Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

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

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

I'm Larry Ferlazzo and here you will catch me talking about websites that will help you teach ELL, ESL and EFL!

May’s (2017) Best Tweets – Part Two

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h

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

The Best Science Sites Of 2017 – So Far

by Larry Ferlazzo / 3h

Time for another mid-year “Best” list. I’ll be adding this post to All Mid-Year 2017 “Best” Lists In One Place. You might also be interested in: The Best Science Sites Of 2016 – Part Two The Best Science Sites Of 2016 – So Far The Best Science Sites Of 2015 The Best Science Sites Of 2014 – Part Two The “All-Time” Best Science Sites The Best Science Sites Of 2014 – So Far The Best Science Sites Of

YESTERDAY

The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2017 – So Far

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h

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 (including having students describe – in writing and verbally – a chronological description of what they saw). I’ve also pub

The Best Resources On Class Instruction In 2017 – So Far

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h

Here’s another mid-year “Best” list… I’m adding this list to All Mid-Year 2017 “Best” Lists In One Place . Three years ago I began publishing a regular Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week post and have so far published: The Best Resources On Class Instruction – 2015 The Best Resources On Class Instruction In 2016 – So Far The Best Resources On Class Instruction In 2016 – Part Two Here are

‘The Toughest Part of Teaching is…’

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

‘The Toughest Part of Teaching is…’ is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. In it, Roxanna Elden, Robert Ward, Cindi Rigsbee, Megan Allen, Dr. Jenny Grant Rankin, Daniel Jerome, and Lois Weiner share how they respond to tough teaching moments. Here are some excerpts:

Video: “The evolution of American protest music”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

I’m adding this new Vox video to The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History :

I Talk About My Biggest Teaching Mistake In This Radio Interview

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

I talk about my biggest teaching mistake in this BAM! Radio Show hosted by Jon Harper. I’ve previously written about it in my Education Week Teacher column, Learning From Difficult Teaching Moments .

The Best Guest Posts Appearing On This Blog In 2017 – So Far

by Larry Ferlazzo / 22h

I’ve had several important and popular guest posts appear on this blog this year, and thought readers might find it useful if I brought links to them together in a “Best” list. I’m adding this list to All Mid-Year 2017 “Best” Lists In One Place . Here are they are: Guest Post: How One District Supports Personalized Learning by Dr. Lynell Powell What ELLs Taught Our School In A Week-Long Empathy P

This Week In Web 2.0

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

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: I’m not a big fan of Word Sear

SEL Weekly Update

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists: The Wallace Foundation has come out with a big report on SEL programs in 

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

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: I'm More Grown Up Edition + Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: I'm More Grown Up Edition (5/21):

ICYMI: I'm More Grown Up Edition (5/21)

Yesterday was my birthday, but I wouldn't forget to give you your Sunday reading list. Remember-- if you like it, pass it on.

A Tour of Stock Photo Academy

The British blog Othmar's Trombone takes us on a tour of Stock Photo Academy, and it's just so special. This is your fun and games reading assignment for the week.

My Response to the NYT Google Article

A reply from Morna McDermott to the Times' love note to the tech giant.

The Privatization Prophets

Jennifer Berkshire in the Jacobin lays out what DeVos and friends are working toward. 

For Families with Special Needs, Vouchers Bring Choices, Not Guarantees

At NPR, Anya Kamenetz lays out how choice systems fail to serve students with special needs, who end up with neither a guarantee of good education or even any choice at all.

New York State's Early Childhood Ed Shakedown

Bianca Tanis with a look at how New York went after early childhood education, and why it has made for bad policy for the littles.

Robbing Peter To Pay Paul

Andre Perry looks at how DeVos hopes to gut some parts of education in order to fund her own pet policies.

The Zeal and Inexperience of Betsy DeVos

From back in January, but only just now brought to my attention. Another insightful view of how politics and religion drive DeVos's policy ideas.

U-Ark Screws Up Charter Revenue Study, AGAIN

Jersey Jazzman offers a two-part explanation of why the widely read University of Arkansas study of charter funding is just plain wrong. This link will take you to Part II, and from there you can hop to Part I. As always, hard data presented in plain English.CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: I'm More Grown Up Edition (5/21):

 Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

Big Education Ape: Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/05/catch-up-with-curmudgucation_20.html

NYC Educator: Screw Thy Neighbor

NYC Educator: Screw Thy Neighbor:

Screw Thy Neighbor

It's probably true that no matter how bad things look, there's always someone worse-off than you are. In no less than the alleged bastion of liberalism The New York Times, there's a piece by reformy Kevin Carey, extolling the virtues of value added. And while Carey pays lip service to the American Statistical Association, nowhere does he mention their key finding--that teachers affect the test scores of their students by a factor of 1-14%.

That's fake news, right there in the Times, on the topic that tortures working teachers more than any other. Peter Greene pointed out on Facebook that, despite the professed hope for more teachers on the right of the value-added bell curve, it could never actually happen, you know, because it's a frigging bell curve! Equally vexing, for reasons I will never fathom, our union leadership seems right there with Carey.

Exhibit A that things could be even worse is Lawrence, New York, where a bunch of parents who send their kids to religious schools have taken over the public schools. Screw the teachers, they say, as they deny them a contract for seven years. Screw the children, they say, as they demand reversals in class size restrictions. These people, in a town populated by veritable mansions, want to keep their taxes low, ensure services for their own children, and everyone else, evidently, can go to hell. They're building on the East Ramapo model, which ensures transportation for their own kids, and starves the schools full of other people's children to keep their tax rates down. This may or may not be exacerbated by the reprehensible Cuomo tax cap of 2% or rate of inflation, whatever is lower.

And while I was shocked by what happened in Lawrence, I'm even more shocked to see this model attempted elsewhere. I've received several letters now of failed attempts of school board takeovers in various New Jersey towns, but one is the most disturbing I've received, and I'll post it below. It's about an election takeover attempt at Ramapo Central:

They didn't get on the board but people are panicking. Our tax base is shrinking fast. We were afraid that they would get in as write-ins at the last minute. They've been buying up houses in the area and renting them. They have proposed a 2000 student yeshiva across from our school building on Cherry Lane Avenue. The Ramapo supervisor, who just got convicted yesterday enabled the permits for this monster on a two lane road in a residential neighborhood. When the district decided to curtailed their insane bussing needs, they flooded our board meetings and accused our board of anti-Semitism. http://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2016/09/16/state-denies-request-halt-ramapo-central-bus-changes/90508278/ We all fear that it is a matter of time before they try to take over our board. We have asked the State to allow us to change our name to Suffern Central to attract people into the district and differentiate ourselves from East Ramapo. We are fighting this but it feels hopeless! Thank you for any help you can give us.

It looks like East Ramapo is a model they wish to spread. While I studied religion as a child, I must've missed the Commandment to Screw Thy NYC Educator: Screw Thy Neighbor:

The Sunday times. | Fred Klonsky

The Sunday times. | Fred Klonsky:

The Sunday times.

Robert E. Lee, New Orleans.

Stanley Green died on Friday in Paris. He was 68.

“He was one of those journalists who went toward the bullet,” Ms. Tucker said, “because that’s where the story was.”

Stanley Greene was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 14, 1949, and grew up in New Rochelle, N.Y. His father, also Stanley, was an actor, producer, filmmaker and director; his mother, Javotee Sutton Greene, was an actress. His father, an activist devoted to black culture, was blacklisted as a Communist in the 1950s and was reduced to taking anonymous bit parts.

Aleppo, 2013. CreditStanley Greene/Noor

The younger Mr. Greene had a “somewhat privileged yet traumatic childhood,” said his longtime friend Jules Allen. “There was a loneliness there that was insatiable, but he was blessed enough to at least partially deal with his pain through photography.”

As a teenager, Mr. Greene joined the Black Panthers and was active in the antiwar movement. His dreams of becoming a painter gave way to photography, and he was The Sunday times. | Fred Klonsky:

Russ on Reading: Finding Time for Productive Vocabulary Play

Russ on Reading: Finding Time for Productive Vocabulary Play:

Finding Time for Productive Vocabulary Play

Today I am pleased to present this guest post from Lesley Roessing, Director of the Coastal Savannah Writing Project and Senior Lecturer in the College of Education, Armstrong State University. Lesley is the author of No More "Us" and "Them": Classroom Lessons and Activities to Promote Peer Respect and Bridging the Gap: Reading Critically and Writing Meaningfully to Get to the Core both From Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

By Lesley Roessing

  

What can teachers do when they have only a partial class period, a day of high absenteeism, or students who have lost focus because a holiday break is overshadowing academics and every other class is showing movies? What can teachers do when their six students athletes are leaving early for a championship game, when the nurse’s office is calling students one-by-one for dental checks, when 60% of the class is out because they have Confirmation practice, Take Your Child to Work Day, or the flu, when class will be interrupted by a fire drill or an assembly, or when class follows a grueling morning of standardized testing? These interruptions and distractions happen more frequently than we would care to admit, causing teachers to lose productive academic time. So how can teachers use this time and maintain academic integrity? Play word games.

Vocabulary is a reading skill. Vocabulary is one of the greatest predictors of reading comprehension. Knowing lots of words supports fluency; the more exposure to words, the better readers read and comprehend. Teaching vocabulary is a strategy for increasing reading comprehension in all disciplines. But this isn’t a blog about vocabulary-teaching strategies—it is about finding time for more vocabulary exposure, more time with words, and using that disrupted time to do so. Research shows that two strategies for increasing vocabulary knowledge are active engagement and motivation, i.e., wordplay. Teachers can employ those interrupted, distracted periods for active engagement and wordplay.

I always had six or seven Scrabble boards in my classroom. I favor the turntable type for two reasons: the spaces for tiles are recessed so if students bump the board, the pieces do not fall off. Also the board can be turned without disturbing the Russ on Reading: Finding Time for Productive Vocabulary Play:

Personalized Learning: What Does the Research Say? (Benjamin Herold) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Personalized Learning: What Does the Research Say? (Benjamin Herold) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Personalized Learning: What Does the Research Say? (Benjamin Herold)

Benjamin Herold is a staff writer for Education Week. He covers education technology and writes for the Digital Education blog. This post appeared October 18, 2016

The K-12 sector is investing heavily in technology as a means of providing students with a more customized educational experience.

So far, though, the research evidence behind “personalized learning” remains thin.

The U.S. Department of Education has given half a billion dollars to districts that embrace the trend, with limited findings to date. Since 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $300 million to support research and development around personalized learning, but officials there say it’s still “early days” for the field. School and district leaders have helped turn personalized learning into a multimillion-dollar market, but evaluations of their efforts remain scattered. (The Gates Foundation helps support Education Week‘s coverage of personalized learning.)

One big problem: proponents have struggled to define personalized learning, let alone demonstrate its effectiveness. The purpose, tools, and instructional techniques that make up the notion vary considerably, depending who you ask.

While a fair amount of research exists on specific personalization strategies, such as the use of adaptive math software, the literature includes very little on personalized learning as a comprehensive approach.

There are some bright spots. Researchers have found promising early signs at some schools, and some software programs have been associated with significant improvements in student learning and engagement.

But so far, at least, such encouraging results are often highly dependent on local context and how well a particular approach was implemented. That makes it hard to draw sweeping conclusions.

For skeptics, those dynamics reflect a larger problem. Given the unclear findings around personalization via technology, critics argue, schools would be much Personalized Learning: What Does the Research Say? (Benjamin Herold) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Charter School Teachers Plan to Strike on May 25th | deutsch29

Charter School Teachers Plan to Strike on May 25th | deutsch29:

Charter School Teachers Plan to Strike on May 25th

On May 04, 2017, teachers, their assistants, and paraprofessionals at the Edgewater, Il-based Passages Charter School voted 43-0 to strike. On May 19, 2017, they set the prospective strike date as May 25, 2017, as noted in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Teachers say they are paid “rock-bottom” salaries in the $30,000 to $40,000 range — well below Chicago Public Schools teachers and low even for charter schools — while the current and former CEOs of the stand-alone school earned a combined $540,000 in the year ending June 30, 2016. Union members believe their salaries are low because of administration’s spending on itself — tax records show $281,000 alone on “other compensation” for the retired CEO — and overhead expenses and because those leaders do no fundraising.

As the Sun-Times notes, if Passages teachers follow through with plans to strike, they will be the first charter school faculty to do so.

The union that represents Passages Charter School employees is ChiACTS Local 4343, which represents professionals at 12 other Chicago charter schools (Passages is not the list, but news of the Passages strike date can be found on this ChiACTS Local 4343 web page).

Passages Charter Schools is operated by the Chicago-based nonprofit, Asian Human Services, Inc. (AHS).

The Sun-Times article notes that meanwhile, according to the Passages school website message to parents, negotiations continue. (Note that the letter below represents the official school stance– that of AHS– not that of the teachers and other school personnel who are represented by the union in the AHS negotiation):

May 19, 2017

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students:

As you may be aware, AHS has been in contract negotiations with the Union that represents the teachers and teacher assistants at Passages Charter 

Charter School Teachers Plan to Strike on May 25th | deutsch29: