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 […]

Finding Primary Sources in the World Digital Library

The World Digital Library is a resource that I started using back in 2009. At that time it was just a small collection of about 1,200 digitized primary source artifacts from libraries around the world. Today, the World Digital Library hosts more than 19,000 digitized primary source artifacts to view and download. As you’ll see […]

How to Check the Accessibility of Your Google Slides

Yesterday afternoon I saw someone on Twitter ask if there is a way to evaluate the accessibility of a slide presentation. My answer was to try Grackle Slides. Grackle Slides is a Google Slides add-on that will evaluate the accessibility of your presentation and give you suggestions on how to improve the accessibility of your […]

Alternatives to Google Forms

Earlier this week I answered an email from a reader who was looking for a way to collect “check-in” information from students but didn’t want to use Google Forms. Here are the alternatives to Google Forms that I suggested she try. JotForm JotForm is a good tool for creating fillable PDFs and online forms for things […]

Using DocsTeach to Create Online Lessons – Free Webinar Next Week

DocsTeach is a favorite resource of mine for U.S. History teachers and students. I used it and it’s predecessor fairly regularly when I was teaching U.S. History. DocsTeach provides an online space where you can create primary source based lessons for your students to complete online or offline. Last fall I published a detailed tutorial […]

Five Things I’m Excited About for the New School Year

Yesterday morning I wrote about how I’m preparing for the worst for the new school year and my nervousness about the start of the school year. To balance that post, I think it’s a good idea to think about and share what I am looking forward to about the start of the new school year. […]

Phidgets – A Fun, Free, Hands-on Way to Learn Python, Java, and More

Disclosure: Phidgets is an advertiser on this blog. As the new school year approaches Phidgets is one new thing that I’m excited to use with my students. Phidgets provide a fun, hands-on way for students to learn to program in Python, Java, C#, and Swift. If you’re not a computer science teacher, don’t skip over […]

How to Clear Your Chrome Browser History and Stored Passwords

On a fairly regular basis I get emails from teachers who are disappointed that a website I demonstrated in a video or wrote about in a blog post doesn’t work for them. Sometimes the trouble is with the website, but often the trouble is on your end. After you’ve tried the steps I outlined in […]

Preparing for the Worst With Zoom, Dual Monitors, Microphones, and More

In the last couple of weeks I’ve received a bunch of emails and Tweets from people who are panicking about going back to school and having to simultaneously teach students in their classrooms while also live-streaming and or recording their lessons for students who are staying home. I think it is completely unrealistic to expect […]

How to Make a Digital Bookshelf in Google Slides

This summer I’ve had more requests for book recommendations than I ever have in the nearly thirteen year history of this blog. I’ve also had a ton of requests for help making things like digital choice boards. So to address both of those requests I made the following video in which I demonstrate how to […]