Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, April 4, 2020

This Week With Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007


This Week With Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... 

 The latest news and resources in education since 2007





These Are Great! Six Free Tools Teachers & Students Can Use To Learn English, Spanish & Other Languages During The Coronavirus Crisis

thisisprabha / Pixabay I’ve previously shared the tools I’m having my English Language Learners use to develop their language skills (see Here’s The Revised Online Teaching Plan I Hope To Implement Next Week and HERE’S MY ONLINE TEACHING PLAN IF OUR SCHOOL CLOSES DOWN BECAUSE OF THE CORONAVIRUS ). Brainpop ELL, Duolingo and USA Learns are the primary sites I’m having students work on for thirty m

YESTERDAY



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This Is Interesting – Skype Unveils New Easy Video Conference Call Feature

Microsoft apparently has gotten nervous about Zoom’s growth in the face of the Coronavirus and just unveiled a new and easy video conference tool called Meet Now . You don’t need to download the app in order to use it, and it seems to be pretty simple. It doesn’t have all of Zoom’s bells-and-whistles, but I’m not how many of those are really needed anyway. I’m still a fan of 8X8 , but Meet Now mi
Pins Of The Week

I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated 21,000 resources there that I haven’t shared on this blog. I thought readers might find it useful if I began sharing a handful of my most recent “pins” each week (I’m not sure if you can see them through an RSS Reader – you might have to click through to the original post). You might also be interested in MY MOST POPULAR PINS OF 2019 Here
My Most Popular Tweets Of The Month – Coronavirus Edition

PhotoMIX-Company / Pixabay I used to post weekly collections of my best tweets, and used Storify to bring them together. Unfortunately, Storify went under. Fortunately, however, Wakelet was a new tool that was able to import all of a person’s Storifys. So you can see all those previous Twitter “Best” lists here . You might also be interested in MY MOST POPULAR TWEETS IN 2019 – PART TWO and NEW &
Ed Tech Digest

Eight years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2019 – PART TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this
Friday’s Resources To Help Teachers Cope With The School Closure Crisis

Markus Winkler Here are new additions to either The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) – Please Make More Suggestions ! or The “Best Of The Best” Resources To Support Teachers Dealing With School Closures: The Monterey Bay Aquarium has some pretty interesting self-guided courses for students . RESOURCES FOR CONTINUITY OF LEARNING looks like a nice colle
Martin Luther King, Jr. Gave His “Mountaintop” Speech 52 Years Ago Today – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

WikiImages / Pixabay Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “Mountaintop” speech fifty-two years ago today, one day before he was assassinated. I’ve brought together some resources about that speech in this post. You might also be interested in: The Best Websites For Learning About Martin Luther King, Jr The Best Sites For Learning About The Martin Luther King Memorial The Best Resources To Reme

APR 02

Video: “Trump’s ‘Chinese Virus’ Rhetoric Part Of A Long U.S. Tradition Of Scapegoating”

Allie Smith I’m adding this new NBC News video to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS:
Video: “How Are Schools Dealing With The Digital Divide?”

SchoolPRPro / Pixabay I thought that this new video from Newsy gave a pretty good overview of the problem:
Today Is International Fact-Checking Day – Here Are A Ton of Teaching & Learning Resources

geralt / Pixabay Today is the fourth annual International Fact-Checking Day . You might be interested in The Best Tools & Lessons For Teaching Information Literacy – Help Me Find More .
Statistic Of The Day: Nobody Is Going To School

It’s crazy out there. 9 Out Of 10 Children Are Out Of School Worldwide. What Now? is a new piece at NPR that puts it all in good context, along with discussing its future implications….
The Best Sites Where You Can Find Cool Things That Happened On Your Birthday

cbaquiran / Pixabay I have several students who have had birthdays this week or having ones coming up, and I know they re less-than-thrilled with being at home. I’ve encouraged them to try video conference parties, but they’re not yet comfortable with using this kind of tech. I did send them some of the tools on this list and that at least said they enjoyed them. Of course, they might also have b
Ten Million People Applied For Unemployment In Two Weeks – We Better Keep That In Mind When We’re Teaching

In addition to the technical and pedagogical challenges of teaching online, we teachers MUST be VERY sensitive to the impact of financial stress on our students’ lives https://t.co/7laopkVa4D — Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) April 2, 2020 Our economy is in “free fall,” and we teachers have to bear this in mind when we’re leading distance learning over the next few months – as well as remembering
“Author Interview: ‘Cultural Competence Now'”

Author Interview: ‘Cultural Competence Now’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Vernita Mayfield agreed to answer a few questions about her book, “Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege.” Here are some excerpts:

APR 01

April Is School Library Month – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

April is School Library Month. You might be interested in The Best Sites To Teach ELL’s About Libraries . You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Banned Books Week .
New Resources On Race & Racism

I’m adding these new resources to various “Best” lists. You can find links to all of those many lists that relate to race and racism at “Best” Lists Of The Week: Resources For Teaching & Learning About Race & Racism: ‘Brilliant and politically savvy:’ The roles of African American women in the fight to vote 100 years ago is from USA Today. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Wo
New PBS NewsHour Video Segment: “Asian Americans report rise in racist attacks amid pandemic”

Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay I’m adding tonight’s PBS NewsHour segment to I’m adding it to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS:
Today Is “Census Day” – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

geralt / Pixabay Today is Census Day. You might be interested in: The Best Resources To Learn About The U.S. Census The Best Tools For Analyzing Census Data The Best Articles Explaining Why It Would Be Terrible To Add An Immigration Status Question To The Census
Wednesday’s Top New Resources To Help Teachers Cope With School Closures

geralt / Pixabay Some of these new resources will be added to The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) – Please Make More Suggestions ! and the best will go to The “Best Of The Best” Resources To Support Teachers Dealing With School Closures: I was a guest on KQED Public Radio: California Teachers, Students Struggle with Distance Learning In theory, you s
Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week – 300th In The Series!

Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here. Today’s post is the 300th one in the series! Of course, this is a crazy time for “classroom” instruction…. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES ON CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION IN 2019 – PART TWO. Here are this week’s picks: LEARNING BY DOING: WH
“News-O-Matic” Is Definitely A Site I Would Consider Using With Students Right Now

Zillions (a scientific term ) of online education companies are offering free access during the school closure crisis (you can see a list of them at The “Best Of The Best” Resources To Support Teachers Dealing With School Closures ). Personally, I’m not using any tool that I haven’t used before, and you can see the ones I’m using with my students at HERE’S MY ONLINE TEACHING PLAN IF OUR SCHOOL CL
“‘He Was a Very Good Listener’ – Students Write About Their Most Memorable Teachers”

‘He Was a Very Good Listener’ – Students Write About Their Most Memorable Teachers is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Six students write about their most memorable teachers and why those educators were important in their lives, citing their listening skills and their ability to “keep it real,” among other reasons. Here are some excerpts:

MAR 31

New PBS NewsHour Video Segment: “How learning changes when school happens at home and online”

geralt / Pixabay This was on tonight’s PBS NewsHour:
My New Ed Week Video: “7 Tips For Remote Learning”

I just did this video with Education Week. Let me know what you think!
Upcoming Resources To Support Teachers In Distance Learning

geralt / Pixabay As regular readers know, I’ve been sharing lots of resources to support teachers during the school closure crisis (see ALL THE “BEST” LISTS RELATED TO SUPPORTING TEACHERS IN THE AGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS – IN ONE PLACE! ), as well as get my arms around teaching my own students online, plus continuing to post other non-Coronavirus materials. Here are some specific resources you can e
Ed Tech Digest

Eight years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in THE BEST ED TECH RESOURCES OF 2019 – PART TWO , as well as checking out all my edtech resources . Here are this
Tuesday’s Top New Resources To Help Teachers Cope With School Closures

Jon Tyson Some of these new resources will be added to The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) – Please Make More Suggestions ! and the best will go to The “Best Of The Best” Resources To Support Teachers Dealing With School Closures: Can Teachers Read Books Out Loud Online? Actually, Yes. is from Ed Surge. Distance Learning: A Gently Curated Collection

MAR 30

Here Are Resources For ELLs To Learn About April Fools’ Day

AnnaliseArt / Pixabay I’m not a fan – at all – of April Fools’ Day. However, it is still important for new immigrants to the United States to know about it. You might want to check out The Best Sites For Learning About St. Patrick’s Day (and April Fool’s Day) .
Great Video: “How people are connecting in the coronavirus crisis”

cromaconceptovisual / Pixabay This is a great new video from Vox. I’m adding it to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS .
“Would You Like to Invite Your Students to Write About Their Online Learning Experiences?”

Would You Like to Invite Your Students to Write About Their Online Learning Experiences? is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. I’m inviting teachers to have their students write about it in late April. If you’re interested, send me a message .
This Week’s Resources To Support Teachers Coping With School Closures

Wokandapix / Pixabay I have a number of regular weekly features (see HERE IS A LIST (WITH LINKS) OF ALL MY REGULAR WEEKLY FEATURES ). It’s time for a new addition to that list, and this post introduces a weekly compilation of new and good resources to support those of us dealing with school closures. Some will be added to The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coron
“Students Describe Their Favorite Teachers”

Students Describe Their Favorite Teachers is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Five students share memories of their favorite teachers and why they appreciated them, including their teachers’ presence in times of emotional stress and their belief in them. Here are some excerpts:

MAR 29

Guest Post: “Distance teaching of ELLs – a week in reflection”

Editor’s Note: I’ve been publishing a series of posts – both here and at Education Week – sharing teacher’s experiences dealing with the school closure crisis. The first post appearing here was headlined Guest Post: My School Was Closed Because Of COVID-19 & Here Is A Report About Our Online Teaching. Eva Buyuksimkesyan shares her experience in the second, Guest Post: Teaching An Istanbul English
Pins Of The Week

I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated 21,000 resources there that I haven’t shared on this blog. I thought readers might find it useful if I began sharing a handful of my most recent “pins” each week (I’m not sure if you can see them through an RSS Reader – you might have to click through to the original post). You might also be interested in MY MOST POPULAR PINS OF 2019 Here
Most Popular Posts Of The Week

I’m making a change in the content of the regular feature. In addition to sharing the top five posts that have received the most “hits” in the preceding seven days (though they may have originally been published on an earlier date), I will also include the top five posts that have actually appeared in the past week. Often, these are different posts. You might also be interested in IT’S THE THIRTE
Just Sent-Out Free Monthly Email Newsletter

geralt / Pixabay I’ve just mailed out the March issue of my very simple free monthly email newsletter . I sent out two special coronavirus-related editions of the newsletter earlier in March. This is the “regular” monthly version. It has over 3,000 subscribers, and you can subscribe here . Of course, you can also join the eighteen thousand others who subscribe to this blog daily. Here Are 8 Ways

MAR 28

SEL Weekly Update

NOTE: Yes, we all need to be focused on the Coronavirus crisis. But it can’t hurt to read about other topics now-and-then. I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. You might also be interested in THE BEST SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES OF 2019 – PART TWO Finally, check
“Teacher Reflections on the School Closure Emergency”

Teacher Reflections on the School Closure Emergency is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four teachers share their reflections and practical advice on dealing with the school closure emergency, including trying to avoid multitasking and suggesting our students need more love than they need curriculum. It’s the final post in an eleven-part series, though later this week also
Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists

(Note: I am going to publish this same post once each month to remind regular readers and inform newer ones about how to access my “Best” lists) As regular readers know, I have about 2,100 categorized and regularly updated “Best” lists. You can find all of them in broad categories here . The link to that page can also be found at the top right of my blog: My Best Of Series I also have them all on
Four Videos About Soap

Couleur / Pixabay The Coronavirus crisis, there’s been a particular interest in soap. Here are some videos about the topic:
Funny Video: “Quarantine Maths Class Disaster”

Antoine Dautry Where would we be without humor?
Great Resources For Creating & Going On Virtual Field Trips

LubosHouska / Pixabay Obviously, we won’t be taking our students physically on any field trips for quite awhile – I know my classes were looking forward to one in late May! However, virtual ones are still on the table! Here are two related “Best” lists – one which includes tools for students to plan their ideal trips, and the other listing a zillion virtual field trips that are already set to jus
Maybe – Or Maybe Not – The Best Tools For Creating Your Own Teaching Videos

200degrees / Pixabay As I enter the world of online teaching, one strategy I’ll be trying is using already existing video content (see THE FOUR BEST TOOLS FOR TAKING EXISTING VIDEOS & MAKING THEM INTERACTIVE FOR ONLINE LEARNING ). It’s also possible (though, as my students say, it’s possible it will be “doing too much”) that I might want to consider creating my own from scratch – apart from just
All The “Best” Lists Related To Supporting Teachers In The Age Of The Coronavirus – In One Place!

enriquelopezgarre / Pixabay I’ve obviously been posting a lot of resources to support teachers during school closures. I thought it would be helpful to put them all together in one place: The Best Advice On Teaching K-12 Online (If We Have To Because Of The Coronavirus) – Please Make More Suggestions ! The “Best Of The Best” Resources To Support Teachers Dealing With School Closures The Best Vide


Video: “Explaining coronavirus to kids”

OrnaW / Pixabay This new animated video from the CBC in Canada could be useful for explaining the Coronavirus to both young children and to English Language Learners. I’m adding it to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST 
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007