Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

12-4-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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







Here Are My Choices For The Five Best Commentaries On The PISA Results
Boy, there is no shortage of commentaries/summaries on the PISA results from yesterday, and you can find a bunch of good resources at The Best Posts & Articles On 2012 PISA Test Results. After wading though a bunch of them, here are what I believe to be the five best ones (though they all don’t necessarily agree with one another): Four lessons on new PISA scores — Ravitch is from The Washingto



Response: How Do You Teach About Knowledge Questions?
A week ago, I published a post headlined: Attention, IB Theory Of Knowledge Teachers! How Do You Teach “Knowledge Questions” (Formerly “Knowledge Issues”)? As I said in the post, I think helping students understand knowledge questions is one of the most challenging tasks I have in class. I’ve invited a number of people to respond to that question, and will be posting their responses over the next
This Is Exactly What I Mean By Connecting Social Emotional Learning & Literacy Instruction….
My drumbeat here on this blog and in my books is about the importance of connecting Social Emotional Learning and literacy instruction. It’s so easy to do, and I’m amazed that so many SEL strategies don’t make that explicit connection. Here’s a short lesson I’m doing tomorrow that illustrates that connection: I always teach a lesson on self-control using the famous marshmallow experiment during t


Resources On The Sandy Hook Shootings
As most readers probably know, the audio recordings of the Sandy Hook 911 calls were released today. That news, and the upcoming one year anniversary of that tragedy, prompts me to share previous related posts: “Sandy Hook Promise Launches ‘Parent Together’ As Tragedy’s One Year Mark Approaches” is from my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. Quote Of The Day: “A Sandy Hook Parent’s Letter to


Video: “The World Outside My Window – Time Lapse of Earth from the ISS”
I’m adding this video to The Best Images Taken In Space:
The Best Places To Find The Most Popular
I periodically post “most popular” lists of websites (and books) that I think educators might find useful. Of course, there are a number of ways to gauge “popularity.” I just view these lists as opportunities to check-out some new sites, and find it interesting to see which ones might be particularly “popular.” I’ve made quite a few posts that fit into this category, and thought I’d highlight whi
“Awkward Family Photos” Is A Great Source Of ELL Materials
There are tons of ways to use photos in lessons with English Language Learners (see The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons) and the Awkward Family Photos site is a great source for them. Some are inappropriate for classroom use or just too mean-spirited to use, but there are tons of excellent ones, and the site has an index to easily search by topic, especially by specific holiday. I’m adding it

YESTERDAY

Excellent Animated Interviews From PBS
Blank On Blank is a PBS feature that creates excellent, short animated interviews with well-known figures. You can see all of them at their YouTube Channel. Here’s an interview with Tupac Shakur they just posted today: You might also be interested in a recently discovered video with Tupac about which I previously posted (we do a unit on him in our tenth-grade English classes).
12-3-13 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites | The Best Posts & Articles On 2012 PISA Test Results
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: The Best Posts & Articles On 2012 PISA Test ResultsThe Internet is awash today with articles about this morning’s release of the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, test results. I’m just quickly posting the best resources I’ve seen this morning, and articles offering real insightful commentary w