Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Infographic: School Bullying
Important Commentary On New TOK Guide From Course Companion Author
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
Infographic: School Bullying
I’m adding this infographic to A Very, Very Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Bullying: via USC Rossier Online
“Latino Americans” Looks Like A Great PBS Series
Latino Americans is a PBS: landmark six-hour documentary featuring interviews with nearly 100 Latinos and more than 500 years of History. The first episode will be shown on September 17th, and the website has some very useful resources. The San Francisco Chronicle published a review of it today. Here are sample clips: I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month.
Important Commentary On New TOK Guide From Course Companion Author
As regular readers know, in addition to sharing my thoughts on the new International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge Guide, I’ve been publishing guest posts from TOK textbook authors and educators from around the world. You can see them all at The Best Commentaries On The New IB Theory Of Knowledge Teaching Guide. Today, Eileen Dombrowski has agreed to share her commentary. Eileen is the lead a
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
I’ve started a somewhat regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention: EFL teacher Carissa Peck shares Ways to Keep in Touch with parents at her blog. Stanford University’s Understanding Language announces a free MOOC, Constructive Classroom Conversations: Mastering the Language of the Common
YESTERDAY
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles About Education Policy
Here are some good recent posts about education policy issues: A new study on Teach For America came out and received widespread attention. Here are two posts that give a clear-eyed perspective on it. I’m adding them to The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns About Teach For America: TFA Teachers Perform Well in a New Study — But Teacher Experience Still Matters is by Dana Goldstein. On t
I’ll Take 90% Student Engagement Over 100% “Compliance” — Any Day
I have students in my mainstream ninth-grade English and in my ESL classes complete a simple “Reading Log” every Friday. It has five columns — ones for the day, title of the book, the number of minutes read, space for a student signature and one for a parent signature. Though I leave it on for a reason, the “parent signature” box has remained blank for years. I tell students at the beginning of th
CTA Magazine Runs Interview With Me On Student Motivation
The California Educator, the quarterly magazine of the California Teachers Association, has just published a short interview with me on student motivation. You can read it here.
Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th here in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Hispanic Heritage Month.
SEP 12
September’s (2013) Best Tweets — Part Two
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
Video: “Kid President’s Pep Talk to Teachers and Students!”
Thanks to Wendi Pillars for sharing this video on Twitter:
Voyager Has Left The Solar System — Here Are Some Useful Resources
Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Voyager 1 & Its Departure From Our Solar System: The Atlantic shares what Voyager heard as it left our solar system. Voyager’s epic journey: How long would it take you? is a neat interactive from The BBC. Exiting the Solar System and Fulfilling a Dream is from The New York Times and includes a lot of multimedia features. Voyager
New Kindle Verision Of My Book, Self-Driven Learning, Now Available
The Kindle edition of my book, Self-Driven Learning, was pulled a couple of of months ago after Routledge bought its original publisher, Eye On Education. They made revisions to all the EOE books, and now, as of today, it’s back! You can get the Kindle version here on Amazon. They tell me that the new and improved Kindle version of Helping Students Motivate Themselves is not far behind. And look f
Two Important Quotes From Massive NY Times Articles On Tablets In Classroom
Today, The New York Times published a very lengthy piece on the use of tablets in the classroom, focusing on Rupert Murdoch’s Amplify system (which I’ve written about in the past). The Times piece is headlined No Child Left Untableted. I think it’s an impressively thoughtful piece covering the broader questions about technology use in the classroom Here’s one excerpt that particularly resonated w
SEP 11
Many More 9/11 Resources
Here are new additions to my already massive The Best Sites To Help Teach About 9/11 list: Here’s an interactive from the 9/11 Memorial. World Trade Center reborn is an Associated Press interactive. How Not to Commemorate 9/11: Use 9/11 to Advertise Your Product is from The Atlantic. 9/11: United States marks 12th anniversary of attacks is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe. 11 moving images
Video: I Wonder How Many Of Our Students Hear This When We Go Over Classroom Rules?
Thanks to Michelle Henry for sharing the clip.
U.S. Constitution Games
Here are games and interactive I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning About The Constitution Of The United States. I have to say I don’t think they’re necessarily better than the ones that are on that list now, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to add them. Constitution Games is from PBS. Mr. Nussbaum’s Page on the Constitution. Annenberg Classroom interactives on the Constitution. Constitution R
Video: “Floating In My Mind”
Floating In My Mind is a short animated video about making memories and losing them. I think it could be an interesting movie to show to my English Language Learners to see how they would describe what they saw — I wonder if all would describe it literally or if some, unprompted, would see the deeper story it’s trying to tell. And I also think it would be a good video to show Theory of Knowledge s
Study: Young People Respond Better To The Positive Than They Do To Threats
In a previous post, Emphasizing Pride, Not Shame, In Classroom Management, I talked about a study that showed determined having people think about the pride that they will feel in themselves after resisting temptation was a very successful self-control strategy. And, interestingly enough, they also found that trying to encourage self-control through the use of shame or guilt actually resulted in
A Few More 9/11 Teaching Resources
Here are some new additions to my already massive The Best Sites To Help Teach About 9/11: From Valerie Strauss’ blog: ““For Action Initiative” [is] an effort to provide teachers and community members with tools to help young people understand the attacks as well as challenges they face in today’s world. Those tools include 58 lessons, written and piloted by volunteer teachers and curriculum deve
SEP 10
“The Best Posts On Parents “Opting-Out” Of Standardized Tests For Their Children”
The Best Posts On Parents “Opting-Out” Of Standardized Tests For Their Children is a new post over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. You can see all my posts related to parent engagement here.
Infographic: “The History of Chemical Weapon Wars”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Resources For Learning About Chemical Weapons: Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Job Scout Has Useful Introductory Computer Tutorials, Plus A Tool For Creating Resumes
Job Scout has a number of interactive computer tutorials designed for people very new to tech, plus it also offers a guided tool for creating resumes. And they’re all free. TechCrunch says they have also just announced a Spanish version, but I haven’t been able to locate it online yet. I’m adding it to both The Best Places For Students To Write Their Resumes and to The Best Places To Learn Comput
“Great Lessons” Is Theme Of Next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival
On October 1st, EFL Classroom 2.0 will be hosting the 32nd edition of the ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival (Also known as the ELT Blog Carnival). Post any and all entries here. This edition will be all about “Great Lessons”. Share a post, new or old, that highlights a lesson you felt really worked well. Carissa Peck recently published the 34th ELT Blog Carnival and its focus was on teaching/learning pr
SEP 09
Infographic: “International Literacy Data”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Resources For World Literacy Day: by ElkanoData. Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Google+ Joins Facebook In Letting You Embed Posts
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Facebook making all posts there embeddable elsewhere and how that was a nice feature for those of us with blogs. , Google+ has followed them, now making all Google+ posts embeddable. I’ve embedded an example below, and you can read more about it at TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb. I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Learning What Google+ Is All About.
Infographic: “English Learners In The United States”
Here’s a nice infographic from Sarah Sparks at Education Week: English-learners in the United States | Infographics
Video: “Syria: What’s Behind the Conflict”
Here’s a short video from The Associated Press. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About What’s Happening In Syria:
“The Best Resources For Talking To Parents About The Common Core Standards”
I’m no big fan of the Common Core Standards, but they are a reality for most of us. If teachers are ever in situations where they have to explain them to parents, or if there are parents who want to understand more about them. So, if you’re interested, I’ve just posted The Best Resources For Talking To Parents About The Common Core Standards over at my other blog, Engaging Parents in School.
A Collection Of Recent Infographics & Interactives
Here’s a mix of various recent infographics and interactives: This Interactive Map Compares the New York City of 1836 to Today is from Smithsonian Magazine. The Pew Center has a ton of infographics on a wide range of topics, including Internet usage and American reading habits. And you can see all of them here. Here’s an interactive map showing how the Yosemite Fire spread. I’m adding it to The Be
My NY Times Post On Teaching 9/11
My latest New York Times post includes 9/11 teaching ideas and a student interactive quiz for English Language Learners. You can also see all my past Times’ posts here.
SEP 08
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
I’ve started a somewhat regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention: States May Move Closer to Uniform Way of Identifying ELLs is by Lesli Maxwell at Education Week. Common Assessment Group Launches Spanish Webpage is by Lesli Maxwell at Ed Week. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Le
New Studies Highlight Blurry Line Between Nature & Nurture
There’s recently been some pushback on the “10,000 Hour Rule” for developing expertise. I think Malcolm Gladwell and Daniel Coyle respond well to critics saying that it downplays the role of genes. An overly-long article in the Pacific Standard, The Social Life of Genes, highlights a number of recent studies which particularly reinforce some points made my Gladwell — that, yes, genes play a big r
Infographic: “The Anatomy Of A Great Infographic”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Resources For Creating Infographics:
“Teachers Need To Behave Like Johnny Appleseeds”: An Interview With Daniel Coyle
“Teachers Need To Behave Like Johnny Appleseeds”: An Interview With Daniel Coyle is my new post over at Education Week Teacher. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The 10,000 Hour Rule & Deliberate Practice.
SEP 07
What’s “Popular” Via The New York Times
I periodically post places to find resources that are supposedly the “most popular” of something or other. I might or might not agree with the criteria used to determine that popularity, but I nevertheless find some useful pieces of information. You can find a collection of these sites at The Best Places To Find The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators – 2013 (So Far). Today, The N
Two Visual Explanations About What’s Happening In Syria
Here are two new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About What’s Happening In Syria: Understanding Syria: A visual guide to the latest crisis in the middle east is from USA Today. Here’s a very large, probably too large, infographic:
Snapstouch Is Yet Another Photo-Editing Tool
Snapstouch is a “free online tool to covert your photo to sketch, photo to painting, photo to drawing, photo to outline…” I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects.
Two Important Articles On Chemical Weapons
Here are two important articles on chemical weapons that I’m adding to The Best Resources On Chemical Weapons. Neither are accessible to ELLs, but portions could be modified: A Weapon Seen as Too Horrible, Even in War is from The New York Times. Chemical weapons and the scientists who make them is from The Conversation.
Infographic: “Quit Smoking by the time you’re:”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites For ELL’s To Learn About The Dangers Of Smoking: Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Photo Galleries Of The Week
Obviously, photos can be great educational tools with English Language Learners and with any students (see The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons). I post about many photo galleries, also called slideshows. To do it in a little more organized way, though, I recently began this weekly feature called “Photo Galleries Of The Week.” This post is a “round-up” of online slideshows I’m adding to various
“Back to School: 10 Great Movie Teachers”
Back to School: 10 Great Movie Teachers is a nice video collection from TIME Magazine. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn About (And View Video Clips Of) Teachers In The Movies.