Calm – Meditation and Mindfulness Made Easy Previously named App of the Year by Apple, Calm is the most-popular app for meditation and mindfulness. Their guided meditations are the perfect introduction to mindfulness. Their Nature Melodies, Soundscapes, and Focus music tracks provide great background sound in many classroom settings. It’s available on iOS, Android, or… Read more
P.D. on the Potty – Professional Development as You Find Relief I’m always looking for new professional development strategies that respect teachers’ busy schedules and provide tools, tips, tricks, and strategies that teachers can implement right away Anyone who has spent any time in a school knows that on most days teachers barely have time… Read more
Save Time: Search Any Site Directly from the Chrome Address Bar Searching Google directly from the address bar of your browser is something most of us take for granted. Gone are the days of having to go to Google.com before entering your search. Chrome’s address bar, or “omnibox,” performs a Google search for terms entered;… Read more
Write a Letter to Your Future Self – Write Today, Receive an Email in the Future When I was in the fourth grade, Mrs. Mahoney had us write letters to our future selves and seal them in envelopes. We were supposed to open them upon graduating from high school. My parents came across mine while… Read more
13 Awesome Random List Generators for Teachers It might not transform learning, but a good random list generator is a tool that every teacher should have readily available. Generate a list of random, everyday objects to create writing prompts. Make a random list of animals to research or write about. Need a way of assigning… Read more
How to Make Any Web Page an Interactive Lesson InsertLearning InsertLearning provides teachers with an easy way to transform web pages into interactive lessons. It can be used in any subject and at any age, from having emerging readers highlight words they recognize in text, to students documenting progress by recording themselves reading aloud, to… Read more
The Top 5 Podcasts for Teachers Podcasts for Teachers I always say it’s a great time to be a teacher. New technologies are constantly changing what is possible in the classroom, the skills our students need to be successful are changing at an increasing rate, and we no longer need to teach in isolation. The… Read more
Supercharge Your Digital Whiteboard: How to Put 10 Essential Classroom Tools at Your Fingertips ClassroomScreen ClassroomScreen is a site that puts more than ten frequently used teacher tools in one place. Just set your home screen to ClassroomScreen.com for one-click access to a digital whiteboard, random name picker, classroom timer, noise level monitor, QR code generator, and… Read more
Pineapple Charts: Peer Observation That Actually Works Pineapple Professional Learning Opportunities Perhaps the greatest professional learning resource I have is my global PLN. Thanks to Twitter and a variety of other digital networks, I’m able to get innovative ideas from teachers all over the globe. With so many great ways to connect with teachers everywhere,… Read more
A Must-Have Chrome Extension for Any Book Lover – Library Extension In a world of online shopping, it’s arguably more convenient to buy a book online from Amazon Prime than to swing by your local library. These days many of us opt for buying a book online even though most libraries offer the ability to search,… Read more
