Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day
Australian Parents Organization
The Australian Council of State School Organisations seems to be the primary national organization for parents in Australia. There are quite a few resources on their website. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Parent Engagement In Countries Other Than The U.S.
“Having gone to school doesn’t mean we all can run a school”
Having gone to school doesn’t mean we all can run a school is a useful post written by the President of the San Carlos School Board. He offers a perspective on some of the challenges of parent engagement. Here’s an excerpt: in modern public education, parents are placed in the odd position of being simultaneously [...]
“Weingarten: ‘Won’t Back Down’ union stereotypes worse than ‘Waiting for Superman’”
American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten has just published a critique of the new “Won’t Back Down” movie, ‘Won’t Back Down’ union stereotypes worse than ‘Waiting for Superman.’ Here’s an excerpt: I don’t recognize the teachers portrayed in this movie, and I don’t recognize that union. The teachers I know are women and men who [...]
National PTA Changes Stance On Charter Schools, & It’s A Disappointing One…
The National PTA now supports letting other bodies besides local school boards authorize charter schools. That’s a big disappointment, since charter school operators are now often making “end-runs” around local school boards who won’t approve them by going to county boards of education or other bodies. For example, here in Sacramento a charter chain couldn’t [...]
Planning Your Best Back to School Night Yet!
Guest post by Joe Mazza (image by xavierhs.org) The new school year is here. It’s time to meet your new families and begin developing that strong home-school partnership to lean on throughout the school year. Back to School Night is oftentimes your first impression to set the tone for a fantastic school year. During this [...]
“Arkansas teacher makes house calls”
From “Arkansas teacher makes house calls”: Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest
“Students, parents should have a voice in teacher evaluations”
Students, parents should have a voice in teacher evaluations is a thoughtful column about AB 5, a good bill in the California Legislature about teacher evaluations that has a good chance of passing and being signed by the Governor. The bill, and the column, also include realistic perspectives on the use of standardized test scores. [...]
Monthly Email Newsletter Sent-Out
I just sent out my free monthly email newsletter to about 2,000 subscribers. You can subscribe to it here.
August’s “The Best…” Lists — There Are Now 967 Of Them
Here’s my monthly round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 967 of them categorized here): The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2012 — So Far The Best Online … Continue reading →
The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2012 — So Far
Another day, another mid-year “The Best…” list….. You might also be interested in: The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2011 — Part Two The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s … Continue reading →
August’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 →
Looking Back At Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans seven years ago this week. Here are two new additions to The Best Websites For Teaching & Learning About New Orleans: Five myths about Hurricane Katrina is from The Washington Post. New Orleans since Katrina … Continue reading →
Excellent Series Of Election Lessons From The New York Times
The New York Times Learning Network has published an excellent series of lessons on the 2012 elections this week. Most are too challenging to many English Language Learners, but can be modified. I’m adding them to The Best Resources For … Continue reading →
The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers In 2012 — So Far
I continue my mid-year “The Best…” lists… The title of this “The Best…” list is pretty self-explanatory. What you’ll find here are blog posts and articles this year (some written by me, some by others) that were, in my opinion, the ones … Continue reading →
The Best Visualizations Of How People Spend Their Days
There have been several visualizations created over the past couple of years showing how people spend their days. I’ve used them in lessons where students have created infographics indicating how they spend their time, and then they compare their results … Continue reading →
The Best Infographics Of 2012 — So Far
I usually just do a year-end list of The Best Infographics 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 … Continue reading →
Sacramento Bee Newspaper Starts Education Blog
The Sacramento Bee has just announced their new education blog, Report Card. Reporters Diana Lambert and Melody Gutierrez, longtime writers on education issues, will be the primary authors. Since we’re the state capitol, there’s always lots of news to report … Continue reading →
“Huff Post Highlights” Looks Interesting
The Huffington Post has just begun “Huff Post Highlights,” which…highlights the most popular sentences in The Huffington Post: there are two ways a reader can “vote” for a sentence: either by selecting the text and clicking the new “Highlight” button … Continue reading →
Important Update For Educators On Deferred Action
Lesli A. Maxwell over at Education Week reports on an important conference call the Department of Homeland Security had with education officials yesterday on the new immigration Deferred Action program. I would highly recommend your reading her entire post — … Continue reading →
What A Great Infographic On The Importance Of Education
This is a very large infographic, but it’s it’s worth taking up so much space because it’s so good. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career: Source: blog.rwjf.org via Larry … Continue reading →
Pretty Decent Classroom Management Advice In This 1947 Video
I learned about this 1947 video on classroom management from Michelle Henry. It’s a bit idyllic about how positive, not punitive, classroom management might always turn out, but teachers could do far worse than following the advice demonstrated in the … Continue reading →
Neat Word Cloud From The Republican Convention
The New York Times has put together a word cloud indicating the most common words used in speeches at the Republican Convention (I assume they’ll continue to add to it as the Convention goes on). It’s interesting now, but it’s … Continue reading →
The Best Science Sites Of 2012 — So Far
I’m continuing my mid-year “The Best…” lists so that it makes a it a little easier for me to create the end-of-the-year ones. You might also be interested in: The Best Science Sites Of 2011 The Best Science Sites Of … Continue reading →
Decorate Any Building In The World With “Blockee”
Blockee lets you choose any address in the world and then captures a Google “Street View” of it. Next, you can add any number of “civic bling” items (playset, bench, garbage can, etc.) and get the unique url address for … Continue reading →
The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly In 2012 — So Far
I usually just do a year-end list on The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly and many other topics, but it gets a little crazy having to review all of my zillion posts at once. So, to … Continue reading →
Another Good Take On “Personalized Learning”
The phrase “personalized learning” is a particularly popular one these days in education circles, especially now since it’s a key element of Race To The Top application for school districts (by the way, if you’re interested in learning more about … Continue reading →
Great Writing Advice From New York Times Column Today
The Yellow Test is the headline for a New York Times column today that offers great writing advice. I would strongly encourage reading the entire piece, but here’s an excerpt: Carrie is a professor at a university. She had asked … Continue reading →
The Best Places On The Web To Find Documentaries (Non-YouTube)
If you’re not as lucky as us (our school district has unblocked YouTube for teacher accounts), I thought having a list like this would be useful. You might also be interested in The Best Sites For News & History Videos … Continue reading →
Stories From “Between The Lions”
I’m not really sure how I’ve missed this, but the well-known PBS show “Between The Lions” has a bunch of short stories presented in the form of closed-captioned videos. I’m adding it to The Best Websites To Help Beginning Readers.
“A World In Miniature”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites That Show Statistics By Reducing The World & The U.S. To 100 People: Browse more infographics.
“AllSides” Might Be A Useful Site
AllSides is a brand-new site (it “opened” today) that is supposed to give three perspectives — left, center, right — on multiple issues. You can read more about it at this lengthy San Francisco Chronicle feature. I’m not so sure … Continue reading →
August’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 →
More Resources On The Presidential Election
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election: Here’s a CNN “Explainer” about political conventions: Mitt Romney’s Life is an interactive from The Wall Street Journal. Conventional Wisdom is a WSJ … Continue reading →
Video: One Smart Bird
Here’s an interesting video to show to English Language Learners and have them describe what they see: Thanks to @stevesilberman for the tip.
Good Neil Armstrong Quote
From The Los Angeles Times obituary: Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest
More On Neil Armstrong
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About Neil Armstrong: Debunking myths about Neil Armstrong is from NBC. Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on moon, dead at 82 is a USA Today slideshow. Remembering Neil … 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 →
The Best Resources For Learning About Neil Armstrong
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest I was saddened to hear about the recent death of Neil Armstrong. I have a vivid memory of watching him walk on the moon on our black-and-white TV. I was ten, and we were … Continue reading →