U.S. Dept. Of Ed Announces Not One, Not Two, But Three Studies Show NY Performance Pay Generally Makes Things Worse
Three strikes, yer out! The Institute Of Education Sciences has announced that out of three approved studies of a New York performance pay program, one showed across the board negative effects on student achievement; another showed negative effects in some areas and no effect in others; and a third one showed no effect at all (thanks to Morgan Polikoff). The first study was conducted by Roland F
Video: Malcolm Gladwell On The unheard story of David and Goliath
Malcolm Gladwell’s new books has just been published, and here’s a TED Talk that was released today. You might also be interested in my previous posts on his work, including videos of other talks he’s given:
The Best Resources To Help Understand The Federal Government Shutdown
It’s ridiculous, but the federal government has just shutdown (see Republican Strategy On Debt Ceiling Is Ridiculous, But Provides Perfect Classroom Lesson On “Compromise”). Here are a few of resources to understand what it actually means: Here’s a video from The New York Times, A Government Shutdown By The Numbers, that may not be viewable through an RSS Reader: Who Goes to Work? Who Stays Home
A Very Beginning List Of Articles On The iPad Debacle In Los Angeles Schools
I’m looking — granted, from afar — at the unfolding debacle of the iPad program in the Los Angeles schools. Based on what I know, I’m almost viewing it with awe — the district has seemed to make every mistake imaginable. It’s almost laughable, if you didn’t think of the huge amounts of money involved, the thousands of classroom hours lost to the fiasco, and the fear that it will instill in other
Video: “K-12 Online Conference”
As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ll be giving one of the keynotes at this year’s K-12 Online Conference, a free professional development opportunity for educators. You can see the entire schedule here. My keynote presentation will be viewable at the end of October, the same time Education Week publishes a related commentary. The title of my presentation will be “Developing Leadership in Classrooms, Sc
The Best Online Resources For Teaching The Difference Between Correlation & Causation
The difference between correlation and causation is an important concept in IB Theory of Knowledge, and I thought readers might find it useful to see some simple fun ways I use to teach the concept. I’ve used the first two, and the last one — a video — is one I just learned about . I haven’t decided if it’s helpful or just weird, though. Let me know what you think… Here’s a great comic from xkcd:
Useful Resources On Natural Disasters
Here are a variety of useful resources related to natural disasters: First, here are a couple of new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Forest Fires: Is Living With Extreme Wildfires The New Normal? is from NPR. Into The Wildfire is an ambitious piece from The NY Times. This next article is going on The Best Sites For Learning About Hurricanes list: Al Gore and ‘Category 6 hurricanes’
My Latest NY Times Post Is On Cultural Significance Of Colors
My latest New York Times post for English Language Learners is on the cultural significance of colors, and includes a student interactive and different teaching ideas. You can see all my previous NY Times posts here.
Research Studies Of The Week
I often write about research studies from various fields 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 are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature: Here’s an interesti
9-29-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: “Developing Student Writers By Letting Them Talk…”Developing Student Writers By Letting Them Talk… is my new post over at Education Week Teacher. It’s the first post in a three-part series focusing on teaching writing in the context of the Common Core Standards. Today’s commentaries come from educators Mary Tedrow, Ray Sala