November 11, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Nominations for the 2010 Edublog Awards are now open:
* Nominations: Close Friday 3 December!
* Voting: Ends Tuesday 14 December!
* Award Ceremony: Wednesday 15 December!
You can read about the awards categories and the nomination process here. It’s as easy as pie to nominate blogs, so I’d encourage you to look at the categories and nominate some good blogs.
I’ll be sharing my nominations very soon. The whole process is fun, and a great way to learn about education-related blogs.
November 11, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are some new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures:
What Colors Mean Across 10 Cultures is an interesting infographic (thanks to M.E. Steele-Pierce for the tip).
Slate has a slideshow showing classrooms from throughout the world (Thanks to Eye On Education for the tip). I’m also adding this link to The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day.
November 11, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are new additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Volcano & Tsunami In Indonesia:
The Associated Press has a good interactive.
Mount Merapi’s eruptions is a series of photos from The Boston Globe’s Big Picture blog.
November 11, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Here are even more additions to The Best Websites To Learn About Veterans Day:
Pelosi Breaks Ground on Disabled Vets Memorial is another video from ABC News.
The Veterans Administration has a Teacher Resource Guide (Thanks to Julie Mushing for the tip).
UK observes Armistice Day silence is a video from the BBC.
Honoring The Honored Dead is a slideshow from The Washington Post.
Remembrance Day In Pictures is from The Guardian.
November 11, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve posted many “The Best…” lists this year, and I thought I’d highlight the ones that specifically offer classroom advice to teachers. I elaborate on many of the ideas in these posts in my upcoming book, Student Self-Motivation, Responsibility, and Engagement:Practical Answers to Classroom Challenges, which will be published by Eye On Education in the spring.
Here are my choices for The Best “The Best…” Lists Offering Practical Classroom Advice To Teachers:
My Best Posts On Classroom Management
The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons
My Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control
My Best Posts On “Motivating” Students
My Best Posts On Students Setting Goals
My Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers)
My Best Posts On How To Prepare For Standardized Tests (And Why They’re Bad)
The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas
The Best Rubric Sites (And A Beginning Discussion About Their Use)
The Best Resources For Learning About Formative Assessment
The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments
The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career
The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students
Feedback is 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
November 10, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the newest additions to The Best Websites To Learn About Veterans Day:
Remembering Veterans Who Have No One is a CNN video.
Obama Pays Tribute to Veterans is a video from ABC News.
Pelosi Breaks Ground on Disabled Vets Memorial is another video from ABC News.
November 10, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Top 10 Must-Have Apps for the iPhone, and Some Runners-Up is an article in the New York Times.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me.
November 10, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
5 Things Every New Facebook User Should Do Immediately is a post from The Make Use of blog that’s a basic introduction to Facebook.
I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources For Learning About Facebook.
November 10, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
On War: Animals in War is an interesting series of photos from The Denver Post.
I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About Animals.
November 10, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
A global search for extraterrestrial intelligence is the title of a Washington Post slideshow.
Its subtitle is:
It’s the 50th anniversary of Project Ozma, a pioneering search for extraterrestrial Intelligence experiment to search for signs of life in distant solar systems through interstellar radio waves.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Possible Life On Other Planets.
November 10, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
I’ve been thinking and writing (in my forthcoming book to be published by Eye On Education) about the most effective ways to give feedback to students. I’ve obviously been trying to apply what I’ve been learning in the classroom, too.
As a one sentence summary, as I’ve posted about previously, the research says it’s best to praise effort and not intelligence.
Here are some resources I’ve found helpful:
What Kind Of Feedback Should We Give Our Students? is a post I have previously written.
The Difference Between Praise & Acknowledgment is another older post.
The Perils and Promises of Praise is an article by Carol Dweck.
Pondering Praise is a nice essay by Joe Bower.
It’s Not About How Smart You Are is an article by Carol Dweck.
Goodbye to “Good Job!”—The Power of Specific Feedback is a useful post by Margaret Berry Wilson at ASCD Express.
“The Praise Paradox” is an excerpt from the book Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children, written by by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. It appeared in the March issue of “NEA Today.”
New Marzano Study On “Effort & Recognition”
The words that could unlock your child comes from the BBC.
Carol Dweck’s website for her book, Mindset, contains a number of useful articles on her research, particularly on giving effective feedback.
Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson has written a short article for Carol Dweck’s website. It provides a simple review of the basics on the kind of feedback we should be giving our students, and generally there’s nothing new in it. However, it did make one important point I have not see made anyplace else:
Avoid praising effort when it didn’t pay off. Many parents try to console their child by saying things like “Well honey, you didn’t do very well, but you worked hard and really tried your best.” Why does anyone think that this is comforting? For the record – it’s not. (Unless, of course, it was a no-win situation from the start).
Studies show that, after a failure, being complimented for “effort” not only makes kids feel stupid, it also leaves them feeling like they can’t improve. In these instances, it’s really best to stick to purely informational feedback – if effort isn’t the problem, help them figure out what is.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t provide references to those studies. I’m still adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students.
“Praise for effort keeps people engaged and willing to work hard”
Additional suggestions are 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 475 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Snip.ly is an interesting new web application. Without having to register, you first paste a url address of any webpage into the site. After you click “next,” you will see the page “within” Snip.ly. You can then highlight one section of the text on the page and write a note about it. You’re then given a url address (or can directly email it) of the page “within” Snip.ly with your note “floating” in front.
If you sign-in (you can only do so with Twitter or with Facebook, which eliminates school use of this feature), you can see what other users have “snipped” and said about that same webpage.
There are plenty of other applications that make webpage annotation more feasible for student use (see Best Applications For Annotating Websites). However, Snip.ly may be one of the easiest ways to send an article if there’s just one section you want someone to notice.
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Joel Klein has joined Michelle Rhee and the Superintendent of Chicago Schools by resigning as head of the New York School District today.
Amazingly, Mayor Bloomberg replaced him with a publishing executive with no prior experience in education and who sends her children to private schools.
Dana Goldstein has written a good commentary about the situation.
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
ESL TED Talks is a blog created by Douglas Evans that has lessons he’s created for English Language Learners using TED Talks.
He’s clearly put a lot of work into them, and they could be very useful. They focus almost entirely on comprehension, so a teacher would definitely want to supplement them with strategies to stimulate discussion on the topics of the Talks themselves, and how students could connect the content to their own lives.
I’m adding the link to The Best Teacher Resources For “TED Talks” (& Similar Presentations).
Thanks to Sam Malone for the tip.
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
“Decline and fall of the California job market” is a very good interactive from The Sacramento Bee showing the chronological progress of the monthly unemployment rate for each county in the state over the past three years.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About The Recession.
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
MovieClips, which is on several “The Best…” lists, including The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL, has recently added a nice addition. You might remember that it allows you to search for short clips by all sorts of themes, in addition to creating montages of them.
Now, according to TechCrunch, MovieClips:
…recently added “related clips,” which recommends similar clips to users in search. So when a user searches for a particular clip, he will be exposed to a wall of 100 related clips “related by” actor, movie, action, mood, setting, theme, director, prop, cinematographer, and many more categories.
And, best of all, it’s not blocked by our school’s content filters!
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010 is a series of images from The Telegraph. They are all finalists in the Astronomy Photographer of The Year Contest.
I’m adding the link to The Best Images Taken In Space.
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
“The Most Beautiful Words In The English Language” is an older post from the Alta blog which shares what English Language Learners and native-English speakers think are the most “beautiful” words in English.
It’s pretty interesting.
November 9, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
When having students write persuasive essays, I’ve always found the most difficult issue is teaching the idea and importance of including opposing views and counter-arguments. In fact, on occasion I’ll admit to having decided that it is more trouble than it’s worth, and skipped that step entirely.
No more, however.
A survey of over one hundred studies in the last fifty years now concludes that arguments that include opposing views with counter-arguments are more persuasive. Here are some excerpts on a report about the study:
…if we bring up opposing arguments, then shoot them down, not only is the audience more likely to be swayed, we also see a boost in our credibility.
Overall this is a nice conclusion, in that not only is a balanced argument more appealing morally, it is also more persuasive. And it doesn’t matter whether counter-arguments are introduced at the start, the end, or mixed in; as long as they are refuted, we are more likely to persuade the audience.
So, no matter how hard-line you are on a particular issue, remember that people aren’t idiots, they know there are two sides to every story and they’ll discount your message unless you acknowledge and counter the other side.
Since I want students to be able to develop skills that will help them in real-life, remembering this study will give me a little more energy to include this element in my teaching. And sharing the results of this study might provide a little more impetus to my students, too, to deal with the challenge and difficulty they might have in incorporating opposing views and a counter-argument into their essays.
I’m adding this post to The Best Online Resources For Helping Students Learn To Write Persuasive Essays.
November 8, 2010
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The Huffington Post has just published a piece I’ve written titled Being ‘Transactional’ Versus Being ‘Transformational’ in Schools.
It is a major revision and expansion of a post I published here a couple of days ago.
