Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

Last year, and in 2007,  I invited readers to share their thoughts for an annual January 1st post where people shared what they learned during the previous twelve months.

Many people responded, and I’m doing it again this year.

Feel free to write one-to-three things you feel you’ve learned this year in the comments section of this post.  I’m not going to give a specific restriction on their length, but please try to keep them short.   Please submit them by December 28th. I’ll leave them in moderation until I include them in a January 1st post.

Also, please include a short sentence you’d like me to use to describe you.

Here are some recent additions to The Best Online Personality, Career, Political & Just Plain Fun Quizzes:

The Los Angeles Times uses technology from the company Visual DNA to have users take a News Match Quiz. It’s really pretty neat. You’re asked some simple questions and shown a variety of images you use to answer — What is your favorite kind of treat? What would spark a conversation with you?

Then, at the end, you’re given a report on your personality and a series of newspaper articles the program thinks you’d be interested in.

It’s useful for English Language Learners on a number of levels. I’ve seen the Visual DNA technology used in other sites, and have liked it, they those other sites have usually been dating-related or on other sites not appropriate for the classroom.

A somewhat similar quiz sit– though not nearly as good as Visual DNA’s application — is called ID Solution. It identifies your “cultural taste.” One thing I do like about it is that some the questions ask your preferences of various texts instead of images.

Here are a bunch of new additions to The Best Places To Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa:

The Washington Post has a slideshow on the Lighting of the National Christmas Tree.

Santa Makes The Rounds is a series of images from The Sacramento Bee.

A Christmas-related online reading comprehension exercise for English Language Learners.

Renee Maufroid has created several new Christmas exercises for ELL’s.

Chat with a Santa Bot.

Christmas Arrives At The Obama White House is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.

Gift of Christmas Escape is an online video game. Here’s the walkthrough.

Etherpad, the great collaborative tool that is on both The Best Online Tools For Real-Time Collaboration and The Best Online Tools For Collaboration — NOT In Real Time , was bought by Google yesterday and they’re shutting it down.

No new accounts can be created, and the whole service will close-up by March.

It’s too bad…

Shake, Rattle and Slide is an exceptional interactive from the University of Illinois Extension focused on volcanoes, earthquakes and glaciers. It provides audio support for the text, and is very accessible to English Language Learners. There are number of neat online activities on the site,

I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Natural Disasters.

Thanks to REMC Ramblings for the tip.

In my Theory of Knowledge class we’re learning about the roles of emotion, language, perception and reason in art. As part of that, students are looking through pieces of art and writing a short analysis of one they choose.

They are going to look through the online collections of various museums, but I had also found a site that shared one person’s view of “The Best” pieces of art ever created. I had shown students images from the site and asked them to share what kind of emotional reaction, if any, they provoked.

That turned-out to be a pretty good lesson, so I thought I’d develop a similar list of sites that provide images of famous pieces of art. Not only will this list help my Theory of Knowledge students, it might also be an intriguing way to help English Language Learners develop a great vocabulary related to feelings and emotions if they tried a similar lesson — plus create opportunities for both art vocabulary and art content knowledge.

In order to make it on this list, a site had to show a number of images or links on the same page of their selected artworks, and allow the ability to click on them to get an enlarged view.

Here are my choices for The Best Collections Of “The Best” Pieces Of Art Ever Created:

The Greatest Works of Art

Another site titled The Greatest Works of Art

Best Works of Art in the World

Famous Paintings

The World’s 50 Best Works of Art (and how to see them)

50 Most Famous Works posters (this is from a site that sells posters, but does provides nice images of famous pieces of art)

Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

As I’ve explained in earlier pieces, I periodically post “most popular” lists of websites, books, or other items 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 or provide intriguing data, and find it interesting to see which ones might be particularly “popular.”

About.com just completed some research and posted “The Top 25 Web Searches of the Decade.”

Here are their top ten (you can go to their site to learn the rest)

1. Facebook
2. Baidu
3. MySpace
4. World Cup
5. Wikipedia
6. Britney Spears
7. Harry Potter
8. Shakira
9. Lord of the Rings
10. Barack Obama

If you read my posts on Facebook or via a Feedblitz email subscription, you might have trouble accessing some of the links I include in my posts that lead to previous “The Best…” lists. People reading my blog through their RSS Reader shouldn’t have any difficulties. If you are having a problem, just go directly to my blog and all the links will work fine from there. I’ve recently figured out what the problem is, and it shouldn’t happen very often in the future, but I’m just to lazy to redo posts that I’ve already completed.

There are no problems with links leading to resources I blog about, only occasionally with ones that link internally to my blog, and only for Facebook readers and email subscribers.

So please be patient for awhile until my presently scheduled posts finish-up. Now that I know what the problem is, any new posts that I write will not have that problem.

World leaders will meet in Copenhagen next week for the U.N. Climate Change Conference. I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of related online resources that are accessible to English Language Learners.

I also have a number of links on The Best Sites To Introduce Environmental Issues Into The Classroom, and won’t be duplicating them here. So you might want to check-out that list, too. You might also be interested in The Best Online Carbon Calculators.

Here are my choices for The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change (not in any order of preference):

Countdown To Copenhagen is a Wall Street Journal interactive timeline displaying major events related to climate change over the past forty years.

Advancing Emissions is another interactive from the Wall Street Journal charting changes in greenhouse gas emissions over the past forty years.

Breathing Earth is an intriguing visual representation of the effect each country has on climate change.  You move the cursor to a nation on a world map, and then see the number of CO2 emissions that country makes each minute.  It also shows total population, and the birth and death rate of each country. With guidance, English Language Learners could certainly use this website to make some comparisons between countries and draw conclusions from the data.

Tides Of Change is a series of closed-captioned NASA videos related to climate change. NASA also has a site entirely devoted to climate change issues, including many interactives.

A Climate Map from the British newspaper The Guardian shows the impact rising temperatures will have on the world. It’s a little “busy-looking” but would be accessible with some teacher interpretation.

Here’s an infographic showing which countries have lived up to the Kyoto agreement on the environment and which have not.

The Guardian has another interactive titled How climate change will affect food resources.

Copenhagen Challenge is an online game on climate change. It provides audio support for the text, but seemed complicated to me. However, I’m continually surprised at how well my English Language Learner students can figure out how to play and win online games.

The Planet is accessible to advanced ELL’s, and provides a good overview of different environmental challenges facing our planet, including climate change.

The New York Times has an interactive graphic called Sea Ice in Retreat. It focuses on what is going on in the Arctic.

BBC Climate Change: Bloom is an animated, and accessible feature that lets the user view and choose many different actions that can be taken individually to reduce global climate change. It won a Webby Award this year.

National Public Radio has a series of reports on the effects of global warming around the world.

The Denver Post has an exceptional series of photos called Melting Ice: Glaciers and Ice Shelves. It very vividly shows the change in size of various glaciers because of global warming.

What Is Global Warming is a simple and accessible interactive graphic explaining…global warming.

Enhanced ‘greenhouse effect’ causes global warming is an interactive from USA Today.

National Geographic has an excellent map of Global Warming Effects around the world. The map, images, and language is very simple, and accessible to Early Intermediate English Language Learners. It’s part of a larger feature called The Greenhouse Effect.

The Discovery Channel has a Global Warming Interactive.  It’s pretty “jazzy” looking, with lots of point and click features showing the effects of global warming. It’s probably accessible to high Intermediate and advanced English Language Learners.

The Global Warming Facts and Our Future from the National Academy of Sciences is a very engaging and extensive site, and includes audio support for the text. The vocabulary may be pretty challenging for Intermediate English Language Learners, but it’s worth the attempt.

What Causes Global Warming? is simple series of pictures demonstrating various activities that contribute to global warming.  When you put your cursor on each picture, a short explanation appears.

The Washington Post has a Global Emissions Interactive that shows the amount of carbon emissions from each country has changed over the years.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.

Just a reminder that you can find all of the nearly 400 “The Best…” lists in two locations:

“My Best Of Series” has all of them divided by categories (Social Studies, Web 2.0, etc.)

Websites Of The Year has them listed chronologically.

You can also find links to both of these compilations on sidebar of my blog.

English Central was tied for the number-one ranking in The Best Websites For English Language Learner Students — 2009. David Deubelbeiss has posted a very thorough post about the site titled English Central – Bringing “voice” and output to learning English. I’d strongly encourage you to read it — I don’t feel any need to “reinvent the wheel.” A quick description is that it’s a free video site for English Language Learners, lets users listen to parts of the video, then lets them repeat what the characters says and compares it to the original. You get graded on how well you do. It has even more features, but you can read David’s post or check out the site directly. The other great thing about it is that the videos are all appropriate for the classroom, unlike several other ESL video sites that have come online recently.

It’s now gotten even better.

Teachers can now register their classes and monitor their students’ work — for free.

I just learned about this development from…who else? David Deubelbeiss, who promises a thorough post on this new feature.

I’m now also adding English Central to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress.

I am human. I sometimes have bad days, or display a short temper in the classroom. I try to keep in mind The Best Piece Of Classroom Management Advice I’ve Ever Read (Will what I am about to do or say bring me closer or will it push me away farther from the person with whom I am communicating?), but sometimes don’t remember in time. When that happens, I try to remember to say:

“I’m sorry.”

Actually, I try to remember to say more than that, and the best description of the formula I try to use comes from an article about how nurses should make apologies to patients (The power of apology: how saying sorry can leave both patients and nurses feeling better). The writer uses the description:

“regret, reason and remedy”

For example, today I was a bit sharp with two students who were paired-up to do some work in my mainstream ninth-grade English class, but, instead, were just sitting there while everyone else in class was focusing on the task at hand — taking turns reading a passage to one another. A few minutes later I came back to them and simply said, “I’m sorry I barked at you earlier. You’re both excellent students, and I was frustrated that you weren’t doing what I had asked you to do. I could have said so in a better way, and I’ll try to show more patience in the future.”

It was, in effect, a use of the “regret, reason, and remedy” formula — though I hadn’t actually read that article until I started doing a little research later today on the Web about saying “I’m sorry.”

I find that saying sincere “I’m sorry’s” in this way can go a long way in strengthening my relationships with students, and using that kind of three part formula can help communicate that sincerity. I don’t feel a need to extract any kind of admission of fault from the student because I’m just taking responsibility for my own behavior.

These “I’m sorry’s,” I think (hope), can also act as models for students on how they might consider acting in multiple situations. I’m not sure how many adults in the world they see apologizing — especially apologizing to young people.

What has been your experience saying “I’m sorry” to students?

We’re working on developing a short description of our English Language Development (ELD — it’s what public schools call their ESL program in many parts of California) program at Luther Burbank High School.

I thought readers might be interested in the latest draft:

Luther Burbank’s ELD program uses many of the same elements that can be found in our mainstream classes — an emphasis on students reading books of their own choosing; heavily scaffolded writing instruction (our ELD uses The Write Institute curriculum as our core lessons); and use of inductive teaching methods so students can “discover” knowledge as much as they are “taught” it. Our two Intermediate classes also heavily use technology.

Our classes include one Beginner, one Early Intermediate; two Intermediate; and a 9.1 and 10.1 for higher level students. Several of these classes are double or triple “blocks.” We also have Math, Science and Social Science classes specifically geared towards ELD students.

In addition to classes during the day, we also provide additional support to our ELD students. We have an after-school conversational English class where our ELD students are “taught” by other native-English students. We provide computers and home Internet access to students and their families who use our website for improving their English skills. And we have an after-school class to help prepare ELD students to pass the California High School Exit Exam.

(Update on where it’s available: “Unfortunately, due to our agreements with the studios we can only currently show clips in the United States and Canada. However, we are looking to expand our reach into other countries and hopefully we will be available to you in one way or another soon.”)

Movieclips has immediately become an indispensable website in my “teachers’ repertoire” of links.

It has thousands of short video clips from movies and they’re not blocked by our content filter! And they’re available without registering — except for clips that have “mature” content.

That in itself makes it a wonderful resource. But that’s only part of why I like this new site so much.

What makes it a real winner is that that clips are categorized by theme, character, setting, mood, and more. They’re incredibly detailed.

This kind of organization makes it a gold mine for English Language Learners and their teachers. A ready-made video to teach vocabulary or an academic concept is at your finger-tips. Plus, they’re easily used for an activity like “Back To The Screen,” which I explain in The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL.

In addition, users can create questions about the clip that the site will host. That’s a nice feature, and an opportunity for students to write for an authentic audience. The only tricky part is that in order to do so you have to register for the site, which is easy enough. However, that also gives you access to the mature content clips, so you’d only want to have students use it under supervision.

I’m adding Movieclips to The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL.

In late 2008 I posted The Best Education-Related Books Visitors To This Blog Read In 2008.

I’d like to do it again this year.

Feel free to leave your recommendations in the comment section of this blog and I’ll hold them in moderation until I print the whole list.

The books could have been published earlier. The only requirement is that you’ve read them sometime this year. They might not be obviously connected to education — just briefly explain how it is connected in your mind.

Please leave the title of the book; author’s name; why you like the book (or books) so much — please keep the explanation to no more than two or three sentences; and how you’d like me to describe you.

Deadline — December 30th.

The New York Times Skimmer, a visually engaging way to read the paper online, is now officially released.

I’ve had a link to the prototype version for quite awhile on The Best Visually Engaging News Sites, but it appears that they have now worked out all the bugs.

Thanks to Read Write Web for the tip.

I’ve been doing a lot of work this year on building parent engagement in schools, including having a book published (Building Parent Engagement In Schools) and starting a new blog called Engaging Parents In School. Plus, I continuing to do the usual work at our school of actually engaging parents, too!

I thought readers of both of my blogs might find it useful for me to develop a “The Best…” list of resources on this topic.

Here are my choices for My Best Posts About Building Parent Engagement In Schools — 2009 (not in any order of preference):

Parent Involvement or Parent Engagement? is a piece I wrote for Public School Insights, and gives a nice preview of our book.

Family Literacy, English Language Learners, and Parent Engagement is an article I wrote for Library Media Connection.

Press Conference On Parent Engagement shares a video of a press conference called by our district’s Superintendent that includes both Elisa Gonzalez, our school’s staffperson for parent engagement, and me speaking about our home computer project and our parent university.

Parents, Students & College includes links to what we’re doing at our school to promote college discussion and planning with parents, and a new book highlighting research around that issue.

What Americans Believe Is “The Number One Factor In Keeping Schools Moving On The Right Track” — Read it and find-out!

What Might Aesop’s Fables Say About Glitzy Media Parent Involvement Campaigns? is the title of a critical post I recently wrote.

More On Parent’s Unemployment Effect On Children and “The Critical Connection Between Student Health and Academic Achievement”
both share major studies highlighting the affect that poverty has on students. The results emphasize the importance of schools engaging parents to combat these problems.

Education World published a short article by me titled A Parent Engagement Model That Works.

Info From Anne Henderson includes a link that this well-known research into the parent connection with schools gave to Congress.

Engaging With Your Child’s School: Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo is an interview I did with “Smart Bean,” a parent portal on the Internet.

Parents & Schools In Los Angeles is my “take” on what the District there might be doing with parents and charter schools.

Some Of These “Parent Academies” Just Don’t Get It…. shares my perspective on the recent media infatuation with “parent academies.”

In September, Joyce Epstein and I were guests at Education Week’s “edchat” on engaging parents. If you’re interested, you can read the chat transcript.

I was interviewed on the Parents as Partners webcast a few weeks ago, and you can read about about the conversation at Irritate or agitate – what’s your parent engagement like? You can also listen to the webcast at the EdTechTalk site.

Conditional Cash Transfers, Parents, And Schools offers my critical perspective on a growing way on how schools and cities are trying to connect with parents.

Home Computer Project Expansion & Assessment Results provides an update to our internationally-recognized Family Literacy Project.

Teacher Magazine published an article I wroteabout teachers making home visits to parents.  You have to register (for free) to read the entire article, but it’s a quick process.

“Harlem Program Singled Out as Model” is a post I wrote about Harlem Children’s Zone, including some questions I have about it.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists — there are over 350 of them!

Alice Mercer has just posted the Fourteenth Edition of the ESL/EFL/ELL Carnival. She’s done an excellent job, which is to be expected from someone who I nominated for an Edublog Award.

ESL/EFL bloggers from around the world have contributed thoughtful posts about issues related to teaching and learning English, and it’s not to be missed.

The next edition will be hosted by Shelly Terrell at Teacher Reboot Camp: Challenging Ourselves to Engage Our Students on February 1st . Any blog posts, including examples of student work, that are related to teaching or learning English are welcome. You can contribute a post by using this easy submission form.

Karenne Sylvester at Kalinago English: Teaching Speaking Using Technology will host the following Carnival April 1st.  Please leave a comment if you’re interested in hosting a future edition.

You can see all the previous thirteen  editions of the ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival here.

Winter is an online video game that offers good English-language opportunities, as I’ve written about before. Here’s the walkthrough.

I’ve placed the link on my website under Word and Video Games.

I’ve periodically read posts or emails on listservs about using improvisation in the ESL/EFL classroom, and I’ve played around with it occasionally. I thought I’d share what I tried out today in my Intermediate English class and which worked out quite well. It took about one half hour.

I gave each student a small whiteboard — these are so versatile and so inexpensive, and if you don’t want to buy them you can make them easily, too — along with a marker and cloth eraser. I explained that I would start off a conversation, that I wanted them to write on their board what they might say in response and hold it up so everyone and I could see it. I’d then choose one of the responses they wrote, and, in turn, respond to it, and so on. Students didn’t quite get the explanation, but they quickly did when we started.

I began by saying that I was holding onto a cliff with my fingers and ready to fall. I then yelled “Help!” and told students to write a response. Students immediately got the idea and the fun began. Responses included “No” “Why Should I?” “What Do You Need?” and “Good-bye.” I chose “Why Should I?” to respond to and said “I’m going to die if you don’t help, please!” The next responses, with much laughter, included “I will step on your fingers to help you fall!” “What will you pay me?” and “Have a good trip.” In print, it may sound like I have a class of crazed students, but it was all done in fun, and everybody participated. I would also point at various people for them to say what they wrote, too.

I next asked them to imagine that I was a pretty girl or a handsome boy, and said, “Will you go on a date with me?” A similar process then began, including at one point my asking, “What restaurant will you take me to?” followed by “I don’t want to go there.” Many students came back with responses like, “Too bad” but one wrote “Where do you want to go?” I pointed out that the student who came up with that response was likely to get far more dates than the rest of them.

Lastly, I said “You are getting an F in this class and will have to repeat it again next year.” Needless to say, an energetic conversation followed.

The lesson was a lot of fun, required next-to-zero teacher prep time, had close to 100 percent student engagement the entire half-hour, and required listening, speaking, writing and even a little bit of reading. You can’t really beat that kind of result. Well, there is one way you can, and that’s what will happen next week. Then, students will take my place and start taking turns being up in front, developing a scenario, choosing which responses they want to pick, and responding to them.

In the comments section, feel free to share your experiences with improv in the classroom, and also write any suggestions you have for future scenarios that have comedic possibilities!