Very Good Story On Home Visits
Home Visits Yield Hope and Cooperation is from the NEA Priority Schools Campaign, and is a very good story on teachers making home visits with help from the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Teacher Home Visits.
“Fact-checking “Won’t Back Down””
I’ve previously posted about an upcoming and apparently very misleading movie about the parent trigger. Caroline Grannan just fact-checked the trailer itself, which was full of inaccuracies. It doesn’t bode well for the whole flick. You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning Why The Parent Trigger Isn’t Good For Parents, Kids [...]
NAEP Decides To Reach-Out To Parents
The organization sponsoring the influential National Assessment of Educational Progress assessments has just announced an effort to reach-out and: increase awareness among parents about the urgency to improve overall student achievement and reduce achievement gaps by race, ethnicity, and income. I hope they include helping parents see the limitations of NAEP test results, too. You [...]
“Try parent visits, not parent takeovers of schools”
Try parent visits, not parent takeovers of schools is a new column by Jay Mathews at The Washington Post. It’s a nice column, but it was a little weird to have a column on home visits without mentioning The Parent Teacher Home Visit Project. You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning [...]
This Week’s Parent Teacher Chat On Twitter
Guest Post by Joe Mazza Upcoming #PTchat: Parents & Teachers Discuss Ways to Combat Summer Learning Loss Wed., 5/30 9PM EDT As another school year comes to a close, we begin another summer. This week’s Parent-Teacher Chat (#PTchat) on Twitter takes a look at all the way we can keep the learning going through [...]
“Research-based practices forge strong family and community partnerships”
Research-based practices forge strong family and community partnerships is a new report from the organization Leaning Forward. It’s in their newsletter, Tools For Learning Schools. I wouldn’t say there’s anything particularly new in it to people with family engagement, but it does provide some good summaries, particularly on Joyce Epstein’s work.
“Teaching Cases on Family Engagement: Early Learning (Ages 0–8)”
Teaching Cases on Family Engagement: Early Learning (Ages 0–8) is from The Harvard Family Research Project. It seems like a strange name for a report, but it’s basically a list of links to a number of case histories the Project has done over the past several years. Here is how they describe it: Teaching cases [...]
“Parents Describe Why and How They are Engaged in Their Children’s Learning”
Steve Constantino, who is a “must-follow” on Twitter for anyone interested in parent engagement, sent a tweet today about a Karen Mapp-written study titled Having Their Say: Parents Describe Why and How They are Engaged in Their Children’s Learning. Here’s an excerpt: According to the parents, when school personnel initiate and engage in practices that [...]
“It’s Not Simply That Life Does Things To Us…We In Turn Do Things To It,” Says Walter Mischel Of The Marshmallow Experiment
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest This is a quote from a very interesting interview at the BBC with Dr. Walter Mischel, the person who first devised the famous Marshmallow Experiment to measure self-control.It’s only thirty minutes, and is very … Continue reading →
Apps For Blogging On Mobile Devices
Edublogs has just released an app for blogging on on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. The same day, The New York Times published an article headlined “Three Varied Tools for Blogging With a Hand-Held.” I’m adding this info to The … Continue reading →
Bicycle-Riding Robot
Here’s something you don’t see everyday — a bicycle riding robot. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Robots.
“Croak.it” Lets You Easily Record a Thirty Second Message
Croak.it lets you easily record a thirty second message with a computer microphone. You then get a unique url address that you can share. No registration is necessary. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English. Thanks … Continue reading →
“Twilight Of The Lecture”
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest Thanks to a post at The Engineer’s Pulse, I learned about Harvard Professor Eric Mazur. He’s done a lot of work — perhaps it could be called teacher action research — on the … Continue reading →
“32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow”
For the past ten years The New York Times Magazine has published an “Annual Year In Ideas” issue at the beginning of June. Today, though, they changed the name to “The Innovation Issue” and have a cool interactive called 32 … Continue reading →
College Board Unveils Guide For Undocumented Students
Thanks to the Latino Ed Beat, I learned that today: For the first time, the College Board has released a resource guide intended to help undocumented immigrant students seeking to pursue a college education. You can find the guide at … Continue reading →
Let’s Be Clear — This Is NOT What We Mean When We Talk About Teacher Leadership
Yesterday’s Dilbert comic strip gives a good example of how it seems some “school reformers” view the idea of “teacher leadership.” Here are some examples of what I believe teacher leadership is: TEDxNYED – April 28, 2012 – Jose Vilson … Continue reading →
Let’s Be Clear — This Is NOT What We Mean When We Talk About Teacher Leadership
Yesterday’s Dilbert comic strip gives a good example of how it seems some “school reformers” view the idea of “teacher leadership.” Here are some examples of what I believe teacher leadership is: TEDxNYED – April 28, 2012 – Jose Vilson … Continue reading →
New Excellent “What If?” Projects
I’ve previously posted about Carla Federman and the great “What If?” projects her students create (see The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons). She’s just posted the latest “crop” of presentations, and they look quite impressive. My IB … Continue reading →
A Very Good Article On Metacognition
I’ve previously posted about a very useful study done on metacognition by Dr. Steve Fleming (see Does Getting Better At Metacognition Physically Alter The Brain?) and his follow-up comments (Update On Metacognition Study). Today, BrainFacts.org published a nice interview with … Continue reading →
Special Edition: “Round-Up” Of Good Education Policy Posts & Articles
Usually, I just post one of these “round-ups” each week, but I’ve got a bunch, so here’s a special edition: A Test Worth Teaching To is from The Washington Monthly. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About … Continue reading →
Amazing New NASA Time-Lapse Video Of Auroras
Here’s an amazing new video from NASA of “airglow” and auroras. Here’s how Wired describes it: The night can never be completely dark. Take away city lights, the moon, and the stars, and the sky itself will still produce a … Continue reading →
Get Your Message Spelled-Out By Galaxies
“My Galaxies” lets you spell out anything you want, using real galaxies that are shaped like characters. You can read more about it at the site and/or at this MSNBC story. The site does what I describe — you write … Continue reading →
“How Can We Help Students Develop Good Habits?”
How Can We Help Students Develop Good Habits? is the new “question of the week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to leave responses here or there….
Check Out These Awards For “disingenuous education reports produced by think tanks”
“The Bunkum Awards highlight nonsensical, confusing, and disingenuous education reports produced by think tanks. They are given each year by the Think Twice think tank review project to think tank reports judged to have most egregiously undermined informed discussion and … Continue reading →
Here’s Another “Wow!” Site From Google — The “World Wonders Project”
Google just announced today the unveiling of The World Wonders Project. Here’s how they describe it: The World Wonders Project enables you to discover 132 historic sites from 18 countries, including Stonehenge, the archaeological areas of Pompeii and the ancient … Continue reading →
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”
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 →
New iPhone Resources
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me: A Guide to Deciphering the Language of Smartphones is from The New York Times. SlickFlick looks like it might be a very useful storytelling application. … Continue reading →
Child Poverty Rates
Alexander Russo shared this chart today, observing that “That long dark blue line second from the bottom is the USA, one of just two advanced industrial nations with a child poverty rate above 20 percent.” I’m adding it to The … Continue reading →
“FlashIssue” Lets You Easily Create Email Newsletters
FlashIssue is a new free tool that lets you easily create email newsletters. I’m adding it to The Best Applications For Creating Free Email Newsletters. Here’s a video about it:
Part Two Of “How I’m Helping My Students Try To Avoid The “Summer Slide””
Yesterday, I published How I’m Helping My Students Try To Avoid The “Summer Slide” and shared several free and easy sites that my students will be using for a virtual “summer school.” They all were sites where I was able … Continue reading →
How I’m Helping My Students Try To Avoid The “Summer Slide”
I’ve previously posted The Best Resources On The “Summer Slide” and how I’m going to make that information into a lesson for my students. I’m also doing more than that — at least with students in my Beginning/Intermediate ESL class. … Continue reading →
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts On Education Policy Issues
Here’s a compilation of recent good posts on education policy: Education and the income gap: Darling-Hammond appeared in The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher & Outside Factors Have On Student … Continue reading →
My Thoughts On Today’s NY Times Article About The “Digital Divide”
Today’s New York Times has a fairly lengthy article headlined Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era. It’s thesis is that young people are spending too much time on screens, including television and computers. In addition, with the increased … Continue reading →
Pretty Interesting 1980′s Education Debate Between Albert Shanker & Milton Friedman
Matthew Di Carlo from The Shanker Blog tweeted a short video of a debated on education between Albert Shanker, then president of the American Federation of Teachers and Milton Friedman, the economist who never met a question he couldn’t answer … Continue reading →
“Several Ways To Connect With Disengaged Students”
Several Ways To Connect With Disengaged Students is the title of my newest column over at Education Week Teacher. It includes responses from Jim Peterson, who I consider as one of my mentors, and author Mike Anderson.
More On The “Zeigarnik Effect”
I’ve previously posted about the Zeigarnik Effect (see What Is The “Zeigarnik Effect” & How Did I Apply It In The Classroom Today?). It basically means that once we start doing something, we’re going to tend to want to finish … Continue reading →
The Best Resources For Applying “Fed Ex Days” To Schools
Author Daniel Pink has written a lot about “Fed Ex Days” and describes it this way: One of the best ideas I’ve heard in the last 10 years is the FedEx Day. Created by the Australian software company Atlassian,FedEx Days give people 24 … Continue reading →
Free Resources From All My Books
I have many free resources, including excerpts and student hand-outs, available from all my books. Clicking on the covers will lead you to them:
“Film Story” Is A Very Impressive Site
Film Story is an interactive site where you can search for theatrical films by geographical location, history or science subject, historical era, and film type. It seems like an exhaustive list and is very accessible. I’m adding it to The … Continue reading →
The Best Resources For Learning About The “Venus Transit”
I suspect many of will be watching “the Venus transit of the sun on June 5 (June 6 in much of the Eastern Hemisphere). Venus will cross the sun’s face from Earth’s perspective, appearing in silhouette as a tiny, slow-moving … Continue reading →
“The Educator’s Guide to Instagram and Other Photo Apps”
Sue Waters has done it again with an extraordinary post titled The Educator’s Guide to Instagram and Other Photo Apps. She shares everything you’d possibly need to know about them. You might also be interested in The Best Tools For … Continue reading →
This Is What I Do On The Last Day Of School
Teaching Secrets: The Last Day of School is a piece I wrote a few years ago for Education Week, and it still holds true — for me, at least. I thought readers might find it useful in case you haven’t … Continue reading →
What Are They Thinking In The UK? Big Time Bribery Of Students Expands
Nearly one million students in five hundred United Kingdom schools are registered in a program that provides “iPods, DVD players and shopping vouchers” if they do their homework and behave well. If this article is accurate, and I have no … Continue reading →
Flag Day Resources
June 14th is celebrated as Flag Day in the United States. I’ve just updated The Best Sites For Learning About Flag Day. Additional suggestions are welcome.
This Is How My Students See Their Growth As Writers
Each year for the past three years I’ve used the same “final exam” in my mainstream and ESL English classes, and they’ve gone amazingly well. I describe the process, including providing downloadable hand-outs, here at my original blog post about … Continue reading →
Monthly Email Newsletter Sent-Out
I just sent out my free monthly email newsletter to about 2,000 subscribers. If you’re interested, you can subscribe here.
May’s “The Best…” Lists — There Are Now 907 Of Them
Here’s my monthly round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 907 of them categorized here): The Best Resources For Learning About May Day The Best Images Of The Ring Of Fire Eclipse The … Continue reading →
May’s Best Posts
I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see my previous Best Posts … Continue reading →
May’s Best Tweets — Part Two
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 →
Resources On The History Of Technology
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The History Of Technology: Guess What’s the Fastest-Adopted Gadget of the Last 50 Years is from The Atlantic. The 100-Year March of Technology in 1 Graph is also … Continue reading →
The Best Sources Of Advice On Helping Students Strengthen & Develop Their Creativity
One of my final weekly columns this school year over at Education Week Teacher (I’ll be posting compilations of previous posts on similar topics during the summer and then re-start new ones in the fall) will be on helping students … Continue reading →
Even More Memorial Day Resources
Here are the newest additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Memorial Day: The McClatchy Newspapers have a useful interactive. Drawing Warriors is a great NY Times video: Memorial Day 1911-1929 is a photo gallery from The LA Times.