your Own Mobile App
On Monday morning I answered a question from a reader of my newsletter who wanted to know if there was a way for someone who
A Fun and Educational Use of Chrome’s Inspect Tool
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I shared some of my favorite “techy” tricks to impress your students and colleagues. One of those tricks
Geography, Docs, and PowerPoint – The Month in Review
Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of November, 2021. It was a busy, but good month for me. I
All About Tract – PBL, Peer-to-Peer Learning, and More!
Disclosure: Tract is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Tract is a service that launched a few months ago and is quickly becoming a hit in
Create and Publish a Multimedia Timeline With Canva
Last week a reader emailed me looking for a suggestion for making multimedia timelines with her middle school students. My usual suggestion of Timeline JS
Link to Sections Within the Pages of Google Sites
The current version of Google Sites has come a long way in the last year or so. It now includes almost every feature that the
Finding a Geographic Opposite
One evening last week my daughters were playing with the globe pillow that is featured in this blog post. They started asking questions about what
Germ Science Investigation – A Game About Stopping the Spread of COVID-19
Germ Science Investigation is a free online game that is designed to help students understand how to stop the transmission of COVID-19. The game has
A Good Collection of Resources for Teaching the Five Themes of Geography
C-SPAN Classroom is known for offering great resources for teaching civics and government lessons. What you might not know is that C-SPAN Classroom also offers
Turkey, Docs, and Teams – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where a little dusting of snow and a temperature of 23F makes it feel like winter has arrived. I hope that
What’s Snoring? – Another Question from my Daughters
For nearly twenty years I’ve gone to an ice fishing camp every winter with the same group of guys (except for last winter). Some of
NBA Math Hoops – An App for Practicing Math Facts
NBA Math Hoops is a free iPad and Android app for practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. The app can be used by students
Free Webinar Next Thursday
Next Thursday at 4pm ET/ 1pm PT Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I are hosting the sixth episode of the second season of Two Ed
My Big List of Tools for a Variety of Classroom Video Projects
Other than questions about Google Workspace tools, I get asked more questions about making videos than any other three topics combined. Over the years I’ve
Just a half a mile from the railroad track…
It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. I usually celebrate the day with my family in Connecticut watching the road race in my hometown. Unfortunately,
A Tip for Finding and Reading Thanksgiving Leftovers Recipes
One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is eating the leftovers the next day. I enjoy a good turkey sandwich almost as much as Ross,
Display a Timer With a Google Document
Earlier this week a reader of my weekly newsletter emailed me to ask for advice on how to display a document and countdown timer on
Ten Updated Microsoft Teams Features for Teachers to Note
Mike Tholfsen is my go-to person for all things related to Microsoft Education products. He regularly updates his YouTube channel with informative videos about the