Author: Jacqui
Subscriber Special: Lots of Coding Resources
Every month, subscribers to our newsletter get a free/discounted resource to help their tech teaching.
December 14-18th
Buy the K-8 curriculum; get the 55-page Hour of Code bundle for free
Perfect if you’re doing Hour of Code in December.
What’s in the Hour of Code bundle?
30 K-8 coding activities, organized by grade
138 images
aligned with ISTE and Common Core
lots of options to differentiate for student needs
Questions? Ask Jacqui Murray at askatechteacher at gmail dot com.
How do you get your free book: Email your receipt to us at askatechteacher at gmail dot com. We’ll verify and then send you the PDF bundle.
Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
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How to Backup and Image Your Computer

This week, I’ll post updated suggestions to get your computers and technology ready for the blitz of projects you’ll swear to accomplish in New Year resolutions. Here’s what you’ll get (links won’t be active until the post goes live):
- 12 Ways to Update Your Online Identity— December 11th
- 8+ Ways to a Speedier Computer — December 12th
- Backup and Image your computer — December 13th (today)
Regular readers of Ask a Tech Teacher know these are updated each December. New readers: Consider these body armor in the tech battle so you can jubilantly overcome rather than dramatically succumb. If you also read WordDreams, these are also posted there with some adaptations to writers.

Today: Backup and Image Your Computer
Two maintenance tasks lots of people skip are:
-
- back up your documents
- image your computer
Backup Data Files
Every teacher I know has lost critical work because they didn’t back up on a regular basis. There’s no reason for that. Backing up is easy, fairly quick, and usually free. For details on backing up your computer, check out LifeHacker, PC World, and Windows online help.
Image your computer
When you image your computer, you take a picture of what your hard drive looks like, including all the programs and extras, and save in a secure backup area. If malware blows up your computer or ransomware locks you out, all you have to do is re-install from the image.
I use @acronis. It creates an image on the schedule I set up. It’ll even image drives that are plugged in (like my USB drive).
Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.
–image credit: Deposit Photos
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8+ Ways to Speed Up Your Computer

This week, I’ll post updated suggestions to get your computers and technology ready for the blitz of projects you’ll swear to accomplish in New Year resolutions. Here’s what you’ll get (links won’t be active until the post goes live):
- 12 Ways to Update Your Online Identity— December 11th
- 8+ Ways to a Speedier Computer — December 12th (today)
- Backup and Image your computer — December 13th
Regular readers of Ask a Tech Teacher know these are updated each December. New readers: Consider these body armor in the tech battle so you can jubilantly overcome rather than dramatically succumb. If you also read WordDreams, these are also posted there with some adaptations to writers.

8+ Ways to Speed Up Your Computer
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12 Ways to Update Your Online Presence

This week, I’ll post updated suggestions to get your computers and technology ready for the blitz of projects you’ll accomplish in the New Year. Here’s what you’ll get (links won’t be active until the post goes live):
- 12 Ways to Update Your Online Presence— December 11th (today)
- 8+ Ways to a Speedier Computer — December 12th
- Backup and Image your computer — December 13th
Regular readers of Ask a Tech Teacher know these are updated each December. New readers: Consider these body armor in the tech battle so you can jubilantly overcome rather than dramatically succumb. If you also read WordDreams, these are also posted there with some adaptations to writers.

Today: 12 Ways to Update Your Online Presence
For most teachers I know, life zooms by, filled with students, parents, meetings, grades, reports, reviews, and thinking. There are few breaks to update/fix/maintain the tech tools that allow us to pursue our trade.
That includes our online presence. But, if they aren’t updated, we are left wondering why our blog doesn’t attract visitors, why our social media Tweeple don’t generate activity, and why we aren’t being contacted for networking. Here’s a short list of items that won’t take long to accomplish. The ones you read last year, consider a reminder!
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5 Unplugged Hour of Code Activities
Over the next weeks, I’ll share ideas that will get you ready for Hour of Code. This includes (links are live on publication day):
- An Overview of This Week — Dec. 5, 2023
- Long list of websites by grade — Dec. 6, 2023
- 9 Unusual Projects— Dec. 7, 2023
- 5 Unplugged Hour of Code Activities — (this post) Dec. 8, 2023
***
These unplugged activities go back to the roots of coding. The idea started as a clever way to teach students to think critically and problem-solve, show them that deep thinking was fun and problem-solving exhilarating.
I happen to agree. Some of my most gratifying moments are when I accomplish the impossible, unravel a Mobius Strip-like problem, or force myself to do what I’ve never before done. Hour of Code does that every year for oh-so-many students. But here’s my issue: Too often, kids forget that the goal is to practice critical thinking and problem solving, not pursue a career in programming.
Let’s reinforce that goal by stepping away from the digital device, recognize that critical thinking and problem-solving apply to any part of life, even without a computer, iPad, or smartphone in hand. All kids need is their brain which happily, every child carries with them.
Here are some of my favorite unplugged activities:
Crazy Circuits With Squishy Circuits
Ages: MS
I admit, when I first received this kit, I didn’t get the name–Crazy Circuits with Squishy Circuits. I couldn’t get my brain around all those words until I unwrapped the box and pulled the parts out. Then I got it: This had a ton of promise. If you’ve ever made Play Dough at home or in science class and used it as conductors and insulators–that’s the squishy part. When you poke circuits that light up or run motors or a bunch of other stuff into the dough–that’s the crazy part. With this relatively inexpensive kit, a wide age range of students learn about seemingly complicated topics such as insulators, conductors, resistance, and parallel and series circuits.
This is ready to go out of the box which means no soldering required.
The Crazy Circuits With Squishy Circuits kit includes six containers of colored squishy dough–some conductive and some insulating–and a variety of Crazy Circuits Chips. You don’t have to make anything or buy anything else. Detailed directions, project guides, educational resources, and videos can be found online in the Ward’s Science database. Crazy Circuits are compatible with LEGO™ and similar brick building systems.
If you’re wondering how squishy dough can conduct electricity, watch this 4-minute TED Talk. Though the video shows how to make the dough, you don’t have to do that. Ward’s Science sends it as part of the kit. You just attach the circuits, motors, and conductors, and let your creativity flow:
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9 Unusual Hour of Code Projects
Over the next weeks, I’ll share ideas that will get you ready for Hour of Code. This includes (links are live on publication day):
- An Overview of This Week — Dec. 5, 2023
- Coding activities by grade — Dec. 6, 2023
- 9 Unusual Projects— (this post) Dec. 7, 2023
- 5 Unplugged Hour of Code Activities — Dec. 8, 2023
***
Coding–that geeky subject that confounds students and frightens teachers. Yet, kids who can code are better at logical thinking and problem solving, more independent and self-assured, and more likely to find a job when they graduate.
If you’re participating in the annual Hour Of Code but want something different this year, here are a collection of unusual projects (each, about one hour in length) you can use:
- Alt Codes
- Animation
- Human algorithm
- IFTTT
- Macros
- Pixel art
- QR codes
- Shortkeys
- Wolfram Alpha widgets
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Coding Activities by Grade
Over the next weeks, I’ll share ideas that will get you ready for Hour of Code. This includes (links are live on publication day):
- An Overview of This Week — Dec. 5, 2023
- Coding activities by grade — (this post) Dec. 6, 2023
- 9 Unusual Projects— Dec. 7, 2023
- 5 Unplugged Hour of Code Activities — Dec. 8, 2023
This is a long list of online activities related to coding and programming. It is updated once a year so I apologize in advance for any dead links. At any time during the year, click to take you to the master list:
Program on computers, iPads, laptops–whatever works, whatever age. I’ll start this list with web-based options, by grade level (click the grade you teach) and then continue with a mash-up:
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Hour of Code–Overview
Traditionally, the hugely-popular Hour of code has been celebrated one week in December, but now, you can participate any time you want. This year so far:
1,706,394,983 hours
in 180+ countries.
at 8,620 events
What is it
Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to students on coding, programming, and why they should love it, designed to demystify that geeky subject that confounds students and teachers alike and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, and an innovator.
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Teacher-Authors: What’s Happening on my Writer’s Blog
A lot of teacher-authors read my WordDreams blog. In this monthly column, I share a popular post that writer readers enjoyed:
For those reading this article who are either established authors, in-training, or anything in between, you probably have already figured out that the learning curve to become a writer is steep and endless. I’ve read a ton of how-to books, attended more than my share of conferences, and meet with fellow writers twice a month to discuss our passion. In each of these situations, no matter how often I attend, I learn something new. So it is no surprise that I also find epiphanies in social media. Some streams offer one person’s insight that addresses a chronic problem I also have. Others answer questions I couldn’t put into words enough to get an answer from anyone else.
Tips
Here are some of the best writing tips I’ve gathered on social media in the past year:
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14 Apps and 2 Projects for Thanksgiving
Need a few websites and apps to fill in sponge time? Here are Thanksgiving websites that will keep students busy and still teach them:
- Berenstein Bears Give Thanks (app)
- Canadian Thanksgiving
- Online/Offline Thanksgiving activities
- Plimoth Plantation–a field trip of a Pilgrim’s life. Included on this real-life site is a video of the Pilgrim’s crossing to the New World.
- Thanksgiving edu-websites–CybraryMan
- Thanksgiving Games
- Thanksgiving games and puzzles
- Thanksgiving games–Quia
- Thanksgiving Lesson Plans
- Thanksgiving Wordsearch
- Turkey Templates — activities in Google Slides
If you’re an iPad school, try one of these:
- Berenstein Bears Give Thanks
- Primary Games–games, coloring books, more
- Thanksgiving coloring book
If you’re looking for projects, you’ll find two on Ask a Tech Teacher:
For more, click here:
- Thanksgiving ASCII Art
- Comics
- Countdown Clock for the Holiday
- Team Challenge
- Thanksgiving Poll
Here’s a gallery of some of the Thanksgiving/Holiday projects: