Parent Involvement & Middle School
I’ve gotten a chance to read more carefully a report on parent involvement and middle school that I’ve previously posted about. You can read the study here, though I suspect you won’t learn anything new from it. It suggests that schools should focus on building relationships with parents through programs like home visits. Sounds good [...]
Summer Issue Of “School Community Journal” Now Available Online
The summer issue of “School Community Journal” is now available online for free. It includes many articles, including: Six Years Later: Effect of Family Involvement Training on the Language Skills of Children From Migrant Families – Lisa St. Clair, Barbara Jackson, and Rose Zweiback Family–School Connections in Rural Educational Settings: A Systematic Review of the [...]
Chicago Parents Set To Join Teachers On Picket Lines
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest That quote is from Parents’ group voices support for teachers in the Chicago Sun Times (thanks to Mike Klonsky for the tip). You might also be interested in The Best Reasons Why Parents Should Be Looked At As Allies & Not Targets Of Blame.
“White House Seeks PTA Members for ‘Champions of Change’ Honor”
White House Seeks PTA Members for ‘Champions of Change’ Honor is a new post over at Education Week. Here’s the beginning, and I’d encourage you to go over there to read the rest: If you had a few minutes with the President of the United States, what would you say to him about education? Twelve [...]
“Parent Involvement One of the Most Enduring Benefits of the Head Start Program”
Parent Involvement One of the Most Enduring Benefits of the Head Start Program is the headline of a post that begins: Recent research released by Alexander Gelber and Adam Isen at the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania suggests that increased parent involvement in a child’s life is one of the most enduring benefits of the [...]
This Week’s Parent Teacher Chat On Twitter
Guest Post by Joe Mazza #PTchat 6/27/12 – Will the Karen Klein Bus Ride Fuel the Changes Needed on Today’s School Buses A few days ago, the world didn’t know much about who Karen Klein was. As I draft his post, the horrific video embedded below has almost a million views. The vulgar, disrespectful and inhumane behavior [...]
Useful Parent Engagement Webinar
Education Week hosted a parent engagement webinar last week with well-known researcher, writer, and speaker Karen L. Mapp, along with Steven Sheldon. Michele Molnar at Ed Week has written an excellent summary of the event. You can also view the Webinar for free here. Plus, you can download the PowerPoint presentation here.
My Best Posts On Building Parent Engagement In Schools — 2012 (So Far)
I usually just do a year-end list on parent engagement posts and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to make it easier for me — and perhaps, to make it a little more useful to readers — I’m going to start [...]
“How safe are indigenous peoples around the world?”
The Guardian recently published an interactive called Peoples under threat around the world: map. Here’s how they describe it: How safe are indigenous peoples around the world? This map shows country rankings according to the latest Peoples Under Threat index … Continue reading →
Colorado Fires Update
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Colorado Wildfires: Here’s an Associated Press interactive. Obama tours site of deadly fire in Colorado is from CNN. Reader Photos of the Western Wildfires is from The … Continue reading →
“Watching Syria’s War”
Watching Syria’s War is a truly exceptional multimedia presentation from The New York Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About What’s Happening In Syria.
Presentista Looks Pretty Good — I Think
Presentista is a new web tool that seems pretty cool and easy to use — you can drag-and-drop images and videos from web and create a presentation with a fairly unique interface. I don’t have time this weekend to play … Continue reading →
Polar Bear Cubs At Play
Check out this video of polar bear cubs at play: I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Polar Bears.
“Build A Pop Song” Interactive
The New York Times today has an interactive called “Build A Pop Song.” Pick the tracks you like, and then you’re given a link to your creation. It’s about as easy as can be…. I won’t be adding it to … Continue reading →
“Michael Sandel: Should we pay children to read?”
I’ve written a lot about the work of Harvard Professor Michael Sandel. Here’s short video where he’s considering the question “Should we pay children to read?” He gets to the crux of the matter in the final couple of minutes: … Continue reading →
The 29th Edition Of The ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival Is Up!
Sharon Turner has just posted the 29th edition of the ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival! As she writes: The posts… represent future visions, perspectives and warnings of all kinds pertaining to English Language Education. Thanks, Sharon! David Deubelbeiss will be hosting the September … Continue reading →
History Of Technology Additions
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The History Of Technology: The National Geographic Channel has begun a show on technology called The Link. Here is how Wired describes it: In our forward-thinking world, we … Continue reading →
More On The Colorado Fires
Here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Colorado Wildfires: Mapping the Spread of Wildfires in Colorado is an interactive from The New York Times. Nearly 350 homes destroyed in Colorado Springs, officials say is from … Continue reading →
“Mural.ly” Looks Very Impressive
I just received my invitation to join Mural.ly, and am very impressed. I’d strongly encourage you to register for one. It lets you drag and drop images and links (and the links appear as thumbnail images on the screen);it lets … Continue reading →
Everything You Wanted To Know About The Health Care Reform Law But Were Afraid to Ask…
With today’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the health care reform law (Yay!), I thought it would be a good time to update The Best Online Resources For Learning About Health Care Reform. It has lots of useful … Continue reading →
Resources On Torture
I’m a little late, but June 26th was International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. I’ve updated The Best Sites For Discussing The Morality Of Torture. Additional suggestions are welcome.
“This Is Our Planet” — Cool Video
I’m adding this video to The Best Images Taken In Space:
Everest Resources
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Mount Everest: LIFE has a slideshow of Hillary’s first climb. Chilling photo shows bottleneck on Mount Everest as dozens of climbers try to reach summit on weekend when … Continue reading →
June’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 of the … Continue reading →
The Best Sites For Learning About The Colorado Wildfires
The Colorado Wildfire is an awful tragedy. Here’s a short, and beginning, list of resources on what’s going on there. I’m adding this list to A Compilation Of “The Best…” Lists About Natural Disasters: Crews go on offensive against growing … Continue reading →
Part Two Of “Can’t Economists Stay Away From Schools?” — My Worst Fears Realized
Last week I posted Can’t Economists Stay Away From Schools? Don’t They Have Enough Other Things To Do?, a commentary on a new study on bribing students to work hard on tests that was written by, among others, the economist … Continue reading →
“Teacher whose barbed blog made headlines is fired”
Teacher whose barbed blog made headlines is fired is the headline in a USA Today story today. I don’t know how justifiable the board cited “performance difficulties” really are so cannot make an informed comment on that issue, but, as … Continue reading →
Video Of Yong Zhao’s Keynote Speech At ISTE
Professor Yong Zhao gave a terrific keynote speech yesterday at the ISTE Conference in San Diego (I wasn’t there, but followed it through Twitter). I’ve posted about many articles by Professor Zhao, and he’s contributed to my Education Week column. … Continue reading →
Canada Resources
July 1st is Canada Day, and I’ve updated The Best Sites To Learn About Canada. Additional suggestions are welcome…
More Resources On The Olympics
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The London 2012 Olympics: Olympics 2012: Carrying the flame is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe. Olympic Portraits, Part I: American Athletes is from The Atlantic. Olympic … Continue reading →
A Couple Of Posts On Motivation
Here are a couple of interesting posts from around the web related to motivation: First, there’s Berkeley Study: For MBAs, Happiness Isn’t About the Money from TechCrunch. It’s a good study to show the next person who tells you that … Continue reading →
Build A Virtual City With LEGOS
Google Maps has partnered with LEGO’s to let you build a virtual city using LEGO’s on a map of Australia or New Zealand. You can then share your creation with others. You have to use the Google Chrome browser. You … Continue reading →
“ikiMap” Looks Good For Creating Maps
Thanks to Richard Byrne for finding another nice web tool, ikiMap. I’d encourage you to read his post to learn more about it — it lets you easily create maps and, what I particularly like, is you can insert images … Continue reading →
Variations On “The Benjamin Franklin Effect”
I’ve previously written about The Benjamin Franklin Effect” and how I use it in the classroom (see “The Benjamin Franklin Effect” In The Classroom). The “Effect” goes: You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate … Continue reading →
Resources For Pre-Literate ELL’s
I’ve just updated The Best Online Resources For Teachers of Pre-Literate ELL’s. Additional suggestions are always welcome.
“First Year Highlights: Helping Our Students Become Better Readers”
My newest column at Education Week Teacher, First Year Highlights: Helping Our Students Become Better Readers, brings all my reading posts together in one place. Those columns include guest responses from people like Stephen Krashen, Dick Allington, Donalyn Miller, Cris … Continue reading →
Guest Post: Here’s What Was Missing From The Wall Street Journal’s Column On Teacher Evaluation
Guest Post by John Thompson When I first followed Larry’s link to Tom Kane’s Op Ed in the Wall Street Journal (see Disappointing Op Ed On Using Tests To Evaluate Teachers By Head Of Gates’ Project), I also was disappointed. Perhaps … Continue reading →
Vocre Looks Like A Nice Translating App For iPhones
Vocre is the latest in an increasing number of SmartPhone translating apps that can help you communicate in another language. It can come in handy if you just have to communicate something to an ELL student in their native language, … Continue reading →
Wow, MarQueed Could Be One Of The Best New Web 2.0 Tools Of The Year
I’ve written a lot in blogs, books and article about the value of using images in English language instruction (see The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons). And, just over the past couple of months, some new web tools … Continue reading →
Disappointing Op Ed On Using Tests To Evaluate Teachers By Head Of Gates’ Project
The Wall Street Journal today ran a for/against op ed on the question: Should Student Test Scores Be Used to Evaluate Teachers? The pro-side was written by Thomas Kane, who’s leading the massive Gates Foundation program on the subject (see … Continue reading →
June’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 a … Continue reading →
The Best Resources For Learning About The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election
It’s that time again in the United States. Here’s a beginning list of The Best Resources For Learning About The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election, and I’m sure I’ll be adding tons to it as the election approaches: Election 2012 comes … Continue reading →
Collaborate On An Essay With Nietzsche, Poe, & All Your Favorite Dead Writers
Try out Google Docs new demo that lets you write collaboratively with your favorite dead famous writers. Then you get to save and share your creation. As Next Web explains: A “famous writer” will start typing and then it’s your … Continue reading →
The Best Sites For Learning About Voyager 1 & Its Departure From Our Solar System
The Voyager 1 Spacecraft, launched in 1977, is nearing a departure from our solar system. I’m adding this list to A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Space. Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning About Voyager … Continue reading →
“Miniscule” Is A Great Video Series For English Language Learners
I learned about the Miniscule video series from the great site, The Kid Should See This. Here is how they described it: A French-made collection of short stories, Minuscule is about the private lives of ants, snails, bees, caterpillars, wasps, … Continue reading →
No, The Dancing Guy Does Not Teach The Best Leadership Lessons
Derek Sivers (who has done some good stuff — see The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures) has a very popular TED Talk called Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy. Here’s the video of his three-minute … Continue reading →
Create An Online Art Collection WIth Pictify
Pictify is a new Pinterest-like site, except only for fine works of art. It seems quite easy to use. I’m adding it to The Best Ways For Students To Create Their Own Online Art Collections, and I also took the … Continue reading →
Sometimes You Just Have To Take The Risk, Jump In, & Grab An Opportunity Because It May Not Be There For Long…
At least, that’s my interpretation of this short video:
“How Do You Spend Your Day?”
Every year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics does a survey on how Americans spend their time. And, in most recent years, The New York Times and/or The Wall Street Journal does some kind of cool interactive infographic using the results. … Continue reading →