Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… | …For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
LARRY FERLAZZO’S WEBSITES OF THE DAY
This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Posts & Articles On Education Policy
Here are some recent interesting posts and articles on educational policy issues: L.A. Unified doesn’t have to release teachers’ names with performance ratings is from The Los Angeles Times. I’m adding it to The Best Posts About The LA Times Article On “Value-Added” Teacher Ratings. A Walmart Fortune, Spreading Charter Schools is from The New York Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Le
Cool NY Times Interactive Lets You Create “Blackout” Poetry With Their Articles
The New York Times has just unveiled a week-long interactive that lets readers create “blackout” poetry with some articles, which you can then share. Here’s how they describe it: Popularized in recent years by writer and artist Austin Kleon, blackout poetry encourages readers to create poems by redacting words from ordinary texts. During the last week of National Poetry Month, we will feature snip
Yesterday Was Arbor Day — Here’s Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Trees
Arbor Day celebrates the importance of trees, and takes place on the last Friday of April in the United States. I’m a day late, but readers might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Trees.
Very Good TED-Ed Lesson For Holocaust Remembrance Week
Holocaust Remembrance Week starts tomorrow, and TED-Ed has published a very good timely lesson: Lessons from Auschwitz: The power of our words – Benjamin Zander. Here’s the video from it: You might also be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About The Holocaust.
Best Onion Article Ever For TOK Classes: “Top Theoretical Physicists, R&B Singers Meet To Debate Meaning Of Forever”
The Onion humor magazine has just published a wonderful piece titled Top Theoretical Physicists, R&B Singers Meet To Debate Meaning Of Forever. It’s perfect for IB Theory of Knowledge classes. In fact, it would be a fun model to use and then challenge students to come up with their own parody on TOK topics. You might also be interested in The Best Education Articles From “The Onion.”
The Hubble Telescope Is Twenty-Four Years Old This Week — Here Are Great Resources
The Hubble Telescope turned twenty-four this week. Check out The Best Sites To Learn About The Hubble Telescope for great resource, including lots of photos.
Yes, It’s Authentic: School Cancels Kindergarten Play Because It Doesn’t Prepare Kids “For College & Career”
Yes, this letter from Harley Avenue Primary School is not a parody — it’s authentic. RT @1BATMom: School cancels Kindergarten show. Gotta make em college&career-ready! . pic.twitter.com/LDtlS6d0UX — Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) April 25, 2014 It’s another one for the “Truth is Stranger Than Fiction” department, joining Video: Though It Seems Like A Parody, It’s A Real Professional Developm
Animated Video: George Saunders’ Commencement Speech On “The Importance of Kindness”
I’ve previously posted the video and links to the full text of George Saunders’ well known commencement speech on “The Importance of Kindness.” Now, this animation of part of it has been created….
Video: “Action Movie Kid – Volume 01″
I’ve previously posted about The Action Movie Kid and how they are great clips to show English Language Learners and have them describe what they see. Their creator has just put all of them into one video. Here it is:
Excellent New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “How Tsunamis Work”
I’m adding this new excellent TED-Ed video and lesson to The Best Sites To Learn About Tsunamis:
Video: “Canada & The United States: Bizarre Borders”
I’m adding this video to The Best Geography Sites For Learning About The United States & Canada:
YESTERDAY
It’s World Penguin Day Today — Here Are Lots Of Resources About…Penguins
It’s World Penguin Day today. Environmental organizations are using the occasion to highlight threats to penguins. You might be interested in The Best Sites For Learning About Penguins.
“Many Ways To Help Our Students Grieve” Is My New Ed Week Post — & Here’s A Bonus
Many Ways To Help Our Students Grieve is my latest Education Week Teacher post. Several exceptional educators have contributed to today’s column, including Mary Tedrow, Stephen Lazar, Larry Swartz, Dr. Sherrel Bergmann and Dr. Judith Brough. In addition, I’ve included responses from readers. I’m going to share some excerpts, and then scroll down for a special bonus for readers of this blog: BO
United States Videos For Geography Class
Here are quite a few videos I’m adding to The Best Geography Sites For Learning About The United States & Canada:
APR 24
April’s Best Posts From This Blog
I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here). Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this pas
Eliademy Seems Like An Easy Tool For Creating Online Courses, But I Doubt Its Usefulness In K-12
There are many free tools out there that let you create online courses that students can take, and I just learned about a very easy one called Eliademy. For the life of me, though, I really can’t think of a reason a K-12 teacher would use one. With all the tools on The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress list and the ease of using class blogs, what wo
April’s Best Tweets — Part Four
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
Duolingo Gets A Whole Lot Better…
I’ve been effusive in my praise for the mobile language-learning app Duolingo — my English Language Learner students love to use it both in class and outside of it. It just got a whole lot better… As TechCrunch reports: The new version features courses to learn English for Chinese and Japanese speakers….As part of this update, the service now also features English courses for Hindi speakers…While
Nice Introductory Video To Jamaican Patois
Our ninth-grade English curriculum includes a short unit on Jamaica, which includes several lessons on Bob Marley (see The Best Websites For Learning About Bob Marley). It also includes a lesson on Jamaican Patois. Here’s a short video I use to introduce learning about it:
Ask A Question, Any Question…
My Classroom Q & A column over at Education Week Teacher continues to grow in popularity as it nears the end of its third year. I’ve already begun collecting new questions for the next school year, so feel free to contribute on — either by leaving it in the comments section or by sending it to me using this contact form. As you probably know, a wide-ranging group of educators provide guest re
APR 23
“The Best Posts On Involving Fathers In Schools”
I’ve just published The Best Posts On Involving Fathers In Schools over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School. You might find it useful….
Getty Museum Adds 77,000 Images To Public Domain
Last August, I published a post titled Getty Museum Makes Nearly 5,000 Public Domain Images Available Online — Will Increase In Future. Well, they did just that this week, adding 77,000 more images to the public domain. They can be used for any purpose by anyone, as long as they give proper attribution. You can read more about it at Open Culture and at The Getty. I’m adding this info to The Best
Apparently, Today Is Both “World Book Night” & “UN English Language Day” – Here Are The Best Resources For Both
It’s a little confusing to me, but UNESCO says today is apparently both “World Book Night” and “UN English Language Day.” I use the word “confusing” because UNESCO has also declared March 6th as World Book Day (see The Best Resources For World Book Day). My sense is that UNESCO’s strategy is March 6th is for celebration reading in general, and today, April 23rd, emphasizes book-giving. I’d be hap
“How Can We Best Respond To Student Grief?”
How Can We Best Respond To Student Grief? is the new “question-of-the-week” at my Education Week Teacher column. Your responses are welcome there or here…
My New Radio Program: “How Can Administrators Help Support an Engaging Curriculum in the Classroom?”
My new BAM! Radio program is on How Can Administrators Help Support an Engaging Curriculum in the Classroom? Kelly Young (who I consider to be my primary mentor) and Anne Reeves are my guests in this nine-minute podcast.
Another Big Surprise: Reflection Helps Learning
Hot on the heels of Another Shocker – NOT! Students Respond Better To Support Than Threats, yet another study has been released finding something that has been obvious to teachers for years — reflecting on a learning experience enhances it. Here’s how the Harvard Business Journal summarized the results: Research participants who did an arithmetic brain-teaser and then reflected on their strategie
Google Street View Adds “Go Back In Time” Feature Today
There are a number of sites out there that let you click on a location in Google Street View and then show you historical images of that same site going back many, many years. And you can access the best of them at The Best Historical Photo + Video Map-Based Sites. Today, Google has announced their own somewhat similar (though far more limited) “Go Back In Time” feature – they’ve put photos from
APR 22
It’s “National Park Week” – Here Are Some Resources
This week is National Park Week here in the United States. You might want to check-out The Best Sites For Learning About Yosemite & Other U.S. National Parks. Explore more visuals like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
Three Final Earth Day Links
Here are new additions to The Best Earth Day Sites: Your Earth Day Guide to Saving the World is from The Atlantic. Earth Day 2014 is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe. Let’s Celebrate Earth Day with Some Gorgeous Photos from NASA is from The Atlantic.
NY Times Creates New Data Journalism Site — “Upshot”
I’ve previously written a review of two new “data-journalism” sites — see “FiveThirtyEight” & “Vox.com” Are Two New Free Online News Sites — Here’s What I Think Of Them. Today, a similar new online publication jumped into the fray — Upshot, created by The New York Times. It’s their successor to the “Five Thirty-Eight” blog that Nate Silver took with him when he left The Times last year. One d
APR 21
Another Shocker – NOT! Students Respond Better To Support Than Threats
Yet another study has found that threats of punishment is not a very effective motivating tactic. You can read a summary of this new study at Science Daily, Teachers’ scare tactics may lead to lower exam scores. And if you want to read about a zillion other studies that show the same thing, you can start at: Surprise, Surprise — Study Finds Shouting At Children “creates further discipline problem
‘Differentiation Is More Than A Set Of Strategies’
‘Differentiation Is More Than A Set Of Strategies’ is Part Two of my Education Week series on differentiated instruction. Today’s post features a response from Kimberly Kappler Hewitt and a number of suggestions from readers. Here’s an excerpt:
Video: “Here’s How To Greet People Around The World”
I’m adding this video from Business Insider to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures:
APR 20
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with a minimal description. It forces me to look through these older links, and help me organize them for my own use. I hope others will find them helpful, too
More Resources On Everest
Mt. Everest has been in the news recently with the news of the tragic avalanche. Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Mount Everest (we do a unit on it to finish up the year in our mainstream ninth-grade English classes): Survivor recalls how ice tumbled down in Mount Everest avalanche is from CNN. Death Is Part of the Business for Everest Sherpa Guides is from NBC New
The Best Movies For IB Theory Of Knowledge Classes – What Are Your Suggestions?
Generally, the only times students in my classes watch full movies are the few times I’m absent (though we’ll often watch short clips), and when I’m not there it usually relates to a school-related meeting. All of the English teachers at our school spend four days each year — two near the beginning and two near the end — to review writing assessments all students in our school do twice a year (yo
APR 19
Three Good New Resources On Wealth & Income Inequality
Here are some new additions to The Best Resources About Wealth & Income Inequality: Get Rich, Live Longer: The Ultimate Consequence of Income Inequality is from The Atlantic. The short guide to Capital in the 21st Century is from Vox. Economist Receives Rock Star Treatment is from The New York Times.
April’s Infographics & Interactives Galore – Part Five
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
“Sentence Navigator” Is Jason Renshaw’s Gift To ESL/EFL/ELL Teachers Everywhere!
ESL/EFL teachers who have been around awhile know of Jason Renshaw, who at one point had what I thought (and continue to think) was the best resource on the Web for ESL teachers — English Raven. Unfortunately, he took it off-line a few years ago, and now describes himself as a “former Tesol teacher, textbook author and web resources developer, now learning designer and elearning developer in high
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: ELL Students Neglected in School Turnaround Efforts is from The Journal. New School Standards Present Challenge for Refugee Students is from New America Media. McGraw Hill has a ton of online videos showing ELL teachers in
Some Final Easter Resources For This Year
Here are some good additions to The Best Sites For Learning About Easter And Passover: Christians Mark Good Friday Around The World is a NBC News photo gallery. Busted! 81 percent of parents steal Easter candy from their kids is also from NBC. Week of observances is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe. Who, What, Why: Why is Good Friday called Good Friday? is from The BBC.
The Best Posts On IB Theory Of Knowledge Oral Presentations
Along with teaching English Language Learners at all levels and mainstream English classes, I also get to teach the International Baccalaureate Theory Of Knowledge course. In fact, it looks like I’ll get to teach two of them next year! I regularly blog about TOK, and you can see all my annual lists of the the best TOK resources here. I’ve also been inviting guest commentaries on all the changes t
Special Edition Of This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts On Education Policy
Usually, I only publish a once-weekly “round-up” of good posts and articles on education policy issues. However, I’m a bit behind, so I’m catching-up with this “special edition”: Kill tenure, cure schools? was published in the Los Angeles Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On California Court Case Attacking Teacher’s Rights. Competing Views of Teacher Tenure Are on Display in California C
Four Excellent Resources For Learning About Cultures Around The World
Here are four new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures: Meals and Meal Times in English-Speaking Countries is by Tanja Batista. How Democratic and Republican morals compare to the rest of the world is from The Washington Post. 25 Fascinating Charts Of Negotiation Styles Around The World is from Business Insider. I learned about this “28 Birthday Traditions
APR 18
“The Best Commentaries On The ‘Broken Compass’ Parent Involvement Book”
You might, or might not, be aware of the recent controversy around a new book titled The Broken Compass:Parental Involvement With Children’s Education. Its authors recently had an op-ed in The NY Times reviewing their contention that, basically, all previous research on the value of parent engagement with schools is wrong. Well, I’ve brought together “The Best Commentaries On The ‘Broken Compass’
Guest Post: Commentary On Theory Of Knowledge Oral Presentations
I’ve been publishing guest commentaries on all the changes this year in International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge classes, and you can see them all here. And here’s another one! Today’s piece is from Brad Ovenell-Carter. Brad is the director of educational technology and TOK department head at Mulgrave School, an independent, coed K12 IB World School in Vancouver, Canada. Like Mark Twain, h
Differentiating Lessons By “Content, Process or Product”
Differentiating Lessons By “Content, Process or Product” is my latest post at Education Week Teacher. Today’s post features a “power-packed line-up” of guest responses, with Carol Tomlinson, Donalyn Miller and Jeff Charbonneau contributing responses. Here are some excerpts:
April’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
