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

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

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

My Favorite Posts In 2017 – So Far

by Larry Ferlazzo / 23min

Every year I identify my personal favorite posts, and it’s time for my mid-year selection. You can see my choices for each of the past ten 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. I’m adding this post to All Mid-Year 2017 “Best” Lists In One Place . Here are My Favorite Posts I

Using “Google Story Builder” To Encourage Students To Study English Over The Summer

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

I’ve previously posted some of the activities I’ll be doing with my class of Beginning ELLs over the last two weeks of school: Here’s What I’m Doing As A Final With Beginning ELLs , Here’s What I’m Doing As “Part Two” For My ELL Beginner Finals Today, I thought I’d share a third activity… The last time I tried Google Story Builder , it was off-line. That was a bummer – it’s always been a great to

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues

by Larry Ferlazzo / 37min

© 2011 CGP Grey , Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in The Best Articles, Videos & Posts On Education Policy In 2017 – So Far ): How 

Pins Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 19min

I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated over 12,000 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). I’ve begun placing the “most popular” Pin of the week – accor

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

by Larry Ferlazzo / 18min

© 2010 Enokson , Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio Four years ago I began this 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. You might also be interested in The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELLs In 2016 – Part Two Here are this week’s choices: The “must-read” piece for this

Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 18min

© 1970 Pip R. Lagenta , Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio 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. You might also be interested in The Best Articles (& Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2016 – Part Tw o and The Best Resources On Class Instruction In 2017 – So Far .

The U.N. Says June 5th Is “World Environment Day” – Here Are Related Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

June 5th is World Environment Day . I’ve just revised The Best Resources For World Environment Day .

Video: “Top 10 Worlds Tallest Buildings”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

I’m adding this new video to The Best Sites To Learn About The World’s Tallest Buildings , and I have also completely revised and updated that list:

YESTERDAY

“The Best Q&A Posts of 2017 – So Far”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

The Best Q&A Posts of 2017 – So Far is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. I share my personal choices for the best posts that have appeared there so far this year. I’m adding it to All Mid-Year 2017 “Best” Lists In One Place .

This Week In Web 2.0

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth blogging about, I post a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” (you might also be interested in The Twenty-Five Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2017 – So Far ). I also sometimes include tech tools or articles about them that might not exactly fit the definition of Web 2.0: 25+ Tools For Spicing Up Your

Amazing Video Of Jupiter

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Here’s an amazing video composed of images from the Juno spacecraft. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning & Teaching About The Juno Spacecraft and to The Best Images Taken In Space . Read more about it at Wired.

Three New Resources On “Fake News” & Information Literacy

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Here are three new additions to The Best Tools & Lessons For Teaching Information Literacy – Help Me Find More : Fake news – a lesson plan is from The Teacher James, and is for ELLs. 9 lessons to boost media literacy is by Frank Baker. Storyzy is an interesting new tool that lets you verify quotes. Unfortunately, it only goes back to 2015, but is continually updated. You can read more about it at

“How can I Implement ‘Genius Hour’?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 21h

How can I Implement ‘Genius Hour’? is the new “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to leave responses in the comments section there or here…

New Resources For Teaching & Learning About The Reality Of Climate Change

by Larry Ferlazzo / 22h

Not matter what President Trump says or does, most teachers, of course, will continue to teach the facts of climate change. Here are some new additions to the massive The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change list: Stanford has an impressive climate change curriculum . Climate Change Effects Explained in Maps is from GIS Geography. Racing to Find Answers in the Ice is a NY Times interactive. T

Another Good Simon’s Cat Video For ELLs: “Copy Cat”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 22h

Simon’s Cat videos are always great ones to show to English Language Learners and have them write and discuss what happens in them. A new one just came out today called “Copy Cat.” You might also be interested in The Best Fun Videos 

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

CURMUDGUCATION: Paperwork

CURMUDGUCATION: Paperwork:

Paperwork

Rick Hess had a good piece this week that called back to one of my favorite films--

Hess noticed that much of the ESSA planning rolling in looks suspiciously like TPS report work.

But you rarely see the paper-shufflers get as much ink or as many pats on the back as you do in schooling. One of the more striking examples of this is the recent fascination with state plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act (especially where they build on decades of paper-driven plans to improve "teacher quality"). For reasons that escape me, ESSA's required federal filings, which have been assembled by hordes of well-meaning state officials and consultants, have been treated not as largely meaningless paper exercises but as something deserving of breathless notice from education advocates and press (including American Idol-style contests and foundation-funded independent review boards).

There is something childishly naive about the bureaucratic belief in the power of paperwork to bend reality. This is not a new feature in education. You may recall that Race To The Top and RttT Lite (More waivers, less money) both featured a required plan for moving high-quality teachers around to districts in need. Nobody ever figured out how such a thing could possibly be achieved-- but everybody had a plan about how to achieve it.

The grandaddy of modern useless paperwork would have to be all the district plans for "aligning" curriculum, the process by which we were all supposed to adapt our curricula to the Common Core State [sic] Standards. In many districts, the process was pretty simple.

1) Wipe dust off old curriculum.
2) Write down standards numbers beside old curriculum items
3) Add new items to curriculum to "bridge gaps."
4) Put curriculum binder back on shelf to gather more dust.
5) Go back to teaching your class as you had intended to in the first place.

Meanwhile, folks on the state level threw giant parties to celebrate how they'd reshaped the face of CURMUDGUCATION: Paperwork:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Glad to hear Trumka speaking out on Paris pull-out

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Glad to hear Trumka speaking out on Paris pull-out:

Glad to hear Trumka speaking out on Paris pull-out

Yesterday's protest in Chicago against Trump's Paris pull-out.  (M. Klonsky pic)

AFL-CIO Pres. Richard Trumka, responding, I suppose, to pressure from Democratic leadership, spoke out Thursday, against the U.S. pull-out from the Paris Climate Agreement.

“Pulling out of the Paris climate agreement is a decision to abandon a cleaner future powered by good jobs. A deteriorating environment is not the only thing at stake here. When our leaders isolate America from the rest of the world, it hurts our ability to raise incomes for working families and achieve fairness in the global economy.”

But Trumka's statement rings a little hollow after already selling out the labor movement and the Standing Rock water protectors on the Dakota Access Pipeline and XL for pipeline jobs. While Trumka has been a strong critic of Trump's who supported Clinton in the election, he has also indicated to POTUS that he's open to dealing for pipeline jobs.  Trump was happy to oblige after making some demagogic promises to keep West VA's coal operators in business and keep companies like Carrier from exporting jobs to Mexico. He was lying on both counts. 

He succeeded in repressing the movement at Standing Rock and gave the green light to Energy Transfer Partners to restart operations that were temporary held up by the Obama administration.

Before the pipeline has even become fully operational, hundreds of gallons of oil have already been leaking out in North and South Dakota. Keystone XL spilled 540,000 gallons last year.

Even without Trumka's support, other unions have been consistent in speaking out for climate Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Glad to hear Trumka speaking out on Paris pull-out:

Russ on Reading: Building a Better Pre-School: Finding the Right Balance

Russ on Reading: Building a Better Pre-School: Finding the Right Balance:

Building a Better Pre-School: Finding the Right Balance

Two studies on building a better pre-school caught my eye this week. On the front page of the Wednesday, May 31, 2017 New York Times, education reporter Dana Goldstein details the findings of a group of researchers out of the University of California, Berkeley looking at the role of academics in pre-school, while Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Penn State have just released a brief focused on the importance of social and emotional learning in pre-school. I would like to look at both studies to see what conclusions we can reach when working to create the best possible pre-school environment for children.

The Berkeley study is sure to kick up a lot of fuss, first because it appeared on the front page of the New York Times, but also because it flies in the face of what many parents and teachers see as the optimal pre-school environment. The title of the piece doesn't help, Free Play or Flash Cards? New Study Nods to More Rigorous Preschools. Reading the article and the research report shows that the researchers' report is much more nuanced than a flash cards vs. play dynamic. What the researchers found is that children in academically oriented pre-school classrooms, which included activities focusing on oral language, pre-literacy, and math concepts, made academic gains that advantaged them as they entered kindergarten and throughout the kindergarten year. At the same time, and just as importantly, the authors found that this academic orientation did not have a negative impact on the social, emotional growth of the children.

The Robert Wood Johnson/Penn State brief concludes that to "promote school readiness, preschools need to focus strategically on social-emotional development." A focus on social emotional development pays off in greater Russ on Reading: Building a Better Pre-School: Finding the Right Balance: