Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
How Formatically Helps Students Format Essays in MLA Style
A couple of weeks ago I shared a new tool designed by college students to help other students properly format essays in MLA format. That
PD Webinar – Fun With Formative Assessments
As good teachers know, gauging your students’ understanding of the topics you teach is a process that involves discussion, a bit of intuition, and some
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where it is a great day for a walk in the woods. On a walk earlier this week the signs of
How to Add Interactive End Screens to YouTube Videos
Last week YouTube announced that the popular annotations option in the YouTube editor is going to be removed at the end of April. While annotations
Kupiter – Asteroids Meets Review Game
Readers of a certain age may be reminded of the Atari game called Asteroids when they look at a new review game called Kupiter. Kupiter
Create and Track ACT & SAT Prep Activities in PrepFactory
PrepFactory offers students a great selection of free SAT and ACT preparation activities. PrepFactory focuses on helping students develop good test-taking strategies while also not
3 Online Alternatives to Audacity
Earlier today I received this question on Twitter: @rmbyrne hi!! is there a free sound editor similar to audacity but online? To add music, effects
Use Socrative to Create Quiz Games That Accept Short Answers
This morning I received an email from a reader who was looking for an alternative to Kahoot. He wrote, “I would love to have the
Free Through the Weekend – Teach Your Monster to Read Mobile Apps
Teach Your Monster to Read is one of my favorite online programs for helping children learn to recognize letters and sounds. The browser-based version of
Students Evaluating Student Work
This is a guest post from my friend Rushton Hurley. Rushton is the founder of Next Vista for Learning and the author of Making Your
Choice Eliminator Lite – Remove Choices from Google Forms as They’re Used
Early last month I shared my most frequently recommended Google Forms Add-ons. Choice Eliminator was one of the Add-ons on that list. Unfortunately, official support
Protecting Online Accounts With Strong Passwords – Video
Creating a strong password is a good first step to protecting your email and social media accounts from being hacked. But that’s just the first
Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp – Super Early Discounts End Soon
Every year for the last four years the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camps have sold out. Compared to this time last year, there are more
Three Audio Slideshow Projects for Teaching Basic Video Production
Tools like Stupeflix, Animoto, and Shadow Puppet Edu make it easy for students to quickly create videos. I often use these tools when introducing video production projects to teachers
What Makes a Poem?
April is Poetry Month. As you start to plan poetry lessons, consider that many students will first wonder, “what makes a poem?” A new TED-Ed
Free Webinar – Storyboard That in Your Classroom
On April 4th Storyboard That is hosting two free webinars. Both webinars will cover what you need to know to create storyboards and have your
Madmagz – Collaboratively Create Online Magazines
Madmagz is a neat platform for collaboratively creating online magazines. Madmagz provides you with a magazine template that lets you use images and text that
30Hands Has Removed Free App – Try These Alternatives
30Hands is an iPad app that I’ve used and shared in workshops quite a bit over the last few years. It’s a nice app for
Hone Geography Skills With These Fun Games
Yesterday, I received an email from Kahoot that featured six games they are promoting along with National Geographic. The games are intended to help students
Why You Should Use Videos In Your Blog
Using videos in blog posts helps to keep visitors on your blog longer. For teachers and school administrators, adding a videos to your blog is
A Couple of Short Lessons About Changing Seasons
Today is the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Although the five foot tall snowbanks around my house make that hard to believe.
How to Add Music to Google Slides
Last week a reader emailed me to ask if there is a way to add music to Google Slides. The answer is yes, but it’s
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good evening from Maine where today was a great day for a walk in the woods. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you
YouTube Is Removing Annotations Option – Try This Instead
Earlier this week Google announced that the option to add annotations to your YouTube videos will be going away on May 2nd. This is sad
Yes, You Can Restrict Messages in G Suite
Earlier this week I received an email from a reader who was wondering if it was possible to activate Gmail in G Suite for Education
Put a Planetarium In Your Web Browser
Planetarium by Neave Interactive is a website on which you can specify your current location and it will show you a map of the night sky
Listen and Read – Nonfiction Read-along Activities
Listen and Read is a set of 15 nonfiction read-along stories. The stories feature pictures and short passages of text that students can read on their
Piracy Online Explained by Common Craft
Piracy Online is the most recent addition to Common Craft’s library of excellent explanatory videos. The video teaches viewers what online piracy is, how it
Formatically Helps Students Properly Format Essays
Formatically is a free service that helps students properly format their papers in MLA style. Students can use Formatically without creating an account on the
McCarthyism Explained In a New TED-Ed Video
Earlier this week TED-Ed published a new video lesson that explains McCarthyism. In What is McCarthyism? And How Did It Happen? students can learn the
This Ed Tech Blogger’s Dilemma
When I started this blog back in 2007 I didn’t have the intention of it becoming anything more than a way to organize and share
How to Create a Webpage in Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark has received a lot of attention in the last year for the great video creation tool that it contains. But it also contains
How to Create Webpages In Canva
Canva is known for its great graphic design tools. You’ve always been able to download your Canva graphics and upload them to your website. A
How to Use Zero Noise Classroom
Last week I wrote a post about a neat timer and sound meter called Zero Noise Classroom. It’s a free Chrome App that lets you
Thunkable – Design and Publish Your Own Apps
Thunkable is a free platform for designing, testing, and publishing your own Android apps (support for iOS apps is coming soon). Through Thunkable you can
5 Ways to Show YouTube Videos Without Related Content
Anyone who has ever opened YouTube in front of a classroom knows the feeling of dread that comes with hoping that the “related” content in
7 Great Tools for Creating Flipped Lessons from Existing Videos
When they are used in the right context flipped lessons can be a good complement to classroom instruction. Not everyone has the time or skill
SpeakPipe – Collect Voice Messages Through Your Blog
SpeakPipe is a great tool to add to classroom blogs. SpeakPipe allows you to collect voicemail messages through your blog. With SpeakPipe installed on your
Pixlr Mobile – Easy Image Editing & Collage Creation
Last week I published a post about Pixlr’s suite of online image editing tools. That post prompted a few questions from readers seeking iOS and
Google Team Drives Now Available
Late last year Google announced a new Google Drive option called Team Drives. At that time G Suite administrators had to apply for access for
Create Screencast Videos on Chromebooks – Three Good Options
One of the best ways to show your students or colleagues how to use a new web tool is to give them a short video
Spring Forward! – Lessons on Daylight Saving Time
Most of us in North America moved our clocks forward by one hour last night or this morning. In doing so we will feel like
Storyboard That Introduces Birthday Card Templates
Storyboard That turned five years old last week. To mark the occasion they published new birthday card templates. The birthday card templates work just like
The Week In Review – The Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers
This week’s week in review comes to you from the new Byrne Instructional Media, LLC office in Yarmouth, Maine. For a number of reasons, I
10 Apps & Sites for Promoting Healthy Eating and Fitness
In all of my Best of the Web presentations I try to present resources for a wide variety of classroom settings and subject areas. Health
The Wayback Machine – Take a Look at the Evolution of the Web
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is one of the resources that I have included in my presentation about search strategies and fake news. I include
Anchor Adds New Features for Simple Podcasting
Anchor is a simple and free platform for creating short podcasts. I started using it in December to publish occasional podcasts. A couple of things
Trace the Evolution of Phones – A Search Challenge for Students
A couple of days ago Alexander Graham Bell’s drawing for his telephone patents was the featured document in the Today’s Document feed from the National
More Than 13,000 People Get Their Ed Tech Tips This Way
A few years ago I realized that while many people like to get ed tech news and tips every day, there are just as many
Create Comic Strips in Google Slides
Yesterday I was asked for a recommendation for a completely free way for students to create comic strips online. Two options immediately came to mind.
Zero Noise Classroom – A Timer and Noise Meter in One
Over the years I’ve shared classroom countdown timers and I’ve shared noise meters, but until today I haven’t found timer and noise meter in one
Take a Look at the Iditarod in Street View
When the annual Iditarod sled dog race started in Alaska last weekend I shared a few resources for learning about the race and the dogs.
Pixlr Web Apps – Image Editing At the Level You Need
Pixlr, an Autodesk product, offers three good tools for editing images in your web browser. All three of those tools can be accessed from the
Why You Should Write Evergreen Blog Posts
The two reasons for giving up on a blog that I hear more than any other reasons are, “I don’t have anything to write about”
Three Good Tools for Creating Screenshots on Chromebooks
Capturing an image of your screen as you see it at a particular moment in time can serve a lot of purposes in a school
Duolingo Tinycards – Quick Review Activities
Tinycards is a free service from Duolingo that provides quick review activities in your web browser or on your iPad. Tinycards are essentially multimedia flashcards
Why Do We Get Sick? – A Lesson for Little Kids
My daughter and I have colds right now. While she’s still too young to understand why she has a cold, it won’t be that long
How to Quickly Total a Spreadsheet Column
Google Sheets and spreadsheets in general offer a good format for organizing numerical data. If you have a lot of cells in a Google Sheets
Winning Blog Strategies – Webinar This Thursday
Helping teachers create blogs and or re-start dormant blogs is one of my favorite things to do. In fact, last week I ran a three
A Visual Awareness Test
Last week in a presentation about search strategies and fake news awareness I shared the following video from Transport for London. My purpose in sharing
Storymap JS – Tell Stories With Maps
The New York Times has a new feature called Harriet Tubman’s Path to Freedom. The feature is a presented in scrolling map format. The map
12 Ways to Create Videos On Chromebooks
It seems like every month there is a new tool for creating videos on Chromebooks. In the two months since I published my last post
22 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
The Writer’s Workshop is a playlist of twenty-two TED-Ed lessons. The The Writer’s Workshop contains lessons on basic topics like how to use punctuation and videos on more complex topics
The Week In Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good evening from Maine where I am home after another great trip to North Carolina for the NCTIES conference. Thank you to everyone who came
Two Fun Videos for High School Grammar Lessons
The resources that I shared in the post previous to this one offer games that help students learn and remember the rules of grammar. At
Two Good Sources of Online Grammar Games
Road to Grammar is a free resource featuring quizzes, games, and lessons for English language learners. Visitors to Road to Grammar will find grammar quizzes. Most of the
Resources for Learning About the Iditarod and Dogs
These guys are not running the Iditarod. This weekend the Iditarod sled dog race begins. If you’re looking for some materials to use to teach
How to Create Strong Passwords
When was the last time you changed your email password, your Facebook password, or your online banking password? Hopefully, you’re not using the same password
Draft – Focused, Collaborative Writing
Draft is a collaborative writing tool that makes you focus on writing and revising by giving users a simple interface. In Draft you won’t find
All of My NCTIES Slides – #NCTIES17
If you have been following my blog or Twitter this week, you probably know that I have been in North Carolina for the NCTIES conference.
How to Search For Public Google Docs
This morning at the NCTIES conference I shared with people how to search for publicly shared Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Doing that can be
Brainstorming Warm-Up Exercises
On Wednesday morning I facilitated a workshop about blogging. One of the activities that we did was in that workshop was to brainstorm purposes and
Best of the Web 2017
This afternoon at the NCTIES conference I gave my popular best of the web presentation to a crowded ballroom full of enthusiastic teachers. The slides
How to Insert Google Keep Notes Into Google Docs
A couple of days ago Google announced that Google Keep is becoming a core product of G Suite. With that announcement came a new integration
Planning Your Video Project – A Guide for Students
Earlier today I published Rushton Hurley’s blog post about using video to capture your current students’ knowledge to be shared with your future students. Rushton
Collecting Students’ Insights
This is a guest post from Rushton Hurley. He is the founder of Next Vista for Learning and the author of Making Your School Something
February’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers
Good evening from North Carolina where I’m getting ready for the NCTIES 17 conference. I look forward to this conference every year. There are so
Google Keep Is Now Part of G Suite’s Core Services
Google Keep is my favorite tool for bookmarking, taking notes, and setting reminders. I use it on my laptop, Chromebook, my phone, and my iPad.
Teach Your Monster to Read Minigames
Teach Your Monster to Read is a fun online environment in which students play games that are designed to help them improve the speed and
Google’s Guides to G Suite Accessibility Options
Google offers two G Suite accessibility guides. There is a guide for administrators and there is a guide for users. The G Suite user guide to
Virtual Reality in Education
This afternoon I joined Greg Kulowiec for a Google Hangout on Air discussion about virtual reality in education. We had a dozen or so people
Nixon’s Visit to China – Documents and Video
Last week the National Archives Today’s Document feed featured two artifacts from President Nixon’s landmark visit to China in 1972. The first document was actually
RefME is Becoming Cite This For Me – Changes to Free Plan Coming
RefME is a great service for organizing your research and creating bibliographies out of your collections of online and offline resources. I’ve been a supporter
The Week in Review – Back from Vacation
Good morning from Maine where I am back to work after my annual ice-fishing vacation on Moosehead Lake in Rockwood, Maine. While it wasn’t the
All About American Bison
There is a chilling scene in Dances With Wolves in which Kevin Costner’s character and the Lakota Indians come over a hill to see hundreds
Quill Connect Helps Students Understand Sentence Structure
Quill Connect is a new feature on the Quill writing lesson platform. Quill Connect presents to students a collection of short sentences that they then
Two More ClassTools Templates for Showing Content Connections
Last week I shared the Hexagon Learning Template offered by ClassTools.net. That template is great for helping students make connections between topics in a subject
TinyTap Handbook – Tutorials for Making Interactive iPad Activities
TinyTap is a great tool for creating interactive, educational activities that your students can play on their iPads, on their Android tablets, or on their
Pattern Matcher Helps Students Prepare for ACT and SAT
Pattern Matcher is a feature of PrepFactory’s free ACT and SAT preparation service. Pattern Matcher is a game that students can play after they have
Nudge – Interactive Algebra Lessons on iPads and Android Tablets
Nudge is a free iPad and Android app that provides students with interactive, on-demand algebra tutorials. The free app provides students with practice problems that
Simple, Effective Search Challenge Lessons
One of my favorite ways to reinforce the use of good search strategies to students is to show interesting pictures and have students try to
Make Your Videos Lively With Puppets
This is a guest post from Rushton Hurley. Rushton is the founder of Next Vista for Learning and the author of Making Your School Something
VocApp – Multimedia Flashcards on iOS and Android
Last week I shared a few tools that students can create digital flashcards. Two of those tools offer the option for including audio in flashcards.
Memrise – Learn New Languages
Memrise is a service through which you can learn vocabulary for a new-to-you language, study science flashcards, review math problems, or review content from any of
Padlet Now Has Desktop and Mobile Notifications
Padlet’s latest update adds the option for creators of Padlet walls to receive notifications on their desktops or mobile devices. Notifications on desktops come through
How Search Works – An Illustrated Explanation
Google search is a part of our students’ daily lives (most of them have never lived in world without Google), but often they don’t know
The Things I Wish Every Teacher Knew About Technology…
On Friday morning I had the idea to write a list of the things that I wish every teacher knew about technology. Before I started
How to Use the Hexagon Learning Template from ClassTools
On Friday I wrote a post that featured links to blog posts about using hexagonal learning in elementary school and high school classrooms. That post
The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts
Good morning from Maine where I’m getting ready for my annual ice fishing trip on Moosehead Lake. Every year during the February vacation week I