Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
The Best Online Resources About President John F. Kennedy
Microsoft Eliminates Its Own Destructive VAM Rankings; However, Gates Still Seems Focused On Using It For Us
Quote Of The Day: “Godfather” Of MOOC’s Says They Don’t Work For Students From “Difficult Neighborhoods”
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
“The Best Resources For Learning About The ‘Word Gap’”
I’ve just posted The Best Resources For Learning About The “Word Gap” over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. “Word Gap” is the term used to describe the difference in vocabulary development of low-income children and middle-and-high-income children during their pre-school years.
This Week In Web 2.0
In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth , 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… Screencasting In The Classroom is a guide from Kathy Schrock (thanks to Vicki Davis for the tip). I’m adding it to The Best Tools Fo
VERY Long Infographic With VERY Useful Info: “How To Promote Your Blog”
This is a very useful infographic — unfortunately, it’s also very long. I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Advice For Teachers (And Others!) On How To Be Better Bloggers: Courtesy of: How to Promote Your Blog
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: The Teaching English-British Council Facebook page had a very useful post on writing instruction. I’ve embedded it below, and am not sure if it will show-up in an RSS Reader. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For K-12 Wri
“Go Public” Looks Like A Great Film On Education
This is from an article in NEA Today: Go Public: A Day in the Life of an American School District, a documentary in which 50 small-camera crews followed a wide-ranging group of individuals who attend, support, and work in the Pasadena Unified School District, a racially and economically diverse district of 28 public school campuses. Screening in theaters during American Education Week and in t
Video: “What Gives You Meaning?”
As I constantly tell my students, the ability to identify patterns is a key to higher-order thinking and to language-learning. This would be a great video to play — at first, without sound — and have students try to identify the pattern in the images they see…
The Best Videos Showing “Thinking Outside The Box” — Help Me Find More
Earlier this year, I had asked people to help me find videos that would demonstrate “thinking outside of the box” and received some suggestions. I’m still looking for more, but here’s what I have so far: This is from Yahoo News: Here’s a famous scene from the movie Apollo 13 (thanks to Christian Schrock for the suggestion): Heddi Craft suggest clips from MacGyver. Here are a couple I found on Y
mark as read
The fiftieth anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination is coming up next week, and I’ll certainly be making additions to this list. Here’s a start: JFK in Photos is from The Atlantic. Textbooks Reassess Kennedy, Putting Camelot Under Siege is from The New York Times. Fifty Years Later is an interactive site from NBC News. JFK 50 is from The Dallas Morning News. 5 Headlines That Would Have Been If JFK Lived is from ABC News. I’m embedding an interactive from ABC News below, though don’t think you’ll see it on an RSS Reader: View On ABC News.com JFK Assassination: A look back at the dea
I’ve previously posted about Microsoft’s destructive worker evaluation system, one that has been almost universally hated there for years (see Bill Gates’ Employee Evaluation Process). Like Value Added Measurement (see The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation), Microsoft’s so-called “stacked” system always has to have some people at the bottom. This week, though, Microsoft announced the elimination of its system. Here are some articles about their decision to eliminate “curves” and “ratings” and, instead, focus on “teamwork and collaboration,
Udacity’s Sebastian Thrun, Godfather of Free Online Education, Changes Course is the headline of a new Fast Company article. Here’s an excerpt: I’m adding this article to The Best Posts & Articles On MOOC’s.
YESTERDAY
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Articles & Posts On Education Policy
Here are some recent useful articles on educational policy: These 11 Leaders Are Running Education But Have Never Taught is from The Huffington Post. De Blasio puts education reform at top of his agenda as New York City mayor is from The Washington Post. Working for Superman: Texas Schools Turn to Hero Superintendents: School districts often bring in hotshot superintendents to save the day. But i
“Collection Of Tweets From First Week’s Chat On Classroom Management”
I’ve just posted a collection of tweets over at Education Week summarizing the first week’s chat on classroom management and my new Ed Week book on that topic. There’s a fair amount of useful information there. And there’s a second, and final, week to go in the discussion!
NOV 14
There Are Now Exactly 1,200 “The Best…” Lists
My earlier post on John F. Kennedy was the 1,200 “The Best…” list I’ve published over the past six years, and you can see them all here. I do a reasonable job of keeping most of them up-to-date, and hope you’ve found them as helpful to your teaching practice as they have been to mine…
Infographic: “The Most Popular Books of All Time”
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
November’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
NOV 13
Nice Spanish-Language Instructional Math Video Collection
Yesterday, I posted how I was working with our Geometry teacher to help support math instruction for my Beginning English Language Learners. As part of that post, I referred to The Best Multilingual & Bilingual Sites For Math, Social Studies, & Science. Today, that talented Geometry teacher, Wendy Jennings, found a collection of about fifty Spanish-language instructional videos for Algebr
How Can We Encourage ‘Unmotivated’ Students?
How Can We Encourage ‘Unmotivated’ Students? is the new “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to offer your suggestions there or here in the comments….
Another Interesting Piece On “Bridge,” Pearson’s Third World School Model
Earlier this year I posted about a New York Times article that contrasted two companies with rapidly-growing models for private education in the Third World (see Really Interesting NY Times Article On Two Visions Of Education In Developing World — Pearson Is Everywhere!). One of those companies was funded by Pearson. Even though I was much more favorably impressed by what the other company (BRAC
More Resources on Typhoon Haiyan
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About Typhoon Haiyan: Typhoon Haiyan, before and after images is from The Washington Post. Typhoon victims in Philippines plead for aid is an Associated Press interactive. What a deadly typhoon in the Philippines can tell us about climate adaptation is from The Washington Post. The Poverty and Population Factors Behind Vast Typhoon Losses
The Best Posts Interpreting This Year’s NAEP Scores
There has been a lot of reporting on this year’s NAEP test score results, and it’s been all over the map. As John Merrow tweeted: Choose a DC NAEP headline: “Achievement Gap Grows Wider” “DC & Mississippi Worst in Nation” “20 Years of Educational Progress Continues” — John Merrow (@John_Merrow) November 12, 2013 And what is the NAEP, you might ask? The National Assessment of Educational Pro
NOV 12
Supporting English Language Learners In Content Classes
Teaching Beginning and Intermediate English Language Learners in mainstream content classes can be particularly challenging, and I’ve written extensively about it previously in two “The Best…” lists: The Best Sites For Learning Strategies To Teach ELL’s In Content Classes The Best Multilingual & Bilingual Sites For Math, Social Studies, & Science I thought readers might be interested in
The Best Site — Ever — On The Gettysburg Address
Learn The Address is a site set-up by filmmaker Ken Burns as a prelude to his April PBS documentary titled “The Address.” Anyone can videotape themselves saying the Address, upload it to YouTube, and then it will be placed in a video gallery at the site. He’s got quite a mix of people doing this — “regular” folks and celebrities. Here’s a sampling: I’m adding it to The Best Online Resources F
Will TweetDeck’s New Custom Timelines Kill-Off Storify?
As regular readers know, I’m a big fan of Storify as an excellent tool to curate and tweets around a particular topic (you can see all my Storify stories here). , Twitter announced that its TweetDeck tool added “Custom Timelines” as a new feature. You can read all about it at that link, but, basically, you can drag-and-drop any tweets you want into a timeline that you can then embed. In other wor
New Multimedia On Typhoon Tragedy
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About Typhoon Haiyan: Here are some resources from The New York Times: Mapping the Destruction of Typhoon Haiyan is an interactive. Pictures of Typhoon Haiyan’s Wrath Here’s another video:
NOV 11
New Resources On Student Motivation
Here are some new resources on student motivation. I’ll be adding this post to The Best Posts & Articles On “Motivating” Students: 14 Videos for Starting Dialogue on Rethinking Rewards, Awards is a must-see post from Chri Wejr. Sandy Millin has a good post titled Motivation Stations (including student hand-outs) that is specifically geared to motivation for learning a second language. When 3+
Three Lessons For ELLs On The Importance Of Being Bilingual
Sean Banville’s great website Breaking News English has three good lessons on the importance of being bilingual: Can learning another language keep your brain healthier? Being Bilingual Boosts Brainpower Half of Europe’s citizens are bilingual I’m adding them to The Best Resources For Learning The Advantages To Being Bilingual.
“The Ten Ways Blogs…Are Used In Schools”
Sue Waters has just published a very useful post over at The Edublogger titled The Top 10 Ways Blogs and WordPress Are Used in Schools. If you are a blogger, are considering starting a blog, or just want to learn more about blogging, that’s the post where you should start. You might also be interested in these resources: Resources From All My Blogs The Best Sources Of Advice For Teachers (And Oth
Twitter Chat on My New Book Starts Today #classmgmtQA
Regular readers of this blog know that Education Week recently published a eBook collection of posts from here on classroom management and student motivation. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching. It also includes new material, and you can read an excerpt from the book that appeared in The Washington Post. Also, Middleweb has recently published a review. I’ve
More Resources On Veterans/Armistice Day
Here are new additions to The Best Websites To Learn About Veterans Day: Remembrance Day: The 10 greatest paintings of war is from The BBC. Why Do We Celebrate Poppy Day is from English With A Twist. America’s veterans: Who they are is from The Washington Post. Why Veterans Day is on Nov. 11 is from The Washington Post. Veterans Day: Resources To Embrace, Engage, And Educate is from The ASIDE blo
The Best Resources For Geography Awareness Week
Thanks to Richard Byrne, I’ve been reminded that Geography Awareness Week is November 17th through the 23rd this year. Here’s a description of the week’s origin: Each year more than 100,000 Americans actively participate in Geography Awareness Week (GeoWeek). Established by presidential proclamation more than 25 years ago, this annual public awareness program organized by National Geographic Educ
Quote Of The Day: “The Myth of Teachers Not Changing”
The Myth of Teachers Not Changing is a new post by Larry Cuban. Here’s an excerpt:
Teaching English With Lucha Libre
My latest New York Times post for English Language Learners uses the Mexican wrestling phenomenon called Lucha Libre in a speaking, writing, and reading activity. A student interactive, video & teaching ideas are included….
NOV 10
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
Having English Language Learners Use Cellphones To Identify High-Interest Vocabulary
Taking an idea I learned from Heather Barikmo at a New York Times Learning Network post, I’ve begun asking my Beginning English Language Learners to take photos with their phones of signs and/or words they see outside of school but don’t know what they mean. We’re just beginning, and I’m planning on asking each of them to take three photo each, and then text them to me. Here’s the first batch. I’
Interactive Quiz — Are You A Good Language Learner
Readers of our book, The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, know that there’s a lesson plan in it helping students learn the qualities of a successful language learner and that they do a self-assessment as part of it. Part of that lesson includes use of The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner. Now, Marisa Constantinides has created a quiz called Are You A Good Langu
A Post That’s A Little Different From Most — Accessible Franz Kafka Resources
Much to my surprise, two students in my ninth-grade English class have decided they want to read Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” as part of an independent book discussion group (a copy was in a few bags of free books I distributed from The Friends of the Davis Library, who are very generous in helping students create their own personal libraries). They read the first chapter together outside during our
Videos & Photos Of Typhoon Haiyan Destruction
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About Typhoon Haiyan: Both The New Times Times and Slate have video and photo collections showing the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Here’s a sample:
Highlights Of A Reddit Chat With Angela Duckworth & Roland Fryer
Reddit hosted a chat this week with MacArthur genius awardees Angela Duckworth & Roland Fryer. As regular readers of this blog know, I’m no fan of Fryer’s work, and nothing he said in the chat made me elevate that opinion. Angela Duckworth, though, is a different story, and I’ve been very impressed with her research on grit (see The Best Resources For Learning About The Importance Of “Grit”).
Quote Of The Day: “How I Helped Teachers Cheat”
How I Helped Teachers Cheat is a bit of a strange column in The New York Times today. But I do really like this line:
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: Thinking of quitti
NOV 09
Updated Resources On Typhoon Haiyan
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About Typhoon Haiyan: Philippine super typhoon kills at least 10,000, official says is from Reuters. Death toll likely to exceed 1,000 after typhoon slams Philippines is from CNN. Philippine Death Toll Feared In Thousands is from The New York Times.
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” — November
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 few and list them here with a minimal description. It forces me to look through these older links, and help me organize them for my own use. I hope others will find them helpful
November’s Infographics & Interactives Galore — Part Two
There are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics” on this blog. I’ll still be publishing separate posts to individually highlight especially useful infographics and interactives, but you
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: CLEAR at Michigan State University has just unveiled a great collection of language-teaching videos. You can read more about it here. I’m adding it to The Best Online Videos Showing ESL/EFL Teachers In The Classroom. Here a
Bullying In The NFL and in Schools
Here are some new additions to A Very, Very Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Bullying: Raiders Quarterback Applauds Bullied Dolphins Player For ‘Standing Up And Being A Man’ is from ThinkProgress. The Stanford Prison And Why The Miami Dolphins Weren’t Just “Boys Being Boys” is from Forbes.
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Articles & Posts On Education Policy
Here are some recent useful articles and posts on educational policy issues: The New York Performance Standards Consortium has been recognized by The American Federation of Teachers by its prize for Solution-Driven Unionism. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Describing Alternatives To High-Stakes Testing. I’m adding this next series of Ed Week articles on The Gates Foundation to The Best Resourc
Here Is Who I Recommend You Follow On Twitter
Over the years, I’ve posted two “Best” lists for who I recommend people follow on Twitter: The Best Twitterers For Sharing Resource Links The Fifteen “Twitterers” Whose Tweets I Read First Many, if not most, of those recommendations still hold true. However, here is “latest and greatest” list of my recommendations that I’ve collected in a Storify. I’ll also be adding to it over the coming months:
The Best Online Resources For Learning About The Gettysburg Address
November 19th will mark the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln delivering The Gettysburg Address. You might also be interested in: The Best Sites For Learning About The Battle Of Gettysburg The Best Sites For Learning About The American Civil War The Best Resources About President’s Day Here are my choices for The Best Online Resources For Learning About The Gettysburg Address: I’ve got to star
“Using ‘Self-Compassion’ to Recover From a Bad Day”
Using ‘Self-Compassion’ to Recover From a Bad Day is the last post in my Education Week Teacher series on recovering from a bad day in the classroom. Educators Amy Benjamin and Dina Strasser, and many readers, post their thoughts.
No, L.A. School Reformers, Grit Does Not Equal Giving Students Rewards & Being Data-Driven
Anyone who has read my blog or my books knows that I’m a big supporter of Social Emotional Learning, including helping students develop “grit” (see The Best Resources For Learning About The Importance Of “Grit” and the grit lessons and strategies in my books). I’ve also been critical of “school reformers” who try to hijack Social Emotional Learning to further objectives that I don’t believe are h
NOV 08
Finding Similar Images To Use For Compare/Contrast Prompts
I wrote a fairly popular post yesterday titled The Best Ways To Modify The Picture Word Inductive Model For ELLs. One of the ways I mentioned was: teachers can find a comparable photo to the main one, have students label those words, and then create Venn Diagram and ultimately a compare/contrast essay. I also linked to an example. However, today, I realized I had neglected to mention the easiest w
Resources For American Indian Heritage Month
November is designated American Indian Heritage Month in the United States. You can find lots of related resources at The Best Sites For International Day Of The World’s Indigenous People.
Ways To Support Students Setting Goals
I’ve written a lot about student goal-setting in this blog (see The Best Posts On Students Setting Goals) and have included lesson plans in my books. Last month, I wrote about how our school has decided to explicitly emphasize Social Emotional Learning, and how our Small Learning Community had chosen to focus initially on student goal-setting (see Supporting School-Wide Social Emotional Learning)
Infographic: “End Genocide”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Resources For Learning About Genocide: Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
The Best Resources For Learning About Typhoon Haiyan
Typhoon Haiyan is being called by the media as the biggest cyclone in history as it hits the Philippines. We can keep victims in our thoughts and prayers and donate to relief efforts. We’re studying natural disasters now in ninth-grade English, so we’ll be using some of these resources in class on Tuesday: Videos show Typhoon Haiyan’s charge across Philippines is an interactive from The Washingto