Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

November 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“Transforming School Conditions” Report Released Today!

For the past year, I’ve been privileged to work with thirteen teachers from “high-needs” schools around the country, and with the extraordinary staff of the Center For Teaching Quality, to help develop a report providing realistic and practical recommendations for improving our schools. This effort has been graciously supported by the Ford Foundation.

The Transforming School Conditions report has just been released today.

I’ll be writing a more extensive article about it within the next week or so, but wanted to encourage readers to explore it now.

We specifically explore and make recommendations in five areas:

1.Recruitment and preparation pathways for teacher candidates

2. Assessment and evaluation systems for students and teachers

3. Development of professional networks within and across schools to support teaching and
learning

4. Empowerment and professional leadership for teachers

5. Investment of community resources to develop and support effective schools

It may sound surprising to some, but we teachers might have a few decent ideas about how to improve our schools….

November 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Part Fifty-Four Of The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly

The first part of this post is my usual introduction to this series. If you’re familiar with it already, just skip down to the listing of new sites…

Here’s the latest installment in my series on The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly. As you may remember, in order to make it on this list, the web tool has to:

* be easily accessible to English Language Learners and/or non-tech savvy computer users.

* allow people to create engaging content within minutes.

* host the user’s creation on the site itself indefinitely, and allow a direct link to be able to be posted on a student or teacher’s website/blog to it (or let it be embedded). If it just provides the url address of the student creation, you can either just post the address or use Embedit.in , a free web tool that makes pretty much any url address embeddable.

* provide some language-learning opportunity (for example, students can write about their creations).

* not require any registration.

You can find previous installments of this series with the rest of my “The Best…” lists at Websites Of The Year. Several hundred sites have been highlighted in these past lists. You might also want to take a look at the first list I posted in this series — The Best Ways For Students (And Anyone Else!) To Create Online Content Easily, Quickly, and Painlessly.

You might also want to look at The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly — 2010.

I’ll also be publishing an “all-time best” list next year.

Here are the newest additions:

APPRECIATE SOMEONE OR SOMETHING: At Appreciate It, you can say what you appreciate it and add your thoughts to a long list of others. Students can get a direct link to what they’ve written to post on a student blog or website.

“ANIMATE TEXT WITH STYLE”: At Wondersay, you can animate any text and embed or link to it.

MAKE YOUR OWN MONKEY: You can create your design for the famous “Julius” the monkey at Paul Frank’s Planned Pines site. Click “enter” and, after it’s complete, the url address of the student’s creation can be posted on a student/teacher blog or website, and students can describe and discuss it.

SEND AN eCARD: Worldwide Health has a large variety of free eCards to write and send. Students can write to an imaginary friend or family member, or describe the image, send it to themselves or to a teacher, and place the link on a student/teacher blog or website.

Additional suggestions are always welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.

You might also want to explore the nearly 500 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

November 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Sean Banville Creates Another Great Site…

Sean Banville, who, along with David Deubelbeiss from EFL Classroom 2.0, shares the title of “Hardest Working People In The World of ESL/EFL,” has just begun another site to join his multiple others (Breaking News English might be the best-known one) to help English Language Learners.

Business English Materials.com shares 100 x 20-Page Handouts, MP3s & Online Quizzes for Business English Students.

His resources, as usual, are top-notch. And free. You can find links to all his other sites at his new one, too.

November 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Good Advice For Teachers Who Want To Write A Book

Unleashing Your Inner Author…and Getting Published! is a good post by Bill Ferriter that offers advice to teachers who might want to write a book.

It’s a must-read if you’ve ever thought about it…

November 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

PostRank’s Top Posts For November From This Blog

I regularly share my picks for the most useful posts of each month. I also publish a list of the month’s most popular posts, based on the number of times they are “clicked-on” (though I’m a bit behind on that one).

I also share a list of Post Rank’s analysis of each month’s top posts. Post Rank uses a variety of ways to measure level of “engagement” that readers have with specific blog posts. I have a constantly updated “widget” on my blog’s sidebar that lists these posts, but I thought a monthly post would be helpful/interesting to subscribers who don’t regularly visit the blog itself.

Here are their rankings for the month of November:

November 30, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

LIFE Photos On HIV & AIDS

LIFE has published a special feature showing several HIV & AIDS-related slideshows.

I’m adding the link to The Best Web Resources For Learning About HIV & AIDS.

November 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Gestures Enhance Memory

I’ve previously posted about studies that show how having students learn while making gestures is an effective learning technique (see Using Gestures In Teaching & Learning).

This is no secret to teachers of English Language Learners, especially to those who use Total Physical Response as one instructional method.

A new study has just been published and it titled Gesturing makes memories that last. This research not surprisingly, has found that gesturing enhances memory.

November 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Critical Thinking Compendium

The Critical Thinking Compendium is an impressive wiki created by Howard Rheingold and others.

It’s an excellent resource for teaching critical thinking and Internet literacies.

November 29, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

November’s Best Tweets — Part Two

Every month I make a short list highlighting my choices of the best resources I shared through (and learned from) Twitter, but didn’t necessarily include them in posts here on my blog. Now and then, in order to make it a bit easier for me, I may try to break it up into mid-month and end-of-month lists.

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 this post.

If you don’t use Twitter, you can also check-out all of my “tweets” on Twitter profile page or subscribe to their RSS feed.

Here are my picks for November’s Best Tweets — Part Two(not listed in any order):

A preview of an article by Parade on the Teenage Brain

THE ONION: “President Obama’s personal flowchart deconstructing the ethics of pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey”

“Tom Friedman Has Some of It Right – But He Needs to Do a Little More Homework”

Turnarounds Require a Deep Bench

Say what you appreciate at “Appreciate It”

Kennedy Center has revamped their “ArtsEdge” site for educators

Why is a universal translator so elusive? BBC

Subterranean Secrets: 10 Tunnels for Smuggling & War

How Long Will the Dominance of English Last?, The Atlantic

How Do Americans React to So Much Bad News about Schools?

Diagrams that changed the world, BBC

interactive You Tube based storytelling — Editing the Dead

Teacher runs into power of Teach for America

The 18th Century’s Internet, tracking written letter networks of the 18th century

National Geographic’s Photography Contest 2010

Information overload, the early years – 5 centuries ago, Boston Globe

You might also be interested in seeing a list of favorite tweets at:

Shelly Terrell’s blog

Kalinago English

Eye On Education

November 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

“10 Best Free iPhone Apps For Ebook Reading”

10 Best Free iPhone Apps For Ebook Reading is a useful list to explore further.

I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me.

November 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
4 Comments

The Arrogance Of Bill Gates

In Newsweek this week, Bill Gates once again joins other “school reformers” in their arrogant attitude that if you don’t agree with them, then you’re for the “status quo” and you’re “sticking up for decline.”

Actually, he was directing that accusation against Diane Ravitch, the well-respected education historian, researcher and author.

Come on, Bill and (many of his allies). I really do think you want to do what you think is best for kids, though I believe you have little useful experience, are ill-informed, and have an inaccurate analysis of the both the problems and solutions to the challenges facing public education. But, you know, it sounds like you do have some decent ideas, too.

Do you and your allies have to so often have this black/white view of the world?

Readers might also be interested in previous posts and articles I’ve written about this topic of arrogance:

The importance of being unprincipled

Just What Our Schools Need — A Second Appalling Manifesto

Let’s Do Less ‘Fire, Ready, Aim’

Private Foundations Have A Place (And Have To Be Kept In Their Place)

November 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

“Evaluations That Help Teachers Learn”

Evaluations That Help Teachers Learn is an article in this month’s issue of Educational Leadership. It’s by Charlotte Danielson.

I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments.

November 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Wow! “Step Ahead” Is A Great Site For ELL’s

As many teachers of English Language Learners know — either through my previous posts or through their own experience — one of the best sites for English Language Learners is the Oxford University Press Student Sites page. They have a large number of sites to support each of their English textbooks, and the activities are free.

It’s on a variety of my “The Best…” lists, and specific book sites are also on various lists. Some of the book have more engaging support than others. Not surprisingly, the newer the site is, the better the activities.

OUP has a new support site for its Step Ahead series. I haven’t seen the textbook, so can’t say anything about it. However, its website is a real winner and is clearly one of the best sites offering textbook support on the web. I’ve added it to our Intermediate English class blog, and my students will certainly be visiting it often.

November 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Just Updated “The Best Web Resources For Learning About HIV & AIDS”

World AIDS Day is December 1st, and I’ve just updated The Best Web Resources For Learning About HIV & AIDS.

Suggestions for additional resources are welcomed.

November 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

“Top 10 Endangered Trees”

Top 10 Endangered Trees is a series of photos with simple informational text.

I’m adding the link to The Best Sites To Learn About Trees.

November 28, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

November’s Best Posts

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see back issues of those newsletters here and my previous Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month.

These posts are different from the ones I list under the monthly “Most Popular Blog Posts.” Those are the posts the largest numbers of readers “clicked-on” to read. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit lax about writing those posts, though.

Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference):

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