National Handwriting Day is celebrated on January 23rd. It is a day dedicated to encouraging people to embrace the art of writing by hand. This day was established to honor the birthday of John Hancock, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, known for his prominent and stylish signature on the Declaration of Independence. Handwriting is considered a personal and unique form of expression, and National Handwriting Day aims to celebrate and preserve this traditional skill.

Articles on handwriting from Ask a Tech Teacher you might enjoy:

Check these out:

Is Handwriting So Last Generation

Is Handwriting So Last Generation–Redux

How to Create a Handwriting Workbook to Help Improve Penmanship

Handwriting vs. Keyboarding–from a Student’s Perspective

When is Typing Faster Than Handwriting? (more…)

Tech Tips for Writers is a (occasionally) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.

Q: I’m writing a very (very) important paper and all of a sudden, the screen froze. I can’t save it, or anything else. What do I do?

A: Programs do freeze for no reason sometimes, but not often (I’m assuming you take care of your computer–defrag, don’t download with abandon, update it occasionally). Before you declare a dog-ate-my-homework sort of catastrophe, try this:

• Check your desktop for an open dialogue box and close it. You might have to answer its question first.
• Push escape four times. You might have inadvertently got yourself into something you don’t even know you’re in. Escape often lives up to its name.
• Click your program on the taskbar. You might have gotten out of it by accident.

(more…)

Here are some Winter activities to share the joy of winter (click for updates on this list):

1. 5 Videos to teach about winter
2. Winter Facts and Worksheets
3. The Winter Solstice, from PBS–a video for youngers
4. Winter Vocabulary–a video
5. What is a Solstice, from National Geographic–a video
6. What is the Winter Season–a video
7. Winter Coloring Pages, Printables, and more
8. Winter Games–digital

(more…)

One of the most popular applications of math is through spreadsheets (like Excel) that make those numbers relevant to everyday life. We’re going to provide a series of lessons on spreadsheet basics you can use in your K-8 classroom. Here are some of the topics we’ll cover (not all links live yet):

1. #74: Mastering Excel (for Beginners)
2. #71: Beginning Graphs in MS Excel
3. #70: Create a Timecard in Excel for Grade Two and Up
4. #73: How to Graph in Excel
5. #12: Create Simple Shapes in Excel
6. #75: Tessellations in Excel
7. #72: How to Check Your Math in Excel
8. How to Use Excel to Teach Math Arrays
9. #62: Email from Word (Or PowerPoint or Excel)
10. #79: Excel Turns Data Into Information

Today

#75: Tessellations in Excel

–from 55 Technology Projects for the Digital Classroom.  (more…)

In honor of Martin Luther King:

MLK Day in the US is the third Monday of January, this year, January 19, 2026

Ask a Tech Teacher’s 19-page two-lesson plan bundle to support your teaching of Martin Luther King (click for more information) is

66% off through Jan. 19, 2026

Lesson plans include:

• • • • an Event Chain of Dr. King’s impact on American history (adaptable to other historical events)
      • interpreting his words with a visual organizer

(more…)

5 Top Benefits of Adolescent Outpatient Programs for Mental Health

Adolescents facing mental health challenges often need consistent support without leaving their normal routines. Outpatient programs make this possible by combining professional care with the flexibility to stay connected to school, family, and friends. These programs help teens receive structured therapy and emotional support while maintaining daily stability at home.

Families often look for treatment options that fit real-life schedules and responsibilities. Outpatient programs meet this need by providing multiple forms of counseling and structured hours of care in a safe environment. This balanced approach encourages healing and growth while keeping the focus on progress and connection. (more…)

A lot of teacher-authors read both my Ask a Tech Teacher education blog and my writer’s blog, WordDreams. In this monthly column, I share a popular post from the past month: 

January 1st is Public Domain Day! This is an observance of when copyrights expire and works enter into the public domain–free for all to use. According to Public Domain Review, here are some of the newly available artistic works you might like a/o January 1, 2026:

The picture above is interactive on the website. If you click it, you enter Public Domain Review’s website and can then explore each of these new sources of inspiration, free to use.

A few recently released that caught my attention:

Copyright ©2026 askatechteacher.com – All rights reserved.

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

“The content presented in this blog are the result of creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

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, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

(more…)

If you subscribe to my blog, you are eligible for specials on tech ed books, lesson plans, tips, and help every month. Here are some of the specials subscribers have received this past year:

• 5 for $25 on tech themed bundles
• Discount on Tech Tips
• Free Posters
• 50% off Sidebar Sponsorship
• Savings on Common Core math lessons
• Holiday project book
• Discount on Back to School Survival Kits

Here are some coming up in future months: (more…)

January marks Braille Literacy Month (January 4th is Braille Day) and a remarkable milestone: 200 years since Louis Braille developed his revolutionary code that continues to impact lives today. In 1824, at just 15 years old, Louis Braille created a tactile code that would open new worlds of literacy and learning.

Braille uses 63 combinations of raised dots to represent letters, numbers, punctuation, and contractions. Each cell has two columns of three dots. The left column is numbered 1, 2, 3 from top to bottom, and the right column is numbered 4, 5, 6. Each dot has a unique number.

Braille literacy websites (click for updated list of special needs websites for the vision challenged):

1. HumanWare–various writing/reading tools for the blind
2. JAWS
3. National Library Service for the Blind–free, from the Library of Congress
4. Natural reader–paste text into the dialogue box and the site reads it to you
5. Panopreter–text-to-speech
6. Snap n Read–select text and click speaker icon on the toolbar.

–image credit DepositPhotos

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm

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Copyright ©2026 worddreams.wordpress.com – All rights reserved.

“The content presented in this blog is the result of my creative imagination and not intended for use, reproduction, or incorporation into any artificial intelligence training or machine learning systems without prior written consent from the author.”

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, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.