1-12-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL:

This Year’s “What If?” History Presentations

As usual, my IB Theory of Knowledge class did “What If?” presentations as part of their study of history, and are teaching my ELL U.S. History students how to do the same. Here are a couple of examples, which I’ll be adding to The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons. The second one is just a thumbnail and you have to click on it: If General Vang Pao died at the Vietnam PP More

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h hide  //  save

This Translator Map Is A Cool Way To Teach European Geography & More

Dan Pink shared this cool translator map on Twitter. It uses Google Translate to translate English into any major European language and then shows the word on the geographical location where the language is primarily spoken. You can read more about it at Business Insider. I’m adding it to The Best “Language Maps.”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h 

Fun & Useful Video: “ESL Verb English Grammar Vocabulary Rap Song”

I’m adding this video to The Best Web Tools For Teaching Irregular Verbs & Verb Tenses — Contribute Your Suggestions!

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min hide  //  save

Video: “What my beagle does when we’re not home”

Here’s another fun video to show English Language Learners and have them describe what happens in it:

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11min 

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 1-11-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFLLARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAYMy Best Posts On The Harlem Children’s Zone & Other “Promise Zones”, President Obama announced grants to five communities designated at “Promise Zones” that are planned to replicate — more or less — the Harlem Children’s Zone. I’ve published many posts about the Harlem Children’s Zone —

by mike simpson / 10h 

1-12-14 Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement":

“Nominate The 2014 Toyota Family Teacher Of The Year”

From The National Center For Families Learning: “Know a teacher that deserves an “A+” for engaging parents, children and educators in the learning process? Nominate them for the Toyota Family Teacher of the Year Award and the chance to win $20,000 for their school or non-profit program. The National Center for Families Learning, together with long-standing partner Toyota, have partnered to recogni

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3min 

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Parent Engagement Requires ‘Trust, Not Blame’”Parent Engagement Requires ‘Trust, Not Blame’ is Part Two in my Education Week Teacher series on…parent engagement. Jane Baskwill, Julia Thompson and Bryon V. Garrett share their thoughts. Here are some excerpts:by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h This Looks Like A Useful Study: “Meta Analy

by mike simpson / 8h 

1-12-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florid

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:

“Common Core Catastrophe”

Williamson Evers is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and former U.S. assistant secretary of Education. Pittsburg Herald Tribune reporter Eric Heyl interviewed the George W. Bush appointee and got his thoughts on Common Core. ….it’s a kind of utopian project to align all the classrooms in the country to be doing roughly the same things. Anything like that is just an unimaginably difficul

by Bob Sikes / 33min 

For-Profit Charter Schools Want Standard Contracts to Dodge Accountability

Florida republican legislators are using predictable – and false – talking points to justify their latest charter school reform bill. Erin Kourkounis reports in the Tampa Tribune: …Three changes set for consideration in the state Legislature would inject the Florida Department of Education into a process now largely controlled at the school district level. The proposals would require a review of a

by Bob Sikes / 29min 

Rick Scott’s Common Core Political Problems

Education commissioner Pam Stewart has provided much-needed calm in Florida’s education universe. Rick Scott probably wishes he had her in place all along instead of ideologues Gerard Robinson and Tony Bennett. But Scott would probably admit that those were the kind of guys he wanted when he was elected in 2010. And he was smitten by the carefully crafted Michelle Rhee story and had completely bou

by Bob Sikes / 41min  

1-11-14 Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida ALL Week

Scathing Purple Musings | Color me purple in Florida, red in Washington, dark sky-blue in Israel and public school in Education:Scathing Purple Musings  Color me purple in Florida ALL WeekA Tale of Two EmailsYesterday’s 107 minute news conference by New Jersey governor Chris Christie was taking place about the same time the story broke that disgraced education commissioner Tony Bennett had hired s

by mike simpson / 10h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 1-12-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

L.A.’s DOWNTOWN LIBRARY, 8 REGIONAL BRANCHES TO REOPEN ON SUNDAYS

By Rick Orlov, Los Angeles Daily News  | http://bit.ly/1acVHHD Fredi Macias puts books away at the the Mid-Valley Library January 10, 2014 in North Hills, CA. Starting January 12, 2014 the Los Angeles Public LibraryþÄôs Central Library and eight regional branch libraries will be open on Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m.(Andy Holzman/Los Angeles Daily News)   1/10/14, 6:35 PM PST | Four years

by smf / 1h  

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 1-11-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT  Next Monday AM: LAUSD LOCAL CONTROL ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MEETINGfrom LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy invites you to join us to discuss the District's development of the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). We would like to take this opportunity to li

by mike simpson / 10h 

1-12-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

On the defense of @randiweingarten by @dianeravitch

It’s really quite simple, actually. Simple for me, at least. To begin, you can review Ravitch’s personal defense of the President of AFT. The American Federation of Teachers is a political organization. It must operate in a way that satisfies numerous interests and issues and permutations. I won’t begin to understand that position as I […]

2 by Shaun Johnson / 55min hide  //  save

Does this school really care for the children?

…or is this what education has become? From a Georgia school: I have no words. Please feel free to comment below.

200+ by Chris Cerrone / 3h 

Rethinking “Creative” in the Common Core Era: “Let’s not tell them what to write”

Rethinking \”Creative\” in the Common Core Era: \”Let\’s not tell them what to write\”. via Rethinking “Creative” in the Common Core Era: “Let’s not tell them what to write”.

by plthomasedd / 15min

The Costs of Common Core?

Funding public education constitutes a large percentage of many states’ total budget, and thus, over the past three or four decades, the role of governor has become necessarily one that impacts education policy strongly. I believe that increased connection between partisan politics and conducting public schools has been powerfully and negatively influential. When I posted Millions […]

1 by plthomasedd / 10min 

All Week 1-11-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: All Week @ THE CHALK FACE Should Universities Reward Academics for Public Influence?Should Universities Reward Academics for Public Influence?. via Should Universities Reward Academics for Public Influence?.Filed under: PAUL THOMAS: Becoming Radical1 by plthomasedd / 18h Why Didn’t the Gates Foundation Study the Policy Issues Regarding Value-Added Teacher Eva

by mike simpson / 11h 

1-12-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Rethinking “Creative” in the Common Core Era: “Let’s not tell them what to write”

In Has Common Core Lost the Plot? (posted at Anthony Cody’s Living in Dialogue), Paul Horton considers Common Core’s potential impact on literacy instruction—specifically the place for narrative fiction and creative writing: A recent Stanford study has indicated that the number and complexity of words that a parent or guardian shares with a baby before eighteen months might partially determine the

by plthomasedd / 14min 

The Costs of Common Core?

The Costs of Common Core?.

by plthomasedd / 1min

Network for Public Education National Conference March 1-2, 2014, Austin TX

Network for Public Education National Conference March 1-2, 2014, Austin TX

by plthomasedd / 26min

1-11-14 the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALRadical Scholarshipthe becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by Should Universities Reward Academics for Public Influence?NOTE: Since I have already posted a few comments on the blog mentioned below, and since I have already received a couple responses to those comments, let me open with a caveat about my selfishness in this post: (1) I am not lobbying to be incl

by mike simpson / 10h 

Stephen Krashen Blog 1-12-14

SKrashen:

Incubation: A Neglected Aspect of the Composing Process?

S. Krashen ESL Journal 4(2): 10-11. 2001 Remember when you were staring at the ceiling in elementary school, and the teacher asked you whether the answer was on the ceiling? Maybe it was.In a discussion of possible therapies to remediate writing apprehension, Daly (1985) includes these suggestions:"One potentially appropriate therapy for procrastination lies in teaching something akin to ti

by skrashen / 5h 

Stephen Krashen Blog 1-11-14

SKrashen:Heritage Language Development: Exhortation or Good Stories? Lao, C. and Krashen, S. 2008. Heritage language development: Exhortation or good stories? International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 4 (2): 17-18. Despite the well-researched advantages, not all young people are interested in continuing to develop their heritage language. Their apathy may be due to "ethnic avoidence,

by mike simpson / 10h 

1-12-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Why Doesn't Bill Gates Try To Fix Microsoft And Leave Public Education Alone?

Didn't get a chance to blog this back in September when it first occurred - another Microsoft screw-up:Computerworld - Microsoft yesterday acknowledged yet another problem with its Sept. 10 updates, confirming that one of those fixes broke Office 2010 Starter Edition by changing the file associations of already-created documents."After installing this update, some users have reported they are

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

Inherit The Wind

From Political Wire:"We know we didn't come from monkeys! Ladies and gentlemen, they're using your tax dollars to brainwash our children into socialist issues and ideas and it is time for it to stop."-- Texas Board of Education candidate Lady Theresa Thombs (R), quoted by the Dallas Observer, on science education.From Inherit The Wind:

by reality-based edu... / 18min 

Times Unions Calls Cuomo On His State Of The State Speech

Nice editorial yesterday in the Times-Union, calling Cuomo on his funding for public education, his refusal to either increase funding or reduce state mandates that tax districts to stretching point, and his failure to acknowledge the problems with the state's CCSS implementation and the Endless Testing regime that is in part required by his APPR teacher evaluation system.The editorial writer note

by reality-based edu... / 54min 

What Was Andrew Cuomo's Involvement In The Christie BridgeGate Scandal?

From Maggie Haberman at Politico:The Wall Street Journal, ahead on the Bridgegate story throughout the scandal, reported in December that Christie reached out to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who co-controls the Port Authority, to ask him to turn down the heat on the internal review of what happened. It was Cuomo’s appointee, Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye, who called out the Christi

by reality-based edu... / 2min

Why Aren't Bloomberg And Walcott Blamed For This?

We always hear how great Mayor Bloomberg was for the school system, how much better things were after his 12 years of reign than before he took over.Then you get this kind of story from the Post that sounds very much like a school from the "bad-old days":Students at PS 106 in Far Rockaway, Queens, have gotten no math or reading and writing books for the rigorous Common Core curriculum, w

by reality-based edu... / 32min 

1-11-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Perdido Street School WeekCuomo's Silence On Common Core Speaks VolumesJessica Bakeman at Capital NY:ALBANY—Governor Andrew Cuomo featured education initiatives prominently at his State of the State address Wednesday, but never mentioned the controversial Common Core curriculum standards and the growing unrest among teachers and parents over how the state rolled them out. “T

by mike simpson / 10h