Tag: most popular posts

Audio, Assessments, and Summer Cold – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what should be a great summer day. Fortunately, I’m feeling much better than I did throughout the week as a struggled with a miserable cold that had me sleeping a lot more than normal and exercising a lot less than normal. I did get out […]

Slides, Assessments, and Bikes – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’ve finally had a nice stretch of summer weather, if you ignore yesterday’s rain. This week was full of bike rides, a backyard camping trip with my daughters, and general summer fun. I hope that you’ve had an equally great week.  Besides the fun mentioned above, I spent a lot […]

Canva, Pictures, and Micro:bits – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine were the sun has set on the month of July, 2023. This month I hosted a course on search strategies for teachers and students. If you missed it, I’ll be offering it again soon. Look for an announcement in the next couple of days about that.  Despite being one of the […]

Math, Calories, and Copyright – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising over what should be a nice summer day to play outside. We’re going to ride bikes and play outside at a friend’s birthday party. I hope that you do something equally fun this weekend.  This week I wrapped-up the new version of my search strategies course. […]

Cars, Cards, and LEGOs – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I’m up early (I’m always up early) and getting ready for my neighborhood’s annual Founders Day events to support our little library. I’ll be helping with the car show. One of my favorite cars that will be on display is the 1934 Packard seen in my photograph above. If you […]

Notes, Magic, and Wings – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where humidity seems to be the order of the day. It felt like I was walking in a rainforest while taking our dogs for a walk this morning.  This week we had family visiting and staying with us all week. It was a fun for all of us, but especially for […]

Canva, Food, and Philly – The Week in Review

It’s Saturday morning! As I do every Saturday morning, I’ve made a list of the week’s most popular posts.  This week I spent a few days in Philadelphia at the ISTE Live conference. My trip was sponsored by Canva. While there I had some time to explore the city a bit and see some historical […]

The Most Popular Posts of the Month

Good evening from New Hampshire where I’m having a little R&R with my family after a very busy week and a busy month. The sun came out just in time for us to enjoy some time outdoors before bedtime. As I write this my kids have just fallen asleep and I will be doing the […]

Novels, Search, Street Views – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where summer weather arrived exactly on the summer solstice this year. After one of the rainiest Junes on record, it was nice to finally see the sun for a whole day! We’re hoping the nice weather continues for one more day as we’re holding a yard sale and lemonade stand today. […]

Milk, Images, and Logo – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re having another overcast morning. For the last month we’ve been stuck in a pattern of having rain for at least part of every day. Fortunately, there have been enough breaks to get outside to ride my bike alone and with my kids. We’re hoping that happens again today and […]

Maps, Novels, and AI Assessments – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the rain keeps coming down. It feels like it has been more than a week since we’ve seen the sun. That’s because it has been that long since we didn’t have a rainy day. We’re going a bit stir crazy, but our dogs are still having fun playing fetch regardless […]

Rebound – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it feels more like late April than early June. After a few days of temperatures in the 80’s (Fahrenheit) I awoke to a damp 47F this morning.  By the time that most of you read this I will be riding my bike on the dirt roads around Mooselookmeguntic Lake. I’m […]

The Most Popular Posts in May

Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on the month of May. I know that many of you are now on summer vacation. I hope you’re enjoying it! The rest of us have another few weeks to go. We’ll make it! A big thank you to the 25 people completed one of my […]

Fishing, Takeout, and PD – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining. It’s going to be a great weekend for fishing and riding bikes. My daughters are quite excited about using their new fishing poles. That’s what we’re going to do this weekend. I hope that you have something equally fun planned for your weekend. As I do […]

Bard, Search, and Gardens – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising as I sip my coffee and listen to the birds begin to chirp. The benefit of having a puppy that wakes up just before sunrise is getting to hear the birds as they wake up for the day. It’s a nice way to start the day […]

Bugs, Brass, and Gardens – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining as I sip my second cup of coffee of the day. Yes, at 5:07am I’m drinking my second cup. That’s what happens when you have little kids and a puppy. Speaking of puppies, ours has his first meeting with a trainer this morning. We’re all excited […]

Slideshows, Maps, and Other Things – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining! We had exactly two hours of sunshine all week (that’s when I took the picture in this posts) so we’re all itching to get outside to play today. We’re going to ride bikes and run in the woods with our dogs. I hope that you have […]

Forms, Citations, and Maps – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where an overcast and relatively warm day awaits. I’ve put away our skis for the season. We’re in biking mode now. But this weekend’s forecast isn’t conducive to much bike riding. So after playing with our puppy we’re heading out to see a stage production of Moana today. I hope that […]

Birds, Turtles, and Bikes – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where spring has finally sprung! All week the weather has been fantastic and today is forecasted to be another gorgeous spring day. I’ve been riding my bike outside all week and I’ll be doing that again today.  Last week I was sick. This week all the other members of my family […]

Rest, Search, and Finance – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining on an early spring day. I spent most of the week either sick in bed, sick on the couch, or sick in a recliner. I’m feeling better now and ready for a fun weekend ahead.  Due to my health I didn’t write as many blog posts […]

Weather, Explorers, and Designs – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s a cold and rainy start to the month of April. Normally, we’d be heading outside to play today. The weather is probably going to keep us in. We’re still going to have a fun day anyway because we’re having a family cupcake decorating competition! The best part is that […]

Puppy and Classes – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of March. The month for me can be summarized by “puppy” and “classes.” We got a new dog this month. His name is Rangeley Noodle and he has an Instagram account. This month I hosted a new professional development course on PracticalEdTech.com. Dozens […]

Science, Slides, and History – The Week in Review

Good morning from Connecticut where we’re visiting family this weekend. Yesterday, we had a great time exploring the Connecticut Science Center. We saw big snakes, sloths, and tropical butterflies before heading over the engineering wing where we made and played with all kinds of contraptions. If you ever find yourself near Hartford, Connecticut, go check […]

Pi, Puppy, and AI – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it is going to be a beautiful late winter day. It’s going to be perfect for playing outside with the newest member of our family, Rangeley Noodle! Last weekend we got a black lab puppy and my daughters named him Rangeley Noodle. Rangeley is for […]

Pi, Myths, and Daylight – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and we’re all ready to go out and play in the snow. It’s going to be a great day for late-winter skiing. I hope that you also do something fun this weekend.  This week I hosted a webinar for a school and had a Zoom meeting […]

Math, Chromebooks, and Chemistry – The Week in Review

Good morning from the O’Hare Airport Hilton where I’m hoping to be able to fly home today. Yesterday, after a great day of presenting at the North DuPage Connections Conference I looked at my phone and discovered that my flight home was cancelled. I’m hoping to get home tonight, but there is a lot of […]

AI, AI, and AI – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the shortest month of the year. It also seemed to be the coldest month of the year. And to close out the month we’re having another snowstorm!  AI (artificial intelligence) is the most popular topic in all of the educational technology landscape today. Likewise, four […]

AI, Brainstorming, and Authentication – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the wind is howling and the wind chill makes it feel as though it’s -15F right now. It’s no wonder our cat has camped himself in front of the stove this morning. I much prefer he do that than rub his head on my laptop as I type this week’s […]

Brainstorms, Pictures, and Videos – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where winter weather has returned after a brief respite on Thursday. It was sunny, dry, and warm enough to ride my bike outside for the first time since the start of the year. This weekend, I’m back to skiing and teaching skiing. I hope that you have something equally fun planned […]

Feedback, AI, and Language – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is roughly 50 degrees warmer than it was at this time last week! One thing that hasn’t changed since last week is that AI is the still the hot topic in education. I think I’ve fielded more questions related to AI in the last week than I have about […]

Groundhogs, AI, and Cold – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the it’s -17F and windy as I write this blog post. Even by Maine standards it is exceptionally cold. How cold? The ski school where I teach on the weekends is closed today due to the wind and cold. Instead of skiing today we’ll be doing some baking and some […]

The Most Popular Posts of the Month on Free Technology for Teachers

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of January. It was a busy and fun month for me. I hope it was a good start to the year for you as well.  This month I hosted a new Practical Ed Tech course called How to Create and Sell Your Digital […]

Skeletons, Slides, and Snow – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where there is a lot snow covering the ground. We had two big snow storms this week that cumulatively brought about 22″ of new snow to my neighborhood. So as you might have already guessed, we’re going skiing today! I spent last night sharpening the edges and putting fresh wax on […]

Slides, Apps, and Adventure – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where yesterday’s snow storm has coating the ground with about eight inches of fluffy snow. Everyone in my house is excited to go play in it! We’re going skiing!  Earlier this week my older daughter’s school was closed for the day so we had a little daddy-daughter day in which we […]

Forms, Games, and Images – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what should be a nice winter day. It’s nice to see the sun after a couple of days of clouds, snow, and a bit of rain. We’re headed out to take and teach ski lessons this weekend. I hope that you also have something fun […]

Contests, Maps, and Drawings – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where normal winter weather has returned. It’s cold and clear as I get ready to head out to our local ski area. Last weekend it was warm enough that my family went skiing one day and rode our bikes outside the next. This weekend we’ll be sticking to the snow sports. […]

Skiing, Puzzling, and Overlooking – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s overcast and unseasonably warm. I took most of the week off to ski with my kids, teach some skiing lessons to other kids, and give my mind a little rest from thinking about educational technology. I hope that you have had a great week as well.  As we’re on […]

Generators, Animations, and Snow – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the wind is howling and the temperature is rapidly dropping. We had planned to ski today, but the wind and ice has altered our plans. So instead of skiing we’ll putter around the house making sure everything is ready for Santa to visit tonight. I predict some cookie eating and […]

Slides, Experiments, and Skis – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where everything is covered in snow this morning! The first proper snowstorm of the year rolled in yesterday and it’s still snowing as I write this morning. After I take care of shoveling it will be time for fun in the snow. My oldest daughter has been eagerly anticipating getting out […]

Canva, Search, and Goodbye – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s a cold and breezy December morning. It was a busy and sad week here at the Free Technology for Teachers world headquarters (AKA, my house). This week I hosted or co-hosted a couple of webinars including the last live episode of Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share […]

Posters, Pictures, and Leftovers – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where yesterday it felt like winter and today it feels like spring. My family is supposed to go see the Christmas lights display at the Boothbay Botanical Gardens this evening, but the rain might dampen our plans. So we might end up spending the day making Christmas cookies. Either way, we’re […]

November’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of November. At this time of year sunset is a rather early 4:04pm and it feels even earlier than that. Ice is forming on the ponds around my home and I hope that we get some more snow soon because my daughters and […]

Clipart, Maps, and Food – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it feels like winter is here to stay. A couple of the local ski mountains are open, a thin coat of ice appears on a lot of the ponds around my house, and I have to wear a lot more layers to ride my bike outside. Like many of you, […]

Elk, Geography, and Art – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I’m home after spending most of the week in western Nebraska. It was there that I took the picture featured in this post. It’s a little hard to make it out, but there’s a bull elk in the picture. It was one of three that walked right past me early […]

Keep, Quiz, and Templates – The Week in Review

Good evening from Banner County, Nebraska! I’m here for the next few days to visit my good friends Kris and Beth Still. Those of you who have followed by blog since its early days may recall that Beth is the person who organized the NECC Newbie project way back in 2009. It was through her […]

Documents, Maps, and Clocks – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is unusually warm for November. There have been many years in the past when I have been skiing by this point in the fall. Today, we’re going to the beach! We won’t swim because the water is quite cold despite the warm air temperature. Instead, we’ll have fun exploring […]

Candy, Pizza, and Games – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of October and my daughters have finally fallen asleep after the excitement of trick o’ treating. As I do at the end of every month, I’ve taken a few minutes to look at the analytics for Free Technology for Teachers for the month […]

Chrome, Crows, and Games – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sunrise is still more than an hour away as I drink my first cup of coffee. It’s going to be an exciting day in our house because we’re going to see Disney Frozen on Ice! To say that my daughters are excited about it would be an understatement. They […]

Geography, Monsters, and Drawings – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising and it’s a brisk 29F as I sip my dark roast coffee. It was a busy week here my little part of the world. We had two birthdays in my house, we all fought off little colds, and I announced a new course that I’m super […]

Voices, Search, and Bare Trees – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the leaves are falling faster than ever. A couple nights ago a big rain storm through and some of our trees lost all of their leaves. I love the beauty of the changing leaves of autumn. I don’t, however, enjoy raking all of the leaves that fall as I will […]

Pizza, Cats, and Videos – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re going to enjoy a nice long weekend of riding our bikes, raking some leaves, and visiting Storyland one last time before it closes for the winter. I hope that you have a great weekend! If your weekend plans include catching up on some ed tech news, take a look […]

Videos, Writing, and Pictures – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it was a beautiful autumn day. My kids had soccer practice, we rode our bikes, and I mowed the lawn for what was hopefully the last time this year. And before bedtime tonight we have to get ready for my youngest daughter’s birthday party that we’re hosting tomorrow. It should […]

September’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the week and on the month of September, 2022. I don’t know about you, but for me the month seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye. My oldest daughter started Kindergarten, I hosted a bunch of webinars, and tried to enjoy […]

Social Studies, Soccer, and Search – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s going to be a beautiful autumn weekend. As I write this I’m sipping my coffee while the sun is rising on what is going to be a fun and busy weekend for me and my little family. We have soccer practice, fishing, bike rides, and a trip to Storyland […]

Branchiness, Videos, and Archives – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I am not racing my bike this weekend and instead will be enjoying a nice early fall day by helping out at my daughters’ soccer practices. By the way, I finished last week’s race much better than I predicted and ended up fourth in my division despite a flat tire […]

Flashcards, Games, and Phys Ed – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is going to be a beautiful early fall day. By the time that most of you read this I’ll be racing my bike on some of the prettiest dirt roads in all of New England. I don’t harbor any illusions of winning the Northwoods Gravel Grind today, I just […]

Games, Analytics, and Tutorials – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s a brisk 47F. It feels like a classic early fall morning in Northern New England. Later it’ll warm up a bit and be perfect for riding bikes and enjoying the long weekend. I hope that you have a great weekend doing something that you enjoy.  This week I held […]

Back to School – The Month in Review

The sun has set on the last day of August. Nearly every school in my area is now back in session. And those few that aren’t in session will be next week. So while calendar says that autumn doesn’t start for a few more weeks, it sure feels like fall around here. I hope that […]

Reading, Searching, and Fixing – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining on what should be a nice and sunny weekend after a few days of much-needed rain. We’re going to have a little backyard camping adventure this evening. Tomorrow, we plan to have a fun day at Storyland! I hope that you also have some fun things […]

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 where I gave a keynote titled Using Technology to Bring Joy Into Teaching. After more than two years of giving virtual presentations, it was great to give an in-person presentation […]

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 and I’m going to savor one of the last weekends of the summer by spending today exploring a little beach with my little family. I hope that you also have […]

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 I’ll probably be back to wearing flannel shirts and sweaters. Until then we’re going to try to enjoy the last few weeks of summer before school starts.  This week I […]

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 out at the lake with my kids and going for a little bike ride. I hope that you ended the month in a similarly relaxing way. I say that because, […]

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 I went on a bike ride and found a lot of wild Maine blueberries. So just like in Blueberries for Sal, this morning we’re going back with our pails to […]

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 of today attending a parade of Hall of Famers and earlier in the day I explored the area on my bike. Check out my Twitter or Instagram accounts for some […]

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 at our community’s Founder’s Day celebration. And tomorrow we’re going to enjoy some time relaxing in our backyard, riding bikes, and picking wild blackberries (yum!). I hope that you have […]

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 Kingdom, and relaxing while watching stages of the Tour de France (I was so hopeful that Neilson Powless would pull on the yellow jersey). This weekend we’ll be hanging out […]

Tomatoes, Templates, and Fireworks – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where sun is rising and it’s going to be a nice summer day to start a long weekend. I’ll be mowing before setting up a water bounce house for my kids to play in. The bounce house is one of the best “pandemic purchases” we made in the spring of 2020. […]

Bikes, Bubbles, and Forms – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on the month of June. Despite some crummy weather to start the month, we’re ending with a great stretch of warm and sunny weather that is perfect playing outside. I hope that you had a great month! This month I hosted my Teaching History With Technology […]

Stories, Studios, and Smoke – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what is going to be a warm and sunny summer day. It was a busy week here that started with Father’s Day for which my family gave me a smoker! Then in the middle of the week we had preschool graduation. And finally I wrapped-up […]

Giraffes, Stories, and Bubbles – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where consistent summer weather seems to be eluding us. As I write this it’s overcast and 50F! I guess we’ll be wearing sweatshirts and fleeces to the graduation party we’re going to this afternoon.  This week I took a day off to take my kids to the Franklin Park Zoo in […]

Bicycles, Chrome, and Science – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it’s going to be a nice day for outdoor play. Earlier this week we rode our bikes to a little public field near our house and found a bunch of wild strawberries. My daughters want to go back and look for more strawberries so that’s […]

Writing, Typing, and Virtual Tours – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where fog and light rain are making for a less than ideal morning. We have our last Tinkergarten class of the season and we were hoping for some nice weather. We’ll just have to wear our rain gear and have fun in the rain. I hope that you have a fun […]

Menus, Backgrounds, and Videos – The Month in Review

The month of May has come to a close. I can tell by the traffic patterns on my blog that many of you have started summer vacation. And the rest are ready for vacation. I hope that everyone has something fun to do this summer (or winter for my southern hemisphere friends). One of the […]

History, Book Reports, and the Great Outdoors – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where a light drizzle is providing a damp start to the weekend. Despite the weather we’ll still have fun at our Tinkergarten class this morning because it’s always fun to explore nature. I hope that you also have something fun planned for your weekend.  This week I announced that I will […]

Menus, Maps, and Broadcasts – The Week in Review

Good morning from western Maine where the warm weather is supposed to returned after a couple of cold and rainy days. We’re planning to have fun enjoying the warm weather with a trip to Storyland! My kids love going there because of all of the kid-friendly rides. I love going there because it reminds me […]

Videos, Certificates, and Birds – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we have gone from it feeling like it was barely spring to feeling like it’s the middle of summer in the span of one week. The temperature got up to 86F yesterday and it’s going to be even warmer today. It’s going to be great for playing outside, riding bikes, […]

Drawings, Templates, and Deer – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re recovering from the destruction of our tulip garden at the hooves and teeth of some whitetail deer. We’ll be spending part of the day working on the gardens including planting some marigolds and other plants that are reported to be deer repellents (we’ll see).  Tomorrow is Mother’s Day so […]

The Most Popular Posts in April

April 2022 has come and gone. Where there was snow on the ground at the start of the month there is now some green grass poking up. It felt like a busy month for me as I hosted some webinars and started planning for some summer workshops. Stay tuned for some announcements next week about […]

Badges, Takeout, and Dubbing – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it might get above 60F for the first time in a long time. We’re going to play outside with our Tinkergarten class, ride bikes, and probably do a bit of garden work as well. Our dogs will enjoy lounging in the sun. I hope that […]

Snow, Turtles, and Maps – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining, the grass is starting to turn green, and spring feels like it’s here to stay. It didn’t feel that way a few days ago when we had snow the day after a beautiful Patriots’ Day Monday during which I saw turtles sunning themselves for the first […]

Poetry, Design, and SEL – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where overcast April weather has returned after a beautiful Friday afternoon of riding bikes with my kids. Despite the weather we’re still going to play outside for a little while with our Tinkergarten group. I think some cookie decorating and other fun indoor activities are also on the agenda for the […]

Librarians, Logic, and Learning – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re excited for the first day of Tinkergarten even though the weather forecast has some rain in it. Tinkergarten is a fun program for little kids like mine to have some fun outdoor learning experiences. Classes happen regardless of the weather which is fine because part of being a Mainer […]

Paper, Programming, and Games – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it feels like spring this morning. The wind is blowing away the clouds of yesterday and it should be a sunny day to play outside. We’re going to put on our boots and go for a little hike this today. I hope that you do something fun outside today too.  […]

Reading and Games – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the last day of March, 2022. The old saying of “March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb” does not really apply to life in Maine. In our case March came in like a lion, briefly acted like a lamb, and now […]

Games, Teams, and Mud – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where sunny weather has returned after a couple of days of sleet, snow, and rain. That sleet, snow, and rain is part of what makes this time of year Mud Season! How muddy? This week a school bus in our area got stuck in the mud while taking kids home from […]

Chrome, Cookies, and Canva – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where a steady rain is washing away the last of snow that is in my yard. We’re heading into the time of year in Maine that is affectionately referred to as mud season. It’s going to be a good day for catching up on some indoor projects and perhaps making some […]

Pi, Clocks, and Games – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’ve awoken to rain that is forecasted to turn to snow. We had a couple of spring-like days this week and it was nice to get outside on my bike. But living in Maine means enjoying every season (except black fly season) and I plan to enjoy today’s weather by […]

Games, NASA, and Timelines – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I’m solo parenting for the first time in a few years. Wish me and my kids luck! I think we’ll do just fine. We have ski lessons, sledding, and eating pizza on our list of fun things for the weekend. I hope you have a list of fun things for […]

Canva, Groundhogs, and Docs – The Month in Review

Good evening from the Free Technology for Teachers World Headquarters in Maine. The sun has set on last day of February, 2022. As I do at the end of every month I look in my Google Analytics account to find out which blog posts were the most popular during the month. As you’ll see below, […]

Slides, Houdini, and NASA – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where a fresh coating of seven inches of snow is covering the ground. The cold and snow is a stark contrast to earlier this week when it was sunny and relatively warm. In fact, it was warm enough that I was able to ride my bike outside for the first time […]

Cupcakes, Canva, and Docs – The Week in Review

Good morning from Connecticut where I’m visiting family for the first time in two years! My daughters had a blast having a slumber party with two of their cousins. Besides visiting family I’m looking forward to getting some good bagels this weekend. That’s something we just don’t have anywhere near my home in Maine. I […]

Puzzles, Hearts, and Sounds – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is going to a relatively warm (35f) and sunny day. In fact, it’s going to be almost spring-like today before the cold returns tomorrow. We’re looking forward to a fun weekend of skiing and playing outside. I hope that you also have some fun things that you’re looking forward […]

Groundhogs, Hamsters, and Snowcats – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where more than a foot of fresh snow has fallen in the last 24 hours. According to the snowcat, we have at least 20″ of snow in our yard. What’s a snowcat? It’s a board that has a ruler on it and has been cut to look like the silhouette of […]

The Month in Review Featuring the Revival of Some Classics

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of January. I hope that the first month of the year was a good one for you and that all of your New Year’s resolutions are still on track.  The first month of the year saw the return or revival of some “classic” […]

Wordle, Puzzles, and Snow – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re looking forward to a big snowstorm today. Depending on which forecast you believe we’re going to get anywhere from ten inches to ten feet of snow today! I’ll be happy either amount as will my daughters who want to make snowmen, sled, and ski this weekend. So that’s what […]

Math, Science, and QR Codes – The Week in Review

Good morning from frozen Maine. It’s -5F as I write this. The snow in my yard is so frozen that my dogs and my kids don’t break through the when walking on it. It should warm up a bit today and we’ll go outside to play for a bit. Part of being a Mainer is […]

Cold, Chrome, and Games – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is a crisp -7F as I write this. Fortunately, some warm weather is on the way. Today will probably be a day for a lot of games of Memory being played and some LEGO creations being made today. Tomorrow it will be up to 10F when we head out […]

Audio, Buffalo, and Skiing – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we have a fresh layer of snow on the ground. It’s going to be a great weekend for skiing at our favorite little ski mountain, Mt. Abram. One of the things that I like about Mt. Abram is that when it’s closed during the week I can still skin up […]

Buffalo, Sledding, and The Best of 2021 – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we had a great week off. My daughters and I did some sledding and played with new toys. I read a great book titled American Buffalo and started reading a second one, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play. I also had some time to work on a couple of […]

Chrome, Canva, and Code – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where it is not only the end of the month, it’s the end of the year! Here’s to a better year in 2022!  In December I released a new ebook titled 50 Tech Tuesday Tips. I created it with busy tech coaches and media specialists in mind. You can get a […]

Winter, Animals, and Fun – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where my daughters are eagerly anticipating Santa’s arrival. Tomorrow morning I won’t be in the mood to write blog posts or even think about my blog. That’s why I’m breaking from my pattern and writing the week-in-review on a Friday evening.  As I look toward the end of the year I’d […]

Voices, Keyboards, and Birds – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is chilly and we’re expecting our first real snowstorm of the year! That means that tomorrow I’ll be shoveling snow and my kids will be making snowmen. We’ll probably do a bit of sledding as well. I hope that you have some equally fun things planned for your weekend.  […]

Chrome, Wheels, and Voices – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where snow is covering the ground as the sun rises. The snow might not last much longer though as we’re expecting sleet and rain today. Rain is a bad word for folks like me who like to ski. On the upside, it’s a great day to make and eat more Christmas […]

Germs, Math, and Videos – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s a clear and cold morning. Earlier this week we had our first real accumulation of snow. That snow covering will make it easier for me to drag our Christmas tree to the house later this morning. My daughters are excited to help decorate the Christmas tree this weekend. I […]

Geography, Docs, and PowerPoint – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of November, 2021. It was a busy, but good month for me. I hope that it was a good one for you as well.  As I do every month, I’ve compiled a list of the most popular posts of the last thirty days. […]

Turkey, Docs, and Teams – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where a little dusting of snow and a temperature of 23F makes it feel like winter has arrived. I hope that all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving this week had an enjoyable and restful holiday.  All of the leaves have finally fallen off the trees in my yard and I’ve cleaned […]

Docs, Geography, and Videos – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I’m home after a great trip to Nebraska earlier in the week. It was great to spend time with my friends Kris and Beth Still, but there’s nothing like being home with my little family. We’re going to make big leaf piles and have fun playing outside today. I hope […]

PowerPoint, PBL, and Mountain Lions – The Week in Review

Good morning from Nebraska where I’m visiting my good friends Kris and Beth Still. Long-time readers of my blog will remember that Beth filled in for me when my daughters were born and before that was responsible for the NECC Newbie Project that sent me to my first NECC (now ISTE) conference way back in […]

Engineering, Games, and Puns – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s a brisk 24F while I wait for the sun to rise. After the sun rises and it warms up a bit, I’m going on my favorite bike route for one last time before cold and snow make it unpleasant, if not impossible, to ride again until spring. If you’re […]

The Most Popular Posts in October

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of  October. Some of the colorful leaves of autumn are still clinging to the trees, but more are on the ground than in the trees now. Hopefully, I’ll get them cleaned up before the snow flies (that could be any day now). But […]

Widgets, Videos, and Maps – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where my kids are eagerly anticipating Halloween! They had a little celebration at their preschool on Friday and now they can’t wait to put on their costumes tomorrow. It’s kind of a bleak and rainy day here so we just might let them wear their costumes for fun today as well. […]

Forms, Earth, and STEM – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is still dark as I draft this blog post. In fact, it will be dark for at least another hour. The late sunrise is the only thing that I dislike about this time of year in Maine. Except for the big oak tree in my front yard, all of […]

Copyright, Handbooks, and Goals – The Week in Review

Good morning from Vermont where in a few hours I’ll be riding in my last bike race of the year, The Hibernator. I still have fitness goals to reach this (riding 7,500 miles in 2021 is the big one), but this is my last event of the year and it looks like the weather is […]

Tasks, Spaces, and Cakes – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we have enjoyed a great week of beautiful fall weather. The nights have been cool, the days have been warm and sunny, and the leaves are turning into vibrant shades of red, yellow, and orange. My daughters can’t wait for me to make big piles of leaves to jump in. […]

Docs, Guesses, and Hats – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it definitely feels like Fall. This week I had to break out my stash of winter hats (my Canadian friends would call them toques). It’s cheaper to put on a hat and sweater than it is to turn on the furnace. Before I had kids I always tried to make […]

Fall, Forms, and Games – The Month in Review

The sun has set on a cool, crisp evening here in Maine. The maple leaves are changing colors from green to amazing shades of red and orange. In short, my favorite season of the year is here!  As September ends and October begins it feels like all of the commotion of the beginning of the […]

Thinking, Blurring, and Coloring – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the humidity is making everything feel wet. That’s okay because I’m going fishing and will get wet anyway. It’s the last weekend of the fishing season on my favorite river and I’m hoping to catch a few landlocked salmon to end the year. I hope that you have something fun […]

Forms, Games, and Files – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is going to be a great early fall weekend for apple picking, bike riding, and enjoying the great outdoors. I hope that wherever you are this weekend that you also have some fun things planned.  This week I hosted a webinar all about search strategies for students. If you […]

Typing, Blurring, and Captioning – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining on what should be a gorgeous early autumn day. I would be remiss not to mention that today is the 20th anniversary of terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. I remember it like it was yesterday, part of what I remember is that the weather was […]

Fish, Moose, Jam, and Drawings – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re getting ready for a day of outdoor fun. My youngest daughter wants to go catch a fish and my oldest daughter wants to see a moose. Fortunately, a little time in the boat on Mooselookmeguntic Lake provides a great opportunity to make both of my daughters happy. I hope […]

Forms, Music, and Games – The Month in Review

The sun has set on the month of August and now it really feels like summer vacation is over. From racing my bike across Flint Hills of Kansas to explorting the woods and waters of Maine with my daughters to fun trips to Story Land I feel like I soaked up as much summer fun […]

Comics, Docs, and Posters – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re getting ready for a weekend of fun. We’re planning to go for a little hike and do a little fishing. I hope that you have something fun planned for your weekend as well.  This week I hosted a couple of professional development webinars for schools. If you’re interested in […]

Images, Inquiry, and Virtual Backgrounds – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what should be a great weekend to celebrate my oldest daughter’s fifth birthday! I’m sure every parent says the same, but I can’t believe how fast she’s growing. It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in the hospital and now she’s asking me […]

Blogs, Books, and Icebreakers – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re hoping that the forecasted rain showers will bring a respite from the high heat and humidity we’ve experienced all week. How humid was it? On Wednesday I leaned my bike against the house while I ran in to get a water bottle. When I came back there was condensation […]

Forms, Books, and Red Leaves – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the first signs of fall appeared this week. Yesterday, while walking past my neighbor’s house I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of two red maple leaves on his lawn. Despite it being 82F and humid while I was walking, those two maple leaves made me think of […]

July’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers

July has come and gone. It feels like just yesterday the school year was ending and now it seems we’re seeing “back to school” promotions on every website and in every store. With the exception of a few days at the beginning of the month I’ve been working all summer long on maintaining this blog, […]

Music, Forms, and Elements – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what is going to a great day for outdoor play. We’ll be riding bikes, going on a little hike, and playing in the water today. I hope that you also have some fun things planned for your weekend.  This week I did a lot of […]

Chat, Search, and Puffins – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising and I’m about to head out on an early morning bike ride. Before I do that I have this quick week in review to share with you.  This week I didn’t host any webinars as I spent four days working on developing new materials about search […]

Docs, Slides, and Simulations – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where we had a fun day outside despite the clouds and rain. My mother came to visit and my daughters enjoyed showing her all of the fun things in our yard including wild raspberries and blueberries, our garden vegetables, and their little backyard clubhouse. Getting an ice cream treat was also […]

Passwords, Annotations, and Checklists – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the rain is petering out after two days of solid soaking. Hopefully, we’ll see some sunshine today so that we can play outside. Everyone in my house gets a little stir crazy after more than a couple of days without extended outdoor playtime. I hope that wherever you are this […]

Annotations, Expeditions, and Summer – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where a line of strong thunderstorms is a hopeful signal that our heatwave is about to break. June was the busiest month I’ve had in more than a year. Between end-of-school activities, hosting webinars, training for bike races, and trying to be the best dad I can be it felt like […]

Bikes, Slides, and Summer Reading – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on this summer morning. I’m inside instead of sitting on my porch because I’m eagerly anticipating watching the first stage of the Tour de France. After that we’ll head outside to ride our own bikes. And tomorrow we’re heading to Storyland! I hope that you also […]

Summer, Icons, and Animations – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’ve just woken up from our first backyard camping adventure! Overall, it went about as well as could be hoped for with a three-year-old and a four-year-old in a tent. I think my three-year-old now wants to live in the tent with her stuffed animals and books.  Happy Father’s Day […]

PDFs, Science, and Gravel – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what should be a nice summer Saturday. At this time last week I was riding my bike across the gravel roads of Emporia, Kansas for the Unbound Gravel 200. Today, will be a little less physically demanding. We’re going to the Living Shores Aquarium to […]

Games, Maps, and Pictures – The Month in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re ending the month with a cold and rainy day. It’s so chilly and damp that we have the heat on! Last week it was over 90F and I was turning getting all of our air conditioners out of winter storage. Such is life in northern New England.  This month […]

Brainstorming, Games, and Flying Teachers – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is a damp 45F to start Memorial Day weekend. In fact, it’s going to be unseasonable cool all weekend. The cool weather won’t stop us from having fun outside. We have a full weekend planned with lots of bike riding, playground visits, and a trail walk and picnic that […]

Maps, Certificates, and Brainstorms – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is going to be a warm and sunny day. Most importantly, the worst of the black fly (gnats) swarms have passed. And the most exciting news in our house is that we’re going to see my mother for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic reached New England. I […]

Pictures, Wolves, and Code – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what promises to be a fantastic Mother’s Day weekend. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms that read my blog, especially my mom! We’re doing some gardening this weekend. I hope that you have something fun planned for your weekend as well.  This was another […]

Zoom, Voice, and April Showers – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re hoping for some sunshine after a few rainy days. Either way, I’m going for a long bike ride today as I continue to prepare to ride in the Unbound Gravel 200 in June. I hope that you also have something fun in store for your weekend.  This week I […]

Geese, Comments, and Games – The Month in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is trying to rise through the rain on the last day of April. This month was a busy month at school and on my websites, Free Technology for Teachers and Practical Ed Tech. This month I hosted a couple of webinars, hosted Teaching History With Technology, and announced […]

Writing, Rain, and Logic – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where my school vacation week is winding down with a return to some typical spring weather. Earlier this week I used a vacation day to go for a long bike ride to the Height of the Land overlooking Mooselookmeguntic Lake. It was fun for the first 60 miles, the last 24 […]

Games, Canva, and Comments – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where at this time last week it was sunny and 60 degrees. Today, it’s snowy and 28F. Such is life in the spring in Maine. We’re hoping that it warms up a little bit today because we’re planning to go to the Maine Wildlife Park for opening weekend. If you have […]

Photos, Poetry, and History – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is going to be another gorgeous spring day. We’ve been lucky to have a bunch of nice days this week. My family has been soaking up every minute of nice weather by riding bikes, cleaning out garden beds, and generally playing outside as much as we can. And that’s […]

Hybrid Instruction, Boxes, and Tires – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising and it’s going to be a nice spring day. That doesn’t mean we don’t still have some snow lingering in the yard. My dogs are grateful for the few remaining piles of snow that we have. My daughters will be happy that tomorrow’s Easter egg hunt […]

Games, Transcripts, and Copyright – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where it was a beautiful day for bike ride after school. Jumping on my bicycle after school on a sunny spring day always makes me feel like a kid again. I hope that you also have an activity in your life that makes you feel like a kid again. As the […]

Copyright, Transcripts, and Worms – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it feels like spring! All week we had unseasonably warm weather. We even had a thunderstorm yesterday. All that warm weather has made almost all of the snow to melt which has created some big mud puddles. And where there are mud puddles there are worms and my children playing […]

Geography, AI, and Presentations – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it was a great first day of spring! I went for a bike ride outside then played outdoor bingo with my daughters. We also got started on some yard work that we can do in the few west-facing patches of lawn where the snow has completely melted to the ground. […]

Search, Kahoot, and Phones – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where after a few spring-like days winter is blowing back in with full force. After riding my bike in 60F weather earlier this week it’s a bit of a shock to the system to be back in 20s this morning. At least it’s sunny and the skiing should be good tomorrow. […]

Search, Meetings, and Hiccups – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is going to be another great weekend for playing in the snow. One of my dogs is doing that as I write this. He’s happiest when it’s cold and snowy. Just take a look at the picture in this post, that’s one happy dog! I hope that wherever you […]

Annotations, Games, and Audio – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on February. It turned out to be a great weekend with snow on Saturday and sunny skies today. Getting outside to play was the perfect way to end what felt like an exceptionally long February.  I’m going to start March with a couple of webinars. On […]

Changes, Chat, and Spring – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where today it’s going to snow, but tomorrow is going to sunny and will be almost spring-like. It’s going to be perfect for skiing today and riding my bike outside tomorrow. I need some time outside after a long week. It clears my head and rejuvenates me. I hope that you […]

Recordings, Whiteboards, and Snow – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where a fresh coat of snow fell last night. It’s just enough to make for good sledding and skiing, but not so much that it’s a pain to clear from the walkways and driveway.  This week I was school vacation week here in Maine. I took most of the week off […]

Music, QR Codes, and Cold – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re going to have another cold and snowy weekend. Every morning this week was below zero (Fahrenheit) when I let our dogs out. This morning is the same. Fortunately, it should warm up to about 20F by the middle of day. It’ll be nice for a little bit of skiing […]

Poetry, Music, and Zoomed-out – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s going to be a chilly and sunny winter day. We had nearly two feet of fresh snow fall this week. Conditions are perfect for sledding, skiing, and making snowmen. After another week on completely online classes, I need some time outside. I don’t know about you, but my students […]

The Most Popular Posts of the Month – Ending With a Flood!

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the last day of January. The first month of the year went much too fast. And 2021 has been just as challenging as 2020 for me. The capper was a phone call from my school’s director a few hours ago to tell me that my […]

Games, DJs, and Exercise – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s a brisk 4F outside. My dogs wasted no time coming back to the house when I let them out this morning. The good news is that the forecast calls for warmer (relatively) temperatures and snow. I’m looking forward to helping my daughters learn to ski this weekend. I hope […]

G Suite Audio, Accessibility, and Timelines – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we play outside even if it’s cold and snowy. Sometimes that means doing traditional snow activities like skiing and sledding while other times it just means knocking some snow off the swings and having fun in our snowsuits. Whether the weather is hot or cold where you are, I hope […]

Time, Space, and Exercise – The Week in Review

(Not my house).  Good morning from Maine where I’m hoping for snow. It has been a couple of weeks since our last snow storm and I’m worried that our ski season will be too short if we don’t get more snow soon. Either way, I won’t be able to ski today because this afternoon I’m […]

Annotations, Document Cameras, and Exercise – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s going to be nice day with clear skies and temperatures peaking around 30F. In other words, it’s going to be a good day for playing in the snow with my daughters. I foresee some sledding, skiing, and lots of fun in future. I’m also hoping to get some time […]

Whiteboards, Drawings, and New Snow – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where fluffy snow is falling from the sky in the early morning hours. My kids will be excited to see it when they wake up. My oldest will want to ski on the new snow and my youngest will want to eat the snow.  This week I took a break from […]

Breakouts, Outages, and Cool Jobs – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is nice and chilly. Okay, chilly is an exaggeration. It’s downright cold! It was another interesting week of conducting hybrid and online classes. More COVID-19 cases in my community meant fewer students in class and more online. If nothing else, this school year has made me more flexible than […]

The Week in Review – Time to Pick Up Sticks

Good afternoon from Maine where I’m spending some of the day cleaning up from last weekend’s snow and ice storm. We had a bunch of branches and one tree snap last weekend. All week long I’ve been picking up sticks and branches but with another storm in the forecast I’m clearing brush in earnest today. […]

The Week in Review – Here Comes the Snow!

Good morning from Maine where, if the weather forecast is correct, by this time tomorrow my cleanly raked lawn will be covered in a foot of fresh snow. It sure feels like it’s going to snow. I’m looking forward to doing some sledding and making snowmen with daughters. I’m not looking forward to shoveling. I […]

The Most Popular Posts of the Month

There’s just one month left in 2020! I hope those of you who had a Thanksgiving break are feeling re-charged and ready for the last month of school in 2020.  As I do at the end of every month, I’ve compiled a list of the most popular posts of the last thirty days. Take a […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where I’m still groggy from all of the turkey I ate on Thursday. It’s either that or my coffee hasn’t kicked in this morning. Like many parents of young children I try get up an hour before my kids do in order to get a quiet moment for coffee and writing […]

The Week in Review – It’s Feeling Like Winter

Good morning from Maine where it certainly felt like winter this week. We had snow flurries every morning and some afternoons this week. My bike riding has become an indoor activity. And all the leaves have fallen from the trees except for some stubborn oak leaves.  This week my school was 100% remote, again. While […]

The Week in Review – Roll With the Changes

Good morning from Maine where it has been a week all about rolling with the changes (insert REO Speedwagon earworm here). On the weather front we went from unseasonably warm temperatures early in the week to cold rainy to end the week. In school we went from hybrid classes to full online classes in the […]

The Week in Review – Heading Into Hibernation

Good morning from Maine where we’re going to enjoy the last warm days of the year this weekend. Warm is a relative term because while those of us here think that 50F-60F is warm many of my southern friends will disagree. Either way, the Maine black bears that my daughters and I saw preparing for […]

The Week in Review – Halloween Edition

Good morning from Maine where it’s so cold you’d think it was the last day of December not the last day of October. It’s Halloween and my daughters are excited even though trick o’ treating is going to be severely curtailed this year. They’re excited to wear the costumes that they’ve been talking about for […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is still an hour before sunrise as I compose this blog post. Next weekend we’ll change the clocks and we’ll be back to at least seeing some sunshine before school begins. Of course, that will also mean an earlier sunset. Such is life in northern New England.  To the […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from rainy Maine. It looks like it’s going to be the perfect kind of day to stay inside to watch movies and read a good book. But I won’t be doing that because I have toddlers, dogs, and an old house that always needs something fixed. We’ll be putting on our wellies and […]

The Week in Review – Maps, Docs, and Games

Good morning from Maine where it is cold, but clear. The leaves are rapidly changing color and falling to the ground. There is a significant amount of raking time in my near future. The only good thing about having to rake leaves is that my daughters love to jump in leaf piles. Earlier this week […]

The Week in Review – Search, Coding, and Microsoft Forms

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising and revealing all of the colors of fall. Fall is my favorite time of year to be outside. Playing outside is what I plan to do with my kids today. My oldest daughter has been asking all week for us to make a leaf pile for […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where colorful leaves and the wind tell us that fall is in full force on the last day of September. On a personal note, it has been a stressful end to the month as my school went from a hybrid model of some students online to a 100% online model in […]

The Week in Review – Trolls, Jam, and YouTube

  Good morning from Maine where I’m waiting for the sunrise on what is supposed to be another gorgeous fall day. I’m planning to play outside with my family and go for a bike ride. I hope that you have something fun planned for the weekend as well.  This week I once again joined Rushton […]

The Week in Review – A Flashback to 2002!

Good morning from Maine where I’m up nearly two hours before sunrise. Yes, I wake up early. But it’s also a sign that summer is nearly over. Fall officially begins next week and soon I’ll be spending part of my weekends cleaning up the fallen leaves on my property. Today, though, I plan to play […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is a crisp 31F outside as I await the sunrise while compiling this week’s list of the most popular posts. I had a super busy week with students back in my classroom for the first time since March 13th. I also hosted two webinars and was interviewed for a […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is a lovely morning filled with cool air just before sunrise. Sunrise is getting noticeably later these days as summer winds down. Red and orange leaves are starting to appear on the ground around my house. Earlier this week my youngest daughter brought me the red/ orange leaf in […]

The Month in Review – Back to School

Greetings from the Free Technology for Teachers world headquarters in Maine. It’s a sunny day here in Maine and great afternoon to soak up the last rays of summer sunshine. Leaves are starting to change color on some of the trees around here. The first red leaves of the year provide a small sense of […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where we had a cold and rainy late August day. It was a good day for making cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip) and watching Winnie the Pooh with my kids. After a long first week back at school, it was the kind of day that I needed. I didn’t have students in […]

The Week in Review – Where Did the Time Go?

Good morning from Maine where the air feels cool and crisp this morning. We had a couple of similar mornings earlier this week. And I spotted my first red leaves this week! School starts on Monday. Where did the time go? I’m also asking myself, “where did the time go?” this weekend because my oldest […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where our recent heatwave has broken and it’s going to be a great weekend to enjoy the great outdoors. I’m planning to have a little backyard camping adventure with my toddlers. I hope that you also have something fun on your weekend schedule. This week I hosted Get Organized With Google […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is yet to come up and the air feels cool. I hate to say it, but those are reminders that summer won’t last forever and fall will be here soon. I plan to soak up what’s left of summer before school starts in a couple of weeks. I […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on a beautiful summer day. I hope that you are having a great weekend! Unlike last week in which I hosted more than a dozen webinars, this week I didn’t host any. I am going to host a few webinars next week. One of them is […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts in July

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s the last day of July. It feels like just last week I was hosting end-of-year Google Meet sessions with my students. Now I’m starting to think about the first day of school that is less than a month away. That’s why I’m going to have a few […]

The Week in Review – So Many Webinars

Good morning from Maine where I’m sitting on my back porch drinking coffee and watching the fog clear out of the valley below me. The scene reminds me of the old saying, “fog in the hollow, good weather to follow.” This week I wrapped up the third session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the temperature only reached 62F yesterday, but today is supposed to reach 90! These wild fluctuations in summer weather is something I’m just putting into a mental category labeled, “well…that’s 2020 for you!” I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend and I hope that you are too. Next week I […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is pouring rain. It was a busy week here as I hosted the second session of the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp. Today, I’m going to relax a bit by splashing in puddles and doing some arts and crafts with my daughters. I hope that you’re also planning […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is a cool and overcast start to the Fourth of July. It has rained almost all week and that’s okay because we needed the rain. I also didn’t mind the rain because I was inside all week working on a big project. Now that the weekend is here, I […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and burning off the last of the overnight fog. It’s going to be a great day for fun things like riding bikes with my kids and not-so-fun things like mowing the lawn. I hope that you also have a fun and relaxing weekend. This week I […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is already hot and the sun has only been up for an hour. My daughters have been enjoying their water table and wading pool all week. I see a lot more of that happening today. I hope that you also get outside for some fun this weekend. This week […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and the air has that perfect early summer feel to it. It’s going to be a great day for riding bikes and doing all kinds of fun things outside. And it’s also a good day for mowing the lawn (something I don’t consider to be fun). […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and my lawn is taller than it should it be. Before I head out to deal with that and about a dozen other home maintenance tasks I have this week’s list of the most popular posts to share with you. I hope that you have a […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts

It’s the end of May and sure was a month I’ll remember for a while for a few reasons. First, we had snow on the ground as late as Mother’s Day and then we temperatures in the 90s a couple of days ago. Second, as the weather improved it became quite trying to keep my […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it’s going to be a great day for bike rides, dog walks, and playing outside with my kids. And I also have the lawn to mow 🙁 But I’ll focus on the fun stuff first because it is the weekend after all. I hope that […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it feels like summer! It’s going to be a great weekend to ride my bike, play outside with my kids, and generally unwind after a long week. I hope that this weekend you get some time to unwind too. This week I hosted or co-hosted […]

The Week in Review – A Bunch of Turkeys

Good evening from Maine where today it finally felt like spring. At this time last week the ground was covered in fresh snow. This evening, it was 60F and sunny. We had a fun day playing outside here and I hope that wherever you are this weekend, you got to enjoy some fresh air too. […]

The Week in Review – It’s Snowing!

Good morning from Paris Hill, Maine where it is snowing! Yes, on May 9th I woke up to snow covering everything. And the best part is that when the snow ends it’s supposed to be followed by a day of winter-like temperatures and winds. My three-year-old summarized how most of us feel this morning when […]

The Week in Review – Green Screens, Parks, and Virtual Meetings

Good morning from Maine where the wind is howling but the sun is shining. Despite the wind it’s relatively warm and should be nice for playing outside once my kids wake up. I’m also planning to ride my bike outside today. How about you? Do you have anything you’re looking forward to doing this weekend? […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts

It’s the last day of April. In some ways this month seemed to fly by and in others it seemed to drag along. The part that flew by was all work related as I was constantly answering questions from students, colleagues, and readers in between hosting virtual class meetings and webinars. The part that dragged […]

The Week in Review – Could This Be Spring?

Good morning from Maine where the birds are chirping as the sun begins to rise. The forecast calls for temperatures in the 50’s (F) for the second day in row! Could this be the beginning of consistent spring weather? I hope so. We’re all getting a little tired of boots and snowsuits (wrestling toddlers into […]

The Week in Review – Might as Well Eat Cake

Good morning from Maine where the sun is soon to be shining and the snow is gone. At this time last week we were still recovering from the effects of a big spring snowstorm. In the middle of last week’s power outage my friend and colleague Dr. Wendy Robichaud and her husband sent us a […]

The Week in Review – It Was a Rough One

Good morning from Maine where the ground is once again blanketed with six inches of heavy, wet snow. We had a big storm on Thursday night that knocked out the power to more than a third of the homes, including mine, in my county. So in the midst of remote learning we had a snow […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the April showers and wind arrived in earnest on Thursday and didn’t stop until late last night. Thankfully, it looks like today will be a nice day for playing outside and doing a bit of spring yard work. The governor of Maine issued a stay-at-home order this week so playing […]

The Month in Review – What a March It Was!

Good morning from Maine where I’m sitting in my home office waiting for students to join into a Google Hangouts Meet for virtual office hours. It’s hard to believe that at the beginning of the month COVID-19 was something that was affecting people “somewhere else” and now has nearly all of us working and teaching […]

The Week in Review – Online Meetings, Baseball Cards, and Forts

Good morning from Maine where the birds are chirping and it feels like spring as I sip my coffee. We’re going to spend the day playing in the yard. Spring has come a little earlier than normal here in Maine otherwise we might be going crazy isolating in the house. Rain is in the forecast […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where school is closed until April 27th and I’m practicing social distancing. On a brighter note, the sun is shining and I’ll be playing outside with my kids today. I’m betting that, like me, many of you had a busy week of trying to quickly adjust to teaching your classes in […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the wind is howling outside. Spring seems to be coming a little early this year as almost all of the snow in my yard has melted and the stream behind my house is running high. As COVID-19 continues to spread and more schools close, I hope that all of can […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where I’m up before the sun to get a little work done before starting a day of play with my kids and dogs. Much of the snow that covered our yard just last week melted away in the spring-like temperatures that we had twice this week. In other words, mud season […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where I’m up before most reasonable are awake on a weekend. Getting a few minutes alone to think and write requires me to get up before 5am. Having two toddlers will do that to a person. Before everyone starts stirring, I have this week’s list of the most popular posts to […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising and it’s a balmy 10F outside. This is the last weekend of my school vacation week so I’m planning to get outside to play for a bit more. I spent part of the week working on some long-term projects. But it wasn’t all work all week […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is a crisp -9F! Unfortunately, the forecast indicates that it’s not going to get much warmer than 0F and it will be windy. In other words, it might be a day for bowling instead of playing outside. My youngest daughter recently discovered that she loves bowling! Well as much […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from cold and dreary Maine. It seems like forever since we’ve seen the sun. To add insult to injury what was supposed to be snow turned out to be two days of sleet. I hope that wherever you are this weekend, the weather is a bit cheerier than it is here. This week […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where it was a good day for being outside skiing and playing. It was a great way to spend the first half of the weekend. I hope that you also had a great start to your weekend. This week I opened registration for the 2020 Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp. Summer […]

Gmail, Screencasts, and Summer Plans – The Month in Review

The first month of 2020 is at its end. I hope the first month of the year has gone well for you. Did you make a New Year’s Resolution? How’s going? Mine was to cut-out junk food and except for three slip-ups I’ve kept to it. This month I had the honor of speaking at […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it’s nearly forty degrees warmer than last week. It almost felt like March weather when I went out with my dogs this morning. It’s going to be a great day for taking my toddlers skiing. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you get to do something fun too. […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it’s a balmy -7F outside. My dogs went outside for about thirty seconds before coming right back to the house this morning. Most mornings I have to call them back in. Needless to say, we’ll be waiting for it warm up a little bit before going to ski this morning. […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where we’re anticipating a winter ice storm. I’m trying to get a lot done before the inevitable power outage. One of those things is writing up this week’s list of the most popular posts of the week. This week I hosted the first session of Teaching History With Technology. 31 people […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the snow that blanketed us earlier in the week is still here and will be here until April. I’m not complaining at all because at our house snow equals skiing. And that’s what we’re going to do after the sun comes up and we wrangle our toddlers into their snowsuits […]

The Twelve Most Popular Posts on Free Tech for Teachers in 2019

It’s the end of the year. For me it’s the end of my twelfth year of blogging about educational technology. Do I have twelve more years in me? We’ll find out… In the meantime here are the twelve most popular posts that I published in 2019. 1. How to Add Audio to Google Slides – […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it’s cold and dark at the moment. Fortunately, sunshine is in the forecast and we’re going to play outside in some fresh air after a day of being stuck inside because of sleet and rain. There’s nothing worse than a sleeting, raining day during school vacation week. But I probably […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

My vacation reading list. Good morning from Maine where the ground is covered with snow and it’s going to be a great vacation week for those of us who like to ski. Vacation is also a great time to do some reading. I have a few books that I’ll be trying to read or re-read […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Found on the vending machine in the teachers’ room at my school. Good morning from rainy Maine. Rain in December in Maine is always a bummer because it washes away the know which means we can’t ski, sled, or make a snowman. But we’ll find something else fun to do today. I hope that you […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from snowy Maine where it is going to be a great weekend for playing outside. When the sun comes up I plan to do some sledding with my kids. Later, we might do a little skiing too. But first I have this week’s list of the most popular posts of the week. Before […]

The Ten Most Popular Posts Last Month

We put up our Christmas tree this weekend (my toddlers “helped” decorate it). Putting up the tree is always a sign that December is here. November has come and gone. As I do at the end of every month I’ve put together a list of the ten most read posts of the last thirty days. […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it feels like winter! It’s 4F outside, a lot of snow is in the forecast, and we’re going to get our Christmas tree later today. I hope that all of you had a great week. I spent a lot of the week in Connecticut visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving. […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is still below the horizon and the wind is making it feel colder than the thermometer’s reading of 22F. Before the sun comes up and my kids wake up, I have this week’s list of the most popular posts of the week to share with you. Thanksgiving is […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Nebraska where I’m visiting my good friends Kris and Beth Still. Some of you may recall that Beth and met more than a decade ago when she organized the NECC Newbie Project and chose me to be the “newbie.” Since then our friendship has grown and our families have become friends too. […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good afternoon from Maine where all the leaves have turned brown and the air has turned cold. We had our first snowfall of the year this week and the local ski mountain opened this morning. Winter isn’t far away. Staying indoors all day just because it’s cold is a recipe disaster in our house so […]

Formative Assessment, Search, and Listening – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the first Saturday in November. Tomorrow the sun will set an hour earlier after we turn our clocks back tonight for the end of Daylight Saving Time. On that note, here are three short lessons about Daylight Saving Time. My kids, dogs, and I had […]

Slide Tricks, Candy, and Maps – The Month in Review

October has come and gone. As I do at the end of every month I have looked through my Google Analytics account to find the most read posts of the last month. The most popular posts in October centered around Google Slides tricks and tips, making educational games, and a source of historical maps. Take […]

Creativity and Leaf Piles – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and almost every leaf in my neighborhood seems to have landed in my backyard. The only good thing about leaf removal is making big piles for my kids to jump in. They sliding down their Little Tykes slide into the piles. Wherever you are this weekend, I […]

Maps, Games, and SumoBots – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s cold outside and quiet in my house. In other words, I’m up early before anyone else. It’s a perfect time to drink coffee (black, dark roast) and write. This week some of computer science students worked on programming SumoBots to do battle. While SumoBot kits provide a lot of […]

Slides, Forms, and Mountains – The Week in Review

Good evening from Oregon where I had a great day traveling from Portland to Bend for the Oregon SHAPE conference. It was my first time presenting at a conference dedicated to health and physical education. It was great! And the views on the drive from Portland to Bend were extraordinary! These were the week’s most […]

The Week in Review – It’s Pumpkin Season!

Good morning from Maine where it is looking and feeling like fall a little more every day. Last Sunday afternoon I did my first round of leaf removal and I’ll be doing another one this weekend. You have to stay on top of these things when you live in a place where a foot of […]

Mind Maps, Rubrics, and Cats – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on a busy month of September. Between webinars, working on a book, and taking over a computer science program the posting here was a little less frequent than usual. I still managed to publish more than 60 new posts. It will get back up to my […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the the air is cool and crisp, the leaves are colorful, and everyone is dressed in their favorite flannel. These are the days that everyone pictures when they think about New England in the fall. I can’t wait to get outside! I hope that wherever you are this weekend that […]

The Week in Review – Social Studies, Search, and Computer Science

Good morning from Maine where summer is having one last hurrah! After temperatures in the 30’s (Fahrenheit) earlier this week it’s going to be sunny and 80 degrees today. I plan to get my kids outside to play and soak up the last rays of summer today. I hope that you also have time to […]

Rubrics, Mind Maps, and Foliage – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is a perfect early autumn morning. It’s ideal for going fishing with my loyal dog, Mason. We did that on Thursday afternoon and it was perfect. I’m looking forward to doing that again this weekend. I hope that you also have something fun that you’re looking forward to doing […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is a little overcast so I thought I’d cheer things up by sharing this picture of a bright flower I saw this week. As I do at this time every weekend, I have put together a short list of the most popular posts of the last week. This list […]

The Ten Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers – In August

At the end of every month I like to take a look back at the most popular posts of the previous thirty days. I’m a couple of days late this time. I make these lists to get some insights into what readers want to see more or less of. I also do this as a […]

The Week in Review – Icebreakers, Cool Cats, and Pictures

Good morning from Maine where it is a beautiful start to Labor Day weekend. We have family visiting for the weekend so I’m going to quickly write this week’s week-in-review before they everyone wakes up. This week I had the privilege to work with teachers in Saint John’s High School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. We worked […]

The Week in Review – Originality, Audio, and Clocks

Good afternoon from rainy South Paris, Maine. Even though the weather was less than ideal for a bike ride I went out for ride to exercise this morning. Along the way I saw a red leaf on a maple tree. In this part of the world, the appearance of red leaves on maple trees is […]

Rubrics, Whiteboards, and Phys Ed – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is a beautiful morning for a bike ride. That’s what I’m going to do as soon as I finish writing this week-in-review. This week I hosted a professional development webinar all about using Google Classroom, Calendar, and Keep. If you missed it, it will be available on-demand at the […]

Phys Ed, Notes, and Updates – The Week in Review

Good afternoon from sunny Paris, Maine. The summer is passing too quickly now as evidenced by the sudden reappearance of “back to school” commercials on television and on the Internet. If you’re in the northern hemisphere like me, I hope that you’re enjoying the summer as much as you can. To that end, this week […]

Gmail, Posters, and Quizzes – The Month in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s nice and cool after a big thunderstorm rolled through breaking the heat and humidity we’d been experiencing. We have about four more weeks of summer until people start to complain about seeing the first leaves change and getting their fall clothes out. I plan to enjoy what’s left of […]

Alt Text, Google Keep, and Posters – The Week in Review

Good morning from sunny Paris, Maine where it’s going to be a great day to play outside. Before my kids wake up and and we start our day of play, I have this week’s list of the most popular posts of the week to share with you. Take a look and see if there is […]

Quick Videos, Google Keep, and Camp – The Week in Review

Good afternoon from Everett, Washington where we’re attending a family wedding. It has been a busy week as I hosted the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp at the beginning of the week and then we flew across the country with two toddlers in tow. This year’s Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp was, in my opinion, […]

Green Screens, Posters, and Books – The Week in Review

Good afternoon from Maine where I’m enjoying watching a replay of today’s Tour de France stage after a fun morning participating in a team triathlon. My team finished, “The Team With No Name,” finished first and won a cowbell. I hope that you’re also having a great weekend. Next week I’m hosting the Practical Ed […]

Gmail, Name Pickers, and Forms – The Week in Review

Good evening from hot and humid Paris, Maine. The first week of July has been a busy one as I wrapped-up a couple of online courses and worked on some of the final elements for the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp (there is still time to register). And, as it is now summer, I took […]

Expeditions, Search, and 202 Miles on a Bike – The Week in Review

Good afternoon from Maine where today I’m recuperating after riding my bike for 202 miles yesterday. The ride was part of a fundraiser for the Fast Freddie Foundation that gives bicycles and safety equipment to underprivileged kids all over the United States. Fast Freddie Rodriguez (pictured with me) is a retired professional cyclist whose record […]

Immersive Reader, Carmen Sandiego, and Fire Alarms – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it was a beautiful summer day. It was perfect for playing outside and that’s exactly what we did. I hope that you were able to do something fun today too. This week I had the privilege to spend two days with tech coaches and teachers in the Portsmouth, Virginia school […]

Writing Prompts, Beakers, and Fables – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re hoping that the sun will peak out for a trip to the playground. Maine is known for moose and lobster. At our local playground there is a moose carved into boulder. My daughters always want to sit on it. And they’re hoping to do that again today. I hope […]

Geocaching, Green Screens, and Gmail – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it was a perfect early summer day. It started with a bike ride which was followed by a trip to the playground with my daughters. Our day ended with getting ice cream! It was on the way to get ice cream that I noticed the pictured door that was labeled […]

Copyright, Ethics, and Gmail – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it almost feels like summer. The sun is trying to poke through the clouds and it’s supposed to be 70F today. In other words, it should be a great day to play outside. That’s exactly what I plan to do after publishing this blog post. I hope that wherever you […]

Copyright, VR, and Summaries – The Month in Review

It’s the last day of May. Congratulations to those of you who have just finished the school year! And to those who still have some time to go, you can do it! The end is in sight. As I do at this time every month, I’ve put together a list of the most popular posts […]

AR, VR, and Bowling – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining to start this Memorial Day weekend. We’re going to Maine Wildlife Park, riding bicycles, and playing outside for as long as we can put with the black flies this weekend. I hope that wherever you are this weekend, you can get outside too. Before I head […]

Summer Reading, Portfolios, and Animations – The Week in Review

Good evening from sunny and windy Paris Hill, Maine. It was a great day for playing outside and that’s exactly what my little family did today. I had a nice long bike ride through part of the White Mountain National Forest that ended with meeting my daughters at a playground besides the Androscoggin river. Wherever […]

Digital Maps, Collages, and Legends – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where this week the weather was finally nice enough for bike rides, flip-flops, and lots of yard work. And this weekend’s forecast has lots of sunshine in it which is perfect for Mother’s Day. Speaking of which, happy Mother’s Day to my mom, to Jess (Isla and Emma’s awesome mom), and […]

DIY Apps, Email Tips, and Video Lessons – April’s Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining on the first day of May. After an extremely stressful five days of dealing with a copyright infringer I’m taking the day off to take my daughters to the Gray Wildlife Park. It’s a wildlife rehabilitation center near our house that has birds, bears, moose, and […]

Mobile Apps, Copyright, and Flipgrid – The Week in Review

Good evening from rainy Maine where I spent part of the day pumping water out of the basement of my 170 year old house. I hope that your day was a little better than mine. This week I had the privilege to speak in Bonner Springs, Kansas to a great group of teachers who welcomed […]

DIY Apps, Patriots’ Day, and Taxes – The Week in Review

Good evening from rainy Paris, Maine. If April showers bring May flowers, I’m going to have a nursery on my hands in a couple of weeks! Ten days ago my yard was covered in snow and today it is resembles a small river. This week I had the privilege of speaking at TLA’s annual conference. […]

Spring, Winter, and a New Look – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re hoping the sun comes out today like it did last weekend. Of course, after last weekend’s warm weather we woke up to six inches of fresh snow on Monday morning. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you can get outside to play too. This week I decided […]

Poetry, Slides, and Interactive Videos – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the spring skiing is awesome! This is a great time of year to be outside in the sun and snow. In fact, that’s what I’ll be doing with my daughters a little bit later today. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you can get outside for some fun […]

Add-ons, Jeopardy, and Carmen San Diego – The Month in Review

Good morning from Maine where we still have plenty of snow, but it is starting to melt fairly quickly. This month I had the privilege to speak at a couple of conferences and spend a week working with my favorite charter school in Key West, Florida. In April I’ll be speaking at three events starting […]

Cards, Assessments, and Poems – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the April showers have arrived a couple of days early. That’s okay because all week long it was sunny and warm which let my kids and dogs get lots of outdoor playtime. Speaking of outdoor playtime, next week I’m hosting a webinar about how to blend technology into outdoor lessons. […]

Carmen Sandiego, Civics, and Sunshine – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I am home after a week of working with some great teachers at the Sigsbee Charter School in Key West, Florida. We capped-off the week by doing an “Amazing Race” activity that was programmed in Metaverse. This week six more people registered for the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp. If […]

News and Add-ons – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it’s not quite as frosty as it has been the last few weeks. According to the calendar spring is only a couple of weeks away. The many feet of snow in my backyard disguise that fact. I’m ready for spring which is why this week I tied a bunch of […]

Weather, Whiteboards, and Adventure – The Month in Review

The end of February has arrived. How did the second month of the year go for you? It was a busy one for me as I did bit speaking at conferences, hosted a few webinars, did some writing that will eventually appear in a book, and planned the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camp. In there […]

Weather, Keynote, and Flying – The Week in Review

Good afternoon from Paris Hill, Maine where the sun is shining and my daughters are napping. Their naps should give me just enough time to write this week’s week-in-review. This week I had the privilege to give the opening keynote at the SET-BC District Partners conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. The conference was excellent and […]

Whiteboards, Valentines, and Adventure – The Week in Review

Good morning from Paris Hill, Maine where the snow has stopped and the sun is shining. It’s a perfect day to go snowshoe festival. That’s exactly what one of my daughters and I are going to do as soon as I finish writing this post. This week I had the pleasure of leading an all-day […]

Search, AR, VR, and Stories – The Week in Review

Good morning from cold and windy Maine. How windy? In the words of my two-year-old, “soooo windy!” Before sharing the list of the week’s most popular posts, I have an update about Free Technology for Teachers that will answer some of the questions that I’ve received lately. The reason for the lighter posting over the […]

Search Strategies, PDFs, and the Super Bowl

Good morning from Maine where I’m not doing anything particularly exciting other than brewing up a batch of chili to have during the Super Bowl tomorrow night. Between stirs of the chili I’m working on materials for a bunch of workshops and keynotes that I have coming up over the next three months. The first […]

Videos, Image Editing, and G Suite – The Month in Review

Good morning from frigid South Paris, Maine. As I posted in an Instagram story, this morning it’s so cold that even in my office I’m wearing a down jacket. Like every January in Maine we’ve had a lovely mix of frigid days and snowy days. I like the winter, but these frigid days just make […]

PhotoScissors, STEM, and BETT – The Week in Review

Good evening from terminal five in Heathrow airport. I’m waiting for my flight home after spending a couple of days in London for the annual BETT Show. For my U.S. readers who might not be familiar with BETT, it’s a bit like ISTE without all of the breakout sessions. Basically, it’s all vendors, all the […]

Remind, Timelines, and Landmarks – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of the biggest snow storm of the year. The forecast for where I live calls for 20″ of snow! As a skier, I can’t wait for it! As the owner of a long driveway and long walkways, I’m not looking forward to shoveling. This week […]

Doodles, Footnotes, and Literature – The Week in Review

Good morning from frigid Maine where it’s -5f and the wind is howling! In other words, it’s a perfect day to shovel snow off my roof. That’s one of the few winter activities that I don’t enjoy. One that I do enjoy is skiing. And with a couple of snow days this week I was […]

Public Domain, Goals, and Fitness – The Week in Review

Good morning from the Free Technology for Teachers world headquarters in chilly, snowy Maine. I hope that everyone had a great first week of 2019. What’s your New Year’s resolution? One of mine is to improve my fitness. To that end I created a new blog to build some public accountability for my resolution. If […]

Drawings, Emojis, and Passwords – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where Santa is about to visit my daughters, again. We spent actual Christmas day traveling back from Florida where we visited grandma and uncles. So this morning my girls are having a second visit from Santa. (Santa’s reindeer take a long time to go from Florida to Maine, if you ask […]

Trash, Math, and Expeditions – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it was a balmy 43F today. It was a perfect day for a hike in western Maine. There’s something about the fresh air that invigorates my body and mind. A walk in the woods almost always inspires new blog post ideas in my mind. Today, was not an exception to […]

Gradebooks, Flipgrid, and Voicepods – The Week in Review

Good morning from chilly Paris Hill, Maine where it’s a crisp 7F as write this. In the category of “things I never did before having kids” today we’re going to look at a big Christmas tree display and to see Santa. It should be fun even if it takes thirty minutes to get the kids […]

A Gradebook, Art, and VR – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where this morning we’re going to get a Christmas tree from a friend’s tree farm. A few years ago this is not something that I would get excited about, but having kids has changed my perspective on so many things including Christmas trees. I hope that all of you also have […]

QR Codes, Music, and CoRubrics – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where I’m home after a great few days at the LACUE conference in New Orleans. November was a busy month as I hosted three professional development courses through Practical Ed Tech and was a featured presenter at two conferences. Thank you to everyone who participated in one of my courses or […]

Backchannels, Sounds, and Thanksgiving – The Week in Review

Good morning from snowy Maine. I hope that all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving this week had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Based on the number of “out of office” emails I received this week, a fair number of you were off all week. Earlier this week I hosted the first night of […]

Guests, Snow, and Feedback – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’ve had two small snowstorms this week. They haven’t been big snowfalls, but they have produced enough snow that all the leaves I didn’t rake won’t be discovered again until spring. On the upside, ski season is here and I’m looking forward to getting my oldest daughter on skis this […]

Music, Feedback, and Flowcharts – The Week in Review

Good evening from Nebraska where I’m visiting my good friends Kris and Beth Still. Some of you may remember that Beth was the person who organized the NECC Newbie Project back in 2009 to get me to the NECC (now called ISTE) conference. We were relative strangers before then but good friends since then. Wherever […]

Writing Checkers, Images, and Rain – The Week in Review

Good morning from soggy Maine where the deluge of rain has canceled my plans for playing outside this morning. So I’ll settle for riding my bike on an indoor trainer. It’s not the most fun way to exercise, but it is effective. Wherever you are this weekend I hope that you get time to do […]

Captions, Dice, and Ninjas – The Month in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re ready for some Halloween fun. Last year we had more than 600 trick o’ treaters come to our house! And if the weather is nice we’ll have that many again this year. But Halloween isn’t the only thing happening today. It’s the end of the month and as I […]

Storyboards, Pictures, and Classics – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it should be a nice morning for playing in leaf piles before the snow flies this evening. But before we go outside to play the sun needs to rise and I need to finish writing this week’s week-in-review. I started this week by speaking at the CECA/CASL annual conference in […]

VR, Certificates, and Google Earth – The Week in Review

Moose Tracks Good evening from Maine where it was a beautiful fall day. It was a perfect day for playing outside which is what we did to celebrate our youngest daughter’s first birthday. I hope that you had a great Saturday too! Tomorrow I will be speaking at the CECA/CASL conference in Connecticut. I will […]

Animations, Screencasts, and Podcasts – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I’m home for a while after nearly four weeks of speaking at conferences and consulting with schools. When I started my little tour there were leaves on all of the trees in my yard. This morning I woke up to discover that one of those trees is completely bare. In […]

YouTube, Math, and Media – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where I was home for the day before having to fly back to Florida tomorrow morning. Next week I’ll be finishing up my third week working with the awesome teachers at Sigsbee Charter School in Key West. If you would like to have me work with your school this year, please […]

Classroom, Math, and Instagram – The Month in Review

It’s the end of September. By now everyone has been back in school for at least a month. I hope that the start of school year has gone well for you. As we head into October here’s a look back at the most popular posts of September, 2018. A quick reminder, in October I’m hosting […]

Sheets, Math, and Timelines – The Week in Review

Good morning from Key West, Florida where I have spent the week working with the great staff of Sigsbee Charter School. And while it is great to be in the sunshine state, it’s also hard to be away from my little family for so long too. Thanks to Skype we’re able to see each other […]

Facebook, Backchannels, and Math – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it feels like fall. Starting on Monday week I’ll be working with the Sigsbee Charter School in Key West, Florida for most of the next few weeks which means that I’ll miss a good chunk of my favorite season here in Maine. That’s why today I plan to soak up […]

Math, Instagram, and Civics – The Week in Review

Good afternoon from Maine where it is a beautiful late summer day. We just got back from a great morning at the Oxford County Fair where my girls enjoyed seeing pigs, goats, sheep, cows, horses, and even an emu! While my daughters nap I am working on some new blog posts. This week nearly 500 […]

Poetry, Google Classroom, and Twine – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it is a crisp, cool early fall evening. The change of seasons is one of my favorite things about living in northern New England. Yesterday afternoon I had a great time walking in the woods with my dogs. Today, we had fun taking our kids for a walk along a […]

Image Search, Posters, and Buttons – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine on the first day of September. September in part of the world is the start of fair season. I can almost smell the Oxford County Fair by just thinking about walking through the animal barns with my daughters to see the piglets, lambs, and calves. Or as my older daughter will […]

Classroom, Games, and Books – The Month in Review

Good afternoon from Maine where it is a beautiful late summer day. I don’t know about you, but I always feel like August passes too quickly. At the beginning of the month it feels like, “hey, it’s summer!” and by the end of the month it feels like, “back to school, already?” I hope that […]

Emojis, Citations, and Tech Fails – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where a few more red leaves are appearing every day. As the summer winds down I’ve take a couple of afternoons off to go fly fishing and to spend more time with daughters before my schedule gets busy with fall commitments to schools and conferences all over the U.S. If you […]

Fake News, Books, and Audio Slides – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is good to be home after two weeks of travel for back-to-school workshops. Nothing says “back to school” quite like seeing a couple of leaves that have changed color. Yes, that happens early here in northern New England. But there is still plenty of warm weather left and my […]

Google Classroom, Jeopardy, and Scratch – The Week in Review

Good evening from Paris Hill, Maine where I’m home after a week on the road in which I facilitated professional development for teachers in Kansas and Illinois. Next week I’ll be in Missouri. If you would like to have me visit your school in the new school year, please get in touch. I only have […]

Videos, Scratch, and Fly Fishing – The Week in Review

Good evening from rainy Paris Hill, Maine where I’m home after a few days of fly fishing. It was nice to get away and recharge offline before a busy few months of workshops and conference keynotes starts on Monday when I fly to Kansas. I’ll probably be offline most of tomorrow too as I soak […]

GIFs, Forms, and Math – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on July. As I do at the end of every month I’ve put together a list of the ten most read posts of the previous 30 days. It’s interesting to note that not all of the posts in the list were published in July. In fact, […]

GIFs, Whiteboards, and Slides – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the heat, humidity, and rain combined to cancel our morning plans. Mason doesn’t even want to go outside. In the picture to the left he had just looked at me as if to say, “I’m not leaving the air conditioning?” Hopefully, we can all get outside to play a bit […]

Feedback, Focus, and Cars – The Week in Review

Good morning from Paris Hill, Maine where today is Founder’s Day. This is an annual event in our historic neighborhood that is highlighted by a library fundraiser in the form of a public viewing of an extensive antique car collection at the former home of Hannibal Hamlin. Some libraries sell old books, ours sells tickets […]

Forms, Games, and Timers – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we have a busy Saturday ahead of us. Our little Tinkergarten class starts up again this morning. It’s a fun time of exploring and learning with friends in an outdoor setting. If you have kids between ages 18 months and six years, consider joining a Tinkergarten group in your area. […]

Math, Forms, and Images – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the steamy weather has finally cooled off a bit. While it’s still cool we’re going on one of our favorite outings. We’re going to the Maine Wildlife Park to feed the ducks and see the baby moose including this one that was befriended by a German Shepherd. Wherever you are […]

June’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers

Good morning from hot and steamy South Paris, Maine. As the calendar flips from June to July the weather flips from pleasantly warm to hot! Fortunately, “hot” in Maine doesn’t last too long and is still not all that hot compared to many places. For example, it was much hotter when I visited South Carolina […]

Google Classroom, Flipgrid, and SeeSaw – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and it is a perfect day to play outside with daughters and my dogs. Before they’re awake and we’re bounding out the door, I have this week’s week-in-review to share. This week the annual ISTE conference was held in Chicago. I wasn’t able to attend this […]

Flipgrid, Forms, and Accessibility – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on a nice summer day. The week was full of great summer weather and none better than the actual first day of summer on Thursday when my daughters and I played outside all day except for nap time. I hope those of you in the northern […]

Games, Screencasting, and Ducks – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where we had a great day exploring the Maine Wildlife Park. My older daughter loved feeding the ducks! And we all enjoyed seeing the deer, moose, lynx and bears up close. It was a great way to relax after a long week on the road during which included seven workshops in […]

Cheese, Teams, and Games – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine. By the time that most of you read this I will be fly fishing on my favorite lake in Maine, Kennebago. After a busy and stressful week I need a break. That means fishing and not going online until the weekend is over. And if you follow on my Twitter and […]

Forms, Augmented Reality, and Games – The Week in Review

Good morning from hot and humid South Paris, Maine. The warmth and rain have made our flowers bloom which is a nice sight to see to after a long winter. My toddling daughter is certainly happy about this weather as it she loves to play outside and sniff the flowers. And that’s what we’re going […]

Forms, Videos, and VR – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has just set on the month of May. It was a busy month for me as I worked on developing a new course that will be available through the Teaching Channel later this summer. I also hosted a few webinars and conducted some on-site workshops in May. June […]

Geography, Portfolios, and Programming – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where I’m home after spending a few days in Key West, Florida where I had the privilege to work with some energetic teachers at Sigsbee Charter School. The trip laid the groundwork for some exciting work we’re going to do in the fall. As much as I enjoy traveling and working […]

Virtual Reality and Black Flies – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we have entered everyone’s least favorite season, Black Fly Season. The sequence of rainy days followed by warm sunshine is the perfect recipe to bring out swarms of blood-sucking insects. But those moments when the bugs aren’t swarming are soooo nice after a long winter so we’ll be trying to […]

Forms, VR, and Animations – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and flowers are blooming. It’s looking like it is going to be great weather for Mother’s Day. Speaking of which, happy Mother’s Day to all the moms who follow my blog including my mom. Hi, Mom! This week I was supposed to launch The Complete Guide […]

Certificates, Quests, and Comics – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining, my lawn is turning green, and we’re all going to play outside today. I have a couple of things to do before the kids wake up including finishing this blog post. This week I spent a lot of time dealing with a change in my hosting […]

Padlet, Spark, and PhET – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the snow that coated my yard on many mornings in April now all gone. Another sign that spring is here can be found in my TV viewing habit of quickly jumping between three channels to watch the Bruins, Celtics, and Red Sox play on the same night. Two of the […]

PhET, Grasshoppers, and AR Creatures – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where spring is in the air. Lately, we’ve had some rainy days mixed with wonderfully warm and sunny days. That’s a winning combination to make the flowers grow start to sprout in our gardens. It’s also great for getting outside to walk, run, bike or just enjoy not having to wear […]

Slides, Forms, and Novels – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where this morning it actually feels like spring! It’s a nice contrast to the snowy mornings that we had twice this week. I’m hoping that the weather stays nice through the weekend because we have a couple of fun outdoor activities planned including a Tinkergarten class tomorrow. Speaking of outdoor activities, […]

Spark, Parks, and Jeopardy – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it is snowing, again. This week was a classic spring week in Maine in which we had both sunshine and snow. We’re still weeks away from seeing green grass like I saw yesterday when I was in Greenwich, Connecticut where I facilitated a professional development workshop. Speaking of professional development, […]

Padlet, QR Codes, and Body Odor – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on a productive day. Today, I was able to pack up the tools that I’ve been using to convert old barn space into my office space. Some of you have been following this project since I started it late last summer. Now when you join me […]

Math, Newspapers, Animations – March in Review

March has come and gone. Today was a nice Sunday to play outside with my older daughter. In walking the back edge of our property we found the interesting cluster of trees seen in the picture. I hope that you had a nice Sunday and nice start to your month too. Every month I put […]

Food, Timers, and Search – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine from where the wind is howling and the sun has not yet risen. Why am I up so early on a weekend? Because I have two little kids and this is the quietest time of the day. It’s perfect for drinking coffee and writing things like this week’s week-in-review post. This […]

STEM, Music, and Spring – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where spring is in the air and lots of snow is still on the ground. Some of my favorite days of the year happen now when there’s still snow on the ground but it’s warm enough during the day to have fun in the sun. In fact, that’s what I did […]

Images, Videos, and Snow – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I’ve cleared out the snow just in time for another snow storm. We’ve had 30″ of new snow fall in just over a week. As a skier I love the snow. My friends who don’t ski are ready for the end of winter. How do you feel about winter? Do […]

Quizzes, Syrup, and Public Domain Videos – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where the winter keeps on going. This week we had lots of new snow fall. As a skier, I love the snow. But many of my friends were not so happy about the latest snowstorm. In other news from Lake Wobegon Paris Hill, this week I scheduled a new webinar for […]

Puzzles, Rockets, and Podcasts – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the rapidly shifting weather of March has arrived in full force. I helped my daughter learn to ride a bike in the driveway on a sunny Thursday afternoon and then yesterday it was too cold and windy to play outside. I hope the weather is better for playing outside wherever […]

Science and Games – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of February. As I do at the end of every month I’ve compiled a list of the most popular posts of the month. This month the bulk of the most popular posts were related to science and or games. Take a look at […]

Science, Wikispaces, and Timelines – The Week in Review

Good morning from the almost completely renovated Free Technology for Teachers World Headquarters in Paris, Maine. If you have followed my week-in-review posts since last fall you know that I have been converting some space in a barn into office space. I’m in the home stretch now as I just have bit more painting to […]

Olympics, STEM, and Quizzes – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where I’m sitting inside my newly heated barn which is becoming office space, slowly. Getting the heat working was the most important step in the process because now I can finish mudding, taping, and painting the walls. I’ll be spending the day working on that project. It’s not exactly fun, but […]

Docs, Games, and Expeditions – The Week in Review

Good morning from the Free Technology for Teachers World Headquarters in Paris, Maine. Those of you who have been following the saga of my office renovation should note that it is once again functional except for the lack of heat which will be fixed on Thursday. In the meantime, this hardy blogger is making do […]

Math, Rocks, and Overlooked Features – The Month in Review

Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on the first month of the year. It seems like just yesterday we were ringing in the New Year. How are you doing on your New Year’s resolution? I’m 50/50 on the follow-through for the two resolutions that I made. As I do at the end […]

Slides, Mount Rushmore, and Tours – The Week in Review

Good evening from terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport where I’m waiting for a flight home after attending the BETT Show in London. It was a whirlwind trip to catch up with some friends and colleagues based in Europe while also seeing some of the new offerings of some of the ed tech industry. I am […]

Math, Social Studies, and Diagrams – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where a cold bug has hit our house. I tried to fight it, but this morning I have to admit that I’ve caught it too. This might put me a little behind on my plan to have Practical Ed Tech completely remodeled by kick-off off the Patriots’ game on Sunday afternoon. […]

Music, Doodles, and Forms – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where I am getting ready to watch the Patriots play their first playoff game on their way to the Super Bowl. Before I enjoy the game and some delicious chili, I have this week’s post popular posts to share with you. This week’s list features some Google Slides and Forms tricks, […]

Goals, Wishes, and Cold – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where we’re experiencing a stretch of cold days that hasn’t been seen since the 1970’s. How cold is it? Earlier this week I referred to Tuesday’s high temperature of 7f as a “warm day.” I took advantage of that warm day by going out to hike up and ski down Saddleback […]

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. That means it’s time for me to get to shoveling just as soon as I finish writing this week in review. This week more people joined the 2018 Practical Ed […]

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 getting to develop all kinds of handyman skills that I never knew I had. For example, today I am going to attempt to put new insulation under my dining room […]

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 a Dad, I’m excited to show my older daughter the joy of making snow angels. But as the owner of a long driveway, I’m not so excited about the snow. […]

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 a fun challenge with a toddler and an infant in tow. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you get time to do something fun too. This week I […]

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 close this month by once again thanking Beth Still for doing an outstanding job of keeping the blog running for half of the month while I was taking some paternity […]

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 thing that hasn’t changed is that I like to share what you’re reading most. Here are the ten most read posts of the last ten years. 1. Google Forms Can […]

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 I’ve gone to watch the road race in my hometown of Manchester, Connecticut. This year was no exception. The race is one of the only ones in the world where […]

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 snow, everyone around here has a comment about it. I’m in the “love snow” camp and I’m excited that the local ski resort opened this week. The snow reminds me […]

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 working with teachers in Albemarle County schools in Virginia. Then on Wednesday evening I hosted Intro to Teaching With Video with Keith Hughes and Tom Richey. If you missed it, […]

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 I’ve always thought that Halloween marked the end of beautiful part of fall and the transition to the browns of late fall before the snow arrives. This year fall out […]

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 as I do at the end of every month, I have compiled a list of the most popular posts of the month. Take a look and see if there are […]

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 that I had to spend all morning moving into piles for removal. As I shared earlier on Facebook, my record with small engines is not good as evidenced by my […]

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 well. Thanks to everyone who shared congratulatory messages on Instagram and Twitter over the last couple of days. The blog has kept chugging along over the last couple of weeks […]

Grids, Timelines, and Goals – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where I spent the majority of the day hanging drywall on walls that are far from square. Those of you who watch my Practical Ed Tech Live episodes have seen some of the space in my barn that I am trying to convert into office space. The project seemed simple enough, […]

Kahoot, Copyright, Drive – September in Review

Good evening from Montgomery, Alabama where I am preparing to give a couple of presentations tomorrow at the Alabama Independent Schools Association conference. I’m looking forward to meeting many teachers tomorrow. That’s my favorite part of speaking at conferences. If you’d like to bring me to your conference, please click here for more information. The […]

Blogging, Math, and Character Scrapbooks – The Week in Review

Good evening from chilly Paris Hill, Maine. The falling leaves, shorter days, and cooler weather remind me of all the chores I need to do outside before the snow flies (the local ski resort made snow this week). One of those chores is touching up some paint around my window dormers. So that’s how it […]

Copyright, AR, and Geography – The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it is a perfect first Saturday of the fall. Friends are visiting from out of state and we’re going to take advantage of the nice weather by spending the day outside on mountain bikes and then perhaps some time on the river. This week I hosted a Practical Ed Tech […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine. By the time that many of you read this, I will be fly fishing for landlocked salmon on one of my favorite rivers, the Magalloway River. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you also get some time for a favorite hobby. And my sincerest thoughts and best wishes to […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good afternoon from sunny Paris Hill, Maine. It was a busy week here and I’m sure it was for you too. As I mentioned earlier in the week, autumn is in the air around here. I found myself grabbing a knit hat and putting on a fleece earlier this week. That just serves as a […]

The Month in Review – A New Englander’s Favorite Season

The end of August is here and that means that this New Englander’s favorite season is just around the corner. From leaves starting to change color to Dunkin Donuts advertising pumpkin coffee to back-to-school pictures on Facebook, the signs of Fall are all around us. As I do at this time every month, I have […]

The Week in Review – Isla Turns 1!

Good morning from Maine where we’re getting ready for friends and family to come celebrate Isla’s first birthday. We had a little cake on her actual birthday earlier this week. Today’s the big day for more cake and celebration. Many people have told me that the first birthday is more for the parents to recognize […]

The Week in Review – Back to School Webinars

Good morning from Maine where we’re waiting for the sun to poke through the clouds so that we go enjoy a nice walk in the woods. But until that happens I’m going to work on some blog posts and work on some webinar materials. This week I hosted Google Forms & Sheets for Beginners. The […]

The Week in Review – Soaking Up Summer

Good morning from Maine where despite seeing a few maple leaves already turning from green to red, we’re still soaking up summer. Last weekend Isla and I hiked a local mountain and enjoyed the views from the top. This weekend, we’re doing the same. I hope as she gets older she enjoys the outdoors as […]

The Week in Review – It’s Only August

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining on nice August morning. It’s only the first week of August, but I have already spotted a couple of leaves changing color. That’s always my visual reminder that my favorite season is just around the corner. I’m not sure if it is because my birthday is […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of July. Mason and I sat out on the deck enjoying the last rays of sunshine then came inside to write this review of the month. This was a busy month as I spoke at the Upstate Technology Conference in South Carolina then […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where we enjoyed a beautiful summer day. These are the kind of summer days that you want to bottle and save to re-use on dreary day in January. We took advantage of the beautiful weather by going for a hike with our dogs. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that […]

The Week in Review – New Headquarters

Good evening from the new Free Technology for Teachers world headquarters in Paris, Maine. Today, we moved into a home in the Paris Hill historic district. It’s most notable resident was Hannibal Hamlin who was Abraham Lincoln’s first Vice-President. As a lover of history, I’m excited to dig into more of the local history in […]

The Week in Review – Fun and Learning at UTC

Good evening from Maine where I’m wrapping up a busy week that included hosting four webinars and two days of presenting at the Upstate Technology Conference in Greenville, South Carolina. UTC was a great event. It was a pleasure to meet so many new people including YouTube sensation Tom Richey and to reconnect with old friends. If […]

The Week In Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and I’m ready for a bike ride with some old friends that I haven’t seen in about twelve years. Even if I wasn’t riding with friends, it would still be a great day to get outside for fun exercise. In my life there is an amazing […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine. Happy Canada Day to all of my friends north of the border. I’ve had many great days working with teachers in Canada and I hope that I get to visit again soon. This week I was at the ISTE conference for a few days. It was a busy, fun, and informative […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts

It’s the end of the month and as I always do, I’ve put together a list of the most popular posts of the last 30 days. Take a look at the list and see if there is anything neat that you missed this month. The Practical Ed Tech Chromebook Camp starts in three weeks. There […]

The Week in Review – The ISTE Prelude

Good afternoon from San Antonio, Texas where I have just checked-in at the ISTE 2017 conference. The conference doesn’t officially begin until tomorrow, but there is already plenty of activity around the convention center. When I checked-in I was asked, “what are you looking for at the conference?” My answer was, “things that empower students […]

The Week in Review – The Recombobulation Area

An appropriate sign after TSA in Milwaukee.  Good morning from Maine where I’m enjoying a nice cup of coffee while my dog sleeps next to me on the couch. It’s a nice way to start a summer day. Put another way, drinking coffee at a leisurely pace feels like I’ve entered a recombobulation area. That’s […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from rainy Maine. I’m not complaining too much about the rain today because I’m inside spending today working on developing and editing materials for the workshops and webinars that I’m leading this summer. One of those webinars, From Blog to Job, is starting tomorrow night at 7pm EDT. In my typical pattern of […]

May’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers

Good evening from Maine where we’re having our first thunderstorm of the year on the eve of June. Earlier today I hosted Teaching History With Technology and I’m looking forward to teaching more professional development classes throughout the summer. You can learn more about those course offerings on this Practical Ed Tech page. As I […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining, the grass is finally green, and pollen is coating any car left outside overnight. I hope that it is equally nice wherever you are this weekend. As the weather turns decidedly toward summer many of us are thinking about professional development opportunities. I’m going to a […]

The Week in Review – Sunshine!

Good evening from Maine where we finally had a sunny day after what has felt like weeks of clouds and rain. As I shared on my Instagram account during the week, I still rode my bike and walked my dogs in the rain, but it’s always better do those things in the sunshine. Wherever you […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Connecticut where we’re visiting my brother and my newest niece. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon attempting to get a picture of my daughter and my niece looking at the camera at the same time. We were unsuccessful in that effort, but we had fun trying. Wherever you are this […]

The Month in Review – April’s Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where it’s nice to be home after a few days on the road. We enjoyed New Orleans, but this northerner is happy to be back in the cool, crisp weather of spring in Maine. Earlier this week I literally watched the ice go out. As I do at the end of […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from New Orleans where my daughter and I have been spending time exploring while mom is at a conference here. This is a completely new-to-me travel experience as we’re up early and wandering the city before almost anything is open. This morning we were the first in line to buy tickets for the […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from rainy Maine. The rain doesn’t stop us from playing outside, but it’s not quite as fun as playing in the sun. I am hopeful that all of our April showers will soon be replaced by May flowers. Speaking of things happening in May, next month I’m kicking off my summer schedule of […]

The Week In Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Connecticut where I’m visiting family for Easter weekend. It was a big day for me and my daughter as it was our first long trip alone to drive down here. And other than one side-of-the-road emergency diaper change, it was a smooth trip. Check my Instagram tomorrow for a cute picture of […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from gray and rainy Maine. It appears that we’re into the “April showers” portion of the “April showers bring May flowers” adage. On the upside, this crummy weather has made it feel a little easier to stay inside and work. I have some new projects in the works that I think you’re going […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where it is snowing. No, that’s not an April Fool’s joke. It really is snowing. The weather forecast calls for ten inches of snow. There’s nothing to do but put on snowshoes and take the dogs for a walk. Which is what I’ll do right after publishing the list of this […]

The Month in Review – Spring Is Here (Kind of)

The calendar tells me that it is spring here in Maine, but the weather tells me otherwise. We’re expecting ten more inches of snow to fall overnight tonight. But that hasn’t kept me from enjoying the outdoors as I did on Wednesday when I took a walk around Portland Head Light. Portland Head Light is […]

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 spring were all around us as we saw frozen streams starting to melt and more birds than we’ve seen in months including a Great Horned Owl. Here’s a little video […]

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 also have time for fun and relaxation. Here are this week’s most popular posts: 1. 5 Ways to Show YouTube Videos Without Related Content 2. Google Team Drives Now Available […]

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 have moved out of a home office and into a workspace at Think Tank Coworking in Yarmouth, Maine. I was initially hesitant to make the move because I thought I […]

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 to my workshops and presentations. A special thank you to those who supported me with nice messages about my presentations, came to multiple presentations, and or asked for selfies with […]

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 many engaged educators learning and sharing with each other. In some ways it feels like a huge EdCamp with structure (some of us like structure). If you’re going to be […]

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 best fishing we’ve ever had, we still had a great time unplugging and relaxing. This year I was even captured some great footage of bald eagles circling over our heads. […]

The Snowy Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from snowy Maine where we’re getting ready for the third snowstorm of the week. “Getting ready” for a snowstorm for me means making sure the snowshoes and skis are ready to go. Whether you’re preparing for a snowstorm, basking in warm sunshine, or somewhere in between, I hope that you have a fun […]

The Week in Review – California, Here I Come

Good morning from Logan International Airport where I’m waiting for a flight to San Francisco. Tomorrow, I will be giving the closing keynote at the California School Library Association’s annual conference. I always enjoy school library association conferences and I’ve heard great things about this one. If you’re going to be there tomorrow, please say […]

The Best of Free Technology for Teachers in January

Sunset over Casco Bay. Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on the first month of 2017. It has been a busy month here at the Byrne Instructional Media, LLC World Headquarters. Besides the usual blogging activities that you see here, I hosted a series of Wednesday afternoon webinars, taught a course, spoke […]

The Week in Review – The Texas Edition

When it Texas, wear cowboy boots. Good evening from Fort Worth, Texas where I am relaxing after a great day at the Fort Worth ISD Technology Conference. I had the honor of giving the opening keynote and the privilege to see some other great presenters including Hall Davidson and Maggie Elliott. The conference had a […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is trying to poke through the clouds. As I do every week, I have created a list of the most popular posts of the week. I think it is fitting that in the week in which the last man to walk on the moon, Eugene Cernan, passed away, […]

The Week in Review – Wacky Weather and Popular Posts

Good afternoon from the Free Technology for Teachers world headquarters in frozen Woodstock, Maine. It was a crazy weather week here as we went from sub-zero to 45F to sub-zero again in three days. The wacky weather provided a great excuse for me to take my daughter on her first visit to Cabela’s. She was […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the air is cold, the snow feels crisp, and the sun is shining. In other words, it’s a perfect winter day to go outside and play. I hope that everyone had good first week of 2017. Some of you even started 2017 with a professional development session on Wednesday afternoon. […]

The Week in Review

Good evening and Happy New Year from Maine. I’m celebrating the New Year by taking some cold medicine and going to bed early. I took some time off this week and immediately caught a miserable. cold. So miserable that I didn’t even go skiing after we had a massive 22″ snowfall on Thursday night. Hopefully, […]

The Week in Review – Christmas Eve Edition

Good morning from Maine where vacation will begin when this post is complete. This week was full of my typical scramble to buy Christmas presents at the last minute. But I still made plenty of time to take my dogs for fun walks, play with my daughter, and lead a couple of webinars. Now it’s […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the snow is falling and my dogs and I couldn’t be happier about it! This is the second snowstorm that we’ve had in less than a week. As you can see in the picture to the left, Mason loves the snow. Max likes it too although his short hair doesn’t […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Woodstock, Maine where we were treated to a beautiful sunset over the mountains. While it was a cold day, it was still a nice day to go look for a Christmas tree on my land. The search for a Christmas tree was abandoned when my dogs decided to run off in pursuit […]

The Week in Review – Get Outside

Good morning from Woodstock, Maine where the wind is blowing snow flurries across the landscape. In other words, it’s a perfect day to go outside and play. Wherever you are, I hope you get some time to go outside to play this weekend. This week I hosted the first webinar in my new Wednesday Webinar […]

The Month in Review – Ten Most Popular Posts

Good afternoon from Maine where it feels like the month of November came and went in the blink of an eye. The month started out warm and now is ending in a snowy, icy glaze. In November I had the pleasure of working with teachers in Georgia and Connecticut. Next week I’ll be in Tennessee […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where an inch of fresh snow is coating the woods around my house. The fresh snow provides a great canvas on which various animals to leave their tracks behind. It’s fun to find discover the various animals that come so close to my house. Over the years I’ve seen moose, deer, […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and I’m looking forward to a day of walking in the woods around my home (with orange clothing on because it is hunting season). Snow is in the forecast for later this weekend. As a skier I love the snow even though I have to shovel […]

The Week in Review – The Nebraska Edition

Good evening from Scottsbluff, Nebraska where I am visiting my good friends Beth and Kris Still. Some followers of this blog may recall that Beth was the person who organized the NECC Newbie project back in 2009. We had never met before that project, but in the years since we’ve become great friends. Here are […]

The Week in Review – Hot and Cold

Good morning from Maine where there is a light coat of snow on the ground with more snow in the forecast for this afternoon. I love this time of year in Maine! Earlier this week I was in Atlanta for three days for the Georgia Educational Technology Conference where there was no threat of snow […]

The Month in Review – October’s Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where I’m getting ready to fly to the Georgia Educational Technology Conference tomorrow. I’ll be speaking there on Wednesday and Thursday. If you’re going too, please say hello. Next week I’ll be speaking at an event near my hometown in Connecticut. At the end of every month I post a list […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where I spent most of the rainy day reading to my daughter and playing with my dogs. It was a great way to spend a day. Looking at my Facebook feed today I saw lots of parents preparing their kids for Halloween activities. We went to a little town celebration of […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where the rain we didn’t have all summer has arrived in force today. I have to start this week’s week-in-review on a somber note as this afternoon I am going to the memorial service for my friend and former colleague, Steve Ray. Steve and I team taught a couple of courses […]

The Week in Review – Last-Minute Projects

Good morning from Maine where we have frost on the ground outside of the Free Technology for Teachers world headquarters (AKA my house). The frost is a visual reminder that I have some outdoor projects that I need to finish before the snow flies. As soon as those chores are done I’m going for a […]

The Week in Review – Feels Like Fall

Good morning from Maine where it looks and feels like fall. This week we were blessed with great weather to enjoy the outdoors. This was a busy week of online instruction. On Monday and Tuesday nights I started new professional development courses. This week I also provided webinar instruction for two schools during the day. […]

The Week in Review – A Costume Wedding

Good morning from Maine where I’m getting ready for my friend Josh’s wedding later today. Since Josh and his fiance are fun-loving people and it’s October, they’ve turned their wedding into a costume party. It should be fun for everyone. As I do every weekend, I’ve put together a list of the most popular posts […]

The Most Popular Posts of the Month on Free Technology for Teachers

The end of September is here and by now we’re settled into the the new school year. I hope that the first month or so of the new school year has gone well for you. As I do at the end of every month, I have compiled a list of the most popular posts of […]

The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where it certainly feels like fall. This week my daughter turned one month old. The time is flying. As you can see in the picture to the left, she’s already helping me in my office. She already has her own email address, just like her big dog brothers do. You can […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where it was a beautiful day for walking in the woods and along the water. Max and Mason were very happy to get outside for long walk on a new trail. We saw plenty of colorful foliage throughout our walk. It was a nice reminder to enjoy the change of seasons. […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Woodstock, Maine where as I look out from my deck I can see some leaves starting to turn red and orange. This is my favorite time of year. I plan to get outside this weekend to bike, walk with my dogs and my daughter, and maybe even go fishing. Wherever you are […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good afternoon from Connecticut where I’m getting ready for my youngest brother’s wedding. That’s him in the picture to the left. He’s a high school Language Arts teacher. Our paternal grandparents, our father, and one of our uncles were also teachers. I guess you can say that we went into the family business. A lot […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts

It’s the end of a busy month for me and I’m sure a busy month for everyone reading this blog who started the new school year this month. If you’re trying to get caught up on some ed tech news that you might have missed over the last month, take a look at the list […]

The Week in Review – A New Team Member

Good morning from Maine where I’m writing my first blog post since Tuesday morning (yes, I write and schedule posts in advance). I haven’t written a post since Tuesday because I’ve been a bit busy as my partner Jess and I welcomed our daughter this week. Isla was born on Tuesday evening. The room that […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where we’re still enjoying summer even if there are a few leaves starting to change. One of the hallmarks of late summer in Maine is the surplus of tomatoes that you see people trying to give away or trade away. I don’t grow any myself and I don’t trade for them. […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where despite some rain it’s a nice weekend. Looking over the valley from my house I can start to see some leaves starting to fade and change colors. This is a sure sign that school will soon start here. In many other places, the new school year has already started. I […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where I’m having a relaxing morning while watching the Olympic cycling road race. I’m looking forward to watching the archery team matches later today too because 20 years ago I trained in that sport at the USOC training center California. Reading NBC’s webpage about archery reminded me that you should always […]

The Month in Review – July’s Most Popular Posts

July has come and gone. In my part of the world the beginning of August signifies the beginning of fair season. And for schools in much of the world the beginning of August means that school will be starting soon. As you start to think about the technology that you might use in your classroom […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where I’m relaxing after a fun day of bicycle riding followed by a nice little concert in Freeport. This week I wrapped up my online course Teaching History With Technology. As always I enjoyed teaching the course and I learned a few things that I’ll be implementing when I teach the […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Maine where I’m enjoying some coffee on my deck to start the day. This week I hosted the Practical Ed Tech Chromebook Camp in Portland, Maine. 35 of use had a nice couple of days of learning from each other. Some people attended for the second and third time. I’m already starting […]

The Week in Review – Camp Week

Good morning from Maine where my friends Kris and Beth Still are visiting for the week. Beth, a Google Certified Teacher, will be helping me with the Practical Ed Tech Chromebook Camp that starts on Monday. Yesterday, we went on an unsuccessful back roads drive to look for a moose. We’ll try again this evening […]

The Week in Review – A Little Break

Good evening from Maine where I’m getting ready for the Practical Ed Tech BYOD Camp that starts on Monday morning. Earlier this week, for the first time in years, I went consecutive days without publishing a blog post. I did that because I needed a little brain break after weeks of being on the road […]

The Month in Review – Heading Home

Good afternoon from an airplane somewhere over upstate New York. I’m my last flight heading from the ISTE 2016 conference. This is also my last flight for a month. June was a fantastically busy month as I had the pleasure and privilege of working with teachers at ten events spread across five states. But now […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from an airplane somewhere over the North Carolina/ Tennessee border. I’m headed out to Denver for the ISTE 2016 conference. As I boarded the flight I ran into my friend Kelly Hines from Discovery Education. I’m sure there are plenty of other excited educators on the flight too. If you are going to […]

The Week in Review – A Few Days at Home

Good morning from Maine where I have a few days at home with my dogs before going back on the road for the rest of month. Next week I’ll be just outside of Nashville then I’ll wrap-up the month at the ISTE conference in Denver. If you’re going to ISTE too, please say hello. I’m […]

The Week in Review – On the Road

Sketch notes about my video workshop. Good evening from Arizona where I’m relaxing after a great week of speaking at conferences in Texas, Kansas, and Arizona. Today, I had the honor of giving the closing keynote at the Native Innovation Education Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona. That conference was the second one this week that offered […]

The Week in Review – Collaborate2Create

Good evening from Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix, Arizona. Today, I had the privilege to speak at the Collaborat2Create conference hosted by the Arizona Technology in Education Association and Glendale Elementary Schools. It was great to see so many teachers come out on a Saturday to connect and learn with each other. Next week I’ll […]

The Month in Review – The Most Popular Posts

It’s the end of the month and as I do every month I have compiled a list of the most frequently read posts of the last 31 days. May seemed to zip along quickly. This list offers an easy way to quickly see interesting and useful posts that you might have missed. Here are the […]

The Week in Review – A Leisurely Breakfast at Home

Good morning from the Byrne Instructional Media, LLC headquarters in Woodstock, Maine. As I sit on my deck I can tell that it is going to be a beautiful weekend to play and relax in the outdoors. In fact, my dogs and I are going to do just that by going camping this weekend. Before […]

The Week in Review – The Lilacs Have Arrived

Good morning from the temporary Byrne Instructional Media, LLC office in Connecticut. I’m working in Connecticut this morning because I’m down here to see the hooding ceremony for my friend of 20+ years who has just completed her Doctorate of Nursing Practice. Meanwhile back in Maine the lilacs in my meager garden have started to […]

The Week in Review – The Overseers

Good evening from Maine where I am home after a couple of days in Pennsylvania for PSLA 2016. It was an honor to give the keynote at the conference full of enthusiastic teacher-librarians. On Thursday evening I gave the opening keynote. Before I took the stage there was a short ceremony to install the new […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where Max, Mason, and I are still disappointed with the outcome of last two Red Sox games. But as true Red Sox fans we know that they’ll come back tomorrow and beat the Yankees. In the meantime we’re enjoying a nice sunset view from my back deck. Wherever you are this […]

April’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers

April came and went quickly. In fact, it went so quickly that I didn’t even realize it was over until I looked at the date about an hour ago and realized we were into May. I’m a day late on my month-in-review post. Here are the most popular posts of the last month: 1. 11 […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from the temporary Byrne Instructional Media, LLC headquarters at O’Hare International Airport. I’m currently waiting for my flight home after a great afternoon yesterday with people who came to the networking event hosted by Otus. Thank you to everyone that came out to hear me speak. Getting to meet passionate educators all over […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from sunny Woodstock, Maine where I am about to head out on group bicycle ride. Winter ended early this year so we’re taking advantage of the nice weather by going biking. This week more registrations arrived for the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camps. Both of them are now more than 50% full. I […]

The Week in Review – Transitions

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining and the forecast calls for temperatures above 60f for the first time this year. One of the great things about Maine in the spring is that I can ski, bike, garden, and walk my dogs all in the same day without having to wear a heavy […]

The Week in Review – A Walk in the Woods

Good morning from the Free Technology for Teachers world headquarters in Woodstock, Maine. It’s a beautiful early spring morning for walking in the woods with two loyal dogs. As the sun is rising earlier now so too are my dogs rising earlier in the morning. We’ve already had one short walk this morning and we’ll […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Woodstock, Maine where the last of the ice is melting from the pond near my house. My dogs and I had a full day of visiting the vet’s office, walking in the woods, and doing some early spring landscaping. It was a relaxing way to spend the day. I hope that you […]

The Month in Review – #Masonshome

Good evening from Maine where the sun is setting on the month of March. The highlight of the month for me was bringing home a new family member. Three weeks ago I adopted Mason from Harvest Hills Animal Shelter. He’s a nine year old German Shepherd and Golden Retriever mix and he is an awesome […]

The Week in Review – 50 Million Page Views

Good afternoon from sunny Woodstock, Maine where my dogs and I have just returned from a great morning of walking in the woods. The end of winter and beginning of spring is referred to as “mud season” around here and my boys made sure to find all the mud that they could walk and roll […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts of the Week

Good morning from the FreeTech4Teachers.com World Headquarters in Woodstock, Maine. A week of 50f weather had me thinking about the Practical Ed Tech Summer Camps. A few more early bird registrations came in this week. These are going to be great days of hands-on learning with small groups of dedicated teachers. I hope you can […]

The Week in Review – A New Family Member

Good morning from the Free Technology for Teachers World Headquarters in Woodstock, Maine. It’s a beautiful late winter morning here. The sun is shining and the temperature is climbing. In other words, it’s a great day to play with the newest member of my family. Mason is a nine year old German Shepherd and Golden […]

The Week in Review – Home With Max

Good evening from Maine where I’m home after a great week in North Carolina for the NCTIES 2016 conference. Many thanks to everyone who came to my presentations and workshops at the conference. It was great to see new faces and reconnect with friends I’ve made at NCTIES over the last five years. I’m always […]

The Month in Review – February’s Most Popular Posts

Good evening from Maine where while the month of February is coming to a close I am getting ready for my favorite March event, the NCTIES conference. As I do at the end of every month, I have compiled a list of the most popular posts of the month. The list is based on the […]

The Week in Review – The Most Popular Posts of the Week

Good evening from the Free Technology for Teachers World Headquarters in Woodstock, Maine. This week Max and I had two visitors to my office. My friend Sam’s dog named Humbird has stayed with us all week. Yesterday and today we’ve also hosted my friend Jess’ puppy named Fionn. Max has been a good dog host […]

The Week in Review – Thinking About Summer on the Coldest Day of Winter

Skiing across Moosehead Lake. Good morning from Maine where the snow flurries are reminding us that winter is still here. Last Sunday we had the coldest day of the year at -17F! It was on that day that I announced that there will be two Practical Ed Tech Summer Camps this year. There will be […]

The Week in Review – Snow and Ice

Good morning from snowy Woodstock, Maine where I’m getting ready for a fun weekend of skiing and ice fishing on Moosehead Lake. As it is a holiday weekend for most of us in the United States I’m sure I won’t be the only person out there. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope that you […]

The Week in Review – A Week in Texas

A Padlet of stories. Good afternoon from Austin, Texas where I’m waiting for a flight home after a great week here in Texas. This week I had the privilege to speak at TCEA and at Texas A&M. The highlight of the week for me was speaking to and working with undergrads at Texas A&M who […]

The Month in Review – January’s Most Popular Posts on Free Technology for Teachers

Good evening from Woodstock, Maine where we had a beautiful sunset on the last day of January, 2016. As I do at the end of every month, I’ve assembled a list of the most popular posts. The list is based on views and shares of posts throughout the previous 30 days. Here are the most […]

The Week in Review – A Week at Home

Good afternoon from sunny Woodstock, Maine where I’ve had a nice week at home with my dog Max. Max was very happy to have me home for the whole week after being on the road the previous two weeks. Next week I’ll be Texas for the TCEA conference and to speak to at Texas A&M. […]

The Week in Review – The BETT Edition

Good evening from London where I’m waiting for my flight home after a nice couple of days at the BETT Show. I spent some time meeting with developers of some neat applications (more about those in future posts) and just walking around to see what was new and interesting. Once again the best part of […]

The Week in Review – Mornings With Max

Good morning from Woodstock, Maine where I am home after a great week at FETC in Orlando. It was long week and a good week of meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. I went to the conference to learn and to record some media for MindRocket Media Group. Much of what I learned […]

The Week in Review – Heading Out

Good morning from snowy Woodstock, Maine where I’m getting ready to spend the majority of the next two weeks on the road. Next week I’ll be at FETC in Orlando, Florida and the following week I’ll be at BETT in London. If you’re going to be at either of those conferences, I would love to […]

The Week, Month, and Year In Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is shining over a crisp winter morning. It finally feels like winter here. I have a special edition of the week-in-review to share before I head out for a few runs on the local ski mountain. This week I took some time off to visit family and friends […]