Fresh Takes 4 Teachers
A Simple Tool for Finding Related Search Keywords
Brainstorming lists of alternative words and phrases is one of the strategies that I have students use when conducting online research. Doing this before they
Two Resources to Help Make Virtual & Hybrid Learning More Equitable & Effective
This is a guest post from Dr. Beth Holland (@brholland), Research & Measurement Partner at The Learning Accelerator (TLA) – a national nonprofit. As the
Searching is a Thinking Skill
Have you ever had a conversation with a student that went like this? Student: “Mr. Byrne, Google has nothing on my topic.” Mr. Byrne: “What
History Discussion Prompts for All 50 States
This morning I discovered a new-to-me U.S. History resource created by C-SPAN Classroom. That resource is a collection of video clips and “bell ringers” for
Mailbag – Three Answers to Frequently Asked Reader Questions
I regularly invite readers of Free Technology for Teachers and subscribers to my newsletter to send me questions. Many of the questions that I receive
DIY Tech Fixes for Teachers
The content of this post originally appeared on my other site, PracticalEdTech.com and subscribers to my newsletter got a copy of this poster sent to
Readlee Adds Support for More Languages
As I wrote last week, Readlee was one of my favorite new tools of the last school year. It’s a tool that you can use
Posters, Rhythm, and Joy – The Week in Review
Good morning from Salt Lake City International Airport where I’m waiting for a flight home. Yesterday, had the pleasure of speaking at Mountain Heights Academy
Three Google Workspace Updates to Note This Week
Just about every week Google makes updates to Google Workspace. Some only affect administrators of Google Workspace domains while others affect all end-users of Google
Free Webinar – Get to Know Your Students Through Tract
Last year, Tract emerged as one of my favorite new edtech companies. Backed and co-founded by education pioneer Esther Wojcicki, the start-up enables busy teachers
Ten Popular Back-to-School Tutorials for Teachers
YouTube’s channel analytics provides a lot of useful insights for people like me who publish a lot of videos and write a lot of blog
How to Design and Print Classroom Posters Using a Standard Printer
Yesterday I published a blog post and video about the free email etiquette posters that I created and how you can have them professionally printed
An Old Story About Digital Badges and Why Kids Like Them
In the last two weeks since I published a video about creating a badge tracker in Google Sheets, I’ve told the following story from May
Rhythm Fit – New Lesson Plans from OPEN Phys Ed
Last spring I highlighted OPEN Phys Ed’s National Field Day activities and lesson plans. For the new school year OPEN has published a new collection
Free Email Etiquette Posters
In this week’s Practical Ed Tech Newsletter I shared a bunch of resources for teaching about digital citizenship. In that newsletter I included a link
Book Creator Now Offers Audio, Video, and Text Commenting
Last week Book Creator introduced a great new feature just in time for the start of the new school year. That feature is the option
Kikori Offers Free Morning Meeting Planners and SEL Lessons for All Ages!
Disclosure: Kikori is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Kikori is an app and website that I first reviewed back in March shortly after its initial
Icebreakers and Exit Tickets – 30 Questions
This post is a combination of my most recent Practical Ed Tech Newsletter and one that I published last fall. Whether you’re using an online
New Readlee Features for the New School Year
Readlee was one of my favorite new tools in the last school year. The basic concept of Readlee is your students complete assignments by reading
Airplanes, Screens, and Search – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and cool breeze is blowing while I drink my morning coffee. It was a long week
NOAA Sea to Sky – 1000+ Resources for Science Teachers
Earlier this week I was checking my local weather forecast on NOAA.gov when I noticed a back-to-school announcement. The announcement highlighted some lesson plans and
How to Loop Videos in Google Slides
Yesterday I published a blog post about playing Google Slides on an automatically advancing loop. That blog post prompted a question from a reader about
A Webinar and eBook for New Tech Coaches and Integrators
Are you new to the role of tech coach or tech integrator this fall? If so, I have an eBook and webinar for you! On
Try Canva’s New Whiteboard Templates With Timers
I use Canva nearly every day of my work week. When I logged into my account a couple of days ago and saw a new
New Microsoft Teams Features for the New School Year
Mike Tholfsen is a product manager at Microsoft he has early access to features that are rolling-out to users. That means his videos sometimes include
How to Play Google Slides on an Automatic Loop
The new school year is quickly approaching and you might be thinking about your first morning with staff or students. That first morning is often
Try This Tool for Picking Accessible Color Schemes
Earlier today I published a list of ways to improve the accessibility of your Google Docs, Slides, and Forms. On a related note, you can
Google Docs, Slides, and Forms Accessibility
As the new school year approaches and you start to update some of your old Google Docs, Slides, and Forms take a moment to assess
PrepFactory’s New Online Algebra Program Features 100 Interactive Lessons
Disclosure: PrepFactory is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com PrepFactory is a popular platform for online ACT and SAT prep. I covered it for the first time
How to Add Alt Text to Images in Google Forms
On Monday I answered a question from a reader who wanted to know if it was possible to add alt text to the images that
Super Courses for Super Kids
A couple of weeks ago I held a webinar about creating your own apps. Afterward, one of the participants, Candy, emailed me to share a
Blackbird Provides a Great Environment for Teaching Coding
Disclosure: Blackbird is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Last week I wrote a lengthy blog post about how Blackbird can be used by anyone to
Lessons on Compound Interest, Rent, and Mittens
Last week I got an email from the Council for Economic Education. The email listed the ten most popular resources on their site. Two of
How to Quickly Broadcast Your Screen to Your Students’ Screens
A few months ago I published an overview of DisplayNote Broadcast. It’s a tool that you can use to broadcast your screen to your students’
Airplanes, Lesson Plans, and Coding – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where we’re hoping the heat and humidity will break today. I write that sentence knowing full well that in a month
Win a Classroom Makeover from Lumio
I’ve never been one to spend much time on classroom decoration (partly because it’s not in my nature and partly due to frequently changing classrooms).
Five Interesting Ways to Use Screencastify in Your Classroom
A couple of days ago I wrote a short post about the changes to Screencastify’s free plan. At the end of that post I included
Google Search Tools Students Often Overlook
The default action for students to take when given a research task is to turn to Google. Unfortunately, many students won’t venture much beyond the
How to Create a Badge Tracker in Google Sheets
A few days ago a reader reached out to me with a question about creating a badge tracking system to keep track of students’ progress
Short Lessons on Centripetal Force and Tea Cups
Last week I took my older daughter to Storyland to ride the roller coaster as many times as she wanted to. Today, I’m taking my
Significant Changes to Screencastify’s Free Plan
Screencastify is a versatile screencast recording tool that I’ve used over the years to create many kinds of instructional videos including Common Craft-style videos and
How to Use Virtual Backgrounds in Microsoft Flip
Virtual backgrounds and background blurring are features of Microsoft Flip that can be helpful to you and your students in a few ways. First, virtual
How to Convert Word Documents and PDFs Into Microsoft Forms
There are many little features of Microsoft Forms that shouldn’t be overlooked. And there is a new big feature of Microsoft Forms that definitely shouldn’t
Google Classroom Now Has Add-ons – For Some Schools
Yesterday afternoon Google made an announcement that had some teachers on Twitter buzzing. That announcement was that Google Classroom now has add-ons for teachers to
Search Tip – How to Find Published Google Workspaces Files
Refining Google searches according to domain is one of my favorite ways to get students to look beyond the first couple of pages of their
Blackbird Provides an Innovative Way for Anyone to Teach Coding
Disclosure: Blackbird is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Around this time every year I get emails that go something like this, “Hi Richard, I have
Elinor’s Nature Adventure and Hands-on Learning Activities
As I mentioned last week, my daughters have started to enjoy Elinor Wonders Why on PBS Kids. While they were watching an episode this morning
How to Make Whiteboard Videos in Microsoft Flip
Last week’s most popular post was Getting Started With Microsoft Flip. To start this week let’s look at doing a little more than just a
July’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers
The sun is setting on what turned out to be a great last day of July. I spent the last day of the month hanging
Five Good Resources for Learning About Airplanes and Airlines
We’re planning a little trip this fall to visit some family that we haven’t seen since before the start of the pandemic. When we told
A Great Place to Find Lesson Plan Ideas
Disclosure: TARA is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com. Earlier this week I published a lengthy piece about a new tool called TARA and how it
Flip, Focus, and Blueberries – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it’s going to be a great day to play outside. A couple of days ago
Flap to the Future to Learn About Dinosaurs and Birds
As I mentioned yesterday, my daughters are currently obsessed with Elinor Wonders Why and the question in its theme song, “why do birds sing and
More Video Editing Features Coming to Chromebooks This Fall
Earlier this summer Google launched a new built-in screencasting tool for Chromebooks. This week Google announced that more video features will be added to Chromebooks
Roller Coaster Physics
Tomorrow I’m taking my oldest daughter to Storyland for a daddy-daughter hangout day before she starts Kindergarten in a few weeks. Her favorite ride is the
Why Do Birds Sing?
My daughters have recently become obsessed with Elinor Wonders Why on PBS Kids. The theme song for the show includes the line, “Elinor wonders why,
How to Capture and Markup Web Pages in Microsoft Edge
This afternoon a reader of my weekly newsletter kindly pointed out that Microsoft removed the annotation tool that was in earlier versions of Microsoft Edge.
Not Your Average High School Finance Lesson
Thanks to one of Gary Stager’s recent LinkedIn posts I recently learned about an interesting high school investing and saving activity created by William Frey
Getting Started With Microsoft Flip
Back in June Microsoft threw a big party to announce that they were rebranding Flipgrid. What was once called Flipgrid is now Microsoft Flip. Fortunately,
Timelapse and Virtual Field Trip – The Great Salt Lake
This morning my attention was grabbed by a BBC video titled Utah’s Great Salt Lake is Running Out of Water. It’s a fascinating video about
Double Rainbow Lessons!
My daughters love rainbows. They have rainbow dresses, rainbow bracelets, rainbow stickers, and anything else that can have a rainbow on it. So they were
Five Ways TARA Can Help You Save Time This Fall
Disclosure: TARA is currently an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachers.com At the end of the last school year I spent some time exploring a new edtech tool
Two More Tools That Can Help Students Stay Focused on Online Tasks
On Friday morning I shared a browser extension called BeTimeful that limits your access to social media sites during your working hours. As I wrote
Math, Sounds, and Baseball – The Week in Review
Good evening from Cooperstown, NY where my brother and I are attending David Ortiz’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame tomorrow. We spent some
PhET Virtual Workshops for Teachers
PhET is one of my top resource recommendations for math and science teachers. PhET offers more than one hundred online, interactive simulations for teaching concepts
BeTimeful Hides Social Media Distractions
BeTimeful is a browser extension that is designed to hide social media distractions during your working hours. There are similar browser extensions that block your
Search Strategies Students Need to Know
The next webinar in my Practical Ed Tech summer series is Search Strategies Students Need to Know. This is the most popular webinar that I
Arts, Culture, and Geography Games to Share in Google Classroom
One of Larry Ferlazzo’s recent blog posts about Ideas That Changed the World prompted me to spend time playing around with some of the games
Pictures as Math Problem Prompts
A couple of days ago I read one of Terry Freedman’s latest Substack articles. The article is titled A Conversation I Had Which I Still
A Great Place to Find Free Sound Effects
This morning I hosted a webinar about creating your own apps in your classroom. In one of the demonstrations that I gave I created an
How to Move Bookmarks Between Chrome Profiles
I was recently contacted by a teacher who was leaving her current school district and wanted to know what would happen to all of the
New Text Formatting Options in Google Forms
At the end of June Google added some new text formatting options to Google Forms. Those options enable you customize the fonts used for titles,
Create and Share Collections in Bing Maps
Google Maps is one of my favorite tools for geography lessons and for some elementary school math lessons. In fact, next month I’m hosting a
Custom Tables in Google Docs
Earlier this year Google added new table templates into Google Documents. Those templates include tables for project management and checklists. While those templates are good,
Try the Fact Check Explorer
Fact Check Explorer is a free tool from Google that anyone can use to explore the veracity of claims made on the Internet. As you
Webinars This Week and Next
This month I’ve hosted three webinars and I have two more scheduled before the end of July. By the end of August I’ll have hosted
Spot the Differences – Another Founder’s Day Lesson
As I mentioned in a blog post yesterday, I’m spending today helping with one of our community’s Founder’s Day events. The event that I’m helping
Authentication, Forms, and Research – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it’s going to be a great midsummer weekend! Today, I’m helping with the car show
A Founder’s Day Search Lesson – A Classic from my Archives
Tomorrow I am spending the day helping at one of our local Founder’s Day events. Our Founder’s Day is in celebration of Hannibal Hamlin. Hamlin was
A Short Lesson About Concussions
Yesterday morning I had the Tour de France playing in the background while working in my office. I looked up from my laptop when I
DIY Maps of Bird Migration Patterns
Over the last handful of years I’ve become more and more fascinated with birds. I think that’s due in part to my daughters’ enjoyment of
How to Change Map Styles in Google Earth – And Why
The web version of Google Earth has improved a lot since its launch five years ago. One of those improvements is found in the number
New Certify’em Tutorial – Automatically Send Certificates from Google Forms
For the last five or so years I’ve used Certify’em to automatically send certificates to students when they successfully complete a quiz in Google Forms.
How to Restore the Windows 11 Taskbar
Last week I took some time off which included shutting down my primary work computer. When I restarted it, my Windows 11 taskbar was gone!
Five Google Forms Features Overlooked by New Users
Every year at about this time I start to get emails from people who are transitioning into using Google Workspace for Education for the first
Common Craft Explains Research Papers to Students
I often use Common Craft videos as an example of creating effective video lessons without having to spend a lot of money on special equipment
Reminder – Two-Factor Authentication Saves Frustration
I’ve noticed a pattern lately that whenever I don’t check my Facebook account for more than a day, I get notifications that someone is trying
Boclips for Teachers is Shutting Down
For couple of years Boclips was one of my favorite alternatives to YouTube for teachers and students. Unfortunately, their business model seems to have shifted
Best of 2022 So Far – Custom USGS Maps
I’m taking the weekend off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far. Earlier this year
Best of 2022 So Far – Brush Ninja Updates
I’m taking the weekend off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far. Brush Ninja is
Animals and Reading – The Week in Review
Good morning from Maine where I’ve spent most of the week on a staycation taking my kids to the Maine Wildlife Park, visiting York’s Wild
Best of 2022 So Far – Smithsonian Canvas
I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far.
Best of 2022 So Far – Improve Your Typing While Reading Classic Literature
I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far.
Best of 2022 So Far – Chrome Settings You Need to Know
I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far.
Best of 2022 So Far – Readlee
I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far.
Video Projects for Almost Every Classroom
This summer I’m hosting a handful of professional development webinars on Practical Ed Tech. The next one is a two-part series called Video Projects for
Best of 2022 So Far – Dropdowns in Docs
I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far.
Best of 2022 So Far – Image Background Removers
With the exception of the webinar I’m hosting later this morning, I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing
Best of 2022 So Far – PhET
With the exception of the webinar I’m hosting today, I’m taking the rest of the week off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of