“Learning 2 Spell”
Learning 2 Spell is a new free site that provides a series of spelling tests that learners can take. Teachers or parents can enroll individual children and track their progress. There’s a limited amount of content on the site now, … Continue reading →
Research Studies Of The Week
I often write about research studies from various field and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies … Continue reading →
“Stories are about 22 times more memorable than facts alone”
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest I found that quote in a post by Shawn Callahan and subsequently learned it comes from Bruner’s book, Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. I’ve written a lot about the importance of stories … Continue reading →
The Best Resources On The Importance Of Knowing What You Don’t Know
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest I think that there are often times where people who have no experience in a particular field can bring helpful new perspectives — and questions — to those who have been working in … Continue reading →
President Obama Speaks On Immigration Policy Change
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest Here’s an embedded video of President Obama’s comments on his administration’s immigration policy change: And here’s a transcript of his remarks. The New York Times reported on his comments. I’m adding all of … Continue reading →
More On New Plan To Partially Implement DREAM Act
I’ve converted my earlier post about the Obama’s administration to partially implement the DREAM Act into The Best Resources On The Obama Administration’s Plan To Partially Implement The DREAM Act. Here are some new additions, and a whole lot more … Continue reading →
“New Tool to Provide Tech Inventory for Common Core” — I Can Hardly Wait (NOT)
New Tool to Provide Tech Inventory for Common Core is a new article in Ed Week announcing a…. a new tool districts can use to see how inadequate our technology is for the new next-generation of state tests. Here’s an … Continue reading →
The Best Resources For Learning About The European Financial Crisis
It doesn’t look like the European financial crisis is going to get solved anytime soon, so I thought it might be time for a related “The Best…” list. You might also be interested in: The Best Sites To Learn About … Continue reading →
The Best Resources On The Obama Administration’s Plan To Partially Implement The DREAM Act
(Here’s Spanish coverage on the change from Univision) I’ve converted the original post about this story into a “The Best…” list. This move by the Obama Administration, I believe, will have a big affect on student motivation in the classroom: … Continue reading →
There Are Dangers To Always Doing What You’re Told To Do….
A message from the comic strip Non-Sequitur: Source: gocomics.com via Larry on Pinterest
Nine Year-Old British Scottish Blogger Banned From Taking Photos Of Her Lunch
(Update: The decision has been reversed) Never Seconds is blog written by a nine-year-old student in Scotland. She takes photos of her school lunches and evaluates them. In addition, students from other countries have begun sending her photos of their … Continue reading →
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
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: David Deubelbeiss has created an extraordinary Slideshare describing all the amazing resources at EFL … Continue reading →
Cooperative Learning Ideas From Nobel Prize Winner Carl Wieman
Carl Wienman won the Nobel Prize for physics, and is also outspoken in his support of cooperative group learning in the college classroom. Many of those same ideas can be applied to the K-12 school, and to other subjects, too. … Continue reading →
The Best Resources To See Connections (or Disconnections) In The World Before & After The Internet
I know the title of this “The Best…” list is a bit strange, but I couldn’t figure out a better one. Some fascinating projects are going on to visualize how people throughout the world have interacted throughout history. Here are … Continue reading →
Ask A Question, Any Question…
I’ve just posted my last new Education Week Teacher “advice” column for the school year. During the summer, I’ll be posting compilations of past posts that have a common theme (classroom management, instructional strategies, etc.) and then will start up … Continue reading →
How Students Evaluated Me This Year
As regular readers know, at the end of each first semester and at the end of each school year my students complete an anonymous evaluation of the class and me. I share the results with my colleagues and post them … 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 →
“Immigrant Children Lag Behind, Posing Risk”
Immigrant Children Lag Behind, Posing Risk is a Wall Street Journal article on a new report titled Children in Immigrant Families: Essential to America’s Future. The article provides a good summary, along with some useful charts. However, you can only … Continue reading →
Thirty Years Ago The Supreme Court Ruled That The Undocumented Had A Right To Education
Education Week reports that: Thirty years ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state may not deny access to a basic public education to any child, whether that child is present in the country legally or not. … Continue reading →
Good Videos On Creativity
Jonah Lehrer, author of the book “Imagine: How Creativity Works” has written a guest piece over at my Education Week Teacher column sharing his suggestions on how his research can be applied in the classroom. Thanks to Brain Pickings, I’ve … Continue reading →
And This Year’s Winner of the Bull Connor Award For Promoting Ethnic Minority Voter Participation Is…
One of the most important purposes of public education, I believe, is to prepare students to participate in democratic public life. There are many aspects of this kind of activity, including voting. It does not appear that Florida’s Governor Scott … Continue reading →
Update On Weirdest School Reform Story Of Year
There have been some interesting developments in the story about The Gates Foundation and those “galvanic skin sensors” to measure student “engagement.” Here are the newest additions to The Best Posts On The Weirdest School Reform Story Of The Year … Continue reading →
Penguin Videos
Who can resist a good penguin video? Here are two I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning About Penguins: Here are some leapin’ penguins. You can read why they’re doing it here: Here’s one showing Penguin Baby First Steps:
“Check This” Is Another Super-Easy Way To Create A Webpage
Check This is the latest in a long line of tools that let you create webpages quickly, without registering, and that let you also paste images into them. I’m adding it to A Few Simple Ways To Introduce Reluctant Colleagues … Continue reading →
This Is Really An Extraordinary Video…
This really is an extraordinary video, and is tailor-made to use in an ESL class — it’s extremely engaging and has lots of different activities that students can describe and discuss. In fact, it’s engaging for anyone…. Unfortunately, it’s also … Continue reading →
Interesting Research On Creativity
The 7 Biggest Creativity Killers was recently published in Fast Company. I didn’t really find most of the article useful. However, the first few paragraphs were eye-opening. Here are two of them, and you can read the rest at the … Continue reading →
The Best Resources For The World Day Against Child Labor
It’s new to me, but since 2002 the International Labour Organization of the United Nations has recognized June 12th as The World Day Against Child Labor. Here are my choices for The Best Resources For The World Day Against Child … Continue reading →
An Even MORE Useful Infographic On “Smart Teaching”
A few hours ago I posted Nice Infographic On “Smart Teaching.” It’s a great one, but since it was originally designed for use at a religious-oriented training, it alludes to Biblical scripture. Two readers wrote in, though, and pointed me … Continue reading →
Even More Evidence That “outside incentives can undermine the intrinsic motivations”
The Boston Globe today reports on a new study which found that people were less likely to contribute a second time to nonprofit groups who give a gift (like a tote bag) to reward a first-time contribution: In a series … Continue reading →
Nice Infographic On “Smart Teaching”
(NOTE: Check-out An Even MORE Useful Infographic On “Smart Teaching”) I found this useful infographic on ASCD’s infographics site on Pinterest (originally from Jeremy Mavis): Source: jeremymavis.com via Larry on Pinterest
“Response: Several Ways We Can Help Students Develop Their Creativity”
Response: Several Ways We Can Help Students Develop Their Creativity is my newest column at Education Week Teacher. It features guest responses from best-selling authors Jonah Lehrer (Imagine) and Ashley Merryman (NutureShock).
Father’s Day Resources
I’ve just updated The Best Father’s Day Sites. Feel free to offer additional suggestions….
“It Was A Musical Thing & He Was Supposed To Sing Or Dance When The Music Was Being Played”
“It Was A Musical Thing & He Was Supposed To Sing Or Dance When The Music Was Being Played” That’s a quote from a short video of “philosopher entertainer” Alan Watts. It’s called “Music And Life” and is embedded below. … Continue reading →
New Studies On The Importance Of Sleep
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Helping Teens Learn About The Importance Of Sleep: The Brain May Disassemble Itself in Sleep is from Scientific American. A’s from Zzzz’s? The Causal Effect of School Start Time on the … Continue reading →
“‘What Money Can’t Buy’ and What it Shouldn’t Buy”
‘What Money Can’t Buy’ and What it Shouldn’t Buy is a terrific interview of Harvard professor Michael Sandel about his new book, “What Money Can’t Buy.” It appeared on the PBS News Hour tonight (Part Two will be online tomorrow … Continue reading →
The Best Resources On “Race To The Top”
Though I’ve periodically posted about the “Race To The Top” competition, I haven’t compiled a “The Best…” list because it wasn’t really directly affecting us much in California. However, now that school districts can apply, it’s definitely an immediate concern. … Continue reading →
June’s Best Tweets — Part One
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 →
See What People In Different Countries Are Eating — Right Now
Foodmood shows in graphic form what foods people are tweeting about (only in English, however). You can read more about it at Information Aesthetics. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures.
Extrinsic Motivation Might Result In Compliance, But Not Higher-Order Thinking
Extrinsic motivation has been shown to work for more mechanical tasks (not higher-ordering thinking), so this comic strip might model a successful strategy in this instance
New Resources On Nutrition
Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Nutrition & Food Safety: We Are What We Eat is a pretty amazing interactive infographic on food habits in the U.S. and around the world. California teens eat … Continue reading →
“Apples” & School Reform
This Pickles comic strip reminds me of some school reform schemes, like merit pay. They’ve never been shown to work, and never will. But that doesn’t seem to stop the reformers from expecting to see “apples.” Source: gocomics.com via Larry … Continue reading →
The Best Posts On The Weirdest School Reform Story Of The Year (So Far, At Least)
There have been some good posts over the past few days about what is clearly — to me, at least — one of the weirdest school reform stories of the year. The Gates Foundation has granted over a million dollars … Continue reading →
A Collection Of New Interactive Infographics
There have been quite a few new tools that are called “interactive infographics,” and I thought it would be useful to share them all in one post: Surging Seas shows the impact of rising sea levels due to climate change. … Continue reading →
“The Costanza Gambit”
I’ve previously posted about how I’ve used the idea of thinking “oppositely” to help find creative solutions to problems (see Thinking “Inside Out” — How Could I Use This In A Lesson?). Shawn Callahan came up with a name for … Continue reading →
