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 going to be a typical northern New England mix of clouds, drizzle, and a large temperature swing during the day. It should be fun! I hope that you have something fun planned for your weekend as well. 

Before I head out on my bike 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's something new or interesting that you missed during the week. 

These were the week's most popular posts:
1. Get Your Free Copy of The Practical Ed Tech Handbook
2. Transcribing Early Copyright Applications
3. The Science of Cake! - And 83 Other Food Science Lessons
4. Ten Skills Students Can Learn from Google's Applied Digital Skills Lessons
5. Five Genius Hour Activities With Tract - Students Teaching Students
6. Taskade - A Complete Project Planning Solution for Teachers and Students
7. What Does Indigenous Mean? - And Why Some States No Longer Celebrate Columbus Day

Thank you for your support!
Your registrations in Practical Ed Tech courses (listed below) help me keep Free Technology for Teachers going.

A big thank you also goes to the companies whose advertising helps keep the lights on.

• Screencastify
• Breakout EDU
• Tract.app
• Make Beliefs Comix
• Taskade
• Spaces

On-demand Professional Development

• Search Strategies Students Need to Know
• A Crash Course in Making & Teaching With Video
• A Crash Course in Google Earth & Maps for Social Studies

Other Places to Follow Me:

• The Practical Ed Tech Newsletter comes out every Sunday evening/ Monday morning. It features my favorite tip of the week and the week's most popular posts from Free Technology for Teachers.
• My YouTube channel has more than 38,000 subscribers watching my short tutorial videos on a wide array of educational technology tools. 
• I've been Tweeting as @rmbyrne for fourteen years. 
• The Free Technology for Teachers Facebook page features new and old posts from this blog throughout the week. 
• If you're curious about my life outside of education, you can follow me on Instagram or Strava.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin and WayBetterSite. Featured image captured by Richard Byrne.

Gary Paulsen Talks About Reading and Writing

Gary Paulsen's book, Hatchet was the first book that I willingly and eagerly read from cover to cover when I was in elementary school. It filled my suburban child mind with great thoughts of adventure and a little virtual escape at a time when my own parents were going through divorce. The book meant and still means a lot to me. That's why I was sad to learn of Gary Paulsen's passing earlier this week.

After learning of Gary Paulsen's death I went looking for more stories about him. In doing so I came across this nice video produced by Random House Kids. The short video was released in 2010 and it features some poignant moments of Mr. Paulsen talking about his life and his work. Librarians may be especially pleased to hear him talk about how he was inspired to read. 

If you enjoyed Gary Paulsen's books the way that I did, spend a few minutes watching the video. I think you'll like it. 

Self-Paced Professional Development

The primary means through which I am able to keep Free Technology for Teachers going is through consulting and speaking engagements along with the sales of my live and on-demand Practical Ed Tech courses. 

The latest addition to my catalog of on-demand courses was made last month when I released Search Strategies Students Need to Know. The courses that I offer are a Crash Course in Google Earth and Maps for Social Studies and A Crash Course in Making and Teaching With Video. 

All three of these courses are completely self-paced. Each course contains six to ten modules that will take you sixty to ninety minutes to complete from start to finish. Of course, as you go through the courses you can go back and review any and all of the modules as often as you like. A certificate of completion is provided at the end of each course. 

Group rates for departments and schools are available for all three courses. Just send me an email at richard (at) byrne.media to learn more about group enrollment.