Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day
“PTA Opens Magazine to Public with Online Edition”
PTA Opens Magazine to Public with Online Edition is a post from Education Week’s K-12 Parents and The Public blog. Here’s how Michele Molnar begins her post: Our Children magazine, the National PTA’s publication, is now available online. For more than 100 years, the magazine has been provided exclusively to PTA leaders, according to a release from the [...]
Nice Collection Of Parent Engagement Resources From “Reading Rockets”
Parent Engagement Webinar Series is the title of a great page of resources from the respected literacy organization, Reading Rockets. There are too many good resources to list — check it out….
“Researchers Weigh In on the Parent Trigger”
National Education Policy Center has published an important report on the parent trigger. Here’s an excerpt from their announcement: the National Education Policy Center asked a group of researchers to describe what we currently know about the parent trigger. The result is a policy memo titled, Missing the Target? The Parent Trigger as a Strategy [...]
“B.C. schools strive to open lines of communication with parents”
B.C. schools strive to open lines of communication with parents is a nice article in the Vancouver Sun about what one school is doing to increase parent involvement and also offers some decent advice to families. It’s worth taking a look…
“‘A Million Words’ A Wonderful Tool to Connect with Parents”
“A Million Words”: A Wonderful Tool to Connect with Parents is a nice idea and resource from Middleweb: The Million Words tool basically works this way: In the first month or so of school, the teacher asks parents to tell you about their child, in “a million words or less.” This is the time of [...]
This Week’s #PTChat On Twitter
Guest post by Joe Mazza She’s back! Dr. Michele Borba returns to #ptchat this Wednesday night at 9pm EDT/6PST to give advice on how parents can help kids get off to a great start this school year! Here’s the link to last year’s #ptchat conversation on what parents & teachers can do to put an end to bullying. [...]
Nice NY Times Article On Parent Involvement — On Their Fashion Page!
It’s O.K. to Skip That Bake Sale is good article on parent involvement that strangely appears in the Fashion and Style section of The New York Times. It provides recommendations from two key parent involvement researchers — Anne Henderson and Joyce Epstein — and the founder of KIPP charter schools. The tone of the article [...]
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 [...]
All My “The Best….” Lists Related To Science
One of my upcoming columns in Education Week Teacher is science-related, and I thought including a link to all my science-related “The Best…” lists might be useful to include. So, here they are: The Best health sites for English language … Continue reading →
Online Stress Tests
Here are several online “stress tests” I’m adding to The Best Resources For Learning About Teens & Stress (let me know of other suggestions): Stress assessment: Rate your stress level is from The Mayo Clinic. This Stress Test is from … Continue reading →
A Sampling Of The Best Tweets With The #SaidNoTeacherEver Hashtag
I saw a tweet from David B. Cohen about the #SaidNoTeacherEver hashtag, and just had to bring a few of them together here….I think, though I’m not sure, that John Spencer got it rolling…. Here’s just a sampling (I’m using … Continue reading →
The “Who Am I?” Poster I Use As A Model For Students
As an introductory activity, I have students in all of my classes create “Who Am I?” posters which they then share “speed-dating” style (linking up in rows, show and share, and then one row moves to the right — or … Continue reading →
HIV & AIDS Resources
Here are the newest additions to The Best Web Resources For Learning About HIV & AIDS: Timeline: Key Moments In The Fight Against HIV/AIDS is from NPR. The AIDS Quilt has gone online here, and you can read more about … Continue reading →
What Did President Obama Say About Teachers Tonight?
Source: shareasimage.com via Larry on Pinterest
My Student Handout For Simple Journal-Writing
I’ve previously posted about research discussing the value of students sharing what is happening in their lives (see The Value Of Sharing Positive Events) and have written on this blog and in my books how I apply this finding in … Continue reading →
“Timer Pop”
I’m not sure if the world really needs another online countdown timer, but Timer Pop is a decent one. Personally, I don’t use them much — I prefer the flexibility of being able to manipulate time limits “unseen” by my … Continue reading →
The Best Theory Of Knowledge Resources In 2012 — So Far
As regular readers know, I teach an International Baccalaureate “Theory of Knowledge” class. Our school structures our IB program a bit differently from many others by having a whole lot of students take individual IB classes and we have relatively … Continue reading →
“Striking.ly” Looks Like An Easy Way To Create A Website
Striking.ly is a very easy tool for creating a website. I particularly like the fact that you can grab images off the Web to insert in them. You still need an invitation to register, but I received one a day … Continue reading →
Even More Good Sites On The Presidential Election
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election: Play The Election is the newest incarnation of the great Play The News gaming platform. Be sure to click on “Play Games.” Great … Continue reading →
Great Images From Voyager I
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Voyager 1 & Its Departure From Our Solar System — they include great photos: Voyager’s Long Journey: 35 Years of Incredible Solar System Images is from Wired. Voyager … Continue reading →
We’ve Decided On A Title For My Upcoming Book!
Eye On Education has the manuscript for my upcoming book, which will be a sequel to Helping Students Motivate Themselves. We’ve just decided on a title for it: I Want to Learn! A Teacher’s Guide to Student Motivation It should … Continue reading →
The Best Articles I’ve Written In 2012 — So Far
In addition to the thousands of posts I’ve written in this blog over the past four years and my three books, I’ve also written over eighty articles for different publications. You can access all of them here, but I thought … Continue reading →
Democratic Convention Word Cloud
Last week, The New York Times produced a cool interactive Word Cloud from the Republican Convention and, today, they begun one for the Democratic Convention, too. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The 2012 U.S. Presidential … Continue reading →
“Vidify” Looks Like A Nice App To “Automate” Blending Videos With Music
I’ve previously posted about Magisto, a neat smartphone app that combines videos with music to automatically create cool-looking videos (you can see examples I’ve made here). Vidify is a new similar app. I’ll try it out as the school year … Continue reading →
More Resources On The Presidential Election
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election: VISUALIZATION: The Most Memorable GOP Convention Moments is a very interesting interactive. The Economist has a good explanation about it. Where Do You Fit? … Continue reading →
” An Interview With Paul Tough On Character & Schools”
An Interview With Paul Tough On Character & Schools is my newest post at Education Week Teacher. His new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, was published today.
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 →
“Photo Pin” Looks Like A Great Way To Find Images
Thanks to a tweet by Eric Sheninger, I learned about Photo Pin. It’s a search engine for Creative Commons images from Flickr, and you’re provided with the code you can copy and paste underneath the photo when you use it … Continue reading →
“MydesignCrit” Looks Like A Nice Way To Annotate Webpages
As regular readers know, I’m always on the “look-out” for good tools to easily annotate webpages — they’re great ways to increase student engagement with reading on the Web, and you can read how I use them at Best Applications … Continue reading →
Why Teachers’ Unions Are Important
Since it’s Labor Day today in the United States, I thought I’d remind readers about an extensive The Best Resources For Learning Why Teachers Unions Are Important list that I’ve previously posted. Let me know if you have suggestions of … Continue reading →
“English Vinglish” — Upcoming Bollywood ESL Movie Looks Like It Might Be Fun
Bollywood is releasing a movie called English Vinglish that looks like it might be fun. You can read more about it here, and watch the trailer below: Thanks to Kirsten Winkler for the tip.
Microphones For iPhones
I use my iPhone a lot to record student presentations, particularly in my ESL and Theory of Knowledge classes. I then upload it to YouTube for either private or public viewing. The internal mike in the iPhone is not very … Continue reading →
People Made 100,000 Visits To This Blog In August
I might be wrong, but I think August was the first month since I began writing this blog when 100,000 visits were made here. It may have happened at some other times when I didn’t notice, but I don’t think … Continue reading →
Hispanic Heritage Month Resources
Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th, and I’ve just updated The Best Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month. Additional suggestions are welcome….
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts On Education Policy
Here are some recent good posts on educational policy issues: Key questions for Democrats on ‘school choice’ is from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning Why School Vouchers Are A Bad Idea. The Perennial … Continue reading →
More Labor Day Resources
Here are the newest additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Labor Day: Labor Day facts is from The Washington Post. The History of Labor Day is from The United States Department Of Labor. How Labor Got Its Day … Continue reading →
VERY Useful Analysis Of Bill Nye’s Video On Creationism
Many readers have probably heard about our seen Bill Nye’s recent short video titled “Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children” (I’ve embedded it below). For me, though, far more useful than the critique of creationism is the critique Scientific American … Continue reading →
My Best Posts On New Research Studies In 2012 — So Far
I’m continuing to do early versions of “The Best Of The Year” lists so in December, when I do the final ones, I won’t have to review an entire year’s worth of posts. I write many posts about recent research … Continue reading →
Eight Ways To Build An Audience For Your Blog
I was recently asked to speak at a Webinar for several teachers who write for The Center For Teaching Quality’s great blog, transformEd. The topic was on building an audience for your blog, and I thought I’d share a few … Continue reading →
“Our Longing For Lists”
The New York Times just published a great column titled Our Longing for Lists. Even better, it was accompanied by a terrific interactive sharing lists made by famous figures. The same day The Times also published a fun piece on … Continue reading →
“A History Of New York In 50 Objects”
The New York Times has published an interactive A History Of New York In 50 Objects that they modeled on the BBC’s famous A History of The World in 100 Objects. Teachers can use them as a model for students … Continue reading →
Parent Engagement In School
I’ve posted some fairly interesting pieces at my Engaging Parents In School blog over the past week or two. You might want to take a look….