Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
A New List to Expose Feed Scraping, Plagiarism, and Laziness
For years I have been trying to educate people about copyright. In fact, just six weeks ago I hosted a free webinar about the topic.
How to Compare Information on Wolfram Alpha
As I mentioned in a blog post published over the weekend, Wolfram Alpha is useful for more than just solving math and science problems. In
The Sounds of Nature Around the World
Nature Sound Map provides a wonderful way to explore the soundscape of the natural world. On the Nature Sound Map you will find placemarks containing
Two Good Tools That Help Students Learn to Program Games
Code Maven and Game Maven are interactive programming tutorials from Crunchzilla. Code Maven and Game Maven use the same style as the popular Code Monster
RWT Flip Book – Free Flip Book Creator for Kids
Read Write Think offers a lot of great tools to help you get your students interested in writing. One of those tools is the RWT
Zoho Notebook – Your Evernote and Google Keep Alternative
Zoho Notebook is the alternative to Evernote and Google Keep that I mentioned in last week’s edition of Practical Ed Tech Live. Zoho Notebook is
Rewordify – A Tool to Help Students Understand Complex Texts
Rewordify is a free site that can help students understand complex passages of text. At its most basic level Rewordify takes a complex passage and rephrases
Quickly Compare Two or More Items in Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha has a comparison function that makes it easy to quickly compare basic information about two or more things. To compare biographical information about two
51 World Geography Games for Kids
World Geography Games is a free site that features 51 geography games. The games are simple identification games in which students are shown the name of
Tools to Help Students Improve Their Writing
The spelling and grammar checkers built into word processors are fine for helping students catch basic mistakes in their writing. To get beyond the basics,
The Week in Review – Videos With YouTube Stars
Good morning from Maine where we’re getting ready to spend the day acquiring and decorating a Christmas tree. Finding and cutting the tree should be
Create Your School Newspaper With Lucidpress
Lucidpress is a collaborative writing and publishing service that blends great collaboration tools with excellent design templates. That’s why this morning I recommended it to
The Month’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers
Good evening from Maine where the month of November is coming to a close with a few snow flurries in the air. I have to
View the Evolution of Digital Technology
Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo’s recent Ed Tech Digest post I just took a little trip down memory lane. In his post Larry mentioned the Washington
Distraction-free YouTube Viewing
On Monday night, during How to Teach With Video, someone asked, “what do you do about all the yucky ads on YouTube?” A couple of
Practical Ed Tech Live – Episode 22 – Recording
Yesterday afternoon I hosted another episode of Practical Ed Tech Live on Facebook. If you missed it, you can now watch the recording on Facebook
WriteReader – Honoring the Emergent Writing of Young Learners
This is a guest post provided and sponsored by WriteReader. Last spring, I discovered WriteReader. Sign-up was easy and free, and the site is very
Why You Should Get a Flu Shot Every Year
I was at my local pharmacy yesterday and they had a sign encouraging people to get a flu shot. The small print on the sign
The Top Ten of the Last Ten
My little blog is now ten years old. Yesterday, I shared a list of the things that I’ve seen change over those ten years. One
Online Basics – Three New Videos from Common Craft
For those of us who use social media on a daily basis and who do most of our shopping online, it can be easy to
EquatIO is Now Free for Teachers
EquatIO is a popular tool that math and science teachers like to use for using handwriting, equation and formula prediction, and graphing in Google Forms,
Practical Ed Tech Live – You Have Questions, I have Answers
On a fairly regular basis I host live broadcasts on the Practical Ed Tech Facebook page. During those broadcasts I answer some of the many
Apply for a C-SPAN Fellowship
Next summer might feel like it is a long way away, but it’s not too early to start thinking about how you’ll spend your next
Ten Years of Free Technology for Teachers
Ten years ago I hit “publish” and sent the first Free Technology for Teachers blog post into the wild. 12,593 posts and 72,056,319 pageviews later,
Mega Feedback – A Good Way to Organize Feedback
Mega Feedback is a new tool from the same person that developed Mega Seating Plan and Mega Name Picker. Both of those tools have been
MindCipher – Find Your Next Brain Teaser
Solving riddles and other brain teasers can be a fun way to “warm-up” the brain before a brainstorming session or before a lesson on Monday
Teaching With Crossword Puzzles from Read Write Think
My grandmother taught Language Arts for decades and she loved crossword puzzles. I know that many other teachers still like to use them in one
Three Puzzle Templates That Help Students See Content Connections
Russel Tarr publishes a lot of great educational games and instructional templates on ClassTools.net. Among those templates are three activities designed to help students see
Create Great Video Lessons on iSL Collective
iSL Collective offers a huge gallery of video-based lessons designed to help students learn English. It also offers a fantastic tool for teachers to use
GradeProof Helps Students Improve Their Papers
GradeProof is a service designed to help students improve their writing. GradeProof lets students either import documents or write documents within the GradeProof editor. Either
The Week in Review – Running With Christmas Trees
Good evening from Maine where we’re happy to be home after a great couple of days visiting family for Thanksgiving. For 30+ years on Thanksgiving
Three PD Courses Starting This Week
This week will kick-off a fun final month of 2017 for me and, I hope, for you too. This week I am starting three Practical
A Fun Game About Ecosystems
Feed the Dingo is a fun game that teaches students about the importance of maintaining balanced ecosystems. In the game students have to build and
Go To Sleep or Cram? – The Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep
With two children under 16 months old, in my house we’re well aware of the value of a good night’s sleep. That’s why I favor
A Health and Science Lesson – What Is Fat?
Now that we’re into the holiday season, many of us may be concerned about our intake of fats through our favorite holiday treats. But, as
5 FAQs About How to Teach With Video
This coming Monday night is the first night of How To Teach With Video hosted by me with special guests Tom Richey and Keith Hughes.
Four Tools for Recording Time-stamped Notes While Watching Videos
This post was updated on December 10, 2021 to remove links to services that no longer exist. There are many tools for creating video-based lessons
Three Ways to Broadcast Review Sessions for Students
Today, instead of having to stay after school or come back to school for an extra review session, students can tune-in to a broadcast that
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating the holiday today or this weekend. I hope that it is the best Thanksgiving ever! I’ll be celebrating with
Mapping the Thanksgiving Harvest
Where Does Your Thanksgiving Dinner Come From? is the title of an Esri Storymap. The storymap displays where eight popular Thanksgiving foods are grown and
7 Good Tools for Surveying Your Audience
Games like those you can make on Kahoot and Socrative are great for review activities. However, you don’t always need to play a full game
ReClipped – Take Notes and Share Notes on Educational Videos
ReClipped is a neat tool that lets you take notes, share notes, and share clips from educational videos. ReClipped blends the best aspects of TurboNote,
Black Friday Sale on 5 Practical Ed Tech Webinars
Throughout the year I host professional development webinars and courses on Practical Ed Tech. Usually, the webinars are $20 each. But for the next five
Three Thanksgiving Activities You Can Do Today!
It’s Thanksgiving Eve here in the U.S. If you have school today and you’re still looking for some Thanksgiving-themed activities to do today, I have
Intro to U.S. Involvement in WWI – And What Kids Say About Tom Richey’s Videos
Tom Richey recently released a new video for students in U.S. history courses. The United States in World War I is a video in which
Practical Ed Tech Live – Episode #20
Yesterday, I hosted the twentieth episode of Practical Ed Tech Live. If you missed it, you can now watch the recording as embedded below. The
Use Google Earth & Maps for More Than Social Studies
Last week was Geography Awareness Week. All across social media there were lots of references made to ways to use Google Earth and Google Maps
93 Years of Parades
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade turns 93 this year. For many Americans watching the parade is as much of Thanksgiving tradition as eating Turkey is. The
6,500 Vintage Travel Photos – Free To Use
The Library of Congress website is a great place to find historic images to use in presentations. The free images housed by the Library of
Outline Maps – Simple Geography Games for All
Update: February, 2020: This resource is no longer available. Outline Maps offers a free set of geography games. The site contains games about Africa, South America,
How to Copy Comments in Google Docs
Earlier this month Google added a new option for copying comments in Google Documents. The new option lets you include comment and suggestions when you
This Chrome Extension Helps You Find Books to Borrow
Library Extension is a free Chrome extension that will show you local library listings for the books that you viewing on Amazon, Google Books, Barnes
Swift – Poll Your Audience Via SMS or Web
Swift is a new polling service that lets you collect responses through text messages or through a simple webpage. The free version of the service
How to Teach With Video
According to YouTube the average teenager spends more than 45 minutes per day watching videos. That presents a great opportunity to teach them valuable lessons
5 FAQs About Whisper for Google Classroom
Whisper is a free Chrome extension that was featured in last week’s most popular post of the week. During the week I received a bunch
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good evening from Maine where the first snowflakes of the 2017-18 winter have started to fly. Whether they love the snow or they hate the
International Society for Technology in Education
The International Society for Technology in Education, most commonly referred to as ISTE, is a professional organization that plays a major role in technology integration
Blogging with Students
Blogging is a great way to provide all students with the opportunity to have their voices heard. Blogging is also a convenient way to connect
Document Studio Google Sheets Add-on
Document Studio is a new Google Sheets add-on that allows you to create certificates, personalized letters, purchase orders and other types of documents. This add-on
Remind Introduces a New Way to Share Resources
Remind, the popular service for sending text messages to students and parents, has introduced a new feature for sharing resources with students and their parents.
Recording – 7 Ways to Help Kids Discover & Analyze New Information
Last month I hosted a free webinar titled 7 Ways to Help Kids Discover & Analyze New Information. The recording of the webinar, sponsored by
Intro to Teaching With Video
Last week Keith Hughes, Tom Richey, and I hosted Introduction to Teaching With Video. If you missed it, you can now view it on my YouTube channel
Update to Copy Options in Google Docs
Until recently, when you made a copy of a Google Doc, you could only make a copy of the document itself. If was not possible to
Editing Photos in Google Slides
It’s possible to make basic edits to images using the tools that exist in Google Slides. Once you have uploaded an image, you can recolor
Photo Editing Apps
There are so many photo editing apps available, but some are more robust than others. These are the ones that I find myself coming back
Thanksgiving Activities for Students
Thanksgiving is next week and if you are like me, this holiday has crept up on you and you might not be ready. If you
Whisper for Google Classroom
Whisper is a brand new Chrome extension that works within Google Classroom. Whisper allows you to quietly send a message to an individual student or your
Google Tour Builder
Google Tour Builder allows users to tell stories using Google maps, images, videos, and text. It is a fantastic tool for students to use to show
Three Things That Can Help You Teach With Video
Whether you want to make your own instructional videos or you just want to make sure that your students are learning something from the videos
Google Arts and Culture:
Today we are going to continue exploring Google Arts and Culture. We have already looked at the history of the project as well as the art
YouTube Playlists: Why You Need Them and How to Make Them
YouTube can be one of our best tools to use in the classroom once we figure out how to harness its power. One of the simplest
Voice Recording Tools
Our voice is one of the most powerful tools we possess, but many times we default to writing instead of talking. There are definitely times
Google Arts and Culture: Art Collection
This is the second post in a series about Google Arts and Culture. In the first post, we took a look at the history of the
10 Good Resources for Geography Awareness Week
This week is Geography Awareness Week. As academically-themed weeks go, this ons is my favorite. For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed
Google Arts and Culture
Google Arts and Culture launched in 2011 as result of a 20% time project from Googler Amit Sood. The idea was to make important cultural materials
Tools and Tips to Help Students With the Writing Process
There are so many tools that will help students with the writing process. Some of these tools help organize research while others help students organize
Creating Folders and Subfolders to Organize Chrome Bookmark Bar
The Chrome bookmark bar can be an incredibly useful tool to help you get organized, but it can be your worst enemy if you don’t
The Week’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers
This week was another busy week in the world of Free Technology for Teachers. At the beginning of the week I had the pleasure of
Using Icons to Help Organize Google Drive Folders
Remember what your Google Drive looked like when you first started using it? It was neat, organized, and free of clutter. As you began to
Math Games and Resources
There are so many fun and exciting resources available to help you engage students in your math classroom. These are some of the most popular
Seven Tips for New Google Classroom Users
Google Classroom is a great way to organize your lessons and resources. However, for new users it can be a little overwhelming. Here are some practical
Earth View from Google Earth
The Earth View from Google Earth Chrome extension allows you to view a different vibrant image from Google Earth each time you open a new
Seven Tips for Getting More Out of Google Slides
Google Slides are a great tool for creating presentations. They are simple to use, provide us with a way to collaborate, and are easy to share.
Two Good Tools for Creating Interactive Timelines
Earlier this week I received an email from a reader named Ashley who wrote, “My classes have been reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue, a reverse
Using the About Tab in Google Classroom
Google Classroom is a popular tool that help teachers share resources with students. One of the biggest complaints is that items tend to get lost rather
Collection of Google Drive Templates
Google Drawings and Google Slides are two of the most underutilized of all of the tools in GSuite for Education. They can be quite powerful
Comparison of Screencasting Tools
Screencasting is a fast and easy way to capture what is happening on your screen along with your voice or video of you speaking. Teachers
The StoryCorps Recording App Gets Updated Privacy Controls
StoryCorps offers a free app for recording interviews. I’ve used the app for a couple of years. In fact, I like it enough to include
To Geography and Beyond With Google Maps & Earth
I loved Google Earth since the first time I used it. And I have enjoyed teaching it to many teachers over the last decade. That’s
Get Creative With These Free Drawing Tools
Feeling the urge to paint or draw, but don’t have access to pens, pencils, or paint at the moment? These free creativity apps can be
Thinglink Announces an Important Change to Education Plans
Thinglink is a service that I have used and introduced to teachers for years. It’s a great tool for creating interactive images as I did
Introduction to Teaching With Video
A couple of weeks ago I announced that Keith Hughes, Tom Richey, and I will be hosting an online course all about how to teach
Incredibox Music App
Incredibox has been around since 2009 which is a very long time in internet years! Incredibox can be used on your desktop or iOS device
AutoMastery Google Forms Add-on
AutoMastery is a new Google Forms Add-on that was created by Mary Ellen West, a technology coordinator from Georgia. This add-on allows you to automatically
5 Ways to Use Google Earth & Maps Outside of Social Studies Lessons
When most teachers hear “Google Earth” or “Google Maps” they immediately think of history and geography lessons. While Google Earth and Google Maps are great
Blended Play: New Website for Creating Online Games
Blended Play is a free online portal where teachers of any subject and grade level can create games to review material. There are currently four games
Autocrat Document Merge
Autocrat is a document merge tool that allows you to take data from a spreadsheet and use it to create a customized document or PDF. Autocrat
Stupeflix is Closing – Try These Alternatives
Stupeflix, one of my go-to video creation tools for the last eight years, is shutting down in 2018. In a message posted on their website,