Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
More Than 20,000 Teachers Get Tech Tips This Way
About seven years ago I noticed that “too many updates” was the most common reason for people unsubscribing from the emails from this blog. To
700 Space Math Problems
Space Math is a NASA website containing space-themed math lessons for students in elementary school through high school. This evening I revisited for the first time
Getting Started With Google Forms – The Basics and More
All week I’ve been releasing new video tutorials designed to help new Google Workspace users get started with the basics and a little more. The
Whimsical – A Good Tool for Collaborative Diagram Creation
Whimsical is a good tool for creating flowcharts, mind maps, Venn diagrams, and a variety of other charts and diagrams. As we’ve come to expect
Getting Started With Google Slides – The Basics and More
This week I’m releasing a series of videos intended to help new Google Workspace users. Yesterday, I published videos on getting started with Google Drive
Glide 2.0 – New Layouts, Actions, and Sound Effects
Glide is a great tool for quickly creating your own mobile apps from Google Sheets. I’ve been using it and recommending it for the last
Getting Started With Google Drive and Google Docs – Everything You Need to Know
This week I’m releasing a series of videos designed for new Google Workspace users. All of the videos will be published on my YouTube channel
21 Google Docs Features You Should Know How to Use
This week I’m releasing a new series of videos covering everything a new Google Workspace user needs to know. The videos will be released throughout
Passwords, Annotations, and Checklists – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the rain is petering out after two days of solid soaking. Hopefully, we’ll see some sunshine today so that we
Join Me on Monday!
The July session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp begins on Monday at 10am ET. If you haven’t registered, you can do so up
Classwork – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Mote – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Blackbird Code – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Bibcitation for Chrome – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Forky Mind Mapping – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Wordtune – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Coverr – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Type Studio – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Annotate Meet – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
Create Animated Maps on Mult Dev – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few days
CodePen – One of My New Favorites in 2021
I’m taking this week to recharge and get ready for the next session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. For the next few
Checklists, Chatbots, and Badges – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where a steady drizzle is providing a little reprieve from the drought conditions we’ve been experiencing for the last few weeks.
Two Great Ways to Quickly Create Animations
A couple of weeks ago in my weekly newsletter I explained why I value having students create simple animations. The short version of the explanation
Four Short Lessons About American Independence Day
American Independence Day, the Fourth of July, is tomorrow. I realize that most of you reading this aren’t in school right now, but I thought
How to Record Videos in Canva – New Feature!
Earlier this week Canva introduced a couple of new features for adding media into your slides and graphics. One of those features is a new
Book Creator Offers New Digital Citizenship eBooks
Book Creator recently announced the launch of a series of digital citizenship ebooks developed by Common Sense Education. The new ebooks contain activities for students
How to Password-protect an Edublogs Blog
For more than a decade Edublogs has been my go-to recommendation for anyone looking to build a classroom blog or website outside of the Google
All Paygrade Features are Now Free
PayGrade is a classroom economy simulation that you can use all year in just about any classroom setting. Recently, PayGrade was acquired by an online investment
Coming Later This Month…
The July session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp begins in eleven days. If you haven’t registered for the session of your choice, you
Annotations, Expeditions, and Summer – The Month in Review
Good evening from Maine where a line of strong thunderstorms is a hopeful signal that our heatwave is about to break. June was the busiest
What Was Watched in June – My Most Popular Tutorials
In June I published a new video every other day on my YouTube channel. There are now more than 36,000 people subscribed to get notified as soon
Narakeet – Quickly Turn Slides into Narrated Video Lessons
A reader recently emailed me looking for advice on how to create narrated video based on slides made in Canva. She didn’t want to record
Two Cool New Presentation Creation Options in Canva
Last year Canva introduced a new feature that allows you to record a video of your Canva slideshow presentations. Since then a lot of people
Create Your Own Chatbot for Surveys and Quiz Practice
Acquainted is a free polling tool that has been around for a few years. It recently reappeared on my radar when a reader sent me
Get a Free Chapter of My Favorite Book About Search Strategies
The Joy of Search is a book that I’ve been recommending for a couple of years now. It’s all about search strategies and is a must-read
ChatterPix Kids – Create Talking Pictures for an Educational Purpose
ChatterPix Kids is one of my favorite digital storytelling apps for elementary school students. ChatterPix Kids is a free app that students can use to
How to Create Interactive Checklists in Google Docs
This week Google announced more than a dozen updates to Google Workspace products. Included in those updates is a new text box feature in Google
Bikes, Slides, and Summer Reading – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on this summer morning. I’m inside instead of sitting on my porch because I’m eagerly anticipating
15 Updates Coming to Google Workspace for Education
This week Google announced a bunch of updates that will be coming soon to Google Workspace for Education products. If you missed them, as I
How Seashells Are Made – A Lesson for Beachcombers
If your summer plans, like ours, include going to the ocean, you may be interested in this video from Reactions about how seashells are made. In
How to Track Updates to Students’ Google Sites
Google Sites can be a great platform for students to use to maintain digital portfolios. In fact, I did that last year with my computer
Short Lessons on the Science of Fireworks
Independence Day here in the United States is ten days away. Nothing says, “Happy Fourth of July” like a fireworks display. Watching Fourth of July
Four Summer Science Lessons
Summer is here in the northern hemisphere. It’s a great time to go outside and soak up some sunshine. A little vitamin D is good
How to Share Google Slides Without Sharing Speaker Notes
Earlier this week I answered an email from a reader who was looking for a way to share his Google Slides with his students without
What to Try When a Web App Isn’t Working
Two weeks ago in my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I outlined six things to try when a website or web app isn’t working as you
How to Create a Thumbnail for Your YouTube Videos
In the last week or so I’ve had a couple of people ask me how I create the thumbnail images for my YouTube videos. I
A Short Overview of Google Sites Publishing and Sharing Settings
During a webinar that I hosted earlier today the topic of Google Sites access settings came up. That topic usually does come up whenever I
Summer Reading Suggestions
My school year ended last week and I’m looking forward to doing some things that I didn’t have time for during the last crazy months
All About the Tour de France
The Tour de France begins at the end of this week. As an avid cyclist I enjoy watching it and I find that it provides
Summer, Icons, and Animations – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’ve just woken up from our first backyard camping adventure! Overall, it went about as well as could be hoped
Wick Editor – A Nice Tool for Creating Animations
Wick Editor is a free tool for creating animations in your web browser. It was recently mentioned in Rushton Hurley’s Next Vista for Learning newsletter
Icons8 – Easily Add Icons to Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets
Icons8 is a new Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets add-on that offers a large gallery of free icons that you can easily insert into your
Sharing vs. Publishing Google Documents
A couple of days ago I Tweeted my video about how to find public Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. That Tweet prompted a couple
It’s Sea Turtle Week – Five Short Lessons
Earlier this week when I was checking the weather forecast on NOAA.gov I noticed a banner announcing that this week is Sea Turtle Week. Prior
Two More Padlet Updates to Note
Last week Padlet implemented four important updates. This week two more updates have been rolled out. Both of this week’s updates address previously common concerns
Just Five Days Until…
It is just five days until the first session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp begins. If you haven’t registered for the session of
Blockchain – From the Basics to Advanced – A Free Course
Turn on CNBC or any business/ financial news channel today and you’re likely to hear about Bitcoin. Blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin and all
Code Your Own Retro View-Master
CodePen is one of my favorite sites for helping students learn how web apps are constructed. In fact, I like it so much that I’ll
A Few Short Lessons About the Longest Day of the Year
It is going to be warm and sunny here in Maine today. That temperature will make it feel like summer a few days before the
Roadside America in a Story Map
The Library of Congress houses the John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive. That archive contains nearly 12,000 photographs of interesting roadside attractions all over the
The Excitement of Augmented Reality – The Joy of a Four Year Old
This past weekend we took our daughters to Living Shores Aquarium in Glen, New Hampshire. We all enjoyed learning about marine life and watching the
There, Their, They’re – Reminders for Myself and My Students
On Sunday morning I was writing in a bit of a hurry and failed to notice a mistake in the title of my post about
A Neat Way for Students to See What Their Computers Are Connecting To
Knowing just a few commands to use in the command terminal can be quite helpful in diagnosing problems with your computer and or the network
How to Make a Connecto Game – Great for Review Activities
Connecto is the latest game template published by Flippity. The template lets you use Google Sheets to create a digital version of Connect Four in
A Great Series About Redwoods
The Redwood National park is one of the natural wonders that I hope to share with my daughters in a few years. While the tall
PDFs, Science, and Gravel – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what should be a nice summer Saturday. At this time last week I was riding
Ziplet – A Great Way to Gather Feedback from Students
This morning I saw an interesting Tweet from a company called Ziplet. The Tweet is what prompted me to write this blog post. Ziplet’s Tweet
More Virtual Background Options in Google Meet
Last fall Google added options for blurring your background in Google Meet and using your own pictures as backgrounds in Google Meet. This week another
Five Sources of Summer Math Activities for Elementary School Students
If you’re like me and you still have another week or two until summer break, you might be looking for some resources to share with
Free Summer Reading Packets from ReadWorks
Summer is here in the northern hemisphere. If you find yourself looking for some summer reading that you can give to elementary and middle school
Four Important Padlet Updates to Note
For more than a decade I’ve been using Padlet to facilitate online brainstorming sessions, create KWL charts, to make multimedia timelines, and to host many more
A New Flippity Game Template – Connecto!
Flippity recently published a new game template for Google Sheets users. The new template is called Connecto. Connecto is probably best described as a digital
How to Forward Google Workspaces Email to Personal Gmail
Now that the summer break is here for those in the northern hemisphere, hopefully you will have a bit less email in your school account.
Five Things to Check When a Website or Web App Doesn’t Work as You Expected
I regularly field emails from readers who are experiencing problems with web tools not working as they expected. Here’s my short check list of things
Expeditions Pro – A Replacement for Google’s VR Tour Creator
Sadly, at the end of June Google is closing the doors on Tour Creator. I’m bummed about it because it is one of my favorite
Less Than Two Weeks to Go!
The first session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp is less than two weeks away! If you haven’t registered for the session of
Five Features of Canva Presentations You Might be Overlooking
Canva has become my go-to presentation design tool over the last few years. Even when I know that I’m going to end up giving my
How Tall Can a LEGO Tower Get? – Life’s Biggest Questions
While getting caught up on my reading in Feedly this morning I came across a new comic from The Oatmeal. The comic addresses the question,
Science Research Papers Annotated With Teaching Resources
Science in the Classroom is a free resource for teachers from Science Magazine. On Science in the Classroom you will find research papers containing interactive
Three Good Options for Annotating PDFs
In last week’s Practical Ed Tech newsletter I shared three good options for adding audio comments to Google Docs, Word docs, and PDFs. That prompted
An Easy Way to Digitally Sign Documents
This blog post was inspired by my mother who asked me how to do this a couple of nights ago. Whether it’s a form for
Plan Safe Routes for World Bicycle Day
Today is World Bicycle Day! By the time most of you read this I’ll be on my way to Kansas to participate in Unbound Gravel
My Most-watched Tutorials in May
In May I didn’t publish as many videos on my YouTube channel as I wanted to, but still more people subscribed to the channel. There
How to Quickly Create Animated Maps
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about new mapping tool called Mult Dev. It’s a free tool that lets you quickly create animated maps.
Read and Transcribe Walt Whitman’s Notebooks and Diaries
A few years ago the Library of Congress launched a crowd sourcing project called Crowd. The purpose of the project is to enlist the help
Moving from OneDrive to Google Drive
On Monday I shared directions for moving from Google Drive to OneDrive. I did that to help people who are leaving a school district that
How to Collaboratively Create Presentations With Canva
Regular readers of my blog probably know that I’m a big fan of Canva. I use it almost daily for making everything from YouTube thumbnails
Games, Maps, and Pictures – The Month in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’re ending the month with a cold and rainy day. It’s so chilly and damp that we have the heat
An Easier Way to Share in Google Meet
Last week a new menu option appeared in Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets. That new menu appears just to the left of the share button
How to Move from Google Drive to OneDrive
It’s that time of year when some teachers and administrators will be leaving one school district for another. For some that means leaving a district
How to Overlay Text on Images in Google Docs
Earlier this week Google finally added the option to overlay text on top of images in Google Docs. Since then I’ve had a few people
Brainstorming, Games, and Flying Teachers – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where it is a damp 45F to start Memorial Day weekend. In fact, it’s going to be unseasonable cool all weekend.
Five Activities for Teaching and Learning With Primary Sources
As a history teacher one of my favorite yet challenging things to do was introduce my students to primary sources. It’s great because it reveals
How to Make Good Explanatory Videos – The MinuteEarth Style
MinuteEarth is a popular YouTube channel whose videos I’ve featured a handful of times on this blog. Their short videos provide explanations of interesting science
What’s in Common? – A Search Lesson
Dan Russell has provided the inspiration for many of the web research lessons that I have conducted with students over the years. Every week he
Three Days Left!
The first session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp is just a month away. If you haven’t registered for the session of your
Seven Good Tools for Hosting and Organizing Group Brainstorming Sessions
Earlier this week I shared five brainstorming warm-up activities and a video about how to use a new online brainstorming tool called Brainstormer. Of course,
Seven Good Tools for Creating and Publishing Online Timelines
Creating timelines has been a staple in history teachers’ playbooks since the beginning of history. Writing a timeline is a good way for students to
The Master View in Google Slides is Now the “Theme Builder”
If you logged into your Google Slides today, you may have noticed a new option in the “view” drop-down menu. Where there used to be