Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
The Best Resources On The Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane
The missing Malaysia Airlines plane continues to be a mystery, and a tragic one. I can only imagine what the families of the passengers must be going through… It can also be a a topic for classroom study — ranging from geography lessons to writing prompts. Here are some useful related resources if you want to discuss it with your students: Dozens of Planes Have Vanished in Post-WWII Era is an inf
5 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew: Your Children Can Do More Than You Think”
5 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew: Your Children Can Do More Than You Think is a good piece by Jessice Lahey in The New York Times. You might also be interested in My Advice To Parents In “USA Weekend.”
Official Common Core Site Tries To Makes Itself More “Parent-Friendly”
The official Common Core Standards site unveiled a redesign this week in an effort to make it more accessible and understandable to parents. I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Talking To Parents About The Common Core Standards.
The Difference Between Parent “Involvement” & Parent “Engagement”: Selected Tweets From #PTchat
I was a guest on a recent #PTchat to discuss the difference between parent “involvement” and parent “engagement.” Here are some selected tweets from that chat. [View the story "The Difference Between Parent \"Involvement\" & Parent \"Engagement\": Selected Tweets From #PTchat" on Storify]
“Teacher Home Visits: The Importance of Sharing a Meal”
Teacher Home Visits: The Importance of Sharing a Meal is a nice post in Education Week by a teacher in Minnesota. Here’s the last paragraph: That home visit was the best way for me to get to know Omar and his family. It made the task of teaching him come alive by attaching their story, their life, to him. There is nothing quite like sharing a meal with someone to bring you closer together. It is w
More Ukraine Resources
Here are new additions to The Best Resources On The Protests (& Crisis) In Ukraine: ‘Believed to Be Russian Soldiers’ is a photo gallery from The Atlantic. Thousands March in Moscow to Protest Crimea Vote is from NBC News. Crimea crisis: Explore the flashpoints is a CNN interactive.
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.” (you might also be interested in The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2013). I also sometimes include tech tools that might not exactly fit the definition of Web 2.0: Resurrect is a cool Google Chrome extension that automatically seeks out old
‘Respecting Assets That ELLs Bring To A School Community’
Response: ‘Respecting Assets That ELLs Bring To A School Community’ is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. Four educators — Karen Nemeth, Judie Haynes, David Deubelbeiss and Julie Goldman — provide suggestions on how we can better support English Language Learners in the classroom. Here are some excerpts:
More Resources On St. Patrick’s Day
Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About St. Patrick’s Day (& April Fools Day): Irish Culture on Saint Patrick’s day! is from Informed Teachers. Quiz Your Noodle: St. Patrick’s Day is from National Geographic. The Real Irish American Story Not Taught in Schools is by Bill Bigelow.
The “All-Time” Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of English Language Learners
I’ve been posting annual lists of The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers of ELLs for a number of years. In addition, I’ve also been publishing separate lists of The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students, which mainly focuses on self-access student sties. I thought it would be useful for readers, my students, and me to review them all and identify my choices for t
March’s Best Tweets — Part Three
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 post. If you don’t use Twitter, you can
March’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Three
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 Best Resources On The Dangers Of Multitasking
I’m beginning to prepare and short lesson on dangers of multitasking, and thought I’d bring together some of the resources I’ll be using for it. Additional suggestions are welcome: Don’t Multitask: Your Brain Will Thank You is from TIME. Why Humans Are Bad at Multitasking is from Live Science. 12 reasons to stop multitasking now is from Fox News. The Multitasking Mind is from BrainFacts.org. Why
MAR 13
Videos For St. Patrick’s Day
Here are some videos I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning About St. Patrick’s Day (& April Fools Day):
Video: “Math Class” (Imagined by Kids)
It’s only a little over two minutes. Watch it til the very end…
The Difference Between Parent “Involvement” & Parent “Engagement”
I was a guest on a recent #PTchat to discuss the difference between parent “involvement” and parent “engagement.” I’ve posted selected tweets from that chat over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. You might be interested in The Difference Between Parent “Involvement” & Parent “Engagement”: Selected Tweets From #PTchat.
Bookmark “Teach UNICEF” For Excellent Lesson Materials
Teach UNICEF is an excellent resource for lesson plans and materials on social topics. I haven’t quite figured out the exact way to navigate it — it has an organized collection here, and then they have “Global Citizen Brief” like this one on Syria that appear to be elsewhere on the site. The lesson materials are top-notch and provide versions based on grade-levels. Some of the student questions i
The Best Video Clips & Full-Length Movies For Helping To Teach Persuasive Techniques (Help Me Find More)
I have a ton of resources related to teaching persuasive writing (see The Best Online Resources For Helping Students Learn To Write Persuasive Essays), especially to English Language Learners. I decided it would be helpful to find video clips to supplement teaching this unit, which I’m doing right now. I was surprised to find that several other sites have developed great collections of video clip
“Interviewly” Makes Great Reddit Interviews Legible
The Reddit website has great “Ask Me Anything (AMA)” interviews with well-known people, and I’ve posted about some of them. The content is fascinating. However, it’s almost like they had a contest for who could create the most unattractive and difficult-to-read format, and used the winner’s idea to use as the lay-out for the interviews themselves. Now, though, Inteviewly has taken some of the bes
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here is a collection of recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues: Vergara Plaintiffs Shouldn’t Put Individual Teachers On Trial is by Paul Bruno. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On California Court Case Attacking Teacher’s Rights. This took Teach For America 24 years to figure out? is by Valerie Strauss. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns Abo
MAR 12
“How Can We Better Support English Language Learners?”
How Can We Better Support English Language Learners? is the latest “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to leave your responses there or here…
Video: “What Does the World Eat for Breakfast?”
I’m adding this video to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures: )
Hot Spot Interview — Report From Israel
Three years ago, I began a new regular interview series. There are always lots of “hot spots” around the world — places where there are natural disasters, political upheavals, etc. And English teachers can be found in most of those places. If you are an EFL/ESL teacher in one of those areas, please let me know. Today, thanks to an introduction by Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto, I’m interviewing Judih W
“What If?” History Project At NPR
Regular readers know I’m a big fan of using “What If?” history in the classroom — see The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons. It looks like NPR has become a fan of the idea, too. This week, they’re inviting readers to share their visions of what the world would have looked like if World War One hadn’t happened. See their article, A World Without World War I, Featuring Health-N
MAR 11
Our Latest Response From A Sister Class — This Time From South Africa!
I’ve been sharing about an ongoing project my ELL Geography class has been doing — studying different countries, developing questions about them, and then recording videos of themselves asking those questions that we’d send to an English class in that country. It’s been a great experience for everyone involved, and I’ve previously shared some of those videos: Terrific New Videos: Using English “S
The “All-Time” Best Places To Find The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators
I’ve been posting annual lists of The Most Popular (& Useful) Resources For Educators for a number of years. There are a number of ways to gauge “popularity.” I just view these lists as opportunities to check-out some new sites, and find it interesting to see which ones might be particularly “popular.” I thought it would be useful for readers, my students, and me to review them all and identi
MAR 10
Video: “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Here’s the premiere episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s remake of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” (thanks to Alexander Russo for the tip). You might also want to check out the show’s website, as well as a New York Times article about it.
Recent Student Projects From My Theory Of Knowledge Class
As regular readers know, in addition to teaching Beginning and Intermediate English Language Learners English and Social Studies, I also teacher mainstream ninth-grade English classes and an International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge class (and it looks like I’ll be teaching two TOK classes next year!). In addition to IB Diploma candidates, I heavily recruit other students that are not taking
Using Art For Language-Learning Is Focus Of My Latest NY Times Post For ELLs
My latest New York Times post for English Language Learners is on art — students complete an interactive about an artist who uses chewing gum for his creations, and I share teaching ideas using online art apps. You might also be interested in The Best Art Websites For Learning English. You can see all my previous New York Times posts here.
MAR 09
The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil
I’ve published two posts at The New York Times for English Language Learners that focus on soccer: one on Lionel Messi and the other on a Mexican girls soccer team. The 2014 World Cup begins on June 12th in Brazil. I created a very long “Best” list for the 2010 World Cup, and have selected sites that would be useful this year and added them to this new list. Of course, I’ll be adding a lot more a
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t” — March (Part One)
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
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
Book Excerpt: “Kidding Around: The Power of Positive Psychology”
I’m lucky today to publish an excerpt from a top-notch book, Kidding Around: Connecting kids to happiness, laughter and humor, by education consultant and veteran school principal Sue Stephenson. Sue Stephenson has over 40 years of experience as a teacher, principal, staff developer, instructional consultant, author and speaker. She has written four books that focus on building trusting relation
We’re In The Middle Of My Favorite Unit Of The Year — Comparing Neighborhoods
Every year, my Beginning and Intermediate English Language Learners class do a neighborhood comparison project as part of learning how to write a persuasive essay. You can read all about it at A Lesson Highlighting Community Assets — Not Deficits. In summary, students identify the qualities important to them in a neighborhood, compare their neighborhood with the richest neighborhood in Sacrament
This Has Me Concerned: “Study Links Teacher ‘Grit’ with Effectiveness, Retention”
The SAME day The Washington Post republished my piece on the potential misuse of teaching Social Emotional Learning Skills, Education Week reported on new research titled Study Links Teacher ‘Grit’ with Effectiveness, Retention. My Washington Post piece had only referred to SEL and students — I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t even thought about how it could be misused against teachers. Here’s what
MAR 08
March’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 post. If you don’t use Twitter, you can
Reducing Attrition In Urban Schools ‘By Listening To Our Teachers’
Reducing Attrition In Urban Schools ‘By Listening To Our Teachers’ is the last post in my Education Week Teacher three-part series on teacher attrition in high-poverty schools. Today, Liam Goldrick and David Orphal are contributing responses, and I’m featuring many comments from readers, too. I also throw my “two cents” into the discussion. Here are a couple of excerpts:
Video: Dean Shareski Interviews Me “All About Curation”
Dean Shareski and I just had a video conversation for a class he’s teaching. The topic was “All About Curation.” I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About Curation.
Wash. Post Republishes My Piece On SEL: “The manipulation of Social Emotional Learning”
The Washington Post has just republished a post I wrote last month on SEL. Here on my blog, I had titled it Let Them Eat Character. Their title is “The manipulation of Social Emotional Learning.” Here’s an excerpt I had highlighted when I originally posted it here:
More Updated Resources On Ukraine Crisis
Here are new additions to The Best Resources On The Protests (& Crisis) In Ukraine: Breaking Away is a useful map from The Wall Street Journal. Teaching with the News: Ukraine, Russia and Crimea is by Diana Laufenberg. News and teaching resources round up on the Ukraine crisis is from The Guardian. Russia’s Goal In Ukraine: Three Scenarios is from NPR. Crimea and the Hysteria of History is fr
Resources On Daylight Savings Time
It’s that time — we all lose an hour’s sleep tonight. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Daylight Savings Time.
