February 13, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Teacher Tenure Necessary, Says Teachers’ Unions is the headline of a very useful NPR interview with Randi Weingarten of the United Federation of Teachers.
I’m adding it to The Best Articles For Helping To Understand Both Why Teacher Tenure Is Important & The Reasons Behind Seniority-Based Layoffs.
February 13, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Map Your Valentine lets you pick a map view or street view of Google Maps for any location, which then appears inside of a heart. You can then type in a message of your choosing, ideally connected to the location, and email it off to somebody.
It’s pretty neat.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day.
Thanks to Google Maps Mania for the tip.
February 13, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The Emotional Robot is a video about a…robot developed to show emotions.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Robots.
February 13, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
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 February’s Best Tweets — Part One (not listed in any order):
“Unfortunate Valentine’s Day Cards”
RSA Animate – Language as a Window into Human Nature
“Common-Assessment Consortia Expand Plans” Ed Week
“People, Not Things, Are The Tools Of Revolution”
“Ray Allen Scores in the Nature-Nurture Debate” Miller-McCune
“Texas schools nix Arabic classes over fears of Islam” Salon
Play “Spent”, an online game to teach about homelessness
“How Much Information Is There in the World?”
“Robots to get their own internet” BBC
A book commits suicide every time you watch Jersey Shore
Life lessons from 40 films in 7 minutes [video]
Funny or offensive, these 14 screenshots provide a wealth of info about cultural stereotypes
“U.S. Plan to Replace Principals Hits Snag: Who Will Step In?” NY Times
You might also be interested in seeing a list of favorite tweets at:
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Yesterday, on the eve of Teach For America’s twentieth anniversary celebration, I posted The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns About Teach For America.
Education Notes Online has been “live blogging” from the event, and they are not to be missed. In a tweet, Diane Ravitch called the posts “hilarious/depressing.”
Here are links to the first three updates — go directly to the blog for additional ones:
Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, Part 1
Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, Part 2 – Randi Weingarten
Live Blogging from Teach for America 20th Anniversary Summit, Part 3 – Afternoon Session
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
I’ve previously posted The Best Multimedia Celebrating Mubarak’s Downfall and The Best Sites For Learning About The Protests In Egypt.
It’s obviously not clear if there will be a further “domino” effect, but there are several accessible resources that suggest — if there is — who might fall next.
Here are my choices for The Best Resources To See Who Might Fall Next After Mubarak…:
Here’s a very useful article from MSNBC titled “Mideast nations brace for Egypt spillover.” It gives a good overview of what might happen next.
Regional Upheaval is an impressive interactive timeline from The Wall Street Journal.
Arab world on the brink: an interactive guide is an interactive from The Guardian.
Why The Arab World Is Seething is a graphic from the NY Times.
Now See The 11 Countries At Risk Of Becoming The Next Egypt is from Business Insider.
Domino effect? is from The Washington Post.
Mid-East: Will there be a domino effect? is from the BBC.
Video: Mubarak’s ouster reverberates across Middle East comes from MSNBC.
The Effect of Egypt’s Mubarak Stepping Down is a video from ABC News.
Arab youth: the tipping point is an interactive from The Guardian.
Continuing Unrest In The Middle East is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.
Unrest Spreads Across the Middle East is a New York Times slideshow.
Anti-government protests spread through Middle East is a Washington Post slideshow.
The domino effect: Africa and Middle East unrest after uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt is a slideshow from The Telegraph.
Tempers Flare Across The Middle East is a TIME Magazine slideshow.
Protests Build in Bahrain is a New York Times slideshow.
Middle East in turmoil is an interactive from The Washington Post.
Protests In Libya, Iran and Bahrain is a slideshow from The Washington Post.
Snapshots of a Volatile Region is an excellent graphic from The New York Times.
Crackdown in Pearl Square is a slideshow from The NY Times.
Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa — country by country come from CNN.
Middle East protests: Country by country is from the BBC.
Protests flare across the Middle East is a series of photos from the Sacramento Bee.
Upraising In The Middle East is a regularly updated Wall Street Journal interactive.
Deadly Attacks Against Protesters in Bahrain is a series of photos from The Atlantic.
Arab and Middle East revolt – an interactive map comes from The Guardian.
U.S. relations in Mideast, North Africa is a CNN interactive.
Mideast Mosaic is an interactive from The Wall Street Journal.
Political Unrest in North Africa and the Middle East is from The New York Times.
CNN has a number of videos about what’s going on in Libya.
The Basics: Understanding the Upheaval in the Middle East is a lesson plan from The New York Times Learning Network.
Arab Uprising is an interactive from The Associated Press.
Libya Uprising is an Associated Press interactive.
Libya: Unrest and uncertainty is from The Big Picture.
On War: Revolution in the Middle East and Northern Africa is from The Denver Post.
Middle East Turmoil is from The Wall Street Journal.
Timeline: Recent Middle East unrest is a very good interactive from MSNBC.
How wrong we were: Five surprising lessons from the Middle East upheaval is from The Boston Globe.
Unrest in the Middle East and Africa is another interactive map from CNN.
This interesting infographic is titled Index of potential unrest.
Ripe For Revolt? Who Might Fall is another good infographic.
Tension In The Arab World is an infographic I learned about through Fast Company.
Map: Tracking events in Libya is an interactive from The Washington Post.
Uprising In The Middle East, North Africa is a regularly updated interactive from The Associated Press.
Youth movement is a Washington Post interactive on demographics in different Arab countries.
The Path To Protest is a very cool-looking and informative interactive timeline from the Guardian.
An animated map of protests in the Middle East as they spread from country to country comes from Slate.
The spark that ignited a revolution in the Arab world is a very good slideshow from The Washington Post.
Yemen Unrest is an interactive from The Associated Press.
World Democracies is another AP interactive.
Arab and Middle East revolt – an interactive map is from The Guardian.
Will the Arab Spring spread south? is an interactive from The Guardian.
Crisis In Yemen is series of photos from The Atlantic.
The Hand Art of Yemen’s Protesters is a TIME Magazine slideshow
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 over 600 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Top 10 Famous Protest Plazas is a great slideshow from TIME Magazine.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History.
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Protests In Egypt:
Egyptian Joy as Mubarak Resigns is from Breaking News English.
Now See The 11 Countries At Risk Of Becoming The Next Egypt is from Business Insider.
Egypt: The camp that toppled a president is an interactive from the BBC.
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
Here are some new additions to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day:
Do Valentine’s day the green way – interactive is from the Guardian.
Valentine’s Day Spending is another infographic.
Jason Renshaw has created some nice downloadable resources.
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments
World Press Photo is a respected international foundation that is well known for their “World Press Photos of the Year.”
They have just named the winners of the awards for this year. You can see all of their winners from previous years at their archive website.
However, each year a news organization seems to display them in a much more attractive slideshow.
The Atlantic has a nice photo display for the 2011 winners.
World Press Photo: winners comes from The Big Picture.
2010′s winners can be found atthis News of Australia slideshow.
You can see all of 2009′s winners in a slideshow put together by the Sydney Morning Herald.
World Press Photo Award 2008 comes from The Guardian.
World Press Photo 2007 is a slideshow from TIME Magazine
World Press Photo Awards for 2006 is from The Digital Journalist.
World Press Photo Awards 2005 is from CBS News.
In pictures: World press photo award 2004 is from the BBC.
If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.
You might also want to explore the over 600 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
My Favourite Animal Families is the title of a very cute collection of images from The Telegraph.
I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About Animals.
February 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Photo Essay: Amazing Libraries Around the World is a great slideshow.
I’m adding the link to The Best Sites To Teach ELL’s About Libraries.
February 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
(You might also want to visit The Best Resources To See Who Might Fall After Mubarak.)
I’ve previously posted a very popular “The Best…” list titled The Best Sites For Learning About The Protests In Egypt. Because today’s resignation of President Mubarak is such an important event, and potentially an important event in world history, I thought I’d create a special “The Best…” list just recognizing today.
By chance, I heard about his resignation a few minutes after it occurred, and was able to show live video to my ninth-grade students. We’re studying Nelson Mandela and the struggle of black South Africans to be free, so it was a natural connection.
Here are my choices for The Best Multimedia Celebrating Mubarak’s Downfall:
Before I start sharing multimedia links, here’s a very useful article from MSNBC titled “Mideast nations brace for Egypt spillover.” It gives a good overview of what might happen next.
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigns – video is from The Guardian.
Egypt reacts as Mubarak resigns is a Guardian slideshow.
Egypt’s Mubarak resigns as leader is a slideshow from the BBC.
‘I’ll tell my children we made this revolution possible’ is a BBC video.
‘Egypt is free,’ crowds cheer after Mubarak quits is a video from MSNBC.
Protests Pay Off is a Wall Street Journal slideshow.
Photos: Egyptians celebrate president’s resignation is from CNN.
The Wait is from the Boston Globe’s Big Picture
Democracy protests bring down Egypt’s Mubarak is a series of photos from The Sacramento Bee.
Celebrations Follow Resignation in Egypt is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal.
See Video of the Celebrations After Mubarak’s Resignation is from TIME.
Deposed Despots is a slideshow from Newsweek.
Muslim world celebrates Egyptian revolution – in pictures is from The Guardian.
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 over 600 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
February 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I share both high-tech and low-tech ways for students to use collaborative storytelling in the classroom at The Best Sites For Collaborative Storytelling.
I just learned about another neat low-tech way from Marisa Constantinides. Here’s the tweet she shared:
Collaborative story writing (or other genre) where Students begin writing and every 2 mins paper changes hands until you get back your own
It’s a simple and neat lesson, and I’m adding it to the previously mentioned “The Best…” list.
February 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day:
Monk-E-mail has a special Valentine’s Day edition – send your valentine a talking monkey
Infographic: The Valentine’s Day Gift Economy
The Magpie Moments blog has a very nice downloadable activity for English Language Learners. In addition, Anna describes the process she used to produce it, which she adapted from Jason Renshaw.
February 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
11 School Lunches from around the World shows what the title describes, along with additional information about how the actual school lunch process works in each country.
I’m adding the link to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures.
February 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Awesome Stories is a great resource for accessible text, animations and videos, and is featured on several of my “The Best…” lists.
It seems like they’ve really beefed-up their impressive video collection.
Because of that, I’m adding the site to The Best Sites For News & History Videos That Won’t Get Blocked By Content Filters (At Least, Not By Ours!).
February 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
4 Comments
Teach For America is celebrating their twenty-year anniversary this weekend (see Not-To-Be-Missed Reports From Teach For America Celebration). Contrarian that I am, I thought that this would be perfect timing for a “The Best..” list that raising concerns about their work.
Here are my choices for The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns About Teach For America:
Last year, when our new Superintendent wanted to invited Teach For American to come to Sacramento, I wrote a fairly extensive post about it — Why I Oppose Teach For America Coming To Sacramento.
Happily, I was able to write this post shortly afterwards — Teach For America NOT Coming To Sacramento.
By far, the best article on this topic has been published by Rethinking Schools. It’s called Looking Past the Spin: Teach for America, and is written by Barbara Miner. Unfortunately, you have to register to see it all, but it is free. (It appears that they have the article on a new page — at least temporarily — where you don’t have to register to read it)
A new look at Teach for America is by Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post.
Why the Love/Hate Relationship with TFA? by Claus von Zastrow offers a somewhat more nuanced view of TFA.
Does Teach For America Deliver Systemic Education Reform? is by Anthony Cody at Ed Week.
What football can teach school reformers is an interesting guest post at The Washington Post.
Teach For America: A Review of the Evidence comes from The National Education Policy Center.
Veteran teacher: My problem(s) with Teach For America is from Valerie Strauss’ blog at the Washington Post.
Ravitch: The Problem with Teach For America is a post by….Diane Ravitch at Valerie Strauss’ blog.
Marie Levey-Pabst: Will the Teach For America Elite Save the Poor? is a guest post in Anthony Cody’s Ed Week blog.
Poise & Ivy: Judging Teachers by their Credentials is from Nancy Flanagan.
Teach for America 20th Anniversary Alumni Summit: Conclusions, Questions, and other Ruminations comes from Education Notes Online
Teach for America alum: TFA’s impact on my school appeared on Valerie Strauss’ blog in The Washington Post.
Take Me to Your Leader is by Nancy Flanagan at Ed Week.
Teach For America: From Service Group to Industry is by Rachel Levy.
What happened to my TFA? is by Gary Rubenstein.
An Ordinary Teacher Talks to Teach for America offers some insightful commentary.
TFA Founder Kopp Dodges Questions with “Read my book.” is by David B. Cohen.
Big expansion, big questions for Teach for America is from The Boston Globe.
Huntsville Takes a Closer Look at Teach For America’s “Research” is from Living In Dialogue at Education Week.
Philip Kovacs: Teach For America Research Fails the Test is from Living In Dialogue at Ed Week.
Research Suggests Teach For America Does Not Belong in Huntsville from Living In Dialogue at Ed Week.
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 over 600 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
February 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
The education blogosphere, and parts of the education media, have been abuzz the past couple of days over the discovery that Michelle Rhee’s often-claimed astronomical student test gains when she was a teacher were not true. This, of course, does not mean that Rhee was not a good teacher — for all I know, she was an excellent one (though I have to admit her admission that she taped the mouths shut of her students one day does give one pause).
It can mean, however, a number of other things. And here are my choices for The Best Posts About Michelle Rhee’s Exaggerated Test Scores, which provide some insightful commentary.
I think that the most thoughtful and best piece is by Alexander Russo, Rhee: Reformer’s Growing Credibility Problem.
Michelle Rhee’s early test scores challenged was written by Jay Mathews at the Washington Post.
Jay Mathews’ Lazy Swipe at Michelle Rhee by Rick Hess at Education Week is less noteworthy for Hess’ post than for the comments on it, including one from Mathews.
In the same category is the post up at Rhee’s website — the comments are fascinating.
G.F. Brandenburg’s examination of the data started it all, and he wrote a follow-up.
‘Reformers’ Playing Games With the Truth is written by John Thompson.
And Valerie Strauss at The Washington Post has also written about it.
Rhee faces renewed scrutiny over depiction of students’ progress when she taught is from the Washington Post.
Jay Mathews has an update on how the information was discovered, and links to more support that the new evidence accurate.
Additions 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 over 600 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
February 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The Guardian Teacher Network, from the British newspaper, has thousands of resources that can be printed out and used in the classroom. I was quite impressed with the high quality of the materials that I saw, and many can be used with English Language Learners.
I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Free ESL/EFL Hand-Outs & Worksheets (but there are also plenty of resources teachers with any type of class could use).
