Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
Five Genius Hour Activities With Tract – Students Teaching Students
Disclosure: Tract is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Genius Hour or 20% time in a classroom provides students with an opportunity to pursue topics and
Cybersecurity Awareness Month – Safety Tips Sheets, Posters, and Lesson Plans
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Stop.Think.Connect. has a large collection of posters, tip sheets, and videos that you can use to promote good online safety practices
Transcribing Early Copyright Applications
By the People is the Library of Congress project that was formerly known as the Crowd project. The name changed at some point in the
Webinar Recording – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions – Season 2, Episode 3
Last Thursday Rushton Hurley and I hosted the third episode of this season of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff. As
Get Your Free Copy of The Practical Ed Tech Handbook
Subscribers to my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter received their free copies of the 2021-22 edition of The Practical Ed Tech Handbook at the start of
Tasks, Spaces, and Cakes – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we have enjoyed a great week of beautiful fall weather. The nights have been cool, the days have been warm
Lighthouses and Minibooks
The Library of Congress has a great collection of activities suggestions and resources for parents who are looking for educational activities they can do at
What Does Indigenous Mean? – And Why Some States No Longer Celebrate Columbus Day
While I was reviewing videos about Canadian Thanksgiving YouTube displayed a suggested video from CBC Kids News. The video is simply titled The Word Indigenous and
Write Outside – Ideas for Writing
Thanks to one of Kevin Hodgson’s blog posts, earlier this week I learned about the National Writing Project’s Write Out 2021 campaign. This is a
Short Lessons on Canadian v. American Thanksgiving
Monday is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. It’s about six weeks earlier than it is here in the United States. I’ve celebrated both versions of Thanksgiving
Resources for Connecting Classrooms
Yesterday, during Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions Rushton and I answered a question about how teachers can find other classroom to connect with for
How to Find and Manage Google Slides Add-ons
One of the questions that I received this week for Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions was a rather broad question of, “do you have
Free Writing Prompts Ebooks
Disclosure: Make Beliefs Comix is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Developing an idea for what to write about is often a hard first step for student
How to Create Comics – A Four-Part MOMA Series
From telling personal stories to summarizing historical events to illustrating creating writing over the years I’ve shared a bunch of ideas for using comics in
Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions – Free Webinar Tomorrow!
Tomorrow at 4pm ET/ 1pm PT Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I are hosting the third episode of the second season of Two Ed Tech
The Science of Cake! – And 83 Other Food Science Lessons
If you ask my five-year-old what she wants to be when she grows up she’ll say, “a cake maker!” She’s been helping decorate cookies and
Spaces – Capturing & Celebrating Student Growth
Disclosure: Spaces is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Spaces is a free digital portfolio tool that launched earlier this year and has quickly become one
40 OneNote and Outlook Tips for Teachers and Students
Mike Tholfsen is a product manager for Microsoft Education and the producer of some excellent Microsoft product tutorial videos for teachers. I recently mentioned one
New Google Meet Settings for Google Classroom Users
For many of us virtual meetings and online classes aren’t going away anytime soon. Google has responded to that by steadily adding more features to
A Great Way to Explore Newspapers of the World
At the end of August I shared a couple of neat ways to explore newspapers of the world through interactive maps. Over the weekend, thanks
Taskade – A Complete Project Planning Solution for Teachers and Students
Disclosure: Taskade is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Taskade is a flexible, collaborative project planning and task management tool. The thing that I appreciate about
A Solution When Google Forms or Microsoft Forms Won’t Do What You Need
Google Forms and Microsoft Forms can be used to accomplish a lot of common school tasks like creating self-grading quizzes, managing sign-out/sign-in sheets, and collecting
A Small, Helpful Change to Google Slides
Last week I shared a couple of updates to Google Docs, including watermarking documents, that teachers and students should find helpful. There was also a small
Supreme Court Lesson Plans
C-SPAN Classroom is a must-bookmark for anyone who teaches U.S. History. The large collection of free lesson plans is one of the things that keeps
Docs, Guesses, and Hats – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it definitely feels like Fall. This week I had to break out my stash of winter hats (my Canadian friends
The Physics of Riding Bicycles
Last Sunday afternoon something happened in my life that I will never forget. That event was my oldest daughter roding her bicycle down our driveway
How to Add Watermarks to Google Documents
Earlier this week Google announced that a new watermark feature would soon be added to Google Documents. That new feature appeared in one of my
How to Turn a Spreadsheet Into Multimedia Flashcards
This fall I’ve answered more questions about creating flashcards than I have in the previous few years. In almost every instance Flippity has been my
Fall, Forms, and Games – The Month in Review
The sun has set on a cool, crisp evening here in Maine. The maple leaves are changing colors from green to amazing shades of red
Search Strategies Students Need to Know – A New Practical Ed Tech Course
A couple of weeks ago I hosted a live Practical Ed Tech webinar titled Search Strategies Students Need to Know! I’ve now taken the content
Getting Started With Padlet – What You Need to Know
Padlet is a tool that I’ve been using and recommending to others for more than a decade. I started using it back when it was
ICYMI – Two Ed Tech Guys Webinar Recording
Last week Rushton Hurley and I hosted the second episode of the new season of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff.
My Top Five Productivity Tips
This is an excerpt from my weekly Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week Newsletter. The newsletter is sent out every Sunday evening (Eastern Time).
Five Google Calendar Features You Should Know How to Use
It has been a while since I made any tutorials about Google Calendar. The user interface, particulary the user interface for background settings, has changed
Two New Google Docs Features to Note
This week Google announced the addition of two new features in Google Docs. Both new features will be welcomed by teachers and students. The first
Two More Helpful YouTube Features for Teachers
Last week I published a video in which I detailed five helpful YouTube features for teachers. After I recorded that video I thought of two
City Guesser 3.0 – More Maps and More Modes
About six months ago City Guesser 2.0 was released. The big news then was a switch from being based on street-level imagery to street-level video
Five Google Earth Features for Teachers
Google Earth has been one of my favorite ed tech tools for more than a decade. Over the years it has evolved as a desktop
Family Fun With Make Beliefs Comix
Disclosure: Make Beliefs Comix is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Last month I outlined five ideas for using comics in your classroom. One of those
Thinking, Blurring, and Coloring – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the humidity is making everything feel wet. That’s okay because I’m going fishing and will get wet anyway. It’s the
Questions from My Daughters – Why Do We Sneeze?
My daughters ask me lots of questions that I haven’t thought about since I was their age (4 and 5). Many of those questions I
Five Helpful YouTube Features for Teachers
YouTube offers a bunch of features that are sometimes overlooked or under-utilized despite being quite helpful when sharing videos in your classroom. In this new
WriteReader Adds New Features for Teachers and Students
WriteReader, one of my favorite tools for telling stories with pictures, recently launched four new features for teachers and students. One of the new features
What Would We Eat on Mars? And Other Fun Science Questions
Long-time followers of my blog have probably noticed that I really like the videos produced by SciShow Kids. Their videos cover a wide range of
Create Your Own Breakout EDU Games
Disclosure: Breakout EDU is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com A week ago I shared a handful of fun Breakout EDU games for in-person and online
How to Create Custom Coloring Maps
There are plenty of places on the Internet to find free outline maps of states, provinces, countries, and regions of the world. Finding blank outline
An Easy Way to Find Movie Clips to Include in Your Lessons
ClassHook is a service that I’ve been using and recommending for the last few years. It provides a good way to find clips from movies
Free Webinar Tomorrow – Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions
Tomorrow at 4pm ET/ 1pm PT Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I are hosting the second episode of the second season of Two Ed Tech
Two Easy Ways to Blur Faces and Objects in Your Videos
Recording short video clips and posting them on your classroom or school website is a great way for parents and other community members to learn
Two Ways to Make Timelines Based on Books
On Sunday evening a reader of my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter replied with a question about creating timelines. She was looking for suggestions for a
Tract – Project-based, Peer-to-Peer Learning
Disclosure: Tract is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com Tract is a new service that offers fun lessons for elementary school and middle school students taught by
Share Voice Notes via Mote QR Codes
Earlier this year Mote emerged as one of my favorite new tools of the year. Mote is a Chrome extension that works with all of
Free Presidential Timeline Poster for Your Classroom Courtesy of C-SPAN
C-SPAN Classroom offers some fantastic resources for teachers of U.S. History, civics, and government. One of those resources that has been offered in the past
A Critical Thinking Quiz
About a month ago I shared a list of resources for helping students learn to recognize logical fallacies and cognitive biases. One of the resources
Forms, Games, and Files – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it is going to be a great early fall weekend for apple picking, bike riding, and enjoying the great outdoors.
Two EdTech Guys Take Questions – Recording and Next Webinar Registration
Last week Rushton Hurley and I resumed our regular series of free webinars plainly titled Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff.
Ziplet – A Good Way to Share Digital Exit Tickets
Ziplet is a service for gathering feedback from your students in a variety of ways. The simplest way is to create an exit ticket by
Five Helpful Google Keep Features for Students
Google Keep is a great tool for middle school and high school students to use to create assignment reminders, bookmark important research findings, organize information,
Great Reads from Great Places – An Interactive Map from the Library of Congress
Great Reads from Great Places is an interactive map produced by the Library of Congress for the National Book Festival. The purpose of the map
An Idea for Using Padlet for Self Reflection in K-2
I get a lot of questions sent to me throughout the week. Some of them are very specific and the answers only apply to one
It’s the Last Year for Weebly for Education
More than a decade ago Weebly was one of the first DIY website builders that recommended to teachers. I helped countless teachers and their students
Influenza Archives – A History Lesson
Monday’s featured artifact on Today’s Document from the National Archives was “Nurse wearing a mask as protection against influenza. September 13, 1918.” As is often
A Good Explanation of the Slippery Slope Fallacy
About a month ago I published a collection of resources for teaching students about logical fallacies and cognitive biases. Since then TED-Ed published another good
The Way of a Ship – Historical Math Problems
A couple of weeks ago I picked up an interesting book at my local library. It’s titled The Way of a Ship and it follows
Five Fun Breakout Games for Online and In-person Classrooms
Disclosure: Breakout EDU is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Like a lot of teachers, one of my biggest challenges last year was building a sense of
Make Multimedia Mind Maps in Padlet
A few weeks ago I published a list of fifteen tools for creating mind maps and flowcharts. Padlet was one of the tools that I
Five Places to Find Dozens of Constitution Day Lessons
This Friday is Constitution Day in the United States. According to federal law all schools that receive federal funding have to teach some type of
Webinar This Thursday – Search Strategies Students Need to Know
This Thursday at 4pm ET I’m hosting the new version of my most popular Practical Ed Tech webinar, Search Strategies Students Need to Know. The
A Simple Trick to Make Audio Editing Easier
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I featured five podcasting tips for students and teachers. One of those tips was to “clap and pause.”
How to Find Image Metadata
Behind every digital image that you capture there is a bunch of information that isn’t visible to the naked eye. That information is called metadata
Student Video Project – Timelapse of Fall
The fall is my favorite season of the year. I love waking up to cold, crisp mornings then enjoying mild days outside. In fact, that’s
How to Make Chrome Run a Little Faster
There was a time when Google Chrome was the new kid on the block and promised faster browsing and faster page load time. That hasn’t
Typing, Blurring, and Captioning – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining on what should be a gorgeous early autumn day. I would be remiss not to mention
The 2021 Fall Foliage Map – And Explanations of Why Leaves Change Colors
The 2021 Fall Foliage Prediction Map is a feature of the SmokyMountains.com website. The map displays a week-by-week prediction of when leaves in the continental
Save Google Forms Responses in Progress
About a month ago Google announced that they were finally adding an autosave option to Google Forms. This new features lets students leave a Google
US News Map – A Great Way to Explore Newspaper Archives
Earlier this summer I shared some ideas for encouraging students to do research in digital archives. The U.S. News Map produced by Georgia Tech and
C-SPAN’s StudentCam Contest is Back
Every year C-SPAN hosts the StudentCam video contest for middle school and high school students in the United States. The 2021/22 version of the contest has been announced
700+ Free Typing Games for Kids
TypeTastic is a site that offers more than 700 free typing games for students of all ages. I first reviewed TypeTastic a few years ago shortly
Create, Reflect, Outline, Create – A Video Creation Process
On page 76 of Invent To Learn Stager and Martinez write, “The movie can be done without a storyboard or script, the 3D object may
Tinkering With Arduino in Tinkercad
Tinkercad is a free service that I used for the last two years to introduce my students to designing and building Arduino-powered circuits, cars, and
Blur Faces and Objects in Screencastify Videos
Disclosure: Screencastify is currently an advertiser on my sites. Earlier this week I published a post about Screencastify’s new feature for adding interactive questions into
How to Quickly Create a Bibliography in Word
In my previous post I wrote about why every fall I revisit how to cite sources and create bibliographies. In that post I also included
How to Cite Sources in Google Docs
At the beginning of every school year I like to revisit some topics with my students to which they always say, “we learned this last
How to Generate Captions for Any Video
YouTube will automatically generate captions for almost any video that you find. Likewise, it will automatically generate captions for videos that you upload to your
How to Quickly Create Comics With Make Beliefs Comix
Disclosure: Make Beliefs Comix is currently an advertiser on this site. Make Beliefs Comix is a good tool for creating comic strips for all kinds
Combine Canva and Google Drawings to Make Graphic Organizer Activities
Last fall I published some videos about using Google Drawings and Google Jamboard to create labeling activities, mapping activities, and some graphic organizer activities. Those
Two Ed Tech Guys Return! – Free Webinar This Thursday
My pal Rushton Hurley from Next Vista for Learning and I are starting the second season of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share
The Difference Between a Chrome Profile and a Google Account
This morning as I was starting to get caught up on a backlog of email I answered a question from a reader who wanted to
How to Build Questions Into Screencastify Videos
Disclosure: Screencastify is currently an advertiser on my sites. A couple of weeks ago Screencastify announced the launch of some new features in their video
Fish, Moose, Jam, and Drawings – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’re getting ready for a day of outdoor fun. My youngest daughter wants to go catch a fish and my
21 Canva Tutorials for Teachers
This is an update to a post that I published earlier this year. Since the original publication I’ve created a couple more Canva tutorials to
Three Good Places to Find Ideas for Makerspaces
Makerspaces can be a great place for students to tinker and experiment with desgins for all kinds of things from 3D printed objects to wind-powered
Three Good Tools for Recording and Publishing Audio Conversations
This is an excerpt from the latest version of The Practical Ed Tech Handbook. You can get your own copy for free when you sign-up
Add Your Voice to Google Forms
Yesterday I shared five Google Forms refreshers for the new school year. That post focused on settings that are built into Google Forms. You can
Five Google Forms Refreshers for the New School Year
Answering a reader’s question about Google Jamboard ideas that she should pass along to her colleagues prompted me to think about some “need to know”
Resources for Teaching and Learning About Fall
It’s the first day of September and even though Autumn doesn’t really start for a few more weeks, I’m already excited for the arrival of
Forms, Music, and Games – The Month in Review
The sun has set on the month of August and now it really feels like summer vacation is over. From racing my bike across Flint
11 Search Tips and Tools for Teachers and Students
As some of you have noticed, I wrote quite a bit about search tools and search strategies in July and early August. What you saw
Five Ideas for Using Google Jamboard This Fall
A couple of weeks ago I published an excerpt from The Practical Ed Tech Handbook. That excerpt mentioned a couple of ways to use Google