The Week in Review - The Most Popular Posts

Good morning from Woodstock, Maine where after a week of rain we now have a perfect autumn day. Before I hit the trail with my dogs, I have this week's week in review to share . This week I spent some time learning with Chris Brogan. I came away with some great ideas about how I can better serve and support the needs of those of you who turn to me for ideas and assistance. By the way, you can always email me at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com.


Here are the most popular posts of the week:
1. PhotoMath Could Change the Way We Think About Teaching Math
2. Create a Word Cloud Within Your Google Documents
3. How to Search Twitter for Educational Content
4. Try the New Add-ons for Google Forms
5. An Often Untapped Source of Digital Devices for Classrooms
6. PicMonkey + Thinglink = Interactive Collages
7. Organize Your Thoughts With Google Keep

Would you like to have me speak at your school or conference? Click here to learn about my keynote and workshop offerings. 

Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.
Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.
IXL offers a huge assortment of mathematics lesson activities.
Typing Club offers free typing lessons for students.
Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.
MasteryConnect provides a network for teachers to share and discover Common Core assessments.
The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.
Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.
EdTechTeacher is offers professional development workshops in Boston, Chicago, and Atlanta.
StoryBoard That is a great tool for creating comics and more.
BoomWriter and WordWriter are fantastic tools that help students develop their writing skills.

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How to Enable and Set Limits on Your Google Forms

Earlier this week Google launched Add-ons for Google Forms. One of my favorite Add-ons is FormLimiter. FormLimiter allows you to set a time for a form to automatically stop accepting responses. You can also use FormLimiter to set a limit on number of responses a form will accept. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to enable and set limits on Google Forms.

Turn Your Halloween Stories Into Halloween Cards on Storyboard That

Earlier this week on the FreeTech4Teachers Facebook page I shared a list of sites and apps that have a Halloween theme. This week Storyboard That released a Halloween resource too.

On Storyboard That you can now turn your storyboards into Halloween cards. In the Storyboard That creator you can use the myths and mystical scenes and characters to create your Halloween story. Once your storyboard is saved you can choose to print it with Halloween borders. The print-out includes lines for cutting and folding your cards.

In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to create Halloween cards on Storyboard That.


Applications for Education
Creating Halloween stories on Storyboard That could be a fun way for students to get students interested in a creative writing assignment. Printing those stories as Halloween cards offers a nice way for students to show their parents their creative stories.

Disclosure: Storyboard That is an advertiser on FreeTech4Teachersc.com

A Handy Sheet of Google Search Modifiers

Back in August I shared an infographic featuring search strategies that every student can use. Yesterday, Vicki Davis posted a great companion to that infographic. Vicki shared this Google Search Modifiers Poster (link opens a PDF). Many of the modifiers featured in the poster can also be used by opening the advanced search menu in Google and making search choices.  

Applications for Education
The infographic and the search modifiers poster together make a good set of reminders for students. Print them out and post them in your library, computer lab, or classroom.

Your Life On Earth - How the World Has Changed In Your Lifetime

Your Life On Earth is a feature of the BBC's Earth website. Your Life On Earth shows you how the world has changed during your lifetime. Enter your birthdate and Your Life On Earth will show you things like how much the world's population has grown, how many new species have been discovered, and how many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have occurred since you were born.

Applications for Education
Like Larry Ferlazzo wrote, I think that kids will enjoy seeing how much the world can change in a period of time that they can easily relate to. After using Your Life On Earth to see how many new species have been discovered in their lifetimes, have your students pick a species to research and share with their classmates.

If you're nervous about entering your birthdate into the site, do what I did and just select your birth year and enter a fake month and day.