Monday, January 20, 2014

1-20-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

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







BBC Launches Exhaustive Interactive World War I Resource
We’re approaching the one-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of World War I, and lots of related online resources are being unveiled. The BBC has just launched an exhaustive interactive site on the War, which they call the first in a new way they say they plan to rebrand all their content. The new brand is called iWonder, and their World War One iWonder Guide has just about anything you want

The Best Martin Luther King Day Tweets
I’ve seen a lot of great tweets on my timeline today for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and thought I’d collect them in a Storify. I’ll continue to add to it. And I’ll add this link to The Best Websites For Learning About Martin Luther King. [View the story "The Best Martin Luther King Day Tweets" on Storify]
“The Education Department’s strange new report on teaching”
The Washington Post has reprinted most of my recent post on a U.S. Department of Education report (see New US Dept. of Ed Finds That “Less Effective Teaching” Responsible For 2-4 Percent Of Achievement Gap) and titled it The Education Department’s strange new report on teaching. Strange, indeed….


Funny Video: Do We Teach Like Dogs Or Like Cats?
This video was shared by Daniel Coyle on Twitter:
Home Culture Presentations With English Language Learners
Having English Language Learners give reports about about their home countries is a fairly typical class assignment. And, for students who are not newcomers, it gets pretty old for them to have to do it every year. I have students in my ELL Geography class do similar presentations each year, though I try to make it a little different from what they’ve done in the past. I introduce it as a lesson

Quote Of The Day: “How We Get Dr. King Wrong”
How we get Dr. King wrong: “We’ve deliberately dismembered him,” Michael Eric Dyson tells Salon is an important piece. Here’s an excerpt: I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Martin Luther King.


Infographic: “Ten things not to put on your CV”
I’m adding this infographic from Career Savvy Magazine to The Best Places For Students To Write Their Resumes: Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
From The Archives: “Why we can’t all get along over school reform”
I’ve recently re-started an effort I’ve tried to do previously by regularly highlighting previous posts and articles I’ve shared in previous years that I think might be worth a second look. Today, I’m revisiting a piece I wrote last year for The Washington Post on the importance of tension in organizing for change. It’s titled Why we can’t all get along over school reform. Here’s an excerpt:


This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles on Education Policy
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues: Everything you need to know about Common Core is by Diane Ravitch. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards. Beware Chinese data: Its schools might not be so great is by Jay Mathews at The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On 2012 PISA Test Results. Why




1-19-14 Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL: Super Bowl ResourcesIt’s that time of year again — Super Bowl time! I’m writing this before the league championship games are played, but I certainly hope the 49ers will be in it. I’ve just updated, as I do every year, The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl. I’ll continue to make new additions over the ne

1-20-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:








It’s pension theft. In California the courts and the people agree.
From AFSCME: In years past, public employees paid into their pensions, confident their savings would be intact when they retired. After all, these deferred earnings were often protected by state law. However, municipalities too often reached into their employees’ retirement savings for easy cash, something we call “pension theft.” Recently, pension theft was averted in San Jose, Calif., where a ju


Life in Rahm’s Chicago. Lookin’ out for his friends.




Martin Luther King, James Baldwin and my father.
  Martin Luther King, James Baldwin and my father (sitting on Baldwin’s left in the bottom pictures) at a fundraiser for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. My father was one of the organizers of the event, held in Los Angeles around 1964.


Illinois election choices.
Bev Johns is a frequent contributor to this blog. She mostly keeps me and you up to date on the attempts by the ISBE to raise the class size limits that currently are in place for special education students. She also writes frequently about the election for governor of illinois. The primary is March 18. The general election is next November. We are allies on the class size fight. She is frustrate




1-19-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Bev Johns. We need you at the ISBE board meeting on January 22nd.- Bev Johns, Special Education advocate and activist. We need you at the ISBE Board meeting on January 22. Whether the ISBE Board eliminates special ed class size limits AND the 70/30 rule DEPENDS ON YOU. Will you offer testimony this We

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

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













“Learning is family affair at Broomfield library”

Learning is family affair at Broomfield library is a recent article in a local Colorado newspaper. Here’s how it begins: The sign on the door says the library is for kids, but at Broomfield’s Children’s Library, reading is a family affair. In addition to putting beloved books in the hands of children, the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library is one of 28 across the country that is part of grant th


Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement"
Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement": “Keys To Parent Engagement – Relationships, Climate, Communication”Keys To Parent Engagement – Relationships, Climate, Communication is the last in a four-part series I’ve published over at Education Week Teacher. Today’s post highlights responses from Darcy Hutchins and Mai Xi Lee, along with many readers’ comments. Here a


1-20-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online: Duking it Out in NYSUT - At the Top:













Duking it Out in NYSUT - At the Top

On Saturday evening PJSTA (Port Jefferson Station) President Beth Dimino delivered the following message to the members of the PJSTA… For the record, the PJSTA will NOT endorse a slate of NYSUT Officers, led by Andy Pallotta, that endorse and use our vote cope money to pad Cuomo’s war chest! The PJSTA is leading the charge against this heinous act and will support individuals that oppose Pallotta 


1-19-14 Ed Notes Online
Ed Notes Online: Strange Bedfellows On Cuomo Team: Eva, DFER and MikeyGuess who is joining Cuomo's list of privateers? MEMORANDUMTO:        NYSUT Board of DirectorsFROM:  Andy Pallotta, Executive Vice PresidentDATE:   January 15, 2014RE:        NYSUT's Legislative ReceptionOn Monday evening, January 27, 2014, NYSUT will host a Legislative Reception and briefing in the Observation Deck of the Erast




1-20-14 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit

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








Ravitch: IN LOS ANGELES DEASY REFUSES TO RESTORE ARTS FUNDING
By dianeravitch  from Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1haAa3A January 17, 2014  ::  Despite a board resolution in 2012 calling for a restoration of arts funding in Los Angeles, Superintendent John Deasy has refused to prepare a budget complying with the resolution. “In 2012, the Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to make arts education a core subject in its curriculum. “Four


J’accuse: THE WIRELESS DISCONNECT IN LAUSD
By smf for 4 LAKidsNews 20 Jan 2014 :: The L.A. Time’s Howard Blume writes in his article L.A. SCHOOLS’ iPAD WATCHDOG COMMITTEE SET TO DISBAND on the ongoing iPad fiasco misadventure* in LAUSD: Materials from the most recent meeting of the bond oversight panel were not included in the information packet prepared for the board and the public. These materials included support for the panel's


L.A. SCHOOLS’ iPAD WATCHDOG COMMITTEE SET TO DISBAND
Decision to end schools' iPad panel raises questions about oversight of the program that has had a bumpy rollout. By Howard Blume, LA Times | http://lat.ms/KxL4oH Avery Sheppard checks out his L.A. Unified-provided iPad. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times / August 27, 2013)   January 19, 2014, 4:57 p.m.  ::  The watchdog committee for the Los Angeles school district's $1-billion iPad


SANTA BARBARA UNIFIED APPROVES $700,000 iPAD PURCHASE: Offers parents lease-to-own option

Parents who wish to purchase pay $708 @ $20 per month. There is no funding source identified to anything beyond the pilot year By Kelsey Brugger | The Santa Barbara Independent http://bit.ly/1mkrqJl Thursday, January 16, 2014  ::  Santa Barbara Unified School District approved a $700,000 iPad Air purchase at Tuesday’s board meeting. Discussed at great length over the past several


4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 1-19-14
4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: HUNDREDS HONOR LAUSD’s LAMOTTE FOR DEDICATION TO EDUCATIONBy Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News |  http://bit.ly/1aB68lv < Los Angeles Unified school board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, a lifelong educator who represented South Los Angeles since 2001, died Dec. 5, 2013, at age 80. 1/18/14, 5:18 PM PST | ::  A public memorial to honor LAUSD b