October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Applying for U.S. Citizenship? Be Careful Who You “Friend” is a blog post from Read Write Web.
Here’s how it begins:
According to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the U.S. government is busily tracking social networks in a number of ways, including using sites like Facebook to monitor people who are applying for U.S. citizenship.
It’s definitely worth a visit…
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Trapped Miners In Chile:
Chilean Miners: 30 Rescued, 3 Waiting is a neat NY Times interactive.
USA Today has an interactive showing how the rescue is being done.
Joyous mission to save 33 miners in Chile proceeds is from USA Today.
Chile Mine Rescue In News is a Wall Street Journal sharing headlines from around the world.
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
“Teacher Eyes On The Wrong Prize?” is the headline on my newest column in Teacher Magazine.
It’s a revision of a couple of posts I’ve written previously about a recent classroom experience, and the lessons it might hold for me and for others.
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Mary Ann Zehr reports that California has just decided to create a new teaching credential for high school ESL teachers (in California, high school ESL classes are called English Language Development — ELD).
There are links in her article for more information.
I have to admit that my feelings are a bit mixed about it. On one level, I think it’s a good idea. On the other hand, I hope this doesn’t mean that very experienced ELD teachers like my colleague Katie Hull (with whom I’m co-authoring a book on teaching writing skills to English Language Learners) and I are going to have to take additional classes in order to continue teaching ELD classes.
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
“One Stop Blogs” is a project of Macmillan Publishers that brings together the feeds of ESL/EFL blogs (and others that are not specifically ESL/EFL but could still be of interest).
I’m adding it to The Best ESL/EFL Blogs.
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
An analysis of twenty studies has found that conscientious people live two-to-four years longer than those who are not conscientious. The studies consider conscientiousness to include self-control and planning for the future, among other traits.
Though planning for the distant future is not a teen’s strong point, it might be worth a mention if you do lessons on goal-setting and/or self-control.
You might also be interested in:
My Best Posts On Students Setting Goals
My Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Halloween Spot The Difference is an online video game and lesson plan for English Language Learners.
I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Halloween.
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the latest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Trapped Miners In Chile:
TIME Magazine has a slideshow about the rescue.
Here’s a BBC infographic showing what has been supplied to the miners.
Chile miners: rescue capsule brings trapped miners to the surface is a slideshow from The Telegraph.
Joy as first Chile miners freed is a BBC slideshow.
Rescue of 33 Chilean miners is underway is a USA Today page with links to many multimedia features.
Chile Mine Rescue is from CNN.
The Wall Street Journal has video of the rescue.
October 13, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
From War To Diplomacy is an interactive timeline from Radio Free Asia about Vietnam from 1954 to the present.
I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Learn About The Vietnam War.
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Batalugu is a new site that lets you create your own online book for free. You can then share it’s url address.
I wouldn’t say its as nice or as intuitive as some other apps on The Best Places Where Students Can Write Online, but it’s worth a visit, and I’m adding it to that list.
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I periodically post about why I like Edublogs so much as a blog-hosting platform – great customer service, dependability, the fact that many school content filters don’t block it, ease of use, etc.
I recently inquired about the safety and reliability of its ability to back-up blogs it hosts, and, though I don’t understand all of the answer James Farmer gave me, what I do understand certainly makes me feel secure. Here is what he said:
Edublogs lives on it’s own personal cloud, made up of 10 or so different servers that provide web files, database queries, caching
and everything else required.
Each server is in RAID configuration so that even if a drive fails, we’ll be ok.
We’re hosted via Serverbeach / Peer1 – the largest and most trusted hosting provider on the planet, and the former host of YouTube (before they moved to Googles servers)
And we’re managed by the ex SysAdmin on the New York Times website.
And, what’s more, everything is backed up to Amazon’s S2 cloud service, so even if the datacenter was to be blown up, at worst you
might lose a few comments before we had you back up again.
Here’s some info on how we’re set up:
How to scale WordPress to half a million blogs and 8,000,000 page views a month
But of course we’ve advanced since then, too.
Sounds good to me!
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The Buck Institute For Education, one of the leaders in project-based learning, has just begun a blog devoted to PBL.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas.
Thanks to Stephen Lazar for the tip.
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I previously posted about studies that describe the many benefits of learning a second language (see “Languages Smarten Up Your Brain”). Sharing this kind of information provides a bit more positive reinforcement to English Language Learners in my classes as they struggle mightily to develop fluency.
Now, The Wall Street Journal reports on new research that shows speaking a second language helps mitigate the consequences of dementia.
Now, obviously teenagers have challenges thinking long-term. But sharing this kind of info certainly can’t hurt.
Are you aware of other research that highlights the cognitive benefits of speaking a second language?
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
The Washington Post reports that Michelle Rhee will resign on Wednesday (thanks to Alice Mercer for the tip).
I’m predicting she ends up here in Sacramento for a number of reasons.
I’d be happy to be wrong.
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The rescue of the miners has begun. Here are the latest updates to The Best Sites For Learning About The Trapped Miners In Chile:
Preparations for Chile Mine Rescue Operation is a New York Times slideshow.
A Final Rescue Phase is a New York Times interactive.
CNN has a ton of multimedia features.
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Universal Subtitles is an experimental online application that seems to make it quite easy to add subtitles to any video.
I’m adding it to Not The “Best,” But A List… Of Online Video Editors.
Of course, YouTube has introduced an automatic system for creating subtitles, but I haven’t tried that yet. Has anybody else? What do you think?
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
“‘Manifesto’ should be resignation letter” is an excellent piece at The Washington Post. It’s a good commentary on the now infamous guest column written by a group of School Superintendents.
I’m adding it to The Best Posts About The Appalling Teacher-Bashing Column Superintendents Wrote In The Washington Post.
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here in California, I’m a member of a great group that is bringing teachers together from around the state. Accomplished California Teachers is led by David B. Cohen and others. The “tagline” on ACT’s blog communicates our main message: “Classroom expertise for better education policy.”
Today, two ACT members have excellent posts about the group’s work,and I’d strongly encourage you to take a look at them:
“The Danger of a Single Story” (Part Two) by David B. Cohen
Teacher, Improve Thyself… by Alice Mercer
And, while you’re at it, visit Alice’s post from yesterday, which also includes an engaging school reform discussion in the comments, The “Green Line” of Ed Reform?
October 12, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are some new additions to The Best Resources For Teaching & Learning About World Water Day:
GOOD Magazine has several resources:
An infographic showing water conflicts around the world.
These next two are a little different, but I thought readers might still find them useful:
Absence of Water is an interesting slideshow.
Crowdsourced Picture Show About Water is another slideshow.
October 11, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments
I’m not teaching Geography this year, but if I were (and I might again in the future), I’d want to introduce students to some historic maps.
So, for when I do teach that class again, I’ve decided to develop an appropriate “The Best…” list.
Two companion posts to this piece are:
The Best Map-Making Sites On The Web
The Best Websites For Learning & Teaching Geography
Here are my choices for The Best Sites For Learning About Historic Maps (and are accessible to English Language Learners):
Animated History of European Mapmaking comes from the BBC.
Historical Maps also comes from the BBC.
Finding Our Place In The World is from the Field Museum.
Ten of the greatest: Maps that changed the world is a slideshow from the Mail Online.
Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms has historic maps as well as lesson plans to accompany them.
The David Rumsey Map Collection
Early World Maps comes from Wikipedia.
Why a map is a window on to history is an article from the BBC. It’s not accessible to ELL’s, but it would certainly be useful to teachers.
The World’s Oldest Maps is a nice collection of…the world’s oldest maps.
Audio slideshow: Mapping Africa is from the BBC.
The Beauty of Maps is a pretty amazing twelve part BBC series that is now available on YouTube. Thanks to Flowing Data for the tip.
Here’s a collection of “maps in the form of plants, animals and humans” created in the sixteen and seventeenth century.
Evolution of the Map of Africa is an intriguing collection of…maps.
A History of Map Monsters is a slideshow from Slate.
Feedback is welcome, including additional suggestions.
If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.
You might also want to explore the 500 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
