It’s Sunday morning and I’m the only one stirring in the house. I’m working through the inboxes, reading other people’s blogs, and letting my brain turn one thought into eleven ideas. Teachers know what I’m talking about.
I’m Ben. I’m a Technology Integration Specialist and I teach current and future teachers how to use technology at the college level. I’ve been in education for 25 years. I’ve seen a lot of digital tools promise to change everything. Some did. Most didn’t. A few are now very expensive paperweights in a district storage (physical or digital) closet.
Here’s what makes this place different: I’m still in the building. When I write about a tool, I’ve tried it with kids in a classroom. No vendor booth. No think tank. Just a teacher’s notebook.
What you’ll get:
The main feed is all Education: edtech, AI in the classroom, lesson ideas, and honest takes on what’s worth your time. If you subscribed, you’re already getting this one.
Then there are the sidequests. Because I’m a whole person, not just a teacher:
This is BANANAS! Food, snacks, and questionable banana-adjacent culinary decisions.
Poetry: Poems from the margins of a teacher’s notebook.
Photography: What I see when I’m not edteching.
The sidequests are opt-in, so nobody gets a banana cream pie review they didn’t ask for. To choose your adventure, visit learnteachtech.substack.com/account and switch on whatever looks fun.
From the Archive
I’ve been writing since the Blogger days, and the whole back catalog moved here with me. Some of it has aged beautifully. Some of it mentions tools that no longer exist, which is its own kind of history lesson. Every so often I’ll dust off a favorite and share it as From the Archive.
Has the blog moved from Blogger to Weebly to Squarespace to Substack? Yep. And I regret nothing. Times change...
Why this matters to me
Technology in schools is only as good as what it does for the kid in the third row who’s quietly hoping nobody calls on them. That’s the lens for everything I write here. Not just what’s new. What helps.
So mix a hot chocolate, pull up a screen, and stay a while. And if you’re feelin’ it, leave a comment or two!