December 29, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’m adding the Associated Press’ Today In History site to The Best “Today In History” Sites.
It doesn’t have much information about each event, but it does provide a link to a nice online video about the most important ones. Here’s a sample.
December 29, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
Now, THAT’S a mouthful for a blog post title.
I’ve already posted The Best Year-End Collections Of Images — 2008. There have also been some other intriguing year-in-review collections of intriguing quotes and short reports that would be accessible to English Language Learners and provide some engaging content.
So, here are my choices for The Best “Year-In-Review” Features That Aren’t Photo Collections — 2008 (not in order of preference):
Parade Magazine has The Best and Worst of 2008.
Newsweek’s feature is called The Year In Quotes.
TIME Magazine has an ambitious section called The Top Ten Of Everything In 2008.
The Year In Ideas is a fascinating interactive from The New York Times.
AOL has a series of features on The Year In News, including the Amazing Stories of 2008. You can access their other categories through links on that same page.
Feel free to provide additional suggestions.
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.
December 29, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
It’s an intriguing question, and one that The Core Knowledge blog is trying to answer in a series of posts.
I haven’t heard of half the people on their list, which I suspect is more of a commentary on my lack of knowledge than their judgment.
Check it out and, if you like, leave a comment here saying who you think are the people who have had the most impact on education this year.
December 29, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The New York Times just came out with 2008 — The Year in Pictures.
This should be just about the last addition to The Best Year-End Collections Of Images — 2008.
December 29, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Here are some new additions to The “Best” Resources For Learning About The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
The Washington Post has an out-dated special feature on the conflict. Some of their features, though, are also relevant today. The two best are an interactive on the history of the conflict, and a series of questions about Hamas answered by both an Israeli and a Palestinian. Those answers can be found on the main page of the feature.
CNN also has a map and photos about the present Gaza attacks.
The Guardian has an interactive graphic titled The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Brief History.
The Council on Foreign Relations has an interactive Crisis Guide: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, but it’s probably only accessible to advanced English Language Learners.
December 29, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
National Geographic Australia has lots of images, accessible text, videos, and games designed to help people learn about Australia (They throw New Zealand in there, too, and I’m sure New Zealanders are thrilled about not getting their own section).
I’ve placed the link on my website under The Pacific Region.
December 29, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I thought people might be interested in seeing a listing of the most popular posts of the year — the ones that have been “clicked-on” the most during 2008:
THE TOP “THE BEST…” LISTS:
1. The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2007
2. The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2008
3. The Best Online Learning Games — 2007
4. The Best Websites To Help Beginning Readers
5. The Best Online Learning Games — 2008
6. The Best Internet Sites For English Language Learners — 2007
8. The Best Websites For Beginning Older Readers
9. The Best Music Websites For Learning English
10. The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement
11. The Best Internet Sites For English Language Learners — 2008
12. The Best Sites To Practice Speaking English
13. The Best Web 2.0 Applications for ESL/EFL Learners — 2007
THE TOP POSTS THAT WERE NOT “THE BEST…” LISTS:
1. Poptropica
2. Free Rider 2
3. Tutpup Math and Spelling Games
4. When A “Good” Class Goes “Bad” (And Back To “Good” Again!) (this is “sort of” a “The Best…” list, but not really)
5. The List of “Top 50 Education Blogs”
6. Make a Face
7. Free Brainpop Election Movies
10. ESL/EFL Sister Classes Project
11. Excellent Online Language Program
13. Listen & Read
TOP TRAFFIC SOURCES TO THIS BLOG:
1. Edublogs
7. TechCrunch
9. Langwitches
10. Creating Lifelong Learners
11. Live Mocha
13. eLearning Post
You can see the most popular posts for each month at Most Popular Blog Posts.
December 28, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments
Alice Mercer alerted me to a lively discussion going on about educational consultant Ruby Payne over at the Dangerously Irrelevant blog.
Regular readers of this blog know that I’m pretty critical of Ms. Payne’s “deficit” approach to low-income students.
You might find it interesting to visit the conversation going on at Scott McLeod’s blog. For what it’s worth, here’s the comment I left there:
I’m coming to this conversation late (it IS Christmas break, after all!), but as a longtime critic of Ruby Payne (and an admirer of Paul Gorski for being an even earlier and far more insightful critic than me) it’s certainly an engaging one.
I’m also coming to it after a nineteen year community organizing career that has preceded my newer career (five years and counting) as a teacher in Sacramento’s largest inner-city high school.
I agree that the most effective long-term strategy for dealing with many of the problems facing low-income communities (and the children who live in them) is to organize for better housing, employment, health, etc.). I would also add that schools and their staff should work as partners with parents and other local neighborhood institutions to push for those changes.
At the same time, though, I don’t necessarily believe that this kind of strategy is the only avenue to pursue, just as I don’t believe that most teachers are attracted to Ruby Payne’s deficit model because it’s “comfortable.”
I believe that there is much that can be done day-and-day-out in the classroom by teachers. And that many of these teachers are desperate to learn any kind of instructional strategies and classroom management tactics that they can apply effectively to respond to the many challenging situations that can be found in inner-city schools.
Saul Alinsky, the father of modern-day community organizing and the founder of the organization that I worked for during my organizing career, once said, “The price of criticism is a constructive alternative.”
I believe that those of us who are critics of Ruby Payne need to do a far better job of offering constructive alternatives that teachers can use today and tomorrow — right in their classroom — if we want more to see the fallacies of Payne’s approach.
Larry Ferlazzo
December 28, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
4 Comments
(This post was originally published during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, but it includes broaders resources on the conflict and is regularly updated)
I’m emphasizing the quotation marks surrounding the word “Best” in the title of this post. In light of what is happening in Gaza and Israel right now, and its potential for even greater violence, I thought I would begin to put together some resources that would be handy when we go back to school in a week.
I’ll certainly be adding more to this list as time goes on, but at least it’s a start.
It’s not that easy finding good material out there that’s accessible to English Language Learners, which is a requirement for anything to be included in a “The Best…” list or, in fact, for pretty much anything that I post about here. I’m hopeful of finding better, and more up-to-date, resources as time goes on. It’s especially difficult to find accessible materials that provide some kind of historical context for the conflict. It’s complexity, and its potential for controversy, probably doesn’t make it that attractive a subject for many of the usual “current events” providers of content to younger readers.
You might also be interested in The Best Web Resources On The Iraq War.
Here are my picks for The “Best” Resources For Learning About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (not in order of preference):
The CBBC Newsround has some materials very accessible to English Language Learners, though some are out-of-date. The resources are about what is happening now as well as what has happened in the past.
The International Herald-Tribune has a series of stories on what is happening in Gaza right now, and it provides audio support for the text. Just click on “Listen To Article.”
The New York Times has a slideshow on the Attacks in Gaza.
MSNBC has an article about the Gaza attacks, and on the same page provides links to a number of slideshows and videos that can help put it into some kind of historical context.
The Washington Post also has an out-dated special feature on the conflict. Some of their features, though, are also relevant today. The two best are an interactive on the history of the conflict, and a series of questions about Hamas answered by both an Israeli and a Palestinian. Those answers can be found on the main page of the feature.
CNN also has a map and photos about the present Gaza attacks. It also shows the situation from various points of view. They also have an update where they include a good background piece.
The Guardian has an interactive graphic titled The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Brief History.
The Council on Foreign Relations has an interactive Crisis Guide: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, but it’s probably only accessible to advanced English Language Learners.
Why Israel Attacked Gaza is an article from TIME magazine that is accessible to high Intermediate ELL’s.
Arte TV has two video portraits — one of a Palestinian living in Gaza and the other of an Israeli living in a town in danger of rocket attacks. It’s all subtitled in English, and it puts a human portrait on what their lives are like. It was made ten days before the truce’s end this week.
MSNBC has what appears to me to be an excellent Q & A: The History Behind Israel’s Gaza Strikes.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation gives a good overview of the conflict, including useful comparative data.
The Denver Post has a regularly updated series of photos on what’s happening in Israel and Gaza.
USA Today’s interactive graphic/map about the history of the Middle East conflict ends at the beginning of 2002, but it’s an exceptionally accessible piece of work.
The Guardian (UK) has an interactive following the Gaza conflict day-by-day. The same page has links to several other similar features on other aspects of Israeli-Palestinian history.
The Peace Research Institute In The Middle East (PRIME) is an organization comprised of Israelis and Palestinians who have developed high school materials on the Middle East that are used in both communities. As a Newsweek article explains, each page is divided into three: the Palestinian and Israeli narratives and a third section left blank for the pupil to fill in. “The idea is not to legitimize or accept the other’s narrative but to recognize it..”
All the PRIME materials can be freely downloaded from their site. They are far too advanced for English Language Learners, but the idea can used with modified materials about the Middle East conflict. In fact, I think it would be fairly easy to do so with some of the resources already on this list.
The Big Picture has, as usual, an excellent photo collection and accessible captions in their feature on Israel and Gaza.
TIME Magazine has a slideshow on the ground invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army.
The Associated Press has an interactive map showing places in the world where there are protests against Israelis actions.
Timeline: Israel and Hamas comes from The New York Times.
Heartbreak In The Middle East is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.
This United Nations infographic on living conditions in Gaza is about three years old. However, it’s probably safe to say that things have been getting progressively worst since that time.
CBS has a Middle East Conflict interactive that has a lot of background information.
The Big Picture has another edition of photos from Gaza.
Updates From Gaza are photos from The Denver Post.
Gaza’s Old Wounds is a good slideshow from Newsweek recounting the history of the Gaza strip (going back hundreds of years).
The Wall Street Journal has an interactive on the fighting that is updated daily.
The LA Times has a simple question/answer page about the conflict.
Israel Charges Deeper Into Gaza is a series of images from The Sacramento Bee.
The Washington Post has an interactive about Israel’s plan to build a fence on the West Bank.
The BBC has a regularly updated feature on the Middle East conflict. It has many multimedia resources.
Israel and the Palestinians comes from the CBC in Canada. It was published in 2006.
CBS News has another interactive on the conflict.
Locked In Gaza is a New York Times slideshow and Growing Up In Gaza is a Times’ video.
“Israel And Lebanon: Key dates in the Mideast neighbors’ conflicts” is the title of an Associated Press interactive.
“Peacemaking Past” is a Wall Street Journal interactive about past U.S. efforts to help create peace in the Middle East.
West Bank Story is a Newsweek slideshow on the history of the West Bank.
Obama, Netanyahu discuss Mideast peace process is an interactive from The Associated Press.
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in :90 is from ABC News.
Both the BBC and The Telegraph have good maps of the Israeli and Palestinian “territory.”
Changing map of Israel and the Palestinian territories is from The Guardian.
Israel & Palestinians: Neighbors in conflict is an Associated Press interactive.
Challenges in Defining an Israeli-Palestinian Border is an interactive from The New York Times.
I’m very interested in getting feedback and additional suggestions. Please leave them in the comments section of this post.
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.
December 28, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Parade Magazine, a supplement to many Sunday morning newspapers in the United States, has an exceptional website with many resources accessible to English Language Learners.
This week, for example, they have several engaging slideshows highlighting, in simple language, what they think are some of the best and worst moments of the year. Quite a few are pretty entertaining.
USA Weekend is a smaller competitor, and their website shows it.
December 28, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’m adding four more links to The Best Year-End Collections Of Images — 2008.
December 28, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
David Deubelbeiss at EFL Classroom 2.0 will be hosting the next one with contributions due on January 30th and the Carnival published on February 1st.
If you’d like to submit a blog post for the next ELL/ESL/EFL Carnival you can use this easy submission form. Consider contributing anything that you think might be helpful to the teaching, or learning, of English (examples of student work are welcome!).
Let me know if you’d like to host a future edition at your blog…
You can see previous editions of the Carnival here.
December 28, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Trip Wolf is a big, new Web 2.0 travel guide on the web. I’ve posted about others that are more accessible to English Language Learners for use in creation of online content creation, but you can get to much of Trip Wolf’s content about different parts of the world without registering, and it’s pretty good.
I’ve placed a link to the site on my Geography page.
December 28, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here’s a listing of the most popular posts in this blog during the month of December:
THE TOP TEN “THE BEST…” LISTS:
1. The Best Places To Get Royalty-Free Music & Sound Effects
2. The Best Places To Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa
3. The Best Sites For Grammar Practice
4. The Best Sites For Learning About New Year Celebrations
5. The Best Fun Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too
6. The “Best” Articles About Education — 2008
7. The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2007
8. The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2008
9. The Best Ways For Students Or Teachers To Create A Website
10. The Best Internet Sites For English Language Learners — 2008
THE TOP EIGHT POSTS THAT WERE NOT “THE BEST…” LISTS:
1. Free Rider 2
2. Incredibots
3. English Companion: Another Excellent Ning Group
7. Qitera
8. ELL/ESL/EFL Carnival Is Up!
TOP TRAFFIC SOURCES TO THIS BLOG:
You can see previous month’s Most Popular Blog Posts here.
December 27, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Proponents of charter schools received a boost recently from a widely publicized report by the Washington Post titled Charter Schools Make Gains On Tests.
I have a number of concerns about charter schools, including the fact that many “cream” the students who are most likely to do well academically.
There are three recent posts from other blogs that examine charter school results (from Washington, D.C. and from other places) very carefully, and are worth reading:
Are All Low-Income Students Alike? from Education Notes Online.
In Search Of The Quick Explanation from the Daily Howler.
Study: Local KIPP schools lose 60% of their students from San Francisco Schools.
I’d also encourage readers to check-out the book Keeping The Promise: The Debate Over Charter Schools. Here’s a review.
I’m very interested in hearing reader feedback on this issue.
December 27, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
Many posts from other blogs have made me “think” during 2008, so it was a challenge to come up with some kind of criteria to narrow down this “The Best…” list.
I finally decided that I would include the posts in other people’s blogs that prompted me to write my own posts.
So those are the posts I’ve included here. Each one is also followed by a link to the piece it prompted me to write — either here or at our “In Practice” group blog.
Here are my choices (not in any order of preference) of The Best Posts From Other Blogs That Made Me “Think” In 2008:
* Bill Ferriter wrote about a teacher in Washington state who refused to give his students a state-required standardized test. My subsequent post was called Refusing To Give A Standardized Test and talked about the role of civil disobedience in our country (pretty creative headline, eh?)
* Bill Ferriter got me thinking again with his piece on teachers who were reluctant to use technology. My once again unimaginably titled “Teachers Who Won’t Embrace Technology” followed and discussed effective strategies to make change.
* Gary Stager wrote a post criticizing the use of Brainpop movies in the classroom (as I write this his blog appears to be down and that post inaccessible, but I assume that should change shortly). That prompted me to write “Is Brainpop Bad For Students?” where I spoke positively about my experience with the site.
* Darren Draper wrote Controlling Mobile Phone Use In Schools. I wrote “Cellphones In Class” explaining why I supported our school’s ban on the devices. Darren’s same post got me thinking about iPods, so I also wrote “iPods In Schools”, which explained why we ban them, also, at our school.
* Doug Johnson wrote a useful post titled Seven Stupid Mistakes Teachers Make With Technology. I commented it in my post called “Teachers And Technology Mistakes.”
* Joyce Valenza wrote When YouTube is blocked (seven ways around) which, as far as I can tell, is the definitive description out there about how to access appropriate YouTube content at school. After I read her list, I wrote The Best Ways To Access Educational YouTube Videos At School highlighting two tools (one that’s on her list and one that is not) that I found to be the easiest for a non-tech-savvy person like me to use.
* Mathew Needleman’s Royalty Free Music And Images post offers about as complete a listing of resources that there is out there. I then identified the ones that, in my mind, were the easiest and most accessible sites that could be used by an English Language Learner or anyone who is not particularly tech-savvy. So I pulled a few from Mathew’s list, and also included several additional ones, and wrote The Best Places To Get Royalty-Free Music & Sound Effects.
* Both based on my community organizing and classroom experience, I’m a big believer in the importance of storytelling — helping people develop their own and listening to them. I haven’t yet written a post in response to Silvia Tolisano’s extraordinary post on storytelling, but it’s on my “to do” list.
You might also want to explore — if you haven’t already done so — the Edublog Award nominees for Most Influential Blog Post this year.
In the comments section, please feel free to share posts that got you thinking this year, too…
December 27, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here’s yet another online game in the “Escape The Room” genre that has a lot of language-learning opportunities.
This one is called Black and White Room Escape (guess what colors the game is in?). Here’s the Walkthrough.
I’ve placed the link on my website under Word and Video Games.
December 27, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Each month I highlight a few posts that I think have been particularly useful. You can go to Websites Of The Month to see my choices from previous months. I also use these posts to create a free email monthly newsletter I send out to people who don’t want to receive daily blog posts.
This list is different from The Most Popular Blog Posts, which lists the ones readers have most “clicked-on.”
In addition to my most recent “The Best…” lists, here are my choices for this month’s “best” posts (not in order of preference):
Two Excellent Sites For Beginning Readers
Grapevine Is Great For English-Speaking Practice
December 26, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
December 26, 2008
by Larry Ferlazzo
4 Comments
A couple of days ago I posted about a new web tool called Embedit.in.
It was supposed to allow you to create an embed code for any document or webpage, and I shared about how it would be ideal for creating “galleries” of student work that was created on sites that only provided url address “links.”
I also reported that the problem was that it wasn’t working, and other readers confirmed the same.
However, today I tried it out and it appears the site’s owners have fixed the glitch and it works just as advertised. It’s simple, quick, and does what I had hoped it would do.
