While I hate bringing work home, it's an inevitable truth.  We all know the struggle: lesson plans that pile up like epic boss battles, grading marathons that stretch into the wee hours, and emails that multiply like pesky side quests. I usually work from my couch and recently received a lap desk from CouchMaster.  This isn't your average, rickety lap desk. It's a premium workstation designed to conquer even the most demanding educational workload. It has cooling ventilation slots to keep your laptop from overheating.  Comfort is key here and the plush cushions keep the l ..read more

Vysor is a program I like because it works with Android and iOS and has wired and wireless options.  Of course, what I like most is that there is a free option.  You are limited to the wired option in the free version, but I actually like that because it glitches less.  Plus you don't have to worry about the devices being on the same wifi network.  I also like that can use your computer mouse and keyboard to control your phone.  One thing to note is that you have to enable USB debugging on your phone.  Here is a quick article on how to do that.  The free v ..read more

Problem-Attic is a website that provides teachers with a database of questions from state and national assessments to create tests and worksheets.  If you are looking for a bank of question from the NYS Regents, SAT, AP Exams or other state assessments, Problem-Attic might be what you are looking for. The video below will give you a quick overview of what it is all about. This post originally appeared on The Tech Savvy Science Teacher http://techsavvyscience.blogspot.com ..read more

Search Coach is a tool I learned about last year and think it's a tool that everyone should be using.  We use search engines everyday and this tool teaches students how to form efficient search queries and evaluate their results.  What I really like is that the feedback that Search Coach gives you are tips that you can use on any search engine.   The video below gives you a quick overview of what it is.  Microsoft has also created some lessons that you can use with your students.    This post originally appeared on The Tech Savvy Science Teacher http://t ..read more

Creating an email group in Gmail is a great way to easily email a group of people such as students, parents, clumb members, or deparment colleagues.  Here are the steps to create a group (mailing list) in Gmail as of 2023: Navigate to contacts.google.com  Check off the people you want in the group (a checkbox will appear when you hover over it) Click the icon at the top of the page that looks like a tag (it will say "Mange Labels" when you hover over it)  Click "Create label." Type in the name you want to give the group.  I like to add in the school year as I might hav ..read more

Many of us use animations PowerPoint and Google Slides to strategically reveal specific information.  Usually, you would select the textbox or image, click on the animations tab and select the animation you want.  The trouble lies when you want to do something like hiding and revealing part of an image.  I made a quick video to show you the process I use for this.  (TLDR: use a shape to cover the part of the image you want to hide.) As you choose your animations, I have some suggestions.  Don't overdo it; too many animations can be districting.  Along with tha ..read more

I always like looking back to see what posts people read the most.  It gives me a good idea of what things people are interested in.  In 2022 the three posts that were read the most were digital exit tickets, works cited, and google forms feedback. Here's a brief summary of each and a link to read the whole post. Digital Exit Tickets: 4 Ways to use digital exit tickets in your classroom Creating an Easy Works Cited Page: 3 ways to create a works cited page Individual Student Feedback: How to give individual feedback to students using Google Forms This post originally appeared on ..read more

If you are looking to make a screen recording, there are so many free programs about there that you can use.  Here are my top five.  They are roughly in order of my favorites (it's hard to pick a favorite!)  I've listed some features of each and will include links to more in depth tutorials on each. Let me know what your tool of choice is.  Loom web based and downloadable program freemium (teachers can get the premium version for free) camera and screen options option to highlight cursor and annotate the screen Screencastify web based (extension for Chrome or Ed ..read more

 I know not everyone loves Excel or Google Sheets as much as I do, but it's something that we use often.  Knowing these basic formulas will help you out and save you time as you do some basic analysis.  This post originally appeared on The Tech Savvy Science Teacher http://techsavvyscience.blogspot.com ..read more

OrangeSlice is a rubric extension for Google Docs that comes in two parts: a teacher rubric and a student rubric.  The teacher rubric works to provide grades and/or feedback to students.  The student rubric can be used for self or peer review. There are three types of rubrics: holistic, competency and analysis.  A holistic rubric gives the student an average of their performance across all categories you set up.  Competency rubrics gives the student a score based on their weakest category.  An analysis rubric is the one we most think of when thinking of rubrics and ..read more