Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
“Maker Camp 2014″ Starts On Monday
I posted about Maker Camp 2013 last year, and wrote how I had wished I had known about it before the school year ended so I could have let students (and some summer school teaching colleagues know) ahead of time. But I missed the boat again this year and just learned from Richard Byrne’s blog that Maker Camp 2014 starts on Monday. It’s a very flexible six-week program: Join young inventors and ar
“Made From History” Is An Excellent BBC Site
The BBC has tons of great resources for use in the classroom, including in the Social Studies areas. You can find many of their sites on multiple “The Best” lists. I was particularly excited earlier this year when they unveiled the first in what they declared to be a series of “iWonder Guides” — one on World War 1. I immediately added it to The Best Resources For Learning About World War I. They’
July’s Best Tweets — Part One
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
Two Good “What If?” History Resources
© 2007 Ed Schipul, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio I’m a big fan of using alternate history “what if?” scenarios in my IB Theory of Knowledge classes and with my ELL Social Studies students, and have written a lot about it at The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons. Here are some new resources I’m adding to that list: What If World War I Never Happened? is from Discovery News. Wha
Quote Of The Day: “The Secret of Effective Motivation”
The Secret of Effective Motivation is a column in today’s New York Times that’s written by Amy Wrzesniewski and Barry Schwartz. They focus on recent research they’ve done on the difference between “internal” and “instrumental” motives. In a lot of ways, I think it’s similar to the idea of learning and performance goals, about which I’ve written a lot. Here’s the part of the column that caught by a
YESTERDAY
The Best Resources For Learning About The Children Refugee Crisis At The U.S. Southern Border
© 2007 Jake Prendez, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’ve previously shared articles on the children refugee crisis (and, make no mistake — it is a refugee crisis, not an immigrant problem), but thought it would be useful for me to collect them all in one list. Feel free to offer additional suggestions in the comments section: RT @LydiaGuzman: Change the language: they are not immigrants, they are REFU
In Addition To Being The U.S. Independence Day, Today Is Also Rwanda’s 20th “Liberation Day” — When The Genocide Ended
© 2011 Voyages Lambert, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio As we here in the United States mark July 4th as our Independence Day, Rwanda also “marks its Liberation Day, the anniversary of the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s defeat of government forces which effectively ended the 1994 genocide.” You might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Genocide In Rwanda.
“‘There Are So Many Inspirational Teachers Out There’: An Interview With Meenoo Rami”
‘There Are So Many Inspirational Teachers Out There’: An Interview With Meenoo Rami is my latest post over at Education Week Teacher. This summer, I’ll be alternating between publishing thematic compilations of past posts and sharing interviews with authors of recent books I consider important and useful for us educators. Meenoo Rami, a teacher at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia an
A Few More Good July Fourth Resources
© 2013 Kevin Dooley, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some final additions to The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July: MAP: How every country in the world celebrates its version of July 4th is from Vox. The Night Before the Fourth is from The Atlantic. Here’s a good NY Times video:
JUL 03
Can You Help? Looking For Stories Of People Learning Self-Control Or Grit From Challenging Circumstances
© 2011 marc falardeau, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Regular readers know I’m a big believer in teaching Social Emotional Learning (see The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources) and that I also have a healthy skepticism of how it’s sometimes used (see The manipulation of Social Emotional Learning). Readers also know that I have a particular interest in focusing on the assets students bring
More Ramadan Resources
© 2009 yeowatzup, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are new additions to The Best Sites To Teach & Learn About Ramadan: Here’s a short video explainer from The Associated Press. Ramadan: A centuries-old American tradition is from Al Jazeera. 9 Questions You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask About Ramadan is from BuzzFeed. Ramadan: Five things you may not know is from The BBC. Ramadan Chant is from The
Several More Useful Resources On Race
© 2010 Viktor Nagornyy, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are new additions to A Collection Of Useful Posts, Articles & Videos On Race & Racism: Why we still need affirmative action for African Americans in college admissions is from The Washington Post. The Major Disadvantage Facing Black Students, Even In Kindergarten is from The Huffington Post. Everyone does drugs, but only minorities ar
The Best Posts & Articles About OECD’s Survey Of Teacher Working Conditions
#155562776 / gettyimages.com The OECD’s 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey was recently released, and I thought I’d bring together a few good commentaries on it. You might also be interested in The Best Posts & Articles About The Importance Of Teacher (& Student) Working Conditions, since those working conditions are the focus of the OECD survey. Let me know if you have sug
JUL 02
TED-Ed Video: “What you might not know about the Declaration of Independence”
Here’s a nice TED-Ed video and lesson I’m adding to The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July:
Excellent (& I Mean EXCELLENT) Differentiation Infographic
Carol Tomlinson participated in an @ASCD chat on Twitter yesterday, and shared a great infographic. Here are a couple of tweets with it, followed by a few tweets I was invited to send about differentiation and ELLs. I’m adding this info to The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction. RT @ASCD: We love this from @cat3y's new book. Super informative. #ASCDL2L pic.twitter.com/Bf8pnffsyD — Larr
All My Ed Week Posts On Student Motivation In One Place!
Q & A Collections: Student Motivation is my latest post at Education Week Teacher, and brings together all my posts — from the last three years — on that topic in one place. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On “Motivating” Students. Here’s an excerpt from one of them:
Quote Of The Day: Accountability Policies Have “Blossomed Into Madness”
Accountability vs. What We Want for Our Children is an excellent post at Education Week. It’s written by Marc Tucker at his Top Performers blog. Here’s an excerpt:
Five Good Resources For Project-Based Learning
© 2010 hackNY.org, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio Here are some useful additions to The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas: Personalized PBL: Student-Designed Learning is by Andrew Miller. Five Keys to Rigorous Project-Based Learning is from Edutopia. What Project-Based Learning Means for Your High School Child is from US News. A World of Project Ideas (You Can Steal) is by Suzie Boss. Slide
JUL 01
This Week In Web 2.0
In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth blogging about, 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: Tackk is a very simple tool for creating webpages, and its on
“ABC Mouse” & “Vocabmonk” Are Two New Sites Where Teachers Can Create Virtual Classrooms
© 2009 azwaldo, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’m adding two new sites to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress: One is ABC Mouse, which — at this point, at least — only provides content for pre-K and Kindergartners, though much of it would also be accessible and useful for Beginning English Language Learners. Though it charges families, teachers can si
“Smarty Pins” Is A New Geography Game From Google
Smarty Pins is a new online geography game from Google. It’s similar to some of the better ones on The Best Online Geography Games — you’re asked a question, provided a hint, and then have to put a “pin” on your guess for the answer. One of the nice things I found — at least, in the questions that I answered — is that you’re only shown the region of the world where the answer can be found. Thanks
Good Resources On World War One
© 1918 National Library of Scotland, Flickr | PD | via Wylio It’s the one-hundred year anniversary of the beginning of World War One, and there are lots of good resources coming online. Here are new additions to The Best Resources For Learning About World War I: The Wall Street Journal has selected 100 legacies from World War I that continue to shape our lives today is from…The Wall St. Journal. W
Today Is Canada Day — Here Are Related Resources
© 2008 Dennis Jarvis, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio Today is Canada Day! I’ve just made a lot of additions to The Best Sites To Learn About Canada.
JUN 30
June’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
More Good Resources On Race & Racism
© 2009 Tony Fischer, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are new additions to A Collection Of Useful Posts, Articles & Videos On Race & Racism: Advocacy in the Age of Colorblindness is by Stephanie Rivera. How Race-Studies Scholars Can Respond to Their Haters How Racism Invented Race in America is from The Atlantic. Dress Codes For Success is from Latino USA. The segregation of kindergartners
Four Interesting Links On Educational Technology
© 2012 Kevin Jarrett, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some recent pretty interesting posts/articles on ed tech: Educational technology isn’t leveling the playing field is from The Hechinger Report. I’m adding it to The Best Research Available On The Use Of Technology In Schools. In Defense of Laptops in the Classroom is from Slate. 5 Things Researchers Have Discovered About MOOCs is from The C
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
© 2011 Michael Coghlan, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio 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: US Immigration: Why did they move to America? is a nice lesson for English Language Learners. It’s from Absolute English. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning Abo
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Education Policy
© 2012 Shutter Stutter, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’m behind on posting since I went to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with Education Week writers, but I’m frantically trying to catch-up. Here are some recent useful posts and articles on education policy issues: Common Core’s testing framework is crumbling is from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Ne
JUN 29
Several Excellent New World Cup Resources
© 2014 Surrey County Council News, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio Here are the latest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: WORLD CUP BRAZIL: THE COMPLETE GUIDE is an excellent interactive from The Sydney Morning Herald. Thanks to reader Michelle Walsh for the tip. A Look Back at Iconic World Cup Moments is from Slate. The History of the World Cup is a very im
ThingLink Now Lets You Annotate Videos, Too
I’ve been a big fan of ThingLink, which lets students easily annotate photos, lets educators use the service for free, and allows you to create virtual classrooms. It’s on The Best Online Tools For Using Photos In Lessons list. They’ve now just announced ThingLink for Video, which lets you annotate…videos. It’s not entirely open to the public yet — you have to sign-up, but they say they’ll send o
June’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
The National Writing Project & Public Television Create A MOOC On Social Media
KQED Education and the National Writing Project are sponsoring a summer MOOC (online class) for educators titled Teach Do Now: Student Engagement with Issues that Matter Using Social Media. You can read more about it at the link. I’ll be on a panel with Tina Barseghian, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Vicki Davis to kick it off on July 7th. We’ll be discussion “What are the best strategies for accessin
“Ways To Teach Globalization”
Ways To Teach Globalization is my latest post at Education Week Teacher. Four educators — John T. Spencer, Diana Laufenberg, Jennifer D. Klein, and Jason Flom — have contributed responses in today’s post. In addition, I’ve included comments from readers and a few of my own ideas. Here are some excerpts:
Just Updated Resources On U.S. Presidents
© 2009 Beverly & Pack, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio I’ve just updated The Best Sites To Learn About U.S. Presidents. Additional suggestions are welcome.
JUN 28
June’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