Free classroom tech, tested by a teacher.
Tech Tools for Teachers brings classroom technology down to the level of weekly planning and classroom survival. Shanna Martin explains free tools, lesson hooks, and student activities while Fuzz Martin adds quick producer-side banter.
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Tech Tools for Teachers is a practical education-technology show centered on free classroom resources and the everyday demands of teaching. Its strongest episodes feel like a colleague opening a browser and showing what is worth trying. Shanna Martin brings the perspective of a middle school teacher, technology and instructional coach. Fuzz Martin adds production support, puns, and quick comic side comments. The result is useful without feeling stiff. Episodes often start from the school calendar: testing season, spring break, March reading events, winter indoor recess, Olympic coverage, or the first snow of the year. Then the conversation turns those moments into classroom possibilities. Chalkie AI is framed through lesson slides, grade-level adjustments, adult learner settings, visuals, objectives, and the need for specific prompting. ACT resources become practice questions, calculator help, subject-area review, and free test-prep access. March Book Madness becomes a way to surface book lists, brackets, student reading, classroom displays, and library participation. Olympic learning stretches into math, science, social studies, ELA debate, geography, athlete bios, videos, and Team USA resources. Bomomo becomes both a creative brain break and a quick way to build simple Google Slides backgrounds. National Geographic Kids offers quizzes, puzzles, animal facts, Weird but True videos, and student-friendly research prompts. Science resources lead to comics, STEM careers, classroom questions, and topic paths through life, humans, earth, space, and tech. Mission US appears as an interactive history tool connected to social studies practice. The show is casual, teacher-shaped, and concrete. It rarely wanders into abstract edtech commentary when a usable classroom activity is available. It also keeps returning to a responsible note: teachers should check employer regulations before using tools with students. That grounded caution is part of the appeal. Tech Tools for Teachers is best for educators who want free, low-friction ideas that can be adapted quickly, especially in middle-grade and K-12 settings.
Made for: The show is for classroom teachers, instructional coaches, school librarians, and education staff looking for free digital resources that can be used quickly with students. It especially fits educators who want practical ideas tied to the school calendar.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the classroom-first walkthrough: tools are described through actual uses, constraints, and small teacher decisions, not just feature lists. The casual exchange between Shanna Martin and Fuzz Martin keeps the show approachable while staying focused on usable resources.
The Tech Tools for Teachers Podcast is hosted by Shanna Martin, an instructional and technology coach focused on helping you find and understand free educational technology tools that you can use in your classroom. Free resources are available at smartinwi.com. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
A Padlet pine-tree debate materializes while your lesson plan is still clearing its throat.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A milestone episode that still delivers practical, classroom-ready Padlet ideas.
Episode 200 gives Tech Tools for Teachers a clear milestone and lets that anniversary do real work. Shanna Martin and Fuzz Martin nod to the show's kitchen-counter start and the rougher setup of those early days, which helps the celebration feel grounded rather than ceremonial.
A Denali walkthrough shows how a National Park Service site can support research, science, and classroom exploration.
The episode uses Denali to show how a National Park Service site can become a useful research base for students. Shannon Martin moves through news releases, photo galleries, history and culture, wildlife, geology, glacier materials, maps, and further sources, making a clear case…
Classroom practice, school change, and AI with purpose.
Media literacy, tested against real feeds.
Business stories with practical connective tissue.
Edtech talk with classroom sense and snacks.
Classroom tech, explained teacher to teacher.
Campus AV talk from the people maintaining it.
Shanna and Fuzz Martin introduce Chalkie AI, a tool for creating teacher-friendly lessons quickly, on the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast.
Shanna Martin shares three free online tools to help students prepare for standardized tests like the ACT and SAT during testing season.
The hosts announce a pause after eight seasons of the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast, then discuss March Book Madness brackets.
Shanna Martin discusses how her middle school team integrates Olympic-themed activities across subjects and shares resources for teachers.
Shanna and Fuzz Martin discuss creative brain break activities for students during cold winter days when indoor recess is necessary.
Shanna and Fuzz Martin discuss two free science websites with resources for teachers to engage students in science.
Shanna and Fuzz Martin introduce the podcast and discuss using the free interactive history game Mission US from PBS in the classroom.
Shanna Martin, a middle school teacher and technology coach, celebrates the 200th episode of Tech Tools for Teachers by re-reviewing Padlet and Google Keep, the two tools she featured in her very first episode six years earlier.
Tech Tools for Teachers host Shannon Martin and producer Fuzz Martin examine NPS.gov as a classroom resource from the U.S.
The hosts wrap up season six of the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast with a lighthearted discussion about Google Experiments to try over summer break.