Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
22 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
G Suite for Teachers FAQs
In the last week since I announced my new G Suite for Teachers professional development course I’ve fielded a bunch of questions about the course.
How to Add Spoken Audio to Google Slides – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
Zero Noise Classroom – A Timer and Noise Meter in One – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
My Five Most Frequently Recommended Google Forms Add-ons – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
The Things I Wish Every Teacher Knew About Technology – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
21 Tools for Conducting Digital Formative Assessments – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
5 Ways Students Can Earn Money Without Flipping Burgers – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
Three Alternatives to Google Classroom – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
Track Progress Toward Goals With This Google Sheets Template – Best of 2017
As I do during this week every year, I am taking some time off to relax and prepare for the new year. Every day this
Three FAQs from New Google Slides Users
I have hosted hundreds of G Suite webinars and workshops over the last eight years. In that time there have been some questions that I
Merry Christmas!
Tomorrow is Christmas! There won’t be any new blog posts tomorrow. I’ll be playing with daughters and their new toys. Merry Christmas to all who
How Machines Learn – And What Facebook Knows About You
Machine learning is a hot topic in the ed tech start-up community. You may have heard of an ed tech start-up or two that is
Why Should You Read Charles Dickens? – A TED-Ed Lesson
Why Should You Read Charles Dickens? is a new TED-Ed lesson released to coincide with Christmas. The lesson provides a bit of background on his
Image Search, Science, and Math – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’re going to have a white Christmas. Eight inches of snow fell last night and more is on the way.
Three Apps That Solve Math Problems Through a Picture
A few years ago when Photomath hit the App store there was all manner of debate about whether or not it was a good app
Updated List of Chromebooks That Support Android Apps
Thursday’s post about the Google Science Journal app prompted a lot of people to ask me, in email and on Facebook, if the app would
Classmint – Online Flashcards With Annotated Images
Classmint is an online flashcard service. Like other services similar to it, Classmint can be used to create and share sets of flashcards. A couple of
Programming With Santa
If you’re looking for an educational and Christmas-themed activity to do with your kids this weekend, take a look at Google’s Santa Tracker Code Lab.
Ancient Egypt 101 – A Six Minute Primer
Ancient Egypt 101 is a new video produced by National Geographic. The video doesn’t reveal any new information or go into any great detail. What
Design a School – A Lesson in Design and Innovation
The Open University offers a free course on design and innovation. The course includes a set of six short videos that provide a broad overview of the history
G Suite for Teachers – An On-demand Course Starting in January
As you may know, one of the ways that I am able to keep Free Technology for Teachers running is through sales of my online
A Quick Comparison of Three Bookmarking Tools
As some of you know, all month I have been running a side-by-side-by-side comparison of Google Keep, OneNote, and Zoho Notebook. I use them mostly
What is a Grand Jury?
One of the topics that some of my civics students struggled with was understanding the court system in the United States. Keith Hughes recently published
MySimpleShow – Create Explanatory Videos
MySimpleShow is a great tool for creating animated explanatory videos. One of the things that I like about MySimpleShow is that students have to create
5 Observations Students Can Record With Google’s Science Journal App
Google’s Science Journal app provides some neat tools for recording data and writing observations. Within the app students create notebooks for recording experiment data and
ESPN’s Golic & Wingo Fall for Fake News Story – Provide Reminder to Check Your Sources
ESPN Radio’s morning show, Golic and Wingo, recently provided listeners with a great reminder to check your news sources. They read on air this story
The Shortest Day of the Year
Good morning from chilly Paris Hill, Maine where my thermometer reads 11F, but it feels more like 0F. Not only is it going to be
Three Good Sources of Fun and Interesting Math Challenges
“When are we ever going to use this?” Raise your hand if you have ever heard that question from a student in the middle of
5 Things You Need to Know About the Practical Ed Tech Coaching Group
Earlier today I went live on YouTube to answer a couple of recent questions regarding the 2018 Practical Ed Tech Coaching Group. If you missed
Four Things Students Need to Create Book Trailer Videos
This is an update of a blog post that I published about 16 months ago. The concepts are the same, but some of the resources
ADA Project – An Open Multimedia Mathematics Textbook
Update: May 20, 2022 – This resource is now longer available. ADA Project is a great resource being developed by a mathematics teacher named Sam
Seven Ways to Create Screencasts on Chromebooks
With the addition of Screencast-O-Matic there are now seven tools that teachers and students can use to create screencast videos on their Chromebooks. If you
Three Ways to Collaboratively Create Video Playlists
From cats doing tricks to documentaries about cats in Egyptian art, we watch more videos today than we ever have before. The challenge is weeding
The Practical Ed Tech Newsletter
Over the years I have had the good fortune of having tens of thousands of educators like you subscribe to the Free Technology for Teachers
How Your Digestive System Works – A TED-Ed Lesson
How Your Digestive System Works is a new TED-Ed lesson. Like all TED-Ed lessons the graphics in the video are great. The content itself is
Screencast-O-Matic for Chromebooks
Screencast-O-Matic is my favorite screen recording tool to use on my Windows and Mac computers. Last night I discovered that it can now be used
How to Embed Flipgrid Videos Into Your Blog
On Sunday I featured Flipgrid in my tip of the week. My video tutorial on getting started with Flipgrid included how to share your video
A WordPress Plugin for Finding Public Domain Pictures
Pixabay is regularly featured as an alternative to Google Image search. Pixabay hosts thousands of high-resolution and high-quality images that are in the public domain.
I Livestreamed How to Handle Stolen Blog Posts
In what seems to be a biweekly occurrence, this afternoon I had to deal with a blog that was republishing my blog posts in their
About Hardware Recommendations…
I love receiving questions from readers of my blogs and newsletters. There is one type of question that I generally refrain from answering. That type
A Powerful Blogging Activity for Almost Any Classroom
A question that often comes up in my workshops about blogging is, “what should I have my students write about?” There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of possible
Paper Signals – Build Physical Objects to Control With Your Voice
Paper Signals is a neat resource produced by Google that could prove to be a fun way to provide students with hands-on programming experience. Paper
How to Apply Blurring to Faces in YouTube Videos
Face and object blurring is one of the overlooked features built into YouTube’s video editing tools. The blurring tool is great for selectively obscuring the
7 Ways to Use Online Video In Your Classroom
Four years ago I was in love with a great video creation tool called Wideo. I made a bunch of videos on Wideo’s website and
Three Free iPad Apps for Creating Talking Animations
Creating videos with students is the topic of one of my most popular on-site workshops. I always customize the workshop depending upon the type of
A Glossary of Blogging Vocabulary
Every December as the new year approaches I get a bunch of emails from folks who are looking for some guidance on starting a new
5 Good Alternatives to Google Image Search
Google Images tends to be the default image search tool of students and adults who haven’t been introduced to better options. Google Images is convenient,
Animations, Organization, and Music – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where I’m preparing to undertake another DIY home improvement/ maintenance project. One of the perks of owning an old house is
VR Hangar – A VR App from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
VR Hangar is a new virtual reality app produced by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. This free virtual reality app is available to
How to Use Flipgrid – A Guide for Getting Started
Flipgrid is a fantastic service for collecting video responses to prompts that you pose to your students. It has been a hit whenever I have
A Handful of Apps for Exploring the Potential of AR in Education
Earlier this week I shared a neat augmented reality app called SkyView that helps users identify constellations, planets, and satellites in the night sky. SkyView could
Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities With Me
As you may know, part of the funding to keep Free Technology for Teachers running comes from speaking fees and registration fees for my online
One OneNote Feature I Wish Google Keep Had
As many readers know, I’m a long-time user of all things Google. That includes Google Keep which I have been using for all of my
Polar Training Scholarship
This post is a little bit out of the norm for this blog, but I’m sharing it because one of you might, like me, have
PikWizard – Another Place to Find Free Images
PikWizard is a free site that offers thousands of high quality images that you can download and re-use for free. PikWizard provides clear guidance on
Updated Menus and Toolbars Coming to Google Docs and Slides
If you take a break from using Google Docs and Google Slides during the upcoming holiday break, you might notice some changes when you open
The National Archives and the Yeti
The U.S. National Archives has a great feature called Today’s Document. Today’s Document features one historical document (almost always a primary source) per day. Sometimes
Kiddom Introduces an Android App
Kiddom is one of the learning management systems that I occasionally recommend to folks who are looking for an alternative to Google Classroom. One of
A Tip for Unorganized Google Drive Users Like Me
There are some people who use folders with a strict system and order. This blog post is not for them. Then there are those of
Three Good Ways to Create Instructional Animations
Earlier this week I shared five ways to create animated movies on Chromebooks. Creating animated movies can be a lot of fun for you and
Storyboard – Create Cartoons from Your Videos
Storyboard is a new Android app produced by Google. The app will let you select a video that you have recorded on your phone and
Fun & Educational Activities In the Snow
We have just had our second snowstorm of the year here in Maine. It is around this time every year that I share some educational
Group Discounts on Practical Ed Tech Courses
Learning a new skill is often better when you do it with a friend. That’s why we recruit our friends to try yoga with us
The Differences Between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
This morning I received an email from a reader who was wondering what the terms AR and VR mean. I get that question on a
The Physics of Skiing
It’s a snow day here in western Maine. For a skier like me, that means it’s time to enjoy the snow with some time on
BandBlast – A Fun App for Learning to Play Music
BandBlast is a free app designed to help students learn to play music. There are many ways that students can use the BandBlast app. Whichever
The Science of Snowflakes
Here in western Maine we’re expecting our second real snowstorm of the winter to arrive tonight. This has reminded me of a couple of educational
Three Sites That Help Students Compare the Size of Countries and States
Over the weekend Open Culture featured one of my favorite websites to use in geography classes. That website is called The True Size Of… and it
How to Create a Distraction-free Video Playlist
A couple of weeks ago I shared a few ways to display videos without the distraction of sidebar content on YouTube and Vimeo. Another way
SkyView – An Augmented Reality App to Help Students Find Constellations
SkyView is a free augmented reality app (an Android version and an iOS version is available) that helps students identify stars and constellations. With the
Five Tools for Creating Animations on Chromebooks
Yesterday’s post about the PuppetMaster app prompted a couple of people to ask me if there is anything similar available for Chromebook use. While I
Chemistry in Slow Motion
The Periodic Table of Videos produced by The University of Nottingham features a video demonstration of the characteristics of each element in the Periodic Table of
A Multimedia Timeline of WWII in Europe
Last week I shared National Geographic’s excellent multimedia timeline of the Pacific Theater of WWII. National Geographic offers a similar timeline of the European Theater.
Music Crab – A Cute App for Learning to Read Music
Music Crab is simple and free iPad designed to help students learn to read music. The app features a little crab that students move by
PuppetMaster – A Great App for Creating Animated Movies
PuppetMaster is a free iPad app that kids can use to create animated movies. The app is designed for elementary school students and therefore doesn’t
Geography, eBooks, and Nature – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’re anticipating our first significant snowstorm of the year. As a skier, I cannot wait for the fresh snow. As
An Inexpensive Source of Earbuds and Microphones
Yesterday afternoon I went live on the Practical Ed Tech Facebook page to share a couple of tips about sourcing cheap earbuds and microphones for
How to Quickly Create a Virtual Conference Room
Whether it is to host an online tutoring session or to connect with colleagues to plan a school event, from time to time we all
My Favorite Resources In One Place
Last week during Practical Ed Tech Live I was asked if I had one place that people could go to see an organized collection of
Smithsonian Learning Lab Announces Most Popular Resources of 2017
The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a great tool for organizing collections of resources available through the Smithsonian. Through the Learning Lab you can search for
Zapier – Connect Your Favorite Tools
Zapier is a fantastic tool for improving your workflow between the services that you use the most. For example, let’s say that you’re a devoted
Promoting School Events Through Social Media
My personal Facebook and Instagram feeds are starting to be filled up with pictures from holiday concerts that my friends’ kids are performing in. Seeing
FAQs About the 2018 Practical Ed Tech Coaching Group
Last weekend I announced the launch of the 2018 Practical Ed Tech Coaching Group. The first members have already registered. Many of you who have
Canva for Education
Earlier this week I mentioned having students use Canva to create holiday greeting cards. I’ve since had some folks ask about how students can use
425 Ed Tech Tutorial Videos
A few years ago I started to make an effort to create more tutorial videos to include in blog posts here and to include in
Take a Look at the Remodeled Padlet Apps
Padlet has long been one of the staples in my cabinet of ed tech tools. One of the reasons for that distinction is that the
Google Sites Now Supports HTML & Javascript Embed Codes
One my biggest complaints about Google Sites has always been that it doesn’t accept third party embed codes. This means that you couldn’t embed videos
FAQs About Copyright and Blogging
My post on Monday about plagiarism kicked off a wave of comments and questions. To address some of those questions I published this list of
5 Ways for Students to Create Multimedia eBooks
Writing a multimedia ebook or magazine can be a good way for students to illustrate and or further explain portions of fiction and non-fiction stories
8 Good Resources for Learning About Pearl Harbor
Tomorrow is the 76th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Of course, that wasn’t the first military action of the Japanese during WWII.
A Multimedia Timeline of WWII in the Pacific
As any good student of history can tell you, the Pacific theater of World War II was just as complicated as the European theater. National
Free Wall Maps for Your Classroom
Like good manners and flannel shirts, wall maps never go out of style. If you need some new maps to put on the walls of
Join the 2018 Practical Ed Tech Coaching Group
Throughout the year I host at least two professional development webinars every month. For 2018 I am making it easy for you to register for
Another Neat Feature of Zoho Notebook
On Sunday I featured Zoho Notebook as an alternative to using Evernote or Google Keep. In that post I listed many of the features of Zoho
Cool Fellowships for Teachers
One of the coolest professional development opportunities that I know of is the Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Program. It is an annual program administered by National Geographic. This
Holiday Greeting Card Creators for Kids
It is the time of the year for sending greeting cards. This is a great opportunity to have students practice letter writing (yes, some people
But I Gave You Credit… Lessons About Copyright
The blog post that I published yesterday in which I listed people and organizations who have recently stolen my work has elicited quite a few
How to Livestream From the YouTube Android App
In a blog post that I published a couple of weeks ago I mentioned using the YouTube Android app to broadcast review sessions for your