Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
YESTERDAY
Wow, The Second “Must-Read” Parent Engagement Study In A Week!
Earlier this week, I posted about what I considered to be an extraordinarily important study on parent engagement (see Must-Read Report: “What Roles Do Parent Involvement, Family Background, and Culture Play in Student Motivation?”). Based on the wide popularity of that post, many people agreed with my assessment. Now, purely by chance, I’ve come upon another study that, though I wouldn’t say it q
Study: Different Ways Parents Relate To Children’s Academics Depending On Gender
Parental Involvement and Children’s School Achievement is a new study from Canada that looked a parent involvement through a “lens” that I haven’s seen other research use — gender. Here’s a portion of their summary: Fathers’ academic pressure was predictive of lower achievement, whereas mothers’ encouragement and sup-port predicted higher achievement. Both parents used more academic pressure with
JUL 03
Must-Read Report: “What Roles Do Parent Involvement, Family Background, and Culture Play in Student Motivation?”
What Roles Do Parent Involvement, Family Background, and Culture Play in Student Motivation? is from The Center On Education Policy, and, let me tell you, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in parent – and student – engagement. I’m adding it to “The Best Research Available On Parent Engagement.”
“New study shows parent involvement leads to better classroom attention”
New study shows parent involvement leads to better classroom attention is the title of an MSNBC article about research on pre-schoolers and their families. Here’s an excerpt: A new study by cognitive neuroscientist Helen Neville from the University of Oregon, Eugene indicates that parental involvement may be a large factor in preschoolers ability to retain attention in the classroom. The study als
A Video “Take” On Parent Engagment vs. Involvement
I’ve previously posted about Debbie Pushor, who has developed her own perspective on the differences between parent “engagement” and “involvement” (you can see my descriptions of the two in chart form here). Here’s a short video summary someone has done on one of her articles:
JUL 02
“Collaborating for Success” – Parent Engagement Toolkit”
“Collaborating for Success” – Parent Engagement Toolkit is a recently updated website by the Michigan Department of Education. It has a fair amount of materials — of mixed quality — but it’s worth a look. It does have some parent materials in Arabic, and I don’t think you can find many parent involvement resources in that language around….
Connecting With Mexican-American Families
Building on Robust Social Skills: The Cultural Assets of Young Mexican American Children is an Edutopia post that offers some useful information, particularly its suggestions on how educators can connect with Latino families. Here are a couple of the suggestions: Familiarize yourself with the families and communities that have raised your students. Learning more about their many assets involves l
Deasy, Klein & Cantor — Here’s an Aspen Ideas Video On Parent Involvement That Definitely Won’t Be On Any “Best” List
The Aspen Ideas Festival has been going on in Colorado for the past few days, and its education discussions have certainly been receiving a fair amount of ridicule on Twitter. Here’s a short segment of a discussion on parent involvement by LA Superintendent Deasy, former NYC Schools Chancellor Klein and Republican Congressman Cantor. They are surprisingly (at least, to me) paternalistic, and Canto
NYC Mayoral Candidate Weiner Vows To Eliminate Parent Coordinators
The New York City public schools have obviously had a lot of problems related to parent involvement, but I suspect that eliminating 1,600 parent coordinators at local schools may not be the best way to solve them. That’s mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner’s proposal, though it looks like the coordinators are fighting back. I’m not sure about their tactics, which include emphasizing Weiner’s sexting
JUL 01
“Four Important Signs That Your Child’s IEP Is Working”
Four Important Signs That Your Child’s IEP Is Working shares some suggestions to parents from The National Center For Learning Disabilities. It also includes ideas what to do it you feel it isn’t working. It’s prompted me to think I should prepare a “The Best…” list for how parents and teachers can work together to support students with learning disabilities. Any advice on articles and other resou
“Parents Revolt Against Failing Schools”
Parents Revolt Against Failing Schools is a good overview of parent trigger efforts, and it’s published by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Here’s an excerpt: Several attempts sparked bitter controversy, with parents claiming they had been misled by parent trigger organizers. Because parent trigger laws are so new, there is little research-based evidence on their effectiveness. Even Phelps acknowledged
JUN 30
“Your child’s data is stored in the cloud”
Your child’s data is stored in the cloud is a new article at CNN about the inBloom data collection system. I’ve previously posted about it at “Irate Parents Fight to Keep Information on Their Kids Private.” Here’s an excerpt from CNN’s article: Streichenberger says inBloom is providing the “plumbing” to fix school districts’ currently disjointed systems. School districts control the data, though t
JUN 29
“Beyond The Bake Sale” Book Club Begins Sunday Night
I’ve previously posted about an online book club discussion that some educators, including Joe Mazza, were organizing for this summer for the well-known book on parent involvement, Beyond The Bake Sale. It begins Sunday night (tomorrow) and fifty-five educators have already signed-up. You can still register for it here.
“National Center On Parent, Family & Community Engagement”
I forgot to include an important site in The Best Resources On Pre-School Parent Engagement — The National Center On Parent, Family and Community Engagement. Here is how the website describes its purpose: The National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement will identify, develop and disseminate evidence-based best practices associated with the development of young children and the stre
YESTERDAY
Video: “Top Ten National Dishes Around The World”
I’m adding this video to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures:
Statue Of Liberty Resources
Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Statue Of Liberty: The Statue of Liberty: 127 Years at America’s Gateway is a photo gallery from The Atlantic. CBS has an interactive on the statue. Lady Liberty Shines Again infographic
A Pretty “Credo” For Education Bloggers
Dan Meyer has written an excellent post on how math educators can blog and tweet (and there are over thirty quality comments there now, too), and I think it holds true for all edubloggers. Here are a few snippets of what he says he tries to do as a blogger (though I would strongly encourage you to go over to his post and read it all), and it sounds good to me: I try to turn interesting opportuniti
Quote Of The Day: You Won’t Hear Better Classroom Management Advice Than This….
Practical Tips for Overcoming Resistance is a post from The Harvard Business Review. Here’s an excerpt that shares the best classroom management advice anyone can give — and listen to: I’m adding this to My Best Posts On Classroom Management.
A Few Final July 4th Links
Here are some more additions to The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July: When countries earned their independence, and celebrate it is a chart from The Economist. The Fourth of July—in 9 Graphs is from The Atlantic. Fireworks, parades and family fun: Glorious photographs of how Americans marked Independence Day over the last two centuries is from The Mail Online.
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are a few relatively recent good posts & articles on education policy issues: Charter School Study: Much Ado About Tiny Differences is by Tom Loveless. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Posts & Articles On The Charter School CREDO Study. Indiana’s new education chief is changing the game on teacher evaluation is from The Hechinger Report. Finland’s education ambassador sp
JUL 04
Video: “Beware Of Pat Narrative Forms”
Here’s an interesting TEDx video that would be great for IB Theory of Knowledge classes. It’s about the “truth” of history, and ends with this: Beware of pat narrative forms and reruns of the same iconic stories because these can hide more than they can reveal.
Great Student Hand-Out On Learning & The Brain
Photo Credit: Mike Seyfang via Compfight One of the best lessons I teach each year I about the physical changes that learning new things makes in the change — it has a tremendous effect on students, and we refer back to it regularly during the year. The complete lesson plan is in my book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves and I’ve previously posted a shorter version here. One important part o
July’s Best Tweets — Part One
Every month I make a few short lists 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. I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in this post. If you don’t use Twit
More On Gettysburg
Here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Battle Of Gettysburg: The Many Faces of Gettysburg is another WSJ slideshow. The Battle of Gettysburg: 150 Years Ago is a photo gallery from The Atlantic. Gettysburg, Pa., then and now is a photo gallery from The LA Times. The Legacy of Gettysburg is a photo gallery from ABC News.
Infographic: “My Identity Was Stolen, Now What? A Visual Guide to Getting Your Identity Back and How to Keep It From Happening in the First Place”
This could be quite useful. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning Economics & Practical Money Skills:
Even More July 4th Resources
Here are more additions to The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July: Little Known Facts About July 4th is a NY Times video: Source: pewstates.org Source: history.com
June’s Infographics Of The Week — Part One
In another feeble attempt at reducing my backlog of resources to share, I’m starting yet another weekly feature — this one on infographics. You might also be interested in The Best Infographics Of 2013 – So Far: The Washington Post has published an infographic comparing the 18th Street and Mara Salvatrucha gangs. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Street Gangs. 25 Ways To Use Pinteres
JUL 03
Wow, What A Day In Egypt…
Here are a couple of updated resources I’m adding to A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Egypt & Beyond, where you’ll find an extensive resource collection on the Arab Spring: The Associated Press has an updated interactive on what’s happening in Egypt. The Wall Street Journal has an updated interactive timeline.
More On The Research Showing Reading When Young Slows Alzheimer’s Later
Earlier today, I published a post about new research showing that reading as a child slows Alzheimer’s in old age. Since that post, several major publications have come out with more detailed articles about the study, which makes it sound even more useful and interesting.. Here they are: Here’s an article in Scientific American about the same study. And here’s a Scientific American article with
Infographic: Food Around The World
This infographic has some very interesting information, but it also has an unfortunately insulting title, “The World’s Weirdest Foods.” I’m still adding it, though, to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures. Not only because the info is engaging, but I think the title itself can be used as a discussion prompt about perception — why do some people feel something is weird,
Video: Watch A Rube Goldberg Machine Powered By….Dogs
Thanks to Amy Erin Borovoy for this video of this dog-powered Rube Goldberg Machine. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Rube Goldberg Machines.
Study: Reading As A Child Helps Slow Alzheimer’s Later
A study has just been published finding that early reading in childhood can slow the development of Alzheimer’s in old age. It found that reading later in life helps, too, it was able to independently confirm that reading earlier in life additionally helped. As a summary of the research said: it’s never too late to start, but earlier is better I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Showin
Quote Of The Day: “The Stress Rolls Downhill”
John Thompson wrote a great post today at This Week In Education titled Reform Stress Has Negative Effects On Kids & Educators. It dovetails well with Dallas Shows That Teacher Working Conditions Matter by Paul Bruno, written at the same blog last week. John points out how so many “school reformers” seem oblivious to the effect their “reforms” have on teachers. Here’s an excerpt: I’m adding i
How Did I Miss This? Google Translate Adds Hmong To Its Languages
Wow, Google Translate added Hmong to its seventy languages in May, and I just found out about it! Previously, Bing was the only major online system to support that language. That will certainly come in handy with our school’s large Hmong population. You might also be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Google Translate & Other Forms Of Machine Translation.
Great Interview With My Teaching Partner, Katie Hull-Sypnieski
As part of their interview series with ESL teachers, Kaplan has published a conversation with Katie Hull-Sypnieski, my teacher partner and co-author. Katie’s the best teacher I’ve ever seen, so I’d encourage you to check it out….
JUL 02
Create A 28 Year Timelapse Animation Of….Anywhere
I’m a few weeks late posting about this, but better late than never… Google has stitched together 28 years worth of satellite imagery to allow anyone to create a timelapse animation of anywhere that you can link to or embed on a website or blog. Just go to Google’s Earth Engine and type in a location. Here’s an example of one showing the deforestation of the Amazon: You can adjust the time so it’
My Favorite Posts In 2013 — So Far
This is probably the last of my “Best Of 2013 — So Far” — I’ll start publishing my year-end lists in November. This list is an opportunity for me to pick my personal favorites. You can see favorites from previous years at My Best Posts From The Last Six Years. Here are my favorites from the first six months of 2013: I published my fifth book, Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies For Student
That Was Quick — My New Publisher Has Made Even More Free Downloadable Figures From My Newest Book Available
Yesterday, I posted about how Routledge, who recently purchased Eye On Education (the publisher of my first two books on student motivation) had just made all the figures, including student hand-outs, available online for free (see All Figures, Including Student Hand-outs, From My Two Student Motivation Books Are Now Freely Available For Download). However, I had also mentioned that they seemed to
A Surprising Study Only To People Who Have Never Worked In The Community: Low-Income People Care About Their Neighborhoods
Neighborhood Residents With Lowest Incomes Most Likely to Care About Their Communities is the title of an article summarizing a new research study: “We hypothesized that individuals with higher incomes would have higher levels of community care and vigilance, but the opposite was true,” Yu said. “Residents with lower incomes were more likely to care about their communities than their higher-earni
Infographic: “Ramadan 2013: Key Facts”
I’m adding this to The Best Sites To Teach & Learn About Ramadan: Ramadan 2013: Key Facts infographic
More Useful July Fourth Resources
Here are some new additions to The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July: Rethinking the 4th of July is by Bill Bigelow at The Zinn Education Project. I already have a link on the list to Frederick Douglass’ famous speech on July Fourth, but here’s a video of Danny Glover reading it: Fourth of July By The Numbers infographic The Complete Guide to July 4th Fireworks info
The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2013 — So Far
I use short, funny video clips a lot when I’m teaching ELLs, and you can read in detail about how I use them in The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL (& How To Use Them). I’ve posted quite a few of them during the year, and I thought it would be useful to readers — and to me — if I brought them together in one post. I’ve also published quite a few during the previous six years of this b
JUL 01
More On The Death Of Nineteen Firefighters In Arizona
The Prescott Fire Department is requesting donations for the families of the nineteen firefighters killed yesterday. Information can be found here. Here are more additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Forest Fires: Why Do Firefighters Choose Such Risky Work? is from The Pacific Standard. 19 Firefighters Fall on the ‘Wildland-Urban Interface’ is from The NY Times. Partial protection from th
All Figures, Including Student Hand-outs, From My Two Student Motivation Books Are Now Freely Available For Download
Eye On Education, the publisher of my two books on student motivation (Helping Students Motivate Themselves and Self-Driven Learning) was recently purchased by Routledge. The EOE website has been “migrating” over to Routledge’s, and the good news is that all of the Figures (and there are a lot of them) from both books, including student hand-outs, are now available for anyone to easily download fo
Zoho Unveils Nice New Survey Tool
Zoho has unveiled a nice new survey tool called…Zoho Survey. The free version includes unlimited surveys and up to 15 questions and 150 responses per survey. You can read more about it at TechCrunch. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Creating Online Polls & Surveys. Here’s a video about it:
From The Onion: “Progressive Charter School Doesn’t Have Students”
I’m certainly adding this new piece from The Onion to The Best Education Articles From “The Onion” : Progressive Charter School Doesn’t Have Students. Here’s an excerpt: One year into its founding as the purported “bold next step in education reform,” administrators on Monday sang the praises of Forest Gates Academy, a progressive new charter school that practices an innovative philosophy of not a
Images & Videos Of The Protests In Egypt
Protests in Egypt yesterday were some of the largest in the history of the world. Here are some related links I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History: Video and Images of Anti-Morsi Protests is from The New York Times. Massive protest against President Morsi in Egypt is a slideshow from The LA Times. Egyptians Protest the Rule of Morsi is a TIME slideshow. Amazing Pho
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are a few relatively recent good posts & articles on education policy issues: Dallas Shows That Teacher Working Conditions Matter is by Paul Bruno. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Importance Of Teacher (& Student) Working Conditions. A Few Points About The New CREDO Charter School Analysis is from The Shanker Blog. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Bes
“News In Levels” Looks Like An Excellent Site For ELLs
News in Levels provides several different “levels” of the same news article and provides audio support for the text. The site is clearly focused on ELLs, with the “lowest” level an image annotated with vocabulary words, which also has audio support. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t have interactive activities that students can do, but I guess you can’t have everything… Thanks to the Center for Appl
More Resources On Wildfires
With the terrible tragedy in Arizona, I thought I thought it would be useful to add some new resources to The Best Sites For Learning About Forest Fires. We can follow the advice of the United States Wildland Fire Aviation Service, who asked “for prayers for the families and friends of these brave men and women”: Video of Arizona Wildfire That Killed 19 Firefighters is from The New York Times. Fas
Resources On Ramadan
Ramadan in 2013 will start on Tuesday, the 9th of July and will continue for 30 days until Wednesday, the 7th of August. You might find The Best Sites To Teach & Learn About Ramadan useful.
JUN 30
“RealtimeBoard” Creates Free “Pro” Plan For Educators
RealtimeBoard is an online whiteboard that is a good tool for real-time collaboration. It’s easy to use, and lets you upload images from your computer or by its url address. It’s on The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2013 – So Far list, as well as being on The Best Online Virtual “Corkboards” (or “Bulletin Boards”) list. They’ve had a limited free plan for everybody, but they just anno
Video: “Give and Take with Adam Grant”
I’ve published several posts about Adam Grant’s research and writing in the past, and will also be interviewing him for my Education Week Teacher column. Here’s a new and very good short interview with him:
All My 2013 “The Best…” Lists (So Far) Related To Web 2.0 In One Place
I’ve posted several “The Best…” lists on Web 2.0 tools this year, and thought readers might find it helpful if I put them all in one place: The Best Tools For Creating Visually Attractive Quotations For Online Sharing The Best Places To Create Funny Subtitles For Silent Movies Part Sixty-Six Of The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly The Best Ways To Create Online Content Ea
This Week In Web 2.0
In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth sharing, I’ve recently begin a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” It’ll be a short compilation of new decent sites that are worth noting, but maybe not necessarily worth a separate post and generally — though not always — not worthy of being on a “The Best…” list (let me know if you think I’m wrong in my assess
More Good Resources About Nelson Mandela’s Life
Here are some good new additions to already very extensive The Best Sites For Learning About Nelson Mandela list: The Day Nelson Mandela Walked Out Of Prison is from NPR. The Guardian has a page of resources on Mandela. ABC News also has a special collection on him. And The History Channel also has a collection, as does CNN. CNN has a useful updated timeline of Mandela’s life.
All My Ed Week Posts On Teaching Reading & Writing In One Place!
I’ve just posted a collection of all my Education Week Teacher posts on teaching reading and writing. It includes contributions from lots of great educators. I’m adding it to My Best Posts On Writing Instruction.
JUN 29
What A Fun Series Of Science Videos: “If superpowers were real”
TED-Ed just published a series of fun videos and accompanying lessons on the topic “If Superpowers Were Real.” The videos and lesson are on super speed, super strength, invisibility, body mass, immortality and flight. Here’s the introductory video:
All My 2013 “The Best…” Lists (So Far) Related To Social Studies In One Place
I’ve posted quite a few “The Best…” lists on Social Studies issues this year, and thought readers might find it helpful if I put them all in one place: The Best Resources For Learning About The Next Papal Election The Best Info On Skills Employers Are Looking For In Job-Seekers The Best Resources On Why Raising The Minimum Wage Is Important The Best Resources About The New Push For Immigration Re