September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Groups with Good Social Skills Outperform the Merely Smart is the headline of a Scientific American report on a recent study.
The research found that a group of people who had good social skills would outperform a group of individuals with higher native intelligence but fewer interpersonal abilities.
September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
NOT Waiting For Superman is a website created by Rethinking Schools that has many related resources.
I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Teacher-Bashing “Waiting For Superman” Movie & Associated Events.
September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Seven Essentials For Project-Based Learning is the title of a very useful article in this month’s issue of Educational Leadership.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas.
September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Show Us What Homework’s For is an article in Educational Leadership interviewing teenagers about their perspectives on homework.
I’m adding the link to The Best Resources For Learning About Homework Issues.
September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments
Pindax is similar to Wallwisher, one of my favorite Web 2.0 applications.
You can put virtual Post-It Notes on a “board,” and include multimedia links. Pindax seems to have more features than Wallwisher, though. Of course, when you add features, you add complexity, which is why I think I’ll still be sticking with Wallwisher. But Pindax is still worth a look.
Thanks for Tami Brass for the tip.
September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
For online video editing, Creaza Movie Editor is a tool that might be worth looking at. I haven’t tried it yet, though, and would be interested in hearing from anyone who has.
I’m adding it to Not The “Best,” But A List… Of Online Video Editors.
September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve been interviewed a number of times over the past few years. And some of them, I believe, might have some useful stuff in them. So, I thought I’d bring them all together. Each one has a bit of a different focus, so I’ve divided them into categories.
If this post seems to be a self-written monument to my ego, then I won’t feel offended if you don’t give it a second glance 
Here is A List Of Interviews With…Me:
Q&A: Books, blogs help teacher reach beyond Sacramento classroom is the headline of an interview with me that appeared in the Sacramento Bee.
Interviews Focusing On Working With English Language Learners:
TEFL.net, which is on The Best Ways ESL/EFL/ELL Teachers Can Develop Personal Learning Networks list, interviewed me, and you can read it here. It was fun to do, and Tara Benwell asked some great questions. If you’re interested, you can read about why I became a high school teacher, what qualities I look for in the sites I post about it, and who and what I blame when my class lessons go wrong…
Colorin Colorado, which is on The Best Ways To Keep-Up With Current ELL/ESL/EFL News & Research list, published an interview they did with me
I was interviewed about using music with English Language Learners.
TEFL Logue published a two part interview with me: Part One and Part Two.
Interviews Focusing On Parent Engagement In Schools:
The national teacher organization “Teachers Count” interviewed me in the spring.
John Norton of the Teacher Leaders Network interviewed me and titled it Expert Advice about Parent Engagement: An Interview with Larry Ferlazzo.
Smart Bean published an interview with me about our book Building Parent Engagement In Schools. They’ve titled the piece Engaging With Your Child’s School: Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo.
I had the pleasure and honor of being interviewed by Lorna Costantini, Matt Montagne, and Cindy Seibel on Parents as Partners. You can read Lorna’s post about the conversation, and listen to the interview, which she titled Irritate or agitate – what’s your parent engagement like?
I was a guest at an Education Week-sponsored chat titled Engaging Schools, Engaging Parents: The School-Community Partnership. You can read the transcript here.
Interviews Focusing On Educational Technology:
Game Classroom titled their interview with me “Organizing The Internet.”
David Kapuler has a great blog on educational technology that I’ve written about several times. He’s has a fun little feature he calls “Inside The Cyber Studio” where he interviews various people in the education world on how they use technology and he published an interview with me.
John Larkin did a nice, short interview with me on social media.
Audio/Video Interviews:
I had a fun interview and discussion with Steve Hargadon and many others in his Future of Education event. If you’re interested in hearing/watching it, which was focused on my book and teaching English Language Learners, the recording can be watched/listened to here.
Alice Mercer, a Sacramento colleague, has an interview show on the Webcast Academy called Alice’s Restaurant. She interviewed me, and we had a good half-hour discussion on technology, classrooms, School Districts, the importance of relationships and community organizing.
I had the honor of being interviewed on the Seedlings podcast by Alice Barr, Bob Sprankle and Cheryl Oakes. You can listen to it here (and see the chatroom transcript).
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the 480 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.
September 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
We’re teaching students in our Intermediate English class to write an Autobiographic Incident essay now. As part of that process, we’re learning about “sensory details.”
The lessons that we’ve been doing to teach this aspect of writing has been to have students go to the computer lab, write down words in a specific word group — today we did “feelings” words and yesterday we did adjectives (see The Best Sites For Gaining A Basic Understanding Of Adjectives) — they learn through using specific links we have on our class blog; then have them find synonyms by using Lexipedia (there are other similar sites, but they use color-coding to distinguish synonyms and antonyms — with Lexipedia you can completely eliminate antonyms by unchecking a box). Next, students put all the words they found into categories. Finally, we provide several simple sentences where they need to add sensory details. They need to expand the sentences by including words they’ve learned.
My colleague Katie Hull and I will describe this process more in depth in our forthcoming book on teaching writing to English Language Learners.
In the meantime, though, I thought readers might find the sites we used to teach “feelings” words useful.
Here are my choices for The Best Sites To Learn “Feelings” Words:
Feedback and suggestions are welcome.
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the 500 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free
September 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve just begun reading the book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by behavioral economist Dan Ariely, and was delighted to find that Learning First’s Public School Insights just published an interview with him about how his research relates to schools.
I’d strongly encourage you to read the whole piece. Here are some excerpts:
Teachers actually control a very small part of the variance. Parents control some of it. Neighborhoods control some of it. What people decide to put on the test controls some of it. And the weather, and whether a kid is sick, and lots of other things determine the final score.
So when we create these score-based systems, we not only tend to focus teachers on a very small subset of [what we want schools to accomplish], but we also reward them largely on things that are outside of their control. And that’s a very, very bad system.
I think that we just need to get people who really care about teaching. We need to pay them a living wage, and we need to make sure that they are proud of what they’re doing. We need to give them autonomy and flexibility, and we need to put trust in them. And that would motivate them.
September 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Exceptional NASA Pictures is a nice collection of…excellent photos from NASA.
I’m adding the link to The Best Images Taken In Space.
September 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
NPR has a good, short interview (audio and transcript) with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. She comments on “Waiting For Superman” and other related events. I think she provides a very good perspective.
I’m adding the link to The Best Posts & Articles About The Teacher-Bashing “Waiting For Superman” Movie & Associated Events.
September 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
K-12 Education on the Marquee is an excellent post by Walt Gardner on the common errors being made in documentaries about schools.
My only issue with it is that he suggests that parents of English Language Learners might not respond to requests to meet with teachers. I’m not really sure where that comes from, since ELL parents are just as interested in their child’s welfare as any other parent. I’m assuming that he might have meant that some schools might not have the language ability to communicate with monolingual parents. That I can understand. (Walt clarifies what he meant here).
Even with that reservation, I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Teacher-Bashing “Waiting For Superman” Movie & Associated Events.
September 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Careers Advice is a UK site that provides a pretty accessible step-by-step process for writing a resume. If you have students use it, though, you want to make sure they understand that a “CV” is another name for a resume.
The same group also has an interactive Career Values Tool where users answer questions to help them identify the key elements of a career right for them. It’s interesting, but has more limited value, I think.
I’m adding the resume-building site to The Best Places For Students To Write Their Resumes.
September 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Imagination Without Borders – Modern architecture is a series of photos of some pretty amazing buildings from around the world.
I’m adding it to The Best Images Of Weird, Cool & Neat-Looking Buildings (& Ways To Design Your Own).
September 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
“Education Nation: I Should Have Known Better” is a very thoughtful post by Stephen Lazar, a Bronx teacher who was invited to participate in NBC’s Education Nation event.
I learned about it from Karen Janowski, who suggests (and I agree) that it’s important to read until its end.
I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Teacher-Bashing “Waiting For Superman” Movie & Associated Events.
September 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
“Language Families:Their Popularity, Spread and Longevity” is the title of an interesting infographic.
I’m adding it to The Best “Language Maps.
September 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Five Hallmarks of Good Homework is a very good article in this month’s issue of Educational Leadership. It’s written by Cathy Vatterott.
I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Homework Issues.
September 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Concept cars in pictures is a slideshow from The Telegraph.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About “Cool” Cars (& Designing Your Own!).
September 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
Ya Po Cha, a talented Hmong language teacher at our school, created a PowerPoint presentation on Common Grammar Errors By Hmong ELL’s that he allowed me to share on this blog a year or two ago.
He’s now just authored a book titled An Introduction to Hmong Culture.
Here’s how the publisher describes it:
Presenting a holistic perspective of the Hmong way of life, this book touches on every aspect of the Hmong culture, including an overview of their history and traditions, relationships between Hmong parents and their children, the rites and traditions of Hmong wedding and funeral ceremonies, the celebration of the Hmong New Year, home restrictions and other superstitious taboos, arts and politics. The book features and explains many Hmong words, phrases and proverbs.
I’m sure it would be useful and interesting to to teachers who have Hmong students, Hmong students themselves, and to anyone else who just wants to learn more about the Hmong.
September 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here’s another “room escape” game that can be used for vocabulary and reading development with English Language Learners.
It’s called Classroom Escape. Here’s the Walkthrough.
I’ve placed the link on my website under Word and Video Games.
And here’s the link to my article on how I use these kinds of games in class.
