Saturday, June 21, 2014

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Week… 6-21-14 …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EF

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

LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY






The Best Articles I’ve Written In 2014 — So Far
In addition to the thousands of posts I’ve written in this blog (and in my parent engagement blog) over the past seven years,  my six books, my weekly posts for Education Week Teacher and The New York Times, and my monthly posts for the British Council, I’ve also written well over one hundred articles for different publications. You can access all of them here. You can also see what I think are
Fun Infographic: “20 Movie Snacks Around the World Infographic”
I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures: Learn more about Movie Snacks Around the World and Infographic Design from Lemonly.
Fourth Of July Resources
July 4th is Independence Day in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Websites For Learning About The Fourth Of July.


June’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Four
There are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics” on this blog. I’ll still be publishing separate posts to individually highlight especially useful infographics and interactives, but you

Research Studies Of The Week
I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature. By the way, you mi
Just Sent-Out Free Monthly Email Newsletter
I’ve just mailed out the June issue of my simple free monthly email newsletter. It has over 2,000 subscribers, and you can subscribe here.
Today Is World Refugee Day — Here Are More Resources
Today is World Refugee Day and here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day: The Refugee Project “is an interactive map of refugee migrations around the world in each year since 1975. UN data is complemented by original histories of the major refugee crises of the last four decades, situated in their individual contexts.” There Are More Displaced People In the Wor
Design A Transit System For…Anyplace
Transitmix lets you easily create a mass transit system for any city or town in the world, including how much it would cost to run. No registration is required, and you’re given a link to your creation. You can read more about it at Gizmodo. Thanks to Grant Wiggins for the tip. You might also be interested in The “All-Time” Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly.
Video: “Iraq Explained — ISIS, Syria and War”
I’m adding this video to The Best Web Resources On The Iraq War:
More Good Resources On Race
Here are new additions to A Collection Of Useful Posts, Articles & Videos On Race & Racism: If Affirmative Action Is Doomed, What’s Next? is from The New York Times. Here’s a commentary on that piece: It's also not clear to me that those who oppose "race-based affirmative action" won't oppose a proxy for "race-based affirmative action." — Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoa
Friday’s New World Cup Resources
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: The 2014 World Cup, Part I is a photo gallery from The Atlantic. These 8 works of Anti-FIFA Graffiti are Covering The Streets Of Brazil is from Fascinating Pics. World Cup 2014 Toolkit: Get in the Rhythm! is from VIF Learning Center. World Cups from Past To Present show video highlights of the past eight
Teaching Complex Texts Requires ‘Getting To Know Your Students’
Teaching Complex Texts Requires ‘Getting To Know Your Students’ is my latest Education Week Teacher post. Today’s post features responses from three educators: Wendi Pillars, Amy Benjamin, and Christopher Lehman. I’ll be posting Part Two in a few days, and will have plenty of space for comments from readers. Here are some excerpts:

JUN 19

All Of My “Best Of 2014 – So Far″ Lists In One Place!
Here are my “Best of 2014 – So Far” lists — all in one place! I might have one or two more to do, and will just add them here when I get around to writing more. Of course, you can see all over 1,300 of my “The Best” lists here. And you might also want to take a look at All Of My “Best Of 2013″ Lists In One Place! The Best Science Sites Of 2014 – So Far The Best Websites For English Language Learn
The Best Science Sites Of 2014 – So Far
Well, this should be the last of my mid-year lists…. It’s a fairly small list this year, though there are certainly tons of good resources from previous ones. You might also be interested in: The “All-Time” Best Science Sites The Best Science Sites Of 2013 – Part Two The Best Science Sites Of 2013 – So Far The Best Science Sites Of 2012 — Part Two The Best Science Sites Of 2012 — Part One The B
June’s Best Tweets — Part Three
Every month I make a few short lists highlighting my choices of the best resources I through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. I’ve already shared in earlier posts several new resources I found on Twitter — and where I gave credit to those from whom I learned about them. Those are not included again in post. If you don’t use Twitter, you can
What Can School Districts (& School Reformers) Learn From Pixar?
I haven’t been a big fan of schools being run like businesses (see The Best Posts & Articles Explaining Why Schools Should Not Be Run Like Businesses). However, here’s one thing school districts and “school reformers” can learn from Pixar Animation studies: Substitute "schl dist" 4 "company" RT @hollybrocks: Every company needs this quote from Pixar's 'Creativity, Inc' pic
Thursday’s New World Cup Resources
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Battle Cries is a wonderful interactive from The NY Times. Here are several Wall St. Journal interactives: Meet Team USA Profiles the Favored Teams Scoring: A National Style Guide
June’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Three
There are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics” on this blog. I’ll still be publishing separate posts to individually highlight especially useful infographics and interactives, but you

JUN 18

The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students In 2014 – So Far
This list focuses on sites that ELL students would use directly. Of course, many other sites on my other lists can also be used effectively with ELL’s. You might also be interested in: The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students In 2013 – Part Two The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students In 2013 – So Far The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students In 2012 —
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are some recent good posts and articles on educational policy issues (you might also be interested in The Best Articles & Posts On Education Policy In 2014 – So Far): Efficiency-Minded Reformers Today Draw from Efficiency-Minded Reformers of a Century Ago is by Larry Cuban. Philanthropic Advocacy for School Reforms is by Larry Cuban. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About
“How Do We Know When & How To Help Students Understand Complex Text”
How Do We Know When & How To Help Students Understand Complex Text is the new “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Feel free to leave your responses there or here….
“Honoring Fred Ross Sr.: With Cesar Chavez, he formed the UFW”
I wrote This Is Great — Legendary Organizer Fred Ross, Sr. Selected For California Hall Of Fame a couple of days ago, and now Peter Dreier and Manuel Pastor, two more former colleagues from my organizing career, have just published an op-ed in The San Jose Mercury News about Fred’s selection. It’s headlined Honoring Fred Ross Sr.: With Cesar Chavez, he formed the UFW.
Wednesday’s New World Cup Resources
Here are the latest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Stop the Ball is a fun interactive from The New York Times. Al Jazeera has a great site with all their World Cup coverage, which includes neat projects like the World Cup of Food. World Cup Infographics is a site that’s collecting tons of infographics about…the World Cup. Explore more visuals like th

JUN 17

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2014 – So Far
I continue my mid-year “The Best…” lists… The title of this “The Best…” list is pretty self-explanatory. What you’ll find here are blog posts and articles this year (some written by me, some by others) that were, in my opinion, the ones that offered the best practical advice and resources to teachers this year — suggestions that can help teachers become more effective in the classroom today or to
The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELLs In 2014 – So Far
Another day, another  “The Best…” list….. You might also be interested in: The “All-Time” Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of English Language Learners The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELLs In 2013 – Part Two The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELLs In 2013 – So Far The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teach
“Interactive Time-Lapse Map Shows How the U.S. Took More Than 1.5 Billion Acres From Native Americans”
Interactive Time-Lapse Map Shows How the U.S. Took More Than 1.5 Billion Acres From Native Americans is the headline of a useful article in Slate that gives details about the impressive interactive called The Invasion of America: How the United States Took Over an Eighth of the World. It’s a “must-see” and “must-use” site when teaching U.S. History, and is an excellent illustration of our country
The Best Theory Of Knowledge Resources In 2014 – So Far
As regular readers know, I teach an International Baccalaureate “Theory of Knowledge” class (and, next year, I’ll teach two of them!). Our school structures our IB program a bit differently from many others by having a whole lot of students take individual IB classes; we have relatively few who are taking all IB classes in order to get the IB diploma. I really like this set-up, and it opens up my

JUN 16

Three Good Resources On Bloom’s Taxonomy
Here are three new additions to The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom: Resource: Bloom’s Taxonomy for ELL Students. http://t.co/js7viCH52m #ELLCHAT — Judie Haynes (@judiehaynes) June 17, 2014 UNGOOGLEABLE QUESTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM, A FIRST STEP. http://t.co/xx7QinDJNe — edublogs (@edublogs) June 16, 2014 Also this @Larryferlazzo: “@edublogs: UNGOOGLEABLE
More Resources On World Refugee Day
World Refugee Day takes place on June 20th. Here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day: World Refugee Day Videos comes from The UN. World Refugee Day 2014 also comes from the UN and has multimedia resources.
This Is Great — Legendary Organizer Fred Ross, Sr. Selected For California Hall Of Fame
The California Hall Of Fame has just announced that legendary community organizer Fred Ross, Sr. will “will join 81 Californians previously inducted for exemplifying California’s spirit of innovation.” Ross, longtime mentor to Cesar Chavez and a legend in the community organizing community, certainly deserves the honor. He’s inspired countless organizers over the years, and my “holiday gift” to r
Here Are Some Books I’ll Be Reading This Summer…
The above image shows some of the books I’ll be reading this summer. Look for interviews with a number of their authors at my Education Week Teacher column starting in July…
The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2014 – Part One
I use short, funny video clips a lot when I’m teaching ELLs, and you can read in detail about how I use them in The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL (& How To Use Them). In short, there are many ways to use them that promote speaking, listening, writing and reading. I’ve posted quite a few of them during the first six months of this year, and I thought it would be useful to readers —
Monday’s New Resources On The World Cup
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Why do some people call it soccer? is from the History Channel. HOW WE PLAY THE GAME is a NY Times interactive. 2014 Brazil World Cup – Round-up 1 is an ELL lesson from Breaking News English. Slate has compiled a fun video collection of goal celebrations from The Cup.
Two Good Links About Curation
A lot has been written recently about the importance of “curation” in this age of information “overload.” In fact, I’ve previously posted The Best Posts & Articles About Curation. Here are two new additions to that list: Sue Waters has written a very helpful post, including lots of suggestions for web tools to use, at Curation: Creatively Filtering Content. A Boston Globe article, Information

JUN 15

Good Video For ELLs: “Best funny and cute cat videos compilation 2014″
Thanks to Edutopia and Amy Erin Borovoy, who published Five-Minute Film Festival: The Best Cat Videos for Educators, I found this great video that English Language Learners could watch and then describe verbally & in writing:
This Week In Web 2.0
In yet another attempt to get at the enormous backlog I have of sites worth blogging about, I’ve recently begin a regular feature called “The Week In Web 2.0.” (you might also be interested in The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2013). I also sometimes include tech tools that might not exactly fit the definition of Web 2.0: I’ve just completely updated The Best Sites For Creating Onlin
June’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Two
There are just so many good infographics and interactives out there that I’ve begun a new semi-regular feature called “Infographics & Interactives Galore.” You can see others at A Collection Of “The Best…” Lists On Infographics and by searching “infographics” on this blog. I’ll still be publishing separate posts to individually highlight especially useful infographics and interactives, but you
Three Useful Classroom Instruction Resources
Here are three recent links useful for classroom instruction: What Does A Good Common Core Lesson Look Like? is from NPR. I’m adding it to The Most Useful Resources For Implementing Common Core. 24 Assessments that don’t suck… is from Paul Bogush. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments. 7 Tips to Eliminate the “I don’t know” Response is
Sunday’s World Cup Resources
Here are today’s additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil (some might not be visible on an RSS Reader): THE BEAUTIFUL BRANDED GAME: SEE THE 12 BEST 2014 WORLD CUP ADS is from Fast Company. 10 things non-soccer fans need to know about the World Cup is from Vox.
The Best Resources For Learning About Freedom Summer
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of Freedom Summer: Freedom Summer was a 1964 voter registration project in Mississippi, part of a larger effort by civil rights groups such as the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to expand black voting in the South. The Mississippi project was run by the local Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), an a

JUN 14

Research Studies Of The Week
I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature. By the way, you mi
The Best Research Demonstrating That Lectures Are Not The Best Instructional Strategy
There has been a fair amount of recent research documenting the ineffectiveness of lectures as an instructional strategy. I thought I’d bring articles about the research together in one place. You might also be interested in The Best Posts Questioning If Direct Instruction Is “Clearly Superior.” Let me know what I’m missing here: A study was just announced a couple of years ago claiming — surpris
John Lewis: “You Must Find A Way To Get In Trouble”
Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis gave the commencement address at Emory University last month. Here’s an excerpt, followed by a video of the entire speech. I’m also going to use the excerpt with a writing prompt next year in my U.S. History class. The prompt will be: What does John Lewis mean when he says it’s important to get into trouble? To what extent do you agree (or disagree) w
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
I’ve started a somewhat 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: English-Speaking Abilities of Immigrants: A Snapshot From the U.S. Census Bureau is from Education Week. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Keep-Up With Current ELL/ESL/EFL News & Research. Editorial Is bilingual educ
More Good Articles On Race
Here are new additions to A Collection Of Useful Posts, Articles & Videos On Race & Racism: White People Think One Black Person’s Success Proves Racism Is Over is from The Huffington Post. What Is Your Race? For Millions Of Americans, A Shifting Answer is from NPR. Are Reparations Due to African-Americans? is from The New York Times. Q&A: Ta-Nehisi Coates on Reparations, Ignorant Jour
How My Students Evaluated Me This Year
The school year ended this week and, as I do every year, I had students anonymously evaluate me. As regular readers know, I post the results of these surveys each semester — warts and all. In fact, The Washington Post republished one of the less flattering ones a couple of years ago. You can see reports from all the previous years, as well as links to more reflective pieces on the use of these ki
Two Good Resources To Help Understand Education Research
Here are some new additions to The Best Resources For Understanding How To Interpret Education Research: How qualitative research contributes is by Daniel Willingham. Why Statistically Significant Studies Aren’t Necessarily Significant is from Pacific Standard.
“My Best Posts On Parent Engagement In 2014 – So Far”
I’ve just published My Best Posts On Parent Engagement In 2014 – So Far over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. You might find it useful….