Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Engaging Parents In School… - Going Beyond Parent “Involvement”

Engaging Parents In School… - Going Beyond Parent “Involvement”:

“Education Fairs Reach Out to Parents in Spanish”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 9 hours ago
Education Fairs Reach Out to Parents in Spanish is the title of a blog post at Latin Ed Beat. It describes an organization that helps School Districts around the country organize events geared towards Spanish-speaking parents. The post also contains several good links to other articles.

Parent Involvement Issues In The UK

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 2 days ago
An Interview with Carol Vincent: Parental Involvement in Education recently appeared in a United Kingdom newspaper — Carol Vincent is a professor at the University of London. It’s not interesting enough for me to add to The Best Resources On Parent Engagement In Countries Other Than The U.S., but it might be worth a quick [...]

“Parent trigger not on the top of parent-involvement expert’s list of best practices”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 4 days ago
Parent trigger not on the top of parent-involvement expert’s list of best practices is the headline of a column at the Tampa Bay newspaper in Florida (where an attempt is being made to pass a trigger law). It quotes parent involvement researcher Joyce Epstein, who says: “That would not be first on our list of [...]

“Bad idea to grade parents”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 4 days ago
Bad idea to grade parents is the headline on a Florida newspaper columnists piece published yesterday. It refers to the….bad idea I posted about a couple of days ago.

“4 Reasons Parents Should Speak Heritage Languages at Home”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 5 days ago
4 Reasons Parents Should Speak Heritage Languages at Home is a very important article for teachers who have immigrant students. I’m adding it to The Best Ideas On How Parents Can Help Their Kids Succeed Academically.

Bad Idea — Teachers Grading Parents — Comes Up Again In Florida Legislature

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 5 days ago
A Florida legislator’s terrible idea of having teachers grade parents was shot down last year, but now has just passed a legislative committee in its first vote. You can read my previous posts on the topic here.

“Should Parents Control What Kids Learn at School?”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 6 days ago
Should Parents Control What Kids Learn at School? is a New York Times forum on a New Hampshire law that I believe has gone way overboard and is another example of the wrong way to encourage parent involvement in schools. It’s worth a visit…

This Week’s “Parent Teacher Chat” On Twitter

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 1 week ago
Last month, Joe Mazza wrote a guest post about Parent Teacher Chat on Twitter. Joe has accepted my invitation to write a short post on this blog regularly to announce future topics for these chats: Special guest Karren Dunkley joins #ptchat this Wednesday, 1/25 at 9PM EST. Ms. Dunkley, Deputy Chief of the School District of [...]

Parent “Academies”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 1 week ago
The San Francisco Chronicle recently published an article about a series of “PTA School Smarts Parent Academies” that are being held at a local school and others around the state. The President of the California PTA also has written a column about this effort. I’m sure it’s a good experience for the parents involved, but [...]

New Report On Community Schools

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 1 week ago
Lightening the Load: A Look at Four Ways that Community Schools Can Support Effective Teaching is a new report from The Center For American Progress. I’ve written a fair number of posts about community schools, which, simply speaking, are schools which provide a lot of community services to the broader community. I obviously think they [...]

“New year brings new expectations for “parent trigger” law”

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 1 week ago
New year brings new expectations for “parent trigger” law is a new article from Ed Source. It’s worth a look….

A Parent Involvement Story About Muslim Girls & Gym Shorts

Larry Ferlazzo at Engaging Parents In School... - 1 week ago

Valentine’s Day Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 7 hours ago
Valentine’s Day is on February 14th, and I’ve revised and updated The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day. New suggestions are welcome!

Special Edition Of “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 8 hours ago
(Usually, I just post a weekly version of this regular feature. However, sometimes I post an extra “Special Edition” when I have more good links than usual) I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post … Continue reading →

The 26th EFL / ESL / ELL Blog Carnival Is Up!

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 8 hours ago
David Deubelbeiss has just posted The 26th EFL / ESL / ELL Blog Carnival! Bloggers from all around the world have contributed posts connected to the theme of “fun.” It’s a month late this time because of technical issues with … Continue reading →

“Groundhog Day Explained”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 9 hours ago
Here’s a video I’m adding to The Best Resources For Groundhog Day:

This Video Is A Nice Way To Begin Or End Your Day

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 10 hours ago
Holly Epstein Ojalvo at The New York Times Learning Network shared this video on Twitter today. Watch it for enjoyment, or show it to a class of English Language Learners so they can recount in sequence what they saw:

“12 Great Visualizations That Made History”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 11 hours ago
12 Great Visualizations That Made History is a very creative collection from Visually. You might also be interested in The Best Infographics Of 2011.

“Several Ways To Apply Social-Emotional Learning Strategies In The Classroom”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 12 hours ago
Several Ways To Apply Social-Emotional Learning Strategies In The Classroom is my newest post over at Education Week Teacher. Hope you find it useful….

A Prime Example Of English Language Learner Assets

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 day ago
In my book English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work, I talk a lot about looking at English Language Learners through the lens of “assets” instead of “deficits.” Their stories and experiences, even tragic ones, are examples of “assets” that … Continue reading →

President’s Day Resources

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 1 day ago
President’s Day will be coming up in the United States next month. I’ve just revised and updated The Best Resources About President’s Day. Suggestions for new sites are welcome.

Easily Create A Musical Playlist With Choruzz

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
Choruzz lets you — without needing to register — search for music videos and create a playlist of them. You’re then given a unique url address for your list that you can share. It’s very easy to use, and it … Continue reading →

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
I’ve recently started a regular feature where I share a few posts from around the Web related to ESL or EFL that have caught my attention: On Teaching Effective Learning is from Teacher 2 Teacher, and shares some good ideas … Continue reading →

This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a … Continue reading →

January’s Best Tweets

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it … Continue reading →

Teaching Students To Teach (& What School Reformers Are Missing)

Larry Ferlazzo at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... - 2 days ago
One of my favorite experiences in class each year are the two periods each week in the second semester of my IB Theory of Knowledge class when small student groups prepare and then teach a lesson to another group. We … Continue reading →