On a fairly regular basis I get comments on the Free Technology for Teachers Facebook page and in my email that read something like this, “do you guys have anything about X?” or “can someone on your team help me with X?” My answer is usually, “yes, I can help you.” You see, the Free Technology for Teachers “team” is just me and one college student who helps me out for a few hours a week (and she’s a relatively recent addition to my team).

I started this blog ten years ago this November. It was started with one simple purpose. That purpose was and still is to help teachers find and use free technology tools. When I started this blog in 2007 I was focused mostly on open source software and emerging Web 2.0 tools. iPads, Android tablets, and Chromebooks were still a few years away. Netbooks running stripped-down versions of XP, Vista, or some custom Linux installation were everywhere! As new hardware and new operating systems emerged, I started to include blog posts about free apps that ran on those platforms. Many of those free apps and websites have come and gone, but there are some that have lasted all ten years that I have been blogging. I’ll be featuring all of those in new series called Built to Last.

Somewhere along the way this little hobby blog became a part-time job and then a full-time job. That happened thanks to so many of you who shared my blog posts, subscribed to the blog in various ways, invited me to speak at your conferences, and invited me into your schools. Advertisements on the blog help to keep it running, (my costs just for email management are more than my car payment) but it is the workshops and webinars that make it possible for me bring quality resource to you every day of the year. So as you think about your professional development needs, please keep me in mind and I will be happy to help you. My speaking page has more details about my keynotes, workshops, and webinars.