Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
25 G Suite Add-ons & Chrome Extensions for Teachers & Students
G Suite for Education on its own provides a powerful set of tools for your classroom. G Suite gets event better when you start to
Kanbanchi Project Management Tool
Kanbanchi is a free education app that allows teachers and students to visually monitor projects. There are templates for lesson plans, newsletters, and classroom work that
Science Journal App from Google
The Google Science Journal is a digital science notebook that provides users with one location to store notes, photos, and observations. It works with Android devices,
Crafty Text to Easily Share Links
Crafty Text is a Chrome extension that allows you to display text in a large font over a web page. To get started, click the extension
4 Ways to Use Flipgrid in 4th Grade
This is a guest post from Caroline Schaab. As a 4th grade teacher, I’m always looking for creative ways spark curiosity, promote student voice, and
Silk Says Goodbye
A few years ago Silk.co was one of the best tools for creating robust data visualizations. I used it in a number of social studies
Applied Digital Skills Curriculum from Google
The Applied Digital Skills curriculum from Google helps learners succeed online and prepare them for their careers. These lessons which include topics such as event planning,
Create Interactive Content Using Joomag
Joomag is a platform which allows users to design and publish professional looking publications. It contains hundreds of templates which can be use to create the
Updates to Crello
Crello is a free, easy to use online design platform that is used by experienced as well as novice designers. Crello just launched an animated
Lesson Planning, Keyboarding, Breakouts – The Week in Review
Good evening from Maine where all of the leaves have changed to brown and we’re now just waiting for winter to begin. In my mind
What You Need to Know About Reply All
All of us have at least one reply all nightmare story. Mine story took place a couple of years ago when a teacher sent an
Resources for Teaching about Veterans Day
Veterans Day is next weekend which means this upcoming week will be a great opportunity to visit with students about the meaning of this federal
Climate Change Resources
Climate change is an important topic for students to study because it helps them understand the world around them. This collection of resources will help
Document Studio – The Google Sheets Add-on You’ve Been Waiting For
Document Studio is a new Google Sheets Add-on developed by Amit Agarwal. Document Studio will create documents based on the data that you have stored
Big Huge Labs: Do Cool Stuff with Digital Photos
Big Huge Labs has been around since 2005. In internet years, that is an incredibly long time! There is a good reason this site has
5 Ways to Use Comic Creation in Elementary School Classrooms
This is a guest post from Stephanie Krisulevicz. For the last few years I’ve been using cartoons in my classroom to assess my students knowledge.
Crowdsourcing Digital Breakouts – Get Paid for Your Contributions
Earlier this week I shared Metaverse’s directions for creating digital breakout games. Yesterday, I had a conversation with Johnathan Miller, one of the founders of
Keeping Up With Google
Google is constantly releasing updates to its products. Trying to keep up with all of the changes isn’t as difficult as you might think. These
PeerGrade.io – Better Peer Feedback
This is a guest post from Nateil Carby. In preparation for our Fall Break (Monday, October 9th), I asked my students to craft an argumentative
Use the ClassTools Power Search to Find Educational Games
ClassTools.net is one of my favorite places to find free educational games and templates for creating educational games. Russel Tarr, a history teacher and developer
Providing Every Student in Your Class With a Voice
I was the quiet student who always sought out the back row. I never willingly participated in class discussions, not because I didn’t have anything
Presentation Design Guide from Visme
Visme is a design tool that allows everyone to create beautiful graphics that help tell a story and engage an audience. You can use Visme to
Improvements in Google Classroom
Google Classroom has released a few updates recently that are small, but make it a little easier to use. Let’s take a look at three
Resources to Learn About Outer Space
Outer space is one of the most fascinating topics for students of all ages. Whether your students are learning about the moon or exploring a
October’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers
Good evening from Maine where we just finished giving out candy to more than 500 trick o’ treaters. Halloween marks the end of October and
Sutori Updates Allow for Additional Embedding
Sutori is a great tool that allows you to create multimedia timelines. The product was just updated to include some features that make it better than
Five More Gmail Extensions to Increase Productivity
Recently, I shared five extensions for Gmail that are designed to help boost productivity. There were too many to pack into one post, so here are
Silly and Fun Halloween Tricks
Happy Halloween! This day is dedicated to tricks and treats. You probably have the treats covered, but what about the tricks? Today is a great
Getting Going With G Suite for Education
Last summer more than 100 people participated in my online course Getting Going With G Suite. Throughout the Fall I’ve fielded requests from folks who
Planboard for Lesson Planning
Planboard is a lesson planning app that is free for individual teachers. Create digital lesson plans and access them from anywhere. Use templates to build
How to Create a Digital Breakout Game
Breakout EDU has been a breakout hit in classrooms over the last couple of years. The success of the physical Breakout EDU games has spurred
How to Enter Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow Contest
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Last week I shared some information about Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow contest. he contest is designed to get students
Library of Congress Congressional Data Challenge
The National Data Challenge from the Library of Congress is a competition that is asking “citizen coders” to develop creative ways to use technology to analyze, visualize,
Last Minute Halloween Ideas
Halloween is tomorrow! You either love celebrating this day with students or you absolutely dread it. No matter which camp you are in, hopefully you
Games to Sharpen Geography Skills
These games provide students with fun and engaging ways to learn geography. They are a good way for students to explore new places on their
Typing Games to Improve Keyboarding Skills
There seems to be no shortage of typing games that help students develop their keyboarding skills. This collection of games are free, fun, and engaging.
Five Inspiring TED Talks for Teachers
The beginning of the school year is full of anticipation and promise. Our students come back to school in the fall excited to learn and
Using Video to Improve Teaching Practice
This is a guest post from Harrison McCoy. Speaking transparently, I have to admit I don’t like the way I appear in videos. To be
The Week in Review – Leaves Everywhere!
Good evening from Maine where the leaves that are still on the tree are beautiful. The leaves on the ground, however, are just a nuisance
Slack for Improved Communication
Slack is a digital workspace that helps improve how teams communicate and collaborate. It gives teams a unified location to share messages and files which can
Google Street View App
The Google Street View app is available for both Android and iOS devices. This free app allows you to do some pretty amazing things that
Chrome Extensions to Help You Stay Focused
Some people have no problems staying focused while they work on the web while others find themselves drowning in a sea of distraction. These Chrome
Connect with Real Scientists
Yesterday we took a look at the history of hashtags and how teachers can use them to find information about different topics. Today, I would like
Advanced Google Search to Gain Different Perspectives
One of the activities that students are frequently asked to do is search for information on current and historical events from around the world. The
Resources for Family and Consumer Science Teachers
This is a collection of resources for FACS teachers. It includes links to professional organizations, lesson plans, grants, and more. American Association of Family and
Join Me for Fun With Formative Assessments
Conducting formative assessments is one the ways that we can gauge our students’ understanding of the topics that we teach. Formative assessment doesn’t have to
Using Classcraft for Gamified Motivation and Formative Assessment
This is a guest post from Rachel Langenhorst. Rachel’s work has appeared here in the past and been quite well received. I was excited to
Teaching Coding With CS First
This is a guest post from Keith Kelley. Keith is the integrated technology instructor at Sebasticook and Somerset Valley Middle School in central Maine. “The
History of Hashtags and How Teachers Can Use Them
Hashtags are everywhere. They are used in advertising and marketing and appear on all social media platforms. Hashtags even appear in school newsletters and church
Delta Math
Delta Math is a free program that allows teachers to combine modules of lessons for their students to complete. The modules cover a wide range of
Favicons: Reclaim Space on Your Google Chrome Bookmark Bar
Our bookmark bars are prime real estate and we need to maximize every millimeter of it. One of the easiest ways to reclaim some of
MyHomework Student Planner
MyHomework is a digital student planner which can be used on virtually any device. There is a paid version of the app that is available for
Why You Should Give Google Sites Another Try
Google Sites was not always the most user-friendly product. It was confusing, clunky, and difficult even for people who were comfortable using technology. While Google updated
How to Match Colors Using ColorPick Eyedropper
ColorPick Eyedropper is a Chrome extension that allows you select a color from a webpage. This extension comes in handy when it is important to create
SpeakPipe Now Works on iPads
SpeakPipe is a neat tool that I have been recommending for years. It is a tool that you can add to your blog to collect
Padlet Now Has Voting and Grading Tools
Padlet has added a couple of new features that bring it even closer to being an all-in-one formative assessment tool. Padlet now lets you vote
Infogram: Tell Your Story With Data
Infogram is a visual content creation tool that makes it easy to design maps and charts. The updated version allows users to create even more
Solve for Tomorrow and Win for Your School
Disclosure: this is a sponsored blog post. Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition is currently underway and there is still time to for you to enter. The
Hyperdocs: Create Interactive Google Docs
HyperDocs are an interactive Google Doc and provide teachers with a way of presenting information to students in a fun and engaging way. They replace the
Collaborative Computing vs One to One
This is a guest post from Tracy Dabbs, Coordinator of Technology and Innovation for the Burlington-Edison School District. I have been supporting Ed-Tech in classrooms
Updates to Google Calendar
Google Calendar released some updates last week. If you have not already noticed these changes, you will see them very soon. The new version of
How to Prevent Plagiarism in Online Learning: Unicheck and Google Classroom
This blog post is sponsored by Unicheck. The reputation and credibility of the educational institution directly depend on academic conduct policies and measures taken to
Fun With Formative Assessments
Gauging your students’ understanding of the topics you teach is a process that involves discussion, a bit of intuition, and some formative assessment activities. Next
National Mole Day
Mole Day was first celebrated in 1991 by a group of chemistry teachers who wanted to encourage students to see that chemistry is interesting and fun
Play Ball: Teaching Lessons Through Baseball
The World Series begins this week between the Houston Astros and LA Dodgers. This is an exciting time for all baseball fans and there are
Project Ideas for Primary Students
A primary teacher recently contacted Free Technology For Teachers to get ideas for how to incorporate technology into an activity where her students are learning
Three Options for Adding Voice Comments in Google Docs
Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on student learning. In order for feedback to have a positive impact it should be provided in
The Week in Review – A New Addition
Good evening from Maine where we have had a busy few days welcoming our new daughter. Mother, baby, big sister, and dad are all doing
Top Posts on Google Maps, MyMaps and Earth from Free Technology for Teachers
Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google My Maps are three of my favorite tools to use in the classroom. They allow us to see the world
Free PD for Teachers
All teachers love learning and there is nothing better than when we can learn for free! This is a collection of resources that will help
Specialized Add-ons For Google Docs
Google Docs are already a wonderful tool to use in our classrooms. They allow us to work together and share our ideas with the world.
Molecularium: Molecule Building Game
My Molecularium is a new free game app that challenges players to build a wide variety of molecules. It is available at the Apple App Store
Stelum: Things Made Simple
Stelum is a new collaborative platform to find and share simple explanations for complex ideas and topics. The purpose is to provide people with simple and
5-Day Teacher Challenge
The 5-Day Teacher Challenge from Rushton Hurley, founder of Next Vista for Learning, is just wrapping up. The idea behind this challenge is to help teachers
Mercury Reader Chrome Extension
Mercury Reader is a Chrome extension that makes websites and articles easier for students to read. This extension strips away ads which can be distraction
New Features in SeeSaw
SeeSaw released some great new features at ISTE back in June and they are at it again! SeeSaw is a digital portfolio which provides students with
CheckMark Extension for Providing Feedback on Google Docs
CheckMark is a brand new an extension that was developed to help make it easier for teachers to provide feedback to students in Google Docs.
Navigating Google Maps Using Pegman
Recently, I introduced you to Pegman, the little icon who lives in Google Maps and Google Earth and helps us explore imagery of places all over
The Past, Present, and Future of AR in Classrooms
Nearly two hundred of you have registered for my free webinar titled The Past, Present, and Future of Augmented Reality in Classrooms. The webinar was
Common Craft: Dress Your Pet for Halloween
Moose, Winston, and Tank are ready for Halloween CommonCraft has a free collection of Halloween cut-outs you can use to dress your pets up for Halloween.
Implied Powers – American Government Review
Keith Hughes recently published a new video for students of U.S. History and U.S. Government. The video is titled What Are Implied Powers? The video
Copyright for Teachers – Webinar Recording
Last night Beth Holland and I hosted a free webinar in which we talked about copyright concerns that frequently appear in schools. As you can
Six Resume Tools for Teens
One of the important skills that students need to have prior to graduating from high school is the ability to create a resume. Ideally, they
Experience Performing Arts in 360 Degrees
Performing Arts, part of the Google Cultural Institute, is a website that allows you to experience music, opera, theater, and dance in in 360 degree
Five Gmail Extensions to Increase Productivity
Gmail is a robust tool on its own, but it’s even more more powerful when used with extensions. These extensions will allow you to up your
How to Avoid a Common Google Calendar Mistake
Google Calendar has many fantastic features for keeping track of appointments, to-do lists, and for scheduling meetings. Using the event invitation feature is Google Calendar
What Parents Like About Digital Portfolios
Last week I had the opportunity to talk with the founder of SeeSaw, Carl Sjogreen, about digital portfolios. In our conversation, recorded in the video
Virtual and Interactive Resources for Science Teachers
Virtual labs have come a long way in recent years. While nothing compares to completing a hands-on lab in an actual science classroom, sometimes it
How to Teach With Video – Live Event With Tom Richey, Keith Hughes, and Me
In case you missed my excited post on Twitter last week, last week two of my favorite YouTube video producers, Tom Richey and Keith Hughes,
Harnessing Technology to Unleash Student Creativity
This is a guest post from Beth Holland, Doctoral Candidate at Johns Hopkins School of Education and educational advisor at Book Creator Over the past
Library of Congress: Papers of Ulysses S. Grant Now Online
The Library of Congress has just put the papers of Ulysses S. Grant online for the first time in their original format. The collection of
QR Code Generators and Readers for Chromebooks
Last week a teacher contacted me to see if it was possible to read QR codes with a Chromebook. I had never tried this myself,
Meet Pegman
Google Maps and Google Earth have a very special feature and his name is Pegman. This little guy allows us explore places around the world at
Upload Drive Files to the Google Template Gallery
You probably already know that Google Drive has a template gallery, but did you know that you each school domain has their own template gallery
Big History Project
The Big History Project is a free, online social studies course for middle and high school students. It can be taught over the course of
Crayola for Educators
Crayola for Educators is a website that contains all sorts of resources for teachers. There is an online store that has every Crayola product you can imagine.
iSLCollective Video Quiz Creator
iSLCollective is an interactive video quiz creator that allows students to interact with videos while they watch them. Once you create an account you can upload
Google Classroom, Grants, and Feedback – The Week in Review
Good evening from Maine where it was a perfect autumn day for apple picking. Isla thoroughly enjoyed her first trip to the orchard. Wherever you
Top 6 Resources to Teach About Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park made headlines recently after a meeting the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry where researches from Arizona State University presented evidence that