Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
May’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
May’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
Fun Video With Potential Use In Geography Class: “3 guys Irish dancing around the world”
“3 guys Irish dancing around the world” is the latest video showing travelers doing the same thing in different countries. The genre was begun by “Where The Hell Is Matt,” which continues to be the best. You can see them all here.
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues: Mark Zuckerberg has contributed a new bunch of money to schools — this time in California — but who knows if he has learned anything from his Newark debacle (see The Best Posts & Articles For Learning About Newark’s $100 Million From Facebook ). Here are some posts/articles on his recent contribution: Zuckerberg’s ph
What A Disappointment — Khan History Videos Continue To Be Awful
I’ve had lots of issues with the Khan Academy, and have collected a number of resources about those concerns at The Best Posts About The Khan Academy. However, I’m not a math teacher, so I’ve always deferred to those educators whose judgment and experience I respect. Two years ago, though, I saw a Khan video about history that was just awful (This Khan Academy History Video Is Just Awful). That p
“Teaching History By Encouraging Curiosity”
Teaching History By Encouraging Curiosity is my latest post at Education Week Teacher. Today, educators Diana Laufenberg, Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez and Peter Pappas contribute their responses. Here are excerpts:
New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “How languages evolve”
Here’s a nice new TED-Ed video and lesson, How Languages Evolve:
Lots Of New World Cup Interactives & Infographics
Here are new interactives and infographics I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Here are three interactives from The Guardian: Brazil 2014: interactive World Cup travel guide The World Cup’s top 100 footballers of all time – interactive World Cup kits through the ages – interactive guide Here are some infographics: Explore more visuals like this one on th
MAY 28
How Can History Teachers Make the Curriculum More Engaging?
How Can History Teachers Make the Curriculum More Engaging? is the latest “question of the week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to leave responses there or here…
Fun Short Video For ELLs: “If It Fits, I Sits”
Here’s a fun short video that English Language Learners could watch and then describe what they saw verbally and in writing:
The Best Resources About Maya Angelou
I’m sure we are all saddened by Maya Angelou’s death today. I thought I’d share some useful resources and tweets to help remember her, and that might also help our students develop a connection to her work, if they don’t have one already. Feel free to suggestion your own favorites… [View the story "Good Resources About Maya Angelou" on Storify]
The Best Posts & Articles Highlighting Why We Need To Be Very Careful Around Ed Tech
Most readers know that I’m a big proponent of using technology to help students in their learning process. In fact, you can see a collection of applicable articles and related “Best” lists at The Best Advice On Using Education Technology. Most readers also know I’ve got a lot of misgivings about how tech is being used in education, particularly in ways that seem to prioritize profit over learning
Star Trek “Universal Translator,” Here We Come?
I’ve previously posted about experiments made by Microsoft to create the capacity for simultaneous translation (see The Best Sites For Learning About Google Translate & Other Forms Of Machine Translation) and about Word Lens, an amazing mobile app that translates images of signs (see The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me). Well, there has been big news recently about both tools. M
“What Are We Losing By Eliminating Arts From the Curriculum?” Is Topic Of My Latest BAM! Radio Program
What Are We Losing By Eliminating Arts From the Curriculum? is the topic of my latest BAM! Radio program. Virginia McEnerney and David Booth are my guests as we have a ten minute conversation. They have also contributed written comments for an upcoming post at my Ed Week Teacher column….
Videos: Using Art As A Language-Learning Activity
Creating art can be a great language-learning activity for English Language Learners! We’re lucky to have an extraordinarily talented and caring art teacher — Mr. Johnny Doolittle — at our school. Every year he gives up his free period for many days to lead our English Language Learners in many different activities, including origami when we are studying Japan in Geography class; drawing when we
MAY 27
Just Completely Revised & Updated My Bloom’s Taxonomy “Best” List
I’ve just completely revised and updated the most popular post on this blog, The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom. Additional suggestions are welcome…
“A Teacher-Counselor Partnership Is ‘Essential’ For Student Success”
A Teacher-Counselor Partnership Is ‘Essential’ For Student Success is Part Two in my Ed Week Teacher series on teacher-counselor partnerships. Today’s post includes responses from Julie Hartline, the 2009 National Counselor Of The Year; and educator/authors Trish Hatch, Dr. Sherrel Bergmann and Dr. Judith Brough. In addition, I’ve included comments from readers. Here are some excerpts:
MAY 26
A Few Final Memorial Day Resources
Here are a few final additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Memorial Day: How African-Americans in South Carolina invented Memorial Day is from Vox. Sacrifices Set in Adorned Stone is a photo gallery from The New York Times. A Real Story of Memorial Day is from The Atlantic.
Here Are The Eleven Sites I’m Using For My Summer School “Virtual Classroom”
Our school year will be ending in two-and-a-half weeks and, as usual, our District has little money for actual summer school. We used to have over one thousand of our students attending for at least six weeks — not because they were failing and had to retake classes, but because they wanted to get ahead. Now, we’re down to four classes for students who have failed a class and have to take it agai
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles About Education Policy
Here are some recent good posts and articles on education policy issues: Who Gets To Graduate is by Paul Tough and appears in The New York Times. He raises many useful points, but misses others. Those “misses” are pointed out in a good response in The EduOptimists titled Doing What’s Easy: Comments on “Who Gets to Graduate?” IT echoes similar points I made in a Washington Post piece, The manipula
MAY 25
Even More Memorial Day Resources
Here are more new additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Memorial Day: The First Memorial Day is by Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic. Memorial Day: 7 Historical Facts About the Holiday is from Live Science. American Memorial Day is by Wendi Pillars. 220,000 American flags posted at Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day is a video and article from a Virginia TV station.
How I Incorporate Reflection Into Semester Summative Assessments
I’ve previously posted a number of the semester final summative activities I’ll be having my students be doing during these final two-and-a-half weeks of school (you can see several of the different writing prompts that will be part of them if you scroll to the bottom of My Best Posts On Writing Instruction). In addition to those writing assignments, I always incorporate a number of reflective ac
Just Sent-Out Free Monthly Email Newsletter
I’ve just mailed out the June issue of my simple free monthly email newsletter. It has over 2,000 subscribers, and you can subscribe here.
May’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
May’s “The Best” Lists — There Are Now Exactly 1,300 Of Them!
Here’s my monthly round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 1,300 of them categorized here): The Best Resources Discussing The Importance Of Art In Education — Help Me Find More The Best Commentaries On The 60th Anniversary Of Brown vs. Board Of Education The Best Commencement Speeches The Best Resources On The Kidnapped School Girls In Nigeria – Help Me Find More The
Dr. Walter Mischel, Creator Of Famous Marshmallow Test, Is Writing A Book
Dr. Walter Mischel, creator of the famous marshmallow test used by many of us in classroom lessons, is writing a book that will be published in September. It’s titled The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control. I’ve written many posts over the years about his work and how I apply it in the classroom. The first one was titled “I Like This Lesson Because It Make Me Have a Longer Temper” and you c
MAY 24
Cool Video: “This Amazing School Bag Doubles As A Desk For Students In Rural India”
Dan Pink shared an article in Business Insider about a great project, This Amazing School Bag Doubles As A Desk For Students In Rural India. Here’s a video about it:
Here’s The Outline My Theory Of Knowledge Students Will Be Using For Their Essay
There have been lots of changes in IB Theory of Knowledge classes this year, and I’ve written a lot about them. My students are now finishing up the year writing “practice” essays — IB Diploma candidates won’t receive the official writing prompts from IB until September 1st, so they won’t be able to start on the ones they’ll be submitting to IB until that time. It doesn’t appear to me that the Es
Geography Instagram Videos By English Language Learners
I’ve previously posted about my plans (including student instructions) to have students in all my classes create different forms of Instagram videos as part of their finals (see Using Instagram, Bloom’s Taxonomy & Student Interest As A Fun Part Of A Semester Final). It’s just the latest experiment that I’m trying-out this year using Vine or Instagram (see The Best Resources For Learning To Use
May’s Best Tweets – Part Four
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
More Memorial Day Resources
Here are new additions to The Best Websites For Learning About Memorial Day: Asleep In Dress Blues: Music For Memorial Day is from NPR. Congress To Award Highest Honor To Army’s Only Latino Unit is also from NPR. Celebrating Memorial Day and Looking Ahead is from The New York Times Learning Network. Bedrooms of the Fallen: Honoring the Casualties of War is a photo gallery from TIME. Presidential