Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 23 – Not Pink Eye!
In this episode of the Practical Ed Tech Podcast I shared some highlights from the Creativity Conference, shared some neat new ed tech tools, and
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Found on the vending machine in the teachers’ room at my school. Good morning from rainy Maine. Rain in December in Maine is always a
Why Should You Read Lord of the Flies – A New TED-Ed Lesson
Why You Should Read Lord of the Flies is the latest video added to TED-Ed’s “why should you read…” series. There are now more than
Using Video as a Reflective, Collaborative, and Data Collecting Tool
The last presentation of the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference was given by Brian Heyward who shared Using Video as a Reflective, Collaborative, and Data Collecting
Using Makey Makey to Creative Assistive Technology – Webinar Recording
Yesterday afternoon Art Spencer gave an engaging presentation about some interesting Makey Makey projects that he’s done with elementary school and middle school students. In
Taking Shape: Drawing Your Own Icons – Webinar Recording
This afternoon Tony Vincent gave a great presentation as part of the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference. His presentation was all about creating your own
ScriptSlide – A Google Slides Add-on for Pacing Presentations
ScriptSlide is an interesting Google Slides add-on that takes the speaker notes in your Google Slides and displays them in a teleprompter-like screen that you
Making Simple Wearable Electronics – Webinar Recording
Last night Denise Wright gave a great presentation as part of the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference. Her presentation was Making Simple Wearable Electronics. In
Coding + Drones = 100% Engagement – Webinar Recording
Yesterday evening as part of the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference Karin Knapik-Cloutier gave an energetic presentation about using drones with her middle school students.
How to Create Interactive Images With Classtools
A couple of days ago I wrote about a new tool from Classtools called Image Annotator. It does exactly what it says on the tin.
Why the Moon Seems Brighter in Winter
During lunch today one of my colleagues mentioned that he had trouble falling asleep a couple of nights ago because the moon was exceptionally bright.
3D Printing Solutions to World Issues – Webinar Recording
The second presentation in the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference was Jeremy Rinkel’s 3D Printing Solutions to World Issues. Here’s how Jeremy described the presentation,
Easy Ways to Make Your Own Apps – Webinar Recording
This afternoon I kicked off the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference with a presentation about making apps with students. In addition to showing three ways
Three Free PD Webinars Today!
The Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference starts this afternoon at 3pm ET. There is still time to register here. Today’s presentations and times are listed
Add Interactive Annotations to Images With a New Classtools Tool
Russel Tarr at Classtools has come up with another great little tool for teachers and students. The new Image Hotspot Generator on Classtools makes it
A Few Tips for Getting the Most Out of Webinars
The first webinars of the free Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference will be broadcast tomorrow. These are going to be live presentations with time for
Lesson Plan, Meal Plan, and Fitness Plan Templates
Last week Canva announced a handful of new features including a video editor and a desktop application. A new education-specific version of Canva was also
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast Episode 22 – Fitness, Code, and Q&A
Last night I published the 22nd episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this week’s podcast I talked about how I improved my fitness
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from snowy Maine where it is going to be a great weekend for playing outside. When the sun comes up I plan to
A Great Update to Google Sites – Review Changes Before Publishing
Earlier this week I wrote about how I’m having my students use Google Sites as digital portfolios. Right after that I published that post Google
Firefox Accessibility Options
After yesterday’s post about tools for improving the accessibility of websites, slides, and videos I got some feedback from readers who noted that I didn’t
Tools to Improve the Accessibility of Websites, Videos, and Slides
We all have different needs and preferences when it comes to consuming the media in our lives. Our students are the same. Some need webpages
How to Find Historical Comics and Create Lessons With Them
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Docs Teach that featured the idea of creating history lessons that incorporate historical comics. That
Two Neat Polling Tools That I Recently Recommended
I get a lot of questions from readers. I try to answer all of them. Those that I think have a broad appeal I turn
A New Version of Easy Accents for Google Docs
Easy Accents is a Google Docs and Google Slides add-on that I’ve been using and recommending for years. This morning I went to use the
Three Google Sites Updates to Note
Right after I finished writing a blog post about how my students are using Google Sites as digital portfolios I jumped into Feedly and found
Google Sites as Digital Portfolios
The computer science courses that I’m teaching this year are almost entirely project-based courses. I’m having them do two things to keep track of their
Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference Schedule
The Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference is next week. It is a free event that anyone can attend online. Register here or through the form
Watch the Evolution of Campaign Commercials on The Living Room Candidate
I did a lot of driving and sitting in traffic in snowy conditions today so I had a lot of time to listen to podcasts.
Multi.link – A Convenient Way to Share All Your Profiles
Multi.link is a new service that makes it easy to share all of your social media profiles, websites you own, videos you produce, and pictures
The Ten Most Popular Posts Last Month
We put up our Christmas tree this weekend (my toddlers “helped” decorate it). Putting up the tree is always a sign that December is here.
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 21 – 12 Years of Reflections and Questions
This afternoon I recorded the twenty-first episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this episode I share some reflections on 12 years of blogging
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where it feels like winter! It’s 4F outside, a lot of snow is in the forecast, and we’re going to get
7 Google Product Updates to Note from November
The end of November is here. During the last month Google announced a bunch of updates to many of the products frequently used by teachers
12 Quick Thoughts After 12 Years of Free Technology for Teachers
Yesterday marked twelve years since I started this blog. I didn’t have much of clue about what I was doing. I chose the name Free
The History of Corn – A TED-Ed Lesson
Pictures of corn like the one in this blog post have become symbols of fall harvest and Thanksgiving. Corn and many products made with it
Twelve Good Tools for Creating Mind Maps & Flowcharts – Updated
Earlier this week I published a video about a neat new service called Transo that lets you turn your notes into a mind map with
Happy Thanksgiving!
It’s Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Somehow over the last 50 years it became a tradition that classic rock stations play Alice’s Restaurant Massacree at noon
Three Ways to Collaboratively Create Multimedia Maps
With Padlet’s new multimedia mapping tool and the recent update to the web version of Google Earth there are more ways than ever for students
Transno – Quickly Turn Outlines and Notes into Mind Maps
Transno is a new service that lets you write notes and outlines that can then be turned into mind maps and flowcharts with just one
Thanksgiving Bundle of Practical Ed Tech Webinars
Throughout the year on Practical Ed Tech I host live professional development webinars. The sale of those webinars helps to keep this blog running. The
Three Easy Ways to Create Forms That Accept File Uploads
Last week Microsoft announced that a new file collection option has been added to Microsoft Forms. That feature is the option to accept file uploads
Three Videos for Thanksgiving Lessons
Thanksgiving is just a few days away. If you find yourself looking for a quick, Thanksgiving-themed video lesson to use this week, take a look
How to Create a Multimedia Map on Padlet
Last week I shared the news that Padlet now includes multimedia map creation options. Like all other Padlet layouts, the map option includes the capability
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where the sun is still below the horizon and the wind is making it feel colder than the thermometer’s reading of
5 Google Product Updates for Teachers to Note This Weekend
As I mentioned in this week’s episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast, Google released a handful of updates to products that teachers and students
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode 20 – Cool Updates and Q&A
This afternoon I recorded the twentieth episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this podcast I shared five Google product updates teachers should note,
A Quick & Easy Way to Combine Audio Tracks
Last week I published a video that outlines how I produce my podcast. Within that video I included some tips about using Garage Band to
A New Way to Collect Feedback Through Google Sites
Google Sites has always made it easy to insert Google Forms into the pages of your Google Sites websites. Embedding a Google Form into a
How to Create a Google Earth Tour – Updated Web Version
The web version of Google Earth has been available for more than two years now. Over those two years it has lagged behind the desktop
Three Thanksgiving Lessons You Can Do in the Next Week
Thanksgiving is just over a week away here in the U.S. Should you find yourself looking for some Thanksgiving-themed lessons to do, consider giving one
Now You Can Reuse Google Classroom Rubrics
A few months ago Google started rolling-out a rubrics tool for some Google Classroom users. To get access to the rubrics tool your domain has
Create a Sorting Game With a Free ClassTools Template
In last week’s episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast I answered a question about tools for creating sorting games. The Dust Bin game template from
7 Great Places to Make and Find Story Starters
For many people the hardest of starting a writing assignment is choosing thinking of things to write about. This is particularly true when it comes
Microsoft Forms Now Supports File Collection
Microsoft Forms offers a good way for teachers to create online quizzes and surveys. Over the last couple of years Microsoft has steadily added more
Collaboratively Create Maps on Padlet
Padlet has been in my list of top collaboration tools for nearly a decade. I started using it with my students back when it was
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Nebraska where I’m visiting my good friends Kris and Beth Still. Some of you may recall that Beth and met more than
5 Wakelet Tutorial Videos
Over the last year and a half or so Wakelet has become quite popular with teachers. Part of that popularity is due to the versatility
How to Create a Great Presentation With Canva
Canva is a great design tool that I have been using for years to design social media graphics, posters, infographics, business cards, greeting cards, and
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast – Episode #19 – Great Google Slides Update and More
This morning I published the latest episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this episode I shared the exciting, for some, news about Google
How to Make & Play “Fling the Teacher” Games
Earlier this week I wrote a post about a new game template from Classtools called Fling the Teacher. The game lets students slingshot or “fling”
How to Use Wakelet to Gather Feedback from Students
Wakelet is a great tool for creating collections of bookmarks, pictures, documents, videos, and more. It is free, easy to use, and offers privacy settings
My Three Step Method for Producing a Podcast
One of my new projects for this school year is producing The Practical Ed Tech Podcast every week. I’m now up to nineteen published episode
How to Create Image Overlays in Google Earth
Google Earth is one of my favorite tools to use in history and geography lessons. Google Earth enables students to see and explore places in
Update About the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference
Last month I announced the free Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference that I’m hosting in December. The presenters have been chosen and in the next
Submit Questions for The Practical Ed Tech Podcast
Later this week I’ll publish the nineteenth episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. That’s beaten the law averages when it comes to podfading. Except
How to Schedule Video Releases on YouTube
YouTube has a lot of helpful little features that are often overlooked. One of those features is the option to upload videos and schedule them
How to Create a Multimedia Timeline Through Google Sheets
Timeline JS is one of my all-time favorite tools for use in history classes. It is always at the top of my list of tools
It’s Official! Google Slides Will Have Native Audio Support by End of November
Last night I published a post in which I speculated that Google is rolling out the “insert audio” feature to more G Suite accounts. This
More Than 30,000 Historical Maps for Student Projects
This morning I was looking for a historical map of Mount Vernon to overlay onto Google Earth imagery. (I’m publishing a video about that later
Now You Can Use Vocaroo Without Flash
For more than a decade I’ve used Vocaroo.com whenever I’ve needed to quickly create an audio recording. The one complaint it about was that it
Fling the Teacher! – A Fun Review Game from Classtools
Russel Tarr recently added a new game template to the toolbox available on Classtools.net. The new game is called Fling the Teacher. Fling the Teacher
How to Add Audio to Google Slides – Updated
Earlier this evening I Tweeted that another of my Google Slides accounts now has access to the native audio feature that Google teased us with
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good afternoon from Maine where all the leaves have turned brown and the air has turned cold. We had our first snowfall of the year
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast Episode #18
This morning I published the eighteenth episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this episode I shared a handful of new resources for teachers
A Classic Geography Tool – Overlap Maps
As I mentioned on the latest episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast, last week I was reminded of a great little geography site called
Thanksgiving Chemistry
The Thanksgiving Turkey Compilation from the Reactions YouTube channel explains two concepts related to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey. First, it explains how the deep-frying process works and how it
The History of Thermometers and Barometers
Many moons ago when I was an undergrad I took a meteorology course. It was my favorite course outside of my major. I’m still fascinated
Mapping Thanksgiving
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Dinner Come From? is an interactive storymap that displays where eight popular Thanksgiving foods are grown and harvested in the United States.
Get Instant Feedback on Your Presentations With Presenter Coach
Presenter Coach is one of best features to be added to PowerPoint in a long time. Presenter Coach is found in the online version of
Plagiarism Explained by Common Craft – Updated
Plagiarism and issues around copyright are topics that I am passionate about. That’s why I was happy to see my friends at Common Craft release
Create Random Story Starters With This Flippity Template
This morning I answered an email from a reader named Brian who wrote, “I’m looking for a way to upload photos of my students so
How to Randomly Shuffle Google Slides Presentations
Last week I wrote a short blog post about a neat Google Slides add-on called Slides Randomizer. The add-on will randomly shuffle a Google Slides
Three Tools for Recording The Great Thanksgiving Listen
Last week I shared the news that StoryCorps is once again hosting The Great Thanksgiving Listen. This is an annual event intended to encourage people
Webinar Tomorrow – Five Fun Formative Assessment Methods
One of the ways that I am able to keep Free Technology for Teachers afloat is through the in-person and online training services that I
My Updated Five Favorite Google Slides Add-ons
Earlier this year I published a rundown of my five favorite Google Slides add-ons. Since then a couple of those add-ons have gone the way
Formative Assessment, Search, and Listening – The Week in Review
Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the first Saturday in November. Tomorrow the sun will set an hour earlier after we
Slide Tricks, Candy, and Maps – The Month in Review
October has come and gone. As I do at the end of every month I have looked through my Google Analytics account to find the
The Great Thanksgiving Listen is Back!
For the fifth year in a row StoryCorps is hosting The Great Thanksgiving Listen. This annual event is an effort to get families to talk
The Practical Ed Tech Podcast Episode #17 – Ninjas, Gladiators, and Copyright
It’s Friday afternoon and I’ve just finished recording the seventeenth episode of The Practical Ed Tech Podcast. In this episode I address some questions around
Last Call for Creativity Conference Proposals
In about six weeks from now I’ll be hosting the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference. It is a free online event. The list of conference
A Five Minute Explanation of How Google Search Works
Last week Google published a new video that explains how Google Search works. The video presents an explanation of the factors that contribute to why
An Easier Way to Add Images to Blogger Posts
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve received a few emails from people who were having trouble with images not loading on Blogger blog posts.
How My Students Are Using Google Sheets With Their Arduino Projects
The students in one of my classes are starting to make some Arduino-powered gadgets. I let them choose what they wanted to build so I
Slides Randomizer – A Neat Google Slides Add-on
Slides Randomizer is a Google Slides add-on that will randomly shuffle a set of Google Slides. It’s easy to use the Slides Randomizer add-on. Once
One Last Round-up of Educational Halloween Resources
Halloween is less than 48 hours away as I write this. My daughters are excited about their Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck costumes. Some of
The Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference – Call for Proposals
In December I’m hosting a free online conference called the Practical Ed Tech Creativity Conference. The purpose of the conference is to give teachers an
Two Ways I’m Using Pictures in Formative Assessments This Fall
This fall I’m teaching a few computer science classes. The curriculum for one of those courses is heavy on hardware and hardware repair. This month
How to Adjust the Captions on YouTube Videos
This week’s Practical Ed Tech newsletter featured a few things that we can do to improve the accessibility of the slides and videos that we