Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
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
The Best Research Demonstrating That Lectures Are Not The Best Instructional Strategy
There has been a fair amount of recent research documenting the ineffectiveness of lectures as an instructional strategy. I thought I’d bring articles about the research together in one place. You might also be interested in The Best Posts Questioning If Direct Instruction Is “Clearly Superior.” Let me know what I’m missing here: A study was just announced a couple of years ago claiming — surpris
John Lewis: “You Must Find A Way To Get In Trouble”
Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis gave the commencement address at Emory University last month. Here’s an excerpt, followed by a video of the entire speech. I’m also going to use the excerpt with a writing prompt next year in my U.S. History class. The prompt will be: What does John Lewis mean when he says it’s important to get into trouble? To what extent do you agree (or disagree) w
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: English-Speaking Abilities of Immigrants: A Snapshot From the U.S. Census Bureau is from Education Week. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Keep-Up With Current ELL/ESL/EFL News & Research. Editorial Is bilingual educ
More Good Articles On Race
Here are new additions to A Collection Of Useful Posts, Articles & Videos On Race & Racism: White People Think One Black Person’s Success Proves Racism Is Over is from The Huffington Post. What Is Your Race? For Millions Of Americans, A Shifting Answer is from NPR. Are Reparations Due to African-Americans? is from The New York Times. Q&A: Ta-Nehisi Coates on Reparations, Ignorant Jour
How My Students Evaluated Me This Year
The school year ended this week and, as I do every year, I had students anonymously evaluate me. As regular readers know, I post the results of these surveys each semester — warts and all. In fact, The Washington Post republished one of the less flattering ones a couple of years ago. You can see reports from all the previous years, as well as links to more reflective pieces on the use of these ki
Two Good Resources To Help Understand Education Research
Here are some new additions to The Best Resources For Understanding How To Interpret Education Research: How qualitative research contributes is by Daniel Willingham. Why Statistically Significant Studies Aren’t Necessarily Significant is from Pacific Standard.
“My Best Posts On Parent Engagement In 2014 – So Far”
I’ve just published My Best Posts On Parent Engagement In 2014 – So Far over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. You might find it useful….
YESTERDAY
“The Best Posts On The Migration Policy Institute Report On Engaging Immigrant Parents”
I’ve just posted The Best Posts On The Migration Policy Institute Report On Engaging Immigrant Parents over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. You can see all my parent engagement-related “Best” lists here.
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles on Education Policy
Here are some recent important posts and articles on educational policy issues: Of course, the big news this week was the awful Vergara decision. Here are some good pieces that have come out and that I’m adding to California Court Rules It’s All The Teachers’ Fault, which is where I’ve been collecting post-court-decision analyses. You can also find a lot of background info at The Best Resources O
Today’s World Cup Resources
Here are the latest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Football and motivation is a World Cup lesson for English Language Learners. The World Cup In The Classroom – Visualizations Of FIFA 2014 As Teaching Tools is from the ASIDE blog. The Common Craft #SoccerGuide comes from…Common Craft. Thanks to Richard Byrne for the tip. Here’s a YouTube playlist of W
“Response: The Role Of Arts Education In Schools”
Response: The Role Of Arts Education In Schools is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. There’s certainly been a lot of interest in this topic, and I’ve included many readers’ comments in this post. In addition, I’m featuring guest responses from three educators — Virginia McEnerney, David Booth and Heather Wolpert-Gawron. Here are some excerpts:
The Best Tweets Of 2014 — So Far
Here’s my latest mid-year “The Best…” list. You might also be interested in: The Best Tweets Of 2013 The Best Tweets Of 2013 – So Far Best Tweets Of 2012 Best “Tweets” Of 2011 Best “Tweets” Of 2010 Best “Tweets” Of 2009 I’ve used Storify to “curate” them: [View the story "Best Tweets Of 2014 -- So Far" on Storify]
My Best Posts On New Research Studies In 2014 – So Far
I write many posts about recent research studies and how they can relate practically to the classroom. In fact, I post a regular feature called Research Studies of the Week. In addition, I write individual posts about studies I feel are particularly relevant to my work as a teacher. I’m continuing with my mid-year “Best” lists, and it makes sense now to publish one on recent studies. You can see
TED-Ed Video: “The colossal consequences of supervolcanoes”
TED-Ed has published this video about supervolcanoes (you can find the entire lesson here). I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Volcanoes.
JUN 12
Resources For The World Day Against Child Labor — It’s Today
June 12th is recognized by the United Nations as The World Day Against Child Labor. You might be interested in The Best Resources For The World Day Against Child Labor.
June’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
What Are You Going To Do Differently Next Year?
Our school year ended an hour ago, and I can’t think of a better time to think about what I’m going to do differently next year! A few years ago, I wrote an Education Week column (What Are Your New School-Year Resolutions?) offering similar year-end reflections for the next year and invited readers to contribute their own, and would like to do the same here. If I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll conside
JUN 11
The Day After The “Vergara” Decision: Here Are More Thoughtful Reflections From Around The Web
Here are some more thoughtful reflections on yesterday’s Vergara decision that I’m adding to California Court Rules It’s All The Teachers’ Fault: Informed Student Advocates Pursue Reforms that, Unlike Vergara v. California, Actually Address Inequity is by Ben Spielberg. Making it easier to fire teachers won’t get you better ones is by Jack Schneider. Last Dance of the Lemons is by EduShyster. “S
More TOK & ELL Student Instagram Videos
I’ve previously shared how I experimented with having both my IB Theory of Knowledge students and my English Language Learners create Instagram videos as part of their finals. I’ve since gotten a chance to upload more of them, and you can see the TOK ones at our TOK class blog and more at our ELL class blog. Here are a few examples: Here’s a fun one my TOK students created and, unbeknownst to me,
“What Role Should Arts Education Have In A School’s Curriculum?”
What Role Should Arts Education Have In A School’s Curriculum? is the latest “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to leave your responses there or here in the comments….
Videos: “Anderson Cooper Tries A Schizophrenia Simulator”
I’m adding these videos to The Best Sites For Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes:
JUN 10
Resources For World Refugee Day
World Refugee Day takes place on June 20th. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day.
More Resources On The Value Of Attending College
Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career: The Value of College: It’s Not Just Correlation is from The New York Times. Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say is also from The New York Times.
A Zillion New World Cup Resources
Here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Here’s a great interactive from The NY Times on some star players. Brazil Prepares for the World Cup is a photo gallery from The Atlantic. The Best Players at the World Cup, in GIFs is from The Atlantic. Football to Football Translator is a fun Chrome extension. The pick of the World Cup songs is from The BBC
My New BAM! Radio Show Is On “How Is Globalization Changing How and What You Teach?”
How Is Globalization Changing How and What You Teach? is the topic of my latest ten minute BAM! Radio Show. I’m joined by John Spencer and Diana Laufenberg. They are both contributors to an upcoming Ed Week column on the topic. This is my last show until late August but, in the meantime, you’ll have plenty of time to catch-up on the twenty-one episodes I’ve recorded so far…
California Court Rules It’s All The Teachers’ Fault
In an awful ruling for teachers, students and their families, a California court “struck down teacher tenure and seniority protections embedded in California law.” You can read a lot more about it at: The Best Resources On California Court Case Attacking Teacher’s Rights You might also be interested in I Am Tired Of “School Reformers” Using The Civil Rights Movement Legacy To Support Their Agenda
I Explain The Picture Word Inductive Model In My Latest British Council Post
I’ve often written about the Picture Word Inductive Model, my favorite teaching strategy for Beginning English Language Learners. I’ve just published a post at The British Council with a more detailed explanation on how to use it in the classroom. You might be interested in all my previous posts there, which you can find here. I’m going to add this particular post to The Best Ways To Use Photos In
JUN 09
The Best Music Videos Of “What A Wonderful World”
“What A Wonderful World” by Louie Armstrong is a super-popular song, and well-used by teachers of English Language Learners throughout the world. This evening, Wendi Pillars shared a spoken version by David Attenborough that I hadn’t seen before, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to share the versions I’ve used with my students. I hope readers will share ones they like, too. Here’s the versi
The Best Posts On The Study Suggesting That Bare Classroom Walls Are Best For Learning
The media has been full of stories about a new study suggesting that bare classroom walls are a better learning environment for children than decorated ones. In many ways, this research is a great example of some of the problems with much education research, much of which you can read about in The Best Resources For Understanding How To Interpret Education Research. There are two excellent posts
‘Creating a Culture Where Students Want to Succeed’
‘Creating a Culture Where Students Want to Succeed’ is Part in my Ed Week series on creating a positive school culture. Today’s post includes comments from Margaret A. Seale, Maurice J. Elias, Heather Wolpert-Gawron and Dr. Howie Knoff. I also share ideas contributed by readers. Here are some excerpts:
My Latest NY Times Post For English Language Learners Is On Pets
My latest NY Times post for English Language Learners features a student interactive on pets. It also shares teaching ideas for writing, drawing and creating videos about family pets. You can see all forty-two of my previous NY Times posts here.
JUN 08
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: ELLs Test-Drive New English-Language Proficiency Assessments is from Ed Week. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing. Multilingual or not, infants learn words best wh
This Week’s Useful Posts & Articles On Education Policy Issues
Here are some recent posts and articles on educational policy issues: How Bill Gates pulled off the swift Common Core revolution is from The Washington Post. It’s long and important, and I’m adding it to A Collection Of My “Best” Lists On The Common Core. New teachers union chief is unapologetically adversarial is from The Boston Globe. It looks like some interesting stuff is going to be happenin
Two Very Different Videos About “Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes”
Here are two very different videos I’m adding to The Best Sites For Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes: Here’s a video from the view of a Polar Bear. You can read more about it here:
New Student Motivation, Engagement & SEL Resources
Our school year will be over in four days and, after a brief rest, it will be time for me to complete the third volume in my student motivation “trilogy” that should be published early next year by Routledge. It’s tentatively titled Building a Community of Self-Motivated Learners: Strategies for Teaching Resilience, Respect, and Responsibility (I’ve got to get that done by the end of the summer s
June’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
JUN 07
The Best Videos For Educators In 2014 – So Far
Another day, another mid-year “Best” list (you can find all 1,300 Best lists here). You might also be interested in: The “All-Time” Best Videos For Educators The Best Videos For Educators In 2013 – Part Two The Best Videos For Educators In 2012 — Part Two The Best Videos For Educators In 2012 — Part One The Best Videos For Educators In 2011 Part Two Of The Best Videos For Educators — 2010 The Ten
Summer Solstice Resources
The Summer Solstice will arrive on June 21st of this year. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About The Summer Solstice.
Oops, I Missed Posting About World Environment Day Last Thursday
“World Environment Day (‘WED’) is celebrated every year on 5th june to raise global awareness of the need to take positive environmental action. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).” You might be interested in The Best Resources For World Environment Day.
Video: Cat Demonstrates Importance Of Teacher Modeling
I’ve written a fair amount about the importance of teacher modeling. This cat definitely gets the idea!
Videos, Interactives & More On The World Cup
My The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil list is getting pretty massive. Here are even more additions: World Cup dream team: Pick your all-time XI is from The Guardian. A 2014 World Cup Special is from The New York Times. The Goal of Life is an interactive from The Associated Press. Here’s another AP interactive. Most Brazilians think the World Cup is a waste of money
“Ways To Develop a Culture of Success in Schools”
Ways To Develop a Culture of Success in Schools is Part One in a series I’m publishing over at Education Week Teacher. Educators Jeffrey Benson, Christopher Lehman, and Barbara Blackburn share their responses,and I contribute some of my own thoughts, too. Here are excerpts: