11 Search Tips and Tools for Teachers and Students
As some of you have noticed, I wrote quite a bit about search tools and search strategies in July and early August. What you saw in those posts were excerpts from two projects that I’ve been working on. The first was The Practical Ed Tech Handbook (available to subscribers to my newsletter). The second is […]
Five Ideas for Using Google Jamboard This Fall
A couple of weeks ago I published an excerpt from The Practical Ed Tech Handbook. That excerpt mentioned a couple of ways to use Google Jamboard in online and in-person classroom settings. This morning I had a reader reach out to me to ask if I had any other suggestions that she could pass along […]
Three Short Lessons About Labor Day
Next Monday is Labor Day in the U.S. For most of us it is a three day weekend. It is the traditional “end of summer” in the minds of many of us. If you’re planning to answer questions about Labor Day or teach any lessons about it, here are some short videos to add to […]
Five Ways to Use Comics in Your Classroom This Fall
Disclosure: Make Beliefs Comix is a new advertiser on this site. Creating comics is one of my favorite creativity exercises.When I was a kid I loved flipping through books of Peanuts comics. Unfortunately, I could never draw as well as Charles Schultz. Today, thanks to tools like Make Beliefs Comix, you don’t have to be […]
Three Good Places to Find Current Events Stories for Students
Last week I wrote about using the BBC’s Week in Pictures as a source of current events discussion starters. Following up on that idea, here are some other good places to find current events stories written for kids. For many years CNN Student News was one of my go-to resources when I was teaching current […]
Exploring Newspapers Through Maps
When I included current events as a regular part of my social studies classes I would always show a map of where a story takes place. The following websites can provide students with a geographic connection to current and historical news stories. Newspaper Map is a neat tool for locating and reading newspapers from locations all […]
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 […]
A Few Good Places to Find Ideas for Icebreakers
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about using Google Drawings as part of an icebreaker activity. But if you’re looking for something a little quicker and easier to do to get your new students talking, take a look a the following resources. If you’ve run through all of your common icebreaker questions and want […]
7 Tools for Teaching Programming
This is an excerpt from the 2021-22 version of The Practical Ed Tech Handbook. Two weeks ago a copy was sent to everyone who is subscribed to my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter. If you’re not subscribed, you can do so here. For some of us of a certain age, Logo was our introduction to computers […]
Five Benefits of Conducting Mind Mapping Activities
On Wednesday morning I published a long list of tools that students can use to create mind maps, concept maps, and flowcharts. What I didn’t include in that blog post was a description of the differences between the those three things. I also didn’t outline the benefits of mind mapping that students can experience. The […]
