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Most blogs have at least two methods of subscribing to updates; RSS and email. Subscribing via RSS through a reader app like Feedly or Flipboard will put the latest updates on that app in near real-time. In both of those RSS reader apps you can create categories of feeds from your favorite blogs and read them all in one place. Feedly and Flipboard don't display advertising next to articles while you're reading. Subscribing via email will send you an email when new content is posted on a blog. In many cases you can read the full blog entry without leaving your email client. The emails from Free Technology for Teachers come out once a day and include all of the posts from the previous 24 hour period. In the emails that come from this blog, advertising has been removed too (there was a small glitch with that earlier this week, but it have been fixed).

If your school uses Google Apps for Education, when you have students take quizzes that you've created through Google Forms, have your students sign into their accounts before taking the quiz. That way you will capture their email addresses and be able to quickly email grades to them after you have run the Flubaroo script to grade the quiz. If your school doesn't use Google Apps for Education you can still require email addresses by making "email address" a required question on the quizzes you create in Google Forms.

Stipple is a new service that allows you to create interactive images. The service launched in closed beta during the summer. Since the summer Stipple has left beta and has added a free iPhone app for creating interactive images on the go. Using Stipple you can upload an image and tag it with pinmarks. Within each pinmark you can include videos, links, text, audio files, and more images. Stipple also gives you the option to track where your images are viewed and shared by others. The video below provides an overview of Stipple's features.

Here's how it works; students sign-up on Study Boost and link their favorite IM service or SMS (mobile number) to their Study Boost accounts. Then students create batches of questions or find batches of questions made by others. After creating and or selecting batches of questions students "activate" those questions. Activating a batch of questions means that those questions will be sent via IM or SMS at intervals specified by the student. Students answer the questions and get feedback via IM or SMS.

Study Boost could be a good service for students to use to study on the go. Using Study Boost students traveling for club or sports activities need to only take their mobile devices with them study. As a teacher you can register and submit batches of questions that your students can study. Or students can create their own sets of questions to study.

offers an easy way for teachers to create Jeopardy-style review games. Unlike similar tools you do not have to download or upload any PowerPoint files to use eQuizShow. On eQuizShow you can build and display your quiz completely online. To build your quiz just enter a title, an administrative password, and your question categories. eQuizShow will then generate a grid on which you can enter questions and answers.

If you don't have time to build a quiz or you just need some inspiration, browse the eQuizShow gallery. When you play the games you have the option to assign points to up to six teams playing the game. You can also play without awarding points.

A growing body of research shows that play is fundamental to kids' development by promoting social interaction, exploration and creativity. There are no recent national studies or fresh numbers on recess time, but 2005 data from the Education Department survey and a 2006 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that about 9 in 10 elementary schools regularly schedule recess, with times ranging from 24 to 30 minutes a day.

School districts that are cutting back on recess or physical education to save money or add instruction time should think twice, Goodman says. "It's penny wise and pound foolish to cut back recess and put in academic time. Because, in the end, the kids won't be prepared for academic time.

Give each group two plastic cups, one green and one red, and advise students to keep one inside the other in the center of their table (or adjoining desks), with the red cup on the outside when a group needs your help and the green on the outside when it doesn't. I love this idea for a few reasons. First, it lets teachers see from anywhere in the room which groups need help at any given time. Second, it's a concrete way to uphold a key to promoting independent and interdependent learning: only helping students if they've exhausted all other available resources including each other.

Best of all, the cups help students develop important non-cognitive (or character) traits/skills such as self-determination and collaboration. At first, for example, some students are quicker than others to give up and reach for a red cup. But more often than not, one (or more) of their fellow group members will protest: "Hey, change that back to green." Over time, this I'm-not-ready-to-give-up-and-ask-the-teacher mentality becomes contagious, and students are more persistent. They're also more motivated to reach out to each other for help. Who would have thought a couple of plastic cups could inspire such tenacity and teamwork?

I was recently approached by a male senior swimmer ‘G’ who wanted help preparing for competition, because he was experiencing issues with anxiety and confidence, and losing time from starting the race feeling tense. The senior Nationals were around 6 weeks away and he wanted some help preparing for the event and races beyond.

It became apparent that there were a number of different phases during the run-up to the race that were presenting different challenges, with the effect that by the time G stood on the blocks his mind was full of doubt. We talked through the thoughts and feelings that he experienced in these, slowing things down. Some of the literature relating to pre-competitive anxiety appears to imply quite a static pre-competitive state (or something that changes with time), a swim meet is a very dynamic environment with different challenges, as you will see

hese phases were: A positive phase, in which he enjoyed being with team-mates and, indeed, being in the heart of the team. This kept his mind off competing. Physical warm up, and last words with his coach. Again, G was happy with this stage and felt relaxed and confident. Getting changed and ready to report for his race. During this phase, G started to feel rushed and out of control, even though he recognised on a rational level that he had plenty of time. Being in the holding pen. During this phase, of about 20 minutes ‘waiting time’ before between reporting and being summoned to race, G’s feelings of being out of control increased. He described being ‘imposed upon’, feeling ‘penned in’ and ‘intimidated’ by the presence of other swimmers. He questioned his right to be there. Walking to the blocks. Upon being called to race, G again described feeling rushed but, paradoxically, described the ‘long walk’ to the other end of the pool (for a 50m race). Behind the blocks to starting the race. By this point G felt out of control, anxious and again rushed as he undressed to race. As he stood by his block, his loss of confidence was summed up by his description of looking up seeing a very long 50m ahead of him.