Our publisher has just released the Distance Learning chapter from our upcoming book, The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, 2nd edition . Please remember that is is a draft , so it hasn’t gone through the usual proofreading
Eight Ways to Use Movement in Teaching & Learning is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four educators share ideas on how to use movement with students, including for learning vocabulary through the use of Total Physical Response. Here are some excerpts:
OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay Well, that should go smoothly this year https://t.co/36jKcp1RBV — Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) July 24, 2020 Check out today’s article in Chalkbeat, Standardized tests were canceled last school year. Don’t count on that happening again, federal official says . Sure, that’s going to work out well with remote and hybrid learning. And let’s add even more pressure to
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 ). You can also see my all-time favorites here . I’ve also been doing “A Look Back” series reviewing old favorite
Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : When Is It Safe for Schools to Reopen? is from The NY Times. Held back: As parents realize how badly the U.S. botched the next school year, we’re furious is from The Washington Post.
geralt / Pixabay I’ve been sharing tentative distance learning plans for all my classes (see HERE ARE DETAILED – & TENTATIVE – DISTANCE LEARNING PLANS FOR ALL MY FALL CLASSES ) and my last post discussed my IB Theory of Knowledge classes (see NEXT: HERE’S A DISTANCE-LEARNING PLAN FOR MY THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE CLASSES ). That last post discussed my typical lesson plan for the day, along with potentia
mohamed_hassan / Pixabay The New York Times just announced that they are unveiling a new podcast next week called “Nice White Parents.” : “Nice White Parents” is a new podcast from Serial Productions, brought to you by The New York Times, about the 60-year relationship between white parents and the public school down the block. We know that American public schools do not guarantee each child an e
christels / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Reopening Schools Is Way Harder Than It Should Be is from The NY Times. Schools may soon apply for waivers to reopen — but only with union support is from The L.A. Times. Remote Learning? No Thanks. is from The NY Times.
geralt / Pixabay President Trump was successful today in getting the CDC to modify it’s school reopening guidelines. Surprisingly, though it does appear that the changes weren’t as much as many of us feared. Nevertheless, with public confidence in the CDC getting lower by the day , agreeing to any changes that appear to further Trump’s political agenda are likely to result in those perceptions ge
DavidRockDesign / Pixabay As I wrote last week , the publisher of the second edition of The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide , has agreed to release our distance learning chapter early and free-of-charge – and no registration will be required! It’s ready, and will be available first at the VirtuEL website on Saturday morning, where you’ll be able to check out lots of workshops (and a keynote by m
The federal moratorium on eviction expires today (see A federal eviction moratorium ends this week, putting 12 million tenants at risk ). California’s state moratorium ends in September (see Coronavirus CA: Gov. Newsom extends state eviction moratorium through September ). The number of homeless students in the United States last year was estimated to be 1.5 million . Even if “only” five-to-ten p
Wokandapix / Pixabay This week, in an attempt to alleviate some of my many worries about the fall , I wrote up very tentative plans for each of my upcoming fall classes. I want to emphasize the word “tentative.” In fact, I’ve already made changes to them since they were originally published. I still have to write one more post to complete this series but, based on the feedback I’ve received so fa
geralt / Pixabay Two days ago, I posted Okay, Now, Here’s My Tentative Remote Teaching Plan For U.S. History . Yesterday, I shared Updated Distance Learning Plan For My Newcomer/Intermediate ELL Class . Now, it’s time for my last scheduled class: three periods of the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge course. Yesterday was the last day of a four-week class preparing educators for all
California is short 1 million laptops and hot spots for kids as it prepares online school is from today’s Sacramento Bee, and is not good news. 16.9 million children remain logged out because they don’t have internet at home is a new report released by FutureReady, and is also not good news. It’s going to be a hell of a fall…
Katie Toppel is the founder and coordinator of a fabulous online book study group for teachers of English Language Learners. She makes “sketchnotes” about the different books, and she agreed to let me share a sampling. Enjoy!
Today, Google unveiled “It’s A Wonderful World, ” a Google Arts and Culture selection of the most iconic places to visit around the world. You can read more about it here . In addition, they provide video instructions about how to create a video travelogue showing your own virtual travels throughout the world. Unfortunately, it requires using Google Meet which, for inexplicable reasons, our distr
Ways to ‘Break Down Walls Between Classroom & Community’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Three educators share ways to connect their students to community engagement, including through project-based learning and community-service projects. Here are some excerpts:
geralt / Pixabay The Education Writers Association has just announced 2019 Awards for Education Reporting. Check them all out here and here . You can see their picks from previous years here.
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . I wrote this post in 2013. You might also be interested in The Best Resources On The Value & Practice Of Having Older Students Mentoring Younger Ones . That post includes my latest related post, Here Are The Instructions I Give Mentors
Here are today’s new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : The Latest in School Segregation: Private Pandemic ‘Pods’ is from The NY Times. The huge problem with education ‘pandemic pods’ suddenly popping up is from The Washington Post.
geralt / Pixabay Yesterday, I posted Okay, Now, Here’s My Tentative Remote Teaching Plan For U.S. History . Thinking it through, and writing it out, made me feel a little less worried . Perhaps doing the same for my combination Beginners/Intermediate class will make feel even better. We’ll see. And I’ve still other classes to go, too! But, today is for my ELL class. The fact that things went so w
OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay Education Week just published a new video Katie Hull and I did with them sharing tips for new teachers entering a remote/hybrid teaching environment this fall. I think veteran teachers might find it helpful too. I’m adding it to my video page , where you can find quite a few other useful ones…
Here are today’s new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : The Urgency Of Reopening Schools Safely is by Linda Darling Hammond. How other countries reopened schools during the pandemic – and what the US can learn from them is from The Conversation. COLUMN: School reopening plans must ensure safety of custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and substit
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
Q&A Collections: Writing Instruction is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. All Classroom Q&A posts on Writing Instruction (from the past nine years!) are described and linked to in this compilation post. Here’s an excerpt from one of them:
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . In 2015, Routledge published the third book in my student motivation series, Building A Community Of Self-Motivated Learners: Strategies To Help Students Thrive In School and Beyond . The Washington Post published an excerpt from the c
Where Lynching Terrorized Black Americans, Corporal Punishment In Schools Lives On in the HuffPost reports on one hell of a study. You might also be interested in: The Best Resources Explaining The GAO Report That Finds Racial Disparities In School Discipline THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING HOW BLACK GIRLS ARE TREATED UNFAIRLY & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT NEW REPORT SAYS CORPORAL PUNISHMENT DOESN’T WORK
What Is the Role of Memorization When Teaching in a Post-Google World is the topic of my latest ten-minute BAM! Radio Show. I’m joined by Blake Harvard, Keisha Rembert and Donna Shrum, who have also contributed written commentaries to my Ed Week Teacher column. I’m adding this show to All My BAM Radio Shows – Linked With Descriptions .
Peggy_Marco / Pixabay This week, I have begun trying to get a handle on a plan for remote teaching my classes this year and, as I wrote in The Washington Post yesterday, I have a lot of worries . This is the first of a series of posts where I’ll describe my tentative (and, boy, do I meant tentative ) about my plans for each class. Today, it’s my United States History class for Intermediate and Be
Free-Photos / Pixabay Here are today’s new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : In Defense of Our Teachers is by Dave Grohl (yes, that David Grohl) and appears in The Atlantic. Even where Trump is popular, some school leaders reject his push to reopen schools is from The Washington Post. Florida Teachers Sue To Block School Coronavirus Reopening Mandate
JCamargo / Pixabay Editor’s Note: Yesterday, Kara Synhorst wrote a guest post titled GUEST POST TUTORIAL: CONNECTING GOOGLE CLASSROOM TO YOUR CALENDAR SO STUDENTS CAN MAKE APPOINTMENTS . Here, today, she presents Part Two, where she discusses ways to use the Google Classroom calendar feature. Kara Synhorst teaches IB English and Theory of Knowledge at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento. In
Three Ways to Bring the Classroom to the Community is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four teachers share their strategies to help students improve their communities, including through “Structured Academic Controversies” and “Genius Hours.” Here are some excerpts:
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . I originally published this post in 2014. Photo from Ping Li Lab, Penn State Regular readers of this blog and/or my books are familiar with how I help students see the physical impact learning new things can have on its brains (see The
stevepb / Pixabay The Washington Post republished my post from earlier this morning. You can check out Teacher: Eight concerns about school this fall that are robbing me of sleep .
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by my superteacher colleague Kara Synhorst. I’m adding it to THE BEST ONLINE TOOLS FOR REMOTE TEACHING – SHARE YOUR OWN . Kara Synhorst teaches IB English and Theory of Knowledge at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento. As I’m sure most teachers are, I’m preparing for distance learning. One of Larry Ferlazzo’s posts (see Tools To Use For Students To Set Up
Here are today’s new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : “If You Want Us to Reopen, You Cannot Leave Your House From Now Until September” is from Slate. Some Students Should Go to School, Most Should Stay Home is by Shayla R. Griffin. How to Reopen the Economy Without Killing Teachers and Parents is from The NY Times.
As you know, John Lewis died over the week end (see TERRIBLE NEWS: JOHN LEWIS HAS PASSED – LEARN ABOUT HIS LIFE ). He, among many other accomplishments, was one of the original thirteen “Freedom Riders” who fought racism in public transportation. You might be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About The “Freedom Riders”
TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay With the decision to have most California schools going to full time distancing learning in the fall, we have received the gift of clarity. At the same time, I have begun working up very early in the morning with thoughts running through my mind about how all this is going to work, and what I have to figure out over the next few weeks. I had a pretty positive experience
Q&A Collections: Reading Instruction is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. All Classroom Q&A posts on Reading Instruction (from the past nine years!) are described and linked to in this compilation post. Here’s an excerpt from one of them:
I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated 22,000 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 2020 – PAR
I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . I originally published this post in 2015: Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay I’m a big advocate and practitioner of creating opportunities for students to be teachers (see The Best Posts On Helping Students Teach Their Classmates ). I’
TonW / Pixabay Here are three articles/videos that I think are worth reading by educators. I’m adding them to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Please Don’t Make Me Risk Getting Covid-19 to Teach Your Child appeared in The NY Times. Doing Schoolwork in the Parking Lot Is Not a Solution is from The NY Times. Older Children Spread the Coronavirus Just as Much as Ad
Thanks to Alice Mercer, I learned that Zoom is hosting a free Zoom Academy to learn its ins-and-outs on July 29th and 30th. The second day looks particularly attractive to me because that’s when it appears they will delving into its mechanics. I don’t know about you, but since I’m going to be spending many hours each day on Zoom, I feel like I have to become familiar with everything about it. In
There are lots of studies and articles out their with recommendations about what we should be doing in the classroom. In fact, I’ve collected the best at The “Best” Lists Of Recommendations About What “Effective” Teachers Do . But I recently discovered what might be the “best of the best.” It came out last year, its lead author is Linda Darling Hammond, and the title of the paper is Implications
Now that the state of California has decided most schools are beginning the year with distance learning, my mind is beginning to plan and to race… One question I’m dealing with is how to schedule students for virtual individual meetings. I was disappointed to discover that the Google Classroom calendar doesn’t work for this kind of scheduling, which seems odd to me – I’m sure I’m not the only tea
Each year, I re-post my favorite blog posts, and then collect the links into one. This post is for my favorites from the first six months of 2020. You can see my choices for each of the past thirteen years here. And you can also see a list of my My All-Time Favorite Posts! I’ve also been highlighting some of the “best-of-the-best” in the “A Look Back” series. Here are My Favorite Posts In 2020 —
As you probably have heard, this past week most of us here in California finally got some clarity – we’re starting the school year all online. In addition, our district put out a tentative schedule for our online school, though it still has to be negotiated with our union. I decided to put some time into planning wh
