Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
March’s Best Posts From This Blog
I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here). Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this pas
Just Revised & Updated ” The Best Sites For Learning About Taxes”
I’ve just revised and updated The Best Sites For Learning About Taxes. Yes, it’s that time of year again….
Easter & Passover Resources
Both the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover take place next month. You might find The Best Sites For Learning About Easter And Passover useful.
“The Times They Are a-Changin’”…For IB Theory Of Knowledge Oral Presentations
I’ve been writing, and have been publishing guest posts, about how the changes instituted by the International Baccalaureate this year have affected those of us who teach Theory of Knowledge classes. You can see some of those posts at: The Best Commentaries On The New IB Theory Of Knowledge Teaching Guide The Best Posts On Teaching TOK “Knowledge Questions” Of course, you can also see all my TO
“Tools for flipping your class”
Ana Maria Menezes, whose Life Feast blog is a must-read for any ESL/EFL/ELL teacher, has just put together an excellent list of “Tools For Flipping Your Class.” I’m embedding it below, though I’m not sure if it will show up in an RSS Reader. It’s a pretty exhaustive list, but she’s inviting others to add to it. All you have to do is click “ADD TO LIST.” I’m not sure if you have to go directly to
‘Best Practices’ Are Practices That Work Best For Your Students
‘Best Practices’ Are Practices That Work Best For Your Students is the final post in my three-part Ed Week series on the five best practices teachers can use in the classroom. Today’s post features contributions from Roxanna Elden, Barnett Berry and Pedro Noguera, along with comments from readers. Here are some excerpts:
Great Interactive Video: “Sounds Of GREAT Britain”
Sounds of GREAT Britain is a very cool series of interactive videos that allow viewers to take a customized audio and visual tour of…Great Britain. It’s very creative. I’ve embedded the first video below… The creators of the video also have a very engaging site called LoveWall – Visit Britain which provides excellent categorized images from around the country. I’m adding both to The Best Sites F
YESTERDAY
March’s Best Tweets — Part Five
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
MAR 27
March’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Five
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
Two New Well-Done “Choose Your Own Adventure” Games
I’m a big fan of “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories, and have a very lengthy collection of them at The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories. Today, I learned about two new well-done online games in that genre that are being nominated for awards at the Games For Change Festival: The first one is Start the Talk: A Parent Learning Tool. It’s designed as a role-playing
The Best Resources On Professional Development For Teachers — Help Me Find More
Even though we’ve been very lucky at our school to have great professional development, there have been times that I’ve had to attend absolutely terrible District-sponsored sessions. Unfortunately, terrible sessions are a common experience that many teachers share. I thought I’d bring together a few potentially useful resources on the topic (including links to a number of related resources I’ve p
Virtual Reality & Education
Facebook’s recent purchase of a virtual reality company has been in the news this week. I have to admit I hadn’t been paying much attention to it until I heard this segment on the PBS News Hour, Facebook invests in a virtual reality future with $2 billion Oculus Rift acquisition. I’ve embedded the video below, and you can read the transcript at the link, but the line I highlighted at the top of t
Infographic: “Dancing Around The World”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures: Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
MAR 26
“Knowledge Motivates Preschoolers More Than Stickers, Study Says”
Ho-hum — yet another study has been published demonstrating that extrinsic motivation is less effective than intrinsic motivation, even though that doesn’t deter proponents of merit pay and other forms of classroom punishments and rewards. Education Week reports that: Offering meaningful knowledge is “an effective tool for enhancing task engagement in preschool-age children,” the researchers wrot
Billionaire’s Ballot Initiative To Divide California Into Six States Is Insane, But It’s A Gift To Geography Teachers
Venture capitalist and billionaire Tim Draper is getting tired of paying taxes to help the rest of us, so he wants to divide California into six states. And he’s bankrolling an initiative that’s close to getting on the ballot to do just that. A billionaire meddling into things he knows little about but that would have a major impact on a lot of low-and-moderate income people. There seems to be a l
“The Certainty of Donald Rumsfeld (Part 2)” Is As Good As Part One!
Yesterday, I posted about Part One of Errol Morris multi-part series in The New York Times on The Certainty of Donald Rumsfeld (see “Unknown Unknowns” & The Potential Of An Exceptional Theory Of Knowledge Lesson). Part Two just came out, and it’s as good as Part One. Here’s an excerpt: The known known, the known unknown and the unknown unknown seemingly have straightforward interpretations. O
My New BAM! Podcast: What Are The Benefits & Challenges Of A One-To-One Program?
My latest nine-minute BAM! Radio Podcast is on What Are the Real Benefits of a 1:1 Program? What Are the Biggest Challenges? Educators Alice Barr and Troy Hicks share their thoughts, and they are also among contributors to one of my future Education Week columns on the topic. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On “One-To-One” Laptop/Tablet Programs.
MAR 25
Origami & The Language Experience Approach
In the Language Experience Approach, students do an activity and then used the shared experience to develop a group written description of what just happened, as well as using it as a good speaking, listening, and reading opportunity. It’s a great language learning activity. Making origami can be a good task for students to do, with students either all doing the same thing or choosing different o
The Best Resources For Learning About Mudslides
The terrible tragedy in Washington State happened five days ago, and the search for survivors continues. I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly not very familiar with danger of mudslides, and am creating this list and will add it to A Compilation Of “The Best…” Lists About Natural Disasters. I’ll start off with this New York Times video on The Science of Mudslides. Extent of the Mudslide is a
“Unknown Unknowns” & The Potential Of An Exceptional Theory Of Knowledge Lesson
One of Donald Rumsfeld’s most famous – if not his most famous – utterance was his “unknown unknowns” response at a press conference related to Iraq (you can see a video of it at the end of this post). Now, filmmaker Errol Morris has just published The Certainty of Donald Rumsfeld (Part 1) over at The New York Times, the first in a four-part series. I don’t know what the next three parts are goin
The Best Posts, Articles & Videos On “Teacher Leadership” — Contribute More!
“Teacher Leadership” is a phrase that’s used a lot, and to not always mean the same thing. It’s particularly important, I think, to talk about it now since Education Secretary Arne Duncan is kicking-off an initiative using the term (you’ll find commentaries on that effort later in this post). I thought it might be useful to share a few of what I think are the best ones (or, at least, the ones tha
Infographic: Universal Declaration Of Human Rights
I’ve previously posted about how I use the UN Universal Declaration Of Human Rights in a modified version of the well-known Rethinking Schools lesson ((I provide students excerpts of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the South African Bill of Rights, have students compare them our own, and then students develop one for their own imaginary country — with justifications). You can se
Video: This “Unusual” Bus Shelter Could Be A Good Video For English Language Learners
This video of an “unusual” bus shelter could be useful to show to English Language Learners and have them describe — in writing and verbally — what they see:
MAR 24
“Scrawlar” Will Certainly Be One Of The Top Web 2.0 Tools Of The Year…
Scrawlar lets teachers create virtual classrooms, lets students write and use a “whiteboard,” doesn’t require student email registration (just a classroom password and a student-created sign-in code, and is free. It’s also usable on laptops, desktops, tablets and phones. It doesn’t get much better than that! For now, I’m adding it to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teac
Video: “What Happens In One Minute Around The World”
This video came from The Atlantic. You can read more about it here.
“Great Teachers Focus On Connections & Relationships”
Great Teachers Focus On Connections & Relationships is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. Eric Jensen, Jason Flom, and PJ Caposey share their suggestions for five best practices that teachers can implement in the classroom. This is Part Two in a three-part series. Here are some excerpts:
Students Learn About Antonyms & Write About Their Perfect School In My Latest NY Times Post For ELLs
Students learn about antonyms, in addition to writing about what they think are the qualities of an excellent school, in my latest New York Times post for English Language Learners. An interactive and teaching ideas are included. You can see all my previous NY Times post for ELLs here.
MAR 23
Video: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Happened 103 Years Ago This Week
The terrible Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire happened on March 25, 1911. I’m adding this video to The Best Resources For Learning About The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which movingly makes the connection to what’s happening in Bangladesh sweatshops and in the United States today (be aware it contains graphic images). It definitely conveys a strong point-of-view and, to be safe, some teache
Even More Cesar Chavez Resources
The late labor leader Cesar Chavez is in the news this week, with a new movie being released and his official birthday celebration coming up. Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Cesar Chavez: The San Francisco Chronicle has published two good articles related to the new film about Chavez’s life: ‘Cesar Chavez’ movie: An extraordinary ordinary man ‘Chavez’ revives labo
Do You Teach IB Theory Of Knowledge & Are You Looking For The New Presentation Planning Document?
There have been lots of changes in IB Theory of Knowledge classes this year, and they are not making it any easier to cover everything in two semesters. These changes include ones related to the required Oral Presentation. The old TOK Planning Document is no longer the one we’re supposed to be using. Chris Coey, one of my colleagues at Luther Burbank High School, fortunately went to a TOK traini
Some Recent Excellent Posts On Classroom Instruction
As usual, I’m hopelessly behind in sharing resources I want to post about, so I’ve decided to share several ones that loosely fall under the category of “classroom instruction.” This may or may not become the first in a series: Skills Practice | Alternative History as Narrative is from The New York Times Learning Network. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons
New Obamacare Resources
Here are new additions to The Best Interactives Showing How Obamacare Works: Obamacare: Enrollment numbers and Medicaid expansion is from CNN.
MAR 22
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues: Will Arne Duncan leave a legacy of teacher leadership? is by Barnett Berry. You might also be interested in my article and video, Developing Teacher Leadership for the Long Haul. Amplify Curriculum Release Highlights New Questions for Districts is from Education Week. I’m adding this tweet to The Best Posts About The Kh
Just Updated My “Learning Economics & Practical Money Skills” List
I’ve just revised and updated The Best Sites For Learning Economics & Practical Money Skills list. In addition to cleaning-up dead links, I made one new additions: Gen i Revolution is a series of financial games. Teachers can create virtual classes and monitor student progress. You can learn more about it at Richard Byrne’s blog. I’m also adding it to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Inde
The Best Sites For Learning About Japan
We’re going to be studying Japan next week in my Geography class for English Language Learners. One of our art teachers is going to come in and show students how to use origami as part of our unit, so it should be an engaging few days. I’ll be adding this to A Beginning List Of The Best Geography Sites For Learning About Asia & The Middle East. Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Lear
English Language Learners Design Their Own “Ideal” Neighorhoods
I’ve written a lot about my annual favorite lesson of the year for English Language Learners — students first identify what neighborhood qualities are most important to them; they then analyze their neighborhood and the wealthiest one in Sacramento (including through field trips and statistical analyses); next they decide which one they think is the best; and then they write a persuasive essay sha
Ask A Question, Any Question…
My Classroom Q & A column over at Education Week Teacher continues to grow in popularity as it nears the end of its third year. I’ve already begun collecting new questions for the next school year, so feel free to contribute on — either by leaving it in the comments section or by sending it to me using this contact form. As you probably know, a wide-ranging group of educators provide guest re
‘Start By Matching Student Interests, Then Build From There’
‘Start By Matching Student Interests, Then Build From There’ is my latest post at Education Week Teacher. Educators Diana Laufenberg, Jeff Charbonneau, Ted Appel and special guest John Hattie share their suggestions for the five best teaching practices that educators can implement. Here are some excerpts:
March’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Four
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