Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
If You Weren’t Able To Attend Our Workshop On “Developing A Self-Motivated Student Culture,” These Tweets Have It Covered
I presented two workshops at this weekend’s Learning And The Brain Conference in San Francisco. You can see the PowerPoints and supporting materials for both of them here. In addition, Kevin Washburn, a great educator and writer out of Alabama, was at the conference sending out excellent tweets from all the workshops he attended. In addition to being lucky enough to meet Kevin after years of conn
Video: “Antarctica Condition 1 Weather”
I’ll definitely be showing this video to my Geography class when we study Antarctica:
“Emotions Of Sound” Is A Great Interactive For ELLs & For IB Students!
Emotions Of Sound is a neat interactive that plays different sounds, along with images. You’re then show several different “emotional” words and have to pick the one that the sound and image elicits from you. After each answer, results are shown for how many people have chosen each word. At the end of the all the questions, the site tells you, overall, how alike or different your responses were f
An Olympics Performance Perfect For A Lesson On “Grit”
You may have seen the amazing performance by U.S. skater Jeremy Abbott on Friday when he took a terrible fall but then recovered to finish very strongly. The video of happened (I can only link to it since it’s not embeddable) will be a perfect addition to The Best Video Clips Demonstrating “Grit” though, since its seven minutes long, you probably want to only show the fall and its aftermath to s
More Reasons Why Our Students Should Continue Their Academic Career
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career: Wage Premium From College Is Said to Be Up is from The New York Times. Going To College May Cost You, But So Will Skipping It is from NPR. Infographic: Better Education = Healthier Lives is from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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
Okay, These Will Be My Final Valentine’s Resources This Year….
Here are some final neat additions to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day: Good Relationships: Most Repeated Advice Across 25 Relationship Guides is a great infographic. Valentine’s Day is an interactive from Learn English Teens at the British Council. L.O.V.E. – activity/lesson plan is for English Language Learners. Odd ways to mark Valentine’s Day around the world – in pictures is fr
FEB 13
Two Very Important Posts On “Close Reading”
Here are two very important posts I’m adding to The Best Resources On “Close Reading”: Teach Kids to Build Their Own Prior Knowledge is by Laura Robb and appears in Middleweb. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Common Core: A critical reading of “close reading” is from Rethinking Schools.
Some Very Interesting Info On Self-Control Research
I’ve written a lot about helping students learn about self-control (see The Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control). Walter Mischel’s famous marshmallow experiment obviously plays a role in that work. I also wrote about a recent study (see Marshmallows and Trust) that raised a question about if that experiment truly measured self-control, or if it really measure
I Believe It’s Important To Have High Expectations Of Students, But This Might Be Going A Little Too Far….
RT @LiveScience: Archaeologists have discovered a 1,700-year-old school, http://t.co/fZOMrMAGdZ pic.twitter.com/qkEydEg4Xc — Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) February 13, 2014 Here’s an excerpt from the article: In a different room of the school, the team discovered another text composed by a teacher telling students to bring their rhetorical skills up to the level of several deities, including th
This Week’s Round-Up Of Useful Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are some recent good posts about educational policy issues: Why False Compromises Won’t Resolve The Education Debate is by Jeff Bryant. He doesn’t use these exact words, but does a good job distinguishing the difference between a “half a loaf” and “half a baby.” Those are the terms we use in community organizing when describing the differences between a genuine compromise and one which is ha
Friday’s New Sochi Resources (Including Lots Of Useful Videos)
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games: Winter speed demons is an interactive from The Washington Post. Charts: The Most Ridiculously Expensive Olympics Ever is from Mother Jones. Teaching the Sochi Olympics | English Language Arts, Journalism and Fine Arts is from The New York Times Learning Network. Sochi 2014 Olympics: Reaching the p
Some Last Valentine’s Day Resources
Here are a few last additions (at least, for this year!) to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day: Valentine’s Day: A History of the Day of Love is from Voices Of America’s Learning English, and includes a number of resources. Heads Up English has a good Valentine’s Day exercise. Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day? is from EFL Smart Blog. Explore more infographics like this one on the w
February’s Best Tweets — Part Two
Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I 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 Twitter, yo
Haiku Deck Announces iPhone Version That Lets You Control Your Presentations
Haiku Deck, an iPad app which now has a Web version, may very well be the best tool for creating online slideshows that are out there. It’s on The Best Ways To Create Online Slideshows list. Richard Byrne has made a tutorial explaining how to use the web version, though it’s pretty darn easy to use. Now, they’ve just unveiled a iPhone app that, among other things, lets you use it as a remote co
“Love English” Awards Are A Great Place To Find Useful ESL/ELL Websites
Macmillan Publishers annually sponsor a “Love English” award contest for websites and blogs emphasizing support for English Language Learners. I view these kids of contests as not particularly important in terms of who wins, and much more useful as a way to learn about new sources of useful information. I think the list of nominated websites looks particularly interesting since a number of them a
FEB 12
Thursday’s Updated Sochi Resources
Here are some new good additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games: This amazing interactive map is certainly one of the best resources created around the Winter Olympics. Teaching the Sochi Olympics | Science, Health and Math is from The New York Times Learning Network. Check out this neat NY Times interactive on Olympics gear used by the athletes. Looking
“Thinglink” Announces Free Virtual Classrooms
I’ve previously posted about Thinglink, the online photo annotation tool that is sort of like a Picture Word Inductive Model for the Web (I describe the PWIM in detail in an ASCD Educational Leadership article, Get Organized Around Assets. Thinglink basically allows you to label any image you choose. I’ve embedded an example at the bottom of this post. It’s already on The Best Ways To Use Photos
This Free Site Will Review Your Work & Show You How To Write It Like Hemingway Would…
Thanks to Katherine Schulten, today I learned about the Hemingway app, a fun site that will evaluate your writing and tell you how to change it to Hemingway’s style. I’ve included a screenshot above of what it had to say about what I believe is the best piece I’ve ever written for publication, Videotaping teachers the right way (not the Gates way). As you can see, it told me the piece was “OK.” T
The Best Resources On “One-To-One” Laptop/Tablet Programs — Please Suggest More!
I’ll soon be covering a question in my Education Week Teacher column about one-to-one laptop/tablet programs, and thought it would be useful to readers (and to me!) to create a “Best” lists on the topic. This list will be fairly limited at the beginning, but I’m confident readers, particularly teachers who are actually doing a one-to-one program, will contribute great stuff in the comments. I’ll
Three Good Tweets On Grading & Assessment
Here are three good tweets I’m adding to The Best Resources On Grading Practices: Nice summary of grading shifts, lifted from Genessee's webinar playing now. #sblchat pic.twitter.com/Jalfu5Umjt — Craig Kesselheim (@ckesselheim) February 11, 2014 RT @TheJLV: Students at Hudson have a three part grading system. In thirds: self, teachers, peers. They were pretty accurate across. #educon — Larry Fer
“How Can We Develop Life-Long Readers?”
How Can We Develop Life-Long Readers? is the latest “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Responses are welcome here or there…
More Valentine’s Day Resources
Here are some new additions to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day: Valentine’s Day – Hitting The Sweet Spots is from the ASIDE blog. Last Minute Love Lessons is from Online TEFL Training. Valentine’s Day – Resources for class is from David’s ESOL Blog.
“Why Do Teachers Leave High-Poverty Schools?” Is My Latest Nine-Minute Podcast
Why Do Teachers Leave High-Poverty Schools? is my latest nine-minute BAM! podcast, and it a pretty interesting one. I interview teachers Paul Bruno and Angel L. Cintron Jr. Note that, for some reason, BAM! placed it second-from-the-top instead of at the top just now. However, I just emailed them about the mistake so, by the time you read this they might have already moved it to the top of the pag
FEB 11
Tuesday’s Updated Sochi Resources
Here are the latest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games: Teaching the Sochi Olympics | History, Geography and Social Studies is from The New York Times Learning Network. What it’s like to just miss an Olympic medal is a neat interactive from The New York Times. 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Part I is a photo gallery from The Atlantic. What Do the Olymp
From The Archives: “How to give classrooms a mission”
I’ve recently re-started an effort I’ve tried to do previously by regularly highlighting previous posts and articles I’ve shared in previous years that I think might be worth a second look. Today, I’d like to highlight a piece I wrote for The Washington Post a few years ago titled How to give classrooms a mission. Here’s an excerpt:
I’m Not Sure You’ll Find A Better Video Illustrating The Importance Of Libraries Than “El Bibliotecario”
The Librarian / El Bibliotecario from Facebook Stories on Vimeo.
Video: “Bill Nye – The Joy of Discovery”
This video came from Melody Sheep, and is excerpt from Bill Nye’s debate this past week with creationists:
FEB 10
I Began This Blog Seven Years Ago: Here Are My All-Time Most Popular Posts
Wow! Seven years ago, I began writing this blog. Nearly fourteen thousand posts, twelve hundred “The Best…” lists, five million visitors, and six books later, I’m still at it….I hope I’ve got at least another seven years of writing in me…. It’s been quite a ride, and I’m a better teacher, and person, because of it. Thanks to all you readers from whom I’ve learned so much. Here are the most popula
The #EnglishEffect Videos Are Great, & Perfect For A Class Project
The British Council ran a contest last year called #EnglishEffect. Here is how they describe it: Last year the British Council ran a global video competition where people from all over the world sent in videos telling us what English meant to them. The winning video and the others are great for stimulating classroom discussion, and for ideas for making your own. They are absolutely right about the
“What If?” History Presentations By English Language Learners
I’ve written a lot about the “What If?” history presentations that I have my IB Theory of Knowledge students create. Then I make arrangements with their other classes so that they can come in and teach students in my Intermediate English history classes to do the same project (You can see lots of posts, including examples, at The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons. Here are a c
From The Archives: “Getting English-Language Learners to Thrive”
I’ve recently re-started an effort I’ve tried to do previously by regularly highlighting previous posts and articles I’ve shared in previous years that I think might be worth a second look. Today, I’m featuring a piece I wrote for Education Week Teacher several years ago. It’s titled Getting English-Language Learners to Thrive. Here’s an excerpt:
“The Maker Movement Can Give Students ‘A Story To Tell’”
The Maker Movement Can Give Students ‘A Story To Tell’ is Part Two in my Education Week Teacher series on The Maker Movement. Today, Tanya Baker from The National Writing Project discusses implications The Maker Movement has for different content areas, National Teacher of the Year Jeff Charbonneau elaborates further on its connect to STEM, and Leslie Texas and Tammy Jones make a connection to Pro
The New “Connect With English” Site Has Got To Be One Of This Year’s Best New Sites For ELLs
“Connect With English” was produced by Annenberg a number of years ago, and is a great video series for English Language Learners. The series has been free to watch via the web, but you’ve had to purchase student exercise books. I’ve previously our own “worksheet” that we developed for students to use. Though the videos are just beginning to show their age a bit, they’re still wonderful resource
Monday’s List Of New Sochi Resources
Here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games: Winter Olympics Activity Toolkit is from The VIF Learning Center. Here’s a neat video from the 1932 Winter Olympics. The Atlantic has a good post about it: Sports Illustrated has a special site with lots of multimedia resources. Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest informatio
Here’s My NY Times Post On Valentine’s Day, PLUS A “Video Bingo” That Didn’t Get Included!
My latest New York Times post for English Language Learners is on Valentine’s Day and idioms. It includes a student interactive and teaching ideas. And here’s a “video bingo” activity that didn’t get included because of space limitations, but I thought readers would find it useful so I’m sharing it here. It’s in four “steps”: 1. Tell students they are going to play a game. First, though, they are
FEB 09
From The Archives: “Home Visits and Hope for the Future”
I’ve recently re-started an effort I’ve tried to do previously by regularly highlighting previous posts and articles I’ve shared in previous years that I think might be worth a second look. Today, I’m highlighting a piece I co-authored with Carrie Rose, Director of the Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project. It appeared in ASCD Express a few years ago, and was titled Home Visits and Hope for the Future
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” — February (Part Two)
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in 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, too
Help Me Make A List Of Student Projects That Require Parent Engagement
I’ve just posted The Best Student Projects That Need Family Engagement — Contribute Your Lessons! over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. I’ve love to compile a lengthy list of lessons teachers have used that have also required a high degree of parent engagement — where students have had to talk with family members and find out information from them; parents whom would not typically sp
Some Very Useful Teaching Resources For Sochi
Here are the latest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, and I think they’re particularly useful today: Teaching Sochi 2014 – news and resources round up is from The Guardian. Classroom resources for teaching the 2014 Winter Olympics is from The PBS News Hour. USA Today has a special site for their Olympics coverage. Surya Bonaly is the biggest bad _
FEB 08
Very, Very Impressive New Interactive Site On Climate Change
Big Facts On Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security is an extremely impressive new interactive site on the effects of climate change. It shows its effect in a variety of ways on every region on the earth. Here’s how it describes itself: Big Facts is a resource of the most up-to-date and robust facts relevant to the nexus of climate change, agriculture and food security. It is intended to p
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: Learn English Teens from The British Council seems to have a new section focused on science issues. Here are a bunch of downloadable resources from Kate Kinsella about academic language (thanks to Judie Haynes for the tip).
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. By the way, you mi
I Doubt Teachers Will Find A More Useful Resource On The Olympics Than This: “How Olympians Stay Motivated”
How Olympians Stay Motivated is an excellent article in The Atlantic, and here’s an excerpt that tells you about it: We can’t all be Olympic athletes. (In fact some of us, including your humble narrator, should not be allowed anywhere near ice or blades.) But we all face times when we really don’t want to do something that we, nonetheless, really have to do. Drawing from interviews with top athle
Saturday’s Resource Update For The Olympics
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games: Sochi 2014 Games: 6 Winter Olympics-Themed STEM Resources is from Edutopia. The Wall Street Journal has a special Olympics site with a lot of multimedia resources. Crazy Olympic team uniforms at Sochi is from The BBC. What the data say about which countries will win Olympic medals is a graphic fro
Very Creative Video: “The Pangaea Pop-up”
This is a very creative video from TED-Ed. You can see the whole lesson here.
Video: Jimmy Fallon & The Muppets Say Goodbye To “Late Night”
And, in case you’d like to use this with your English Language Learners, you can find the lyrics here.
February’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part One
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
“The Maker Movement Believes In ‘Kid Power’”
The Maker Movement Believes In ‘Kid Power’ is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary S. Stager have adapted a portion of their book, Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Education in the Classroom, into a piece for the post. You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About The “Maker Movement.”