August 14, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning What Google+ Is All About:
How to Migrate Your Facebook Account and Data to Google+ is from Lifehacker.
Finding and Following People on Google+ has a ton of useful resources.
Google Adds Public Plus Posts to Social Search Results is from Read Write Web.
August 14, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites To Help Teach About 9/11:
Ten years after 9/11: New York transformed is an Associated Press interactive.
Portraits of Grief comes from The New York Times.
August 14, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The tragedy going on in Somalia and parts of nearby countries is finally hitting the media in a big way. I thought I’d bring together accessible resources on what is going on there.
Here are my choices for The Best Web Resources About Somalia’s Famine:
Somalia Famine: How to Help comes from ABC News.
How To Help Somalia: Options For Famine Relief (UPDATED) is from The Huffington Post.
Children of the Drought: A Newsround Special
Somalia famine refugees tell their stories – interactive is from The Guardian.
Somailia Famine is a series of photos from The Denver Post.
Horn of Africa: on the brink of a humanitarian crisis is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe.
Horn of Africa drought: starving children suffer during famine in Somalia is a Telegraph slideshow.
Famine in East Africa is a series of photos from The Atlantic.
The famine forecast is an interactive infographic from The Economist.
UN Declares Famine In Somalia is from Breaking News English.
East Africa: Hunger complicated by drought, violence is an Associated Press interactive.
Famine in Somalia is a New York Times interactive.
The BBC has a special report on the famine.
CNN has countless related videos.
The World Food Programme has developed an impressive interactive map showing the famine areas in the Horn of Africa.
Cholera Breaks Out Amid Famine is a Wall Street Journal slideshow I’m adding to the same list.
Collateral Crisis: The Catastrophic Famine in Somalia is a TIME Magazine slideshow.
Dadaab: city of refugees – interactive is from The Guardian.
Famine Strikes the Horn of Africa is an interactive feature from the Voice of America.
Crisis in the Horn of Africa: Understanding the Famine in Somalia is from The New York Times Learning Network.
Additional suggestions are welcome.
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at 740 previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.
August 14, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Obviously, photos can be great educational tools with English Language Learners and with any students (see The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons). I post about many photo galleries, also called slideshows. To do it in a little more organized way, though, I recently began this weekly feature called “Photo Galleries Of The Week.” This post is a “round-up” of online slideshows I’m adding to various “The Best…” lists:
Photo Essay: China’s Marathon-Length Bridge is from the PBS News Hour. I’m adding it to The Best Images Of Spectacular Bridges (& How Students Can Make Their Own).
LIFE has a slideshow about Somalian refugees. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day.
The Storms of Saturn is a TIME Magazine slideshow. I’m adding it to The Best Images Taken In Space.
Portraits Of The Insects Among Us is a slideshow from TIME. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Animals.
A Space History Sampler is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Planets & Space.
August 13, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I’ve just revised and updated A Beginning “The Best…” List Of Free & Decent Online Practice Sites For State Tests — Help Me Add More!
I hope you can make additional suggestions.
August 13, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a few and list them here with a minimal description. It forces me to look through these older links, and help me organize them for my own use. I hope others will find them helpful, too. These are resources that I didn’t include in my “Best Tweets” feature because I had planned to post about them, or because I didn’t even get around to sending a tweet sharing them.
Here are This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”:
National Geographic has a special site about animals. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Animals.
Color My Ride is an interesting infographic from the Wall Street Journal examining the color of people’s cars in different countries (yes, you read that right). I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures.
Learn Alberta has a very unusual interactive about time. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning How To Tell Time.
Cigarette labels: U.S. smokers to see new warnings is an interactive from the Associated Press. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For ELL’s To Learn About The Dangers Of Smoking.
What is First Aid? has a series of closed-captioned videos on the basics of first aid. I’m adding it to The Best Health Sites For English Language Learners.
Evolution of the Map of Africa is an intriguing collection of…maps. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Historic Maps.
Celebrate Summer: Ideas for Teaching the Season is from The New York Times Learning Network. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The Summer.
People Movin is a fascinating interactive infographic on world migration trends. Even though it’s not exclusively about the United States, I’m still adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Immigration In The United States.
Social Brite has a series of tutorials on how to use social media tools. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn Web 2.0 Basics.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Storytellers shares some very thoughtful insights. I’m adding it to The Best Digital Storytelling Resources.
A timeline of women’s right to vote – interactive comes from The Guardian. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Women’s Suffrage.
Evidence that PBL Works comes from Edutopia. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas.
Here are some other regular features I post in this blog:
“The Best…” series (which now number 701)
The most popular posts on this blog each month
My monthly choices for the best posts on this blog each month
Each month I do an “Interview Of The Month” with a leader in education
Periodically, I post “A Look Back” highlighting older posts that I think are particularly useful
Resources that share various “most popular” lists useful to teachers
Interviews with ESL/EFL teachers in “hot spots” around the world.
Articles I’ve written for other publications.
Regular “round-ups” of good posts and articles about school reform
August 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Interrogation Room is a “choose your own adventure” interactive where you are questioning a suspect in a police station.
I’m adding it to The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories.
August 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Channel.me is a new application that lets multiple people view the same webpage and chat about it. I guess that could be useful for students who are researching topic together, but what really has be excited is the ability to easily annotate websites with virtual sticky notes that can be placed on the site — whether or not you using the group text feature.
The site appears to maintain the sticky notes indefinitely on the unique url address you’re given for the website you input, so this might be the easiest tool around for students to use and save for research notation and, more importantly, to illustrate their use of reading strategies. You just have to copy and paste the url address on a student blog or website. Unfortunately, in order to save those notes and then do the same thing to a new page, you have to go back to the main Channel.me site and input the new address — you wouldn’t be able to do it “within” the first unique url address you started with (though they do plan on adding that feature). But that’s a minor inconvenience compared to its general ease of use.
I talk more about the value of this kind of tool at Best Applications For Annotating Websites, and I’m adding “Channel.me” to that list.
August 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment
With Twtrland, all you have to do is type in a Twitter username and you get back a pretty neat profile of the person, their tweets, how many times they’ve been retweeted, and a bunch of other info attractively displayed.
I’m adding it to The Best Third-Party Twitter Apps That Don’t Require Your Password.
August 12, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Eva Buyuksimkesyan will be hosting the next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival on September 1st, . The theme for that Carnival will be “Warmers, Fillers and First Week Activities.” Great timing!
You can contribute a post to it by using this easy submission form. If the form does not work for some reason, you can send the link to me via my Contact Form. You can also communicate directly with Eva.
Shelly Terrell posted The Young Learners Edition (23rd) of the ESL/EFL/ELL Carnival and, of course, she did an excellent job. You definitely want to take a look at it.
The November 1st edition will be hosted by Berni Wall. Let me know if you might be interested in hosting future editions.
You can see all the previous editions of the ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival here.
August 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing:
Consortia Flesh Out Visions for Common Tests comes from Ed Week.
Making ‘Common Core’ Tests Accessible to All Students is by Mary Ann Zehr at Ed Week.
August 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
The Los Angeles Times writes about a new program that includes a mobile computer lab and center designed to help Latinos gain more access, and become more familiar with, the Web.
The organization sponsoring the effort, Club Digital, offers some nice and simple video computer tutorials on their site. Even better, you can choose English or Spanish versions of them.
I’m adding the resources to two “The Best…” lists:
The Best Places To Learn Computer Basics & How To Fix Tech Problems
The Best Resources For Learning About Schools Providing Home Computers & Internet Access To Students
August 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Earlier this year, I posted about a new very easy tool that let you create embeddable slideshows and let you grab images off the web. It’s called Slidebomb. I wrote that I wasn’t thrilled with the name or the picture of the bomb within it, but that my main concern was there seemed to be a number of inappropriate slideshows made by other users that students could see.
Today, though the site announced a free Slidebomb Academy site only designed for teachers and students. It’s looks great.
It’s a definite additions to The Best Ways To Create Online Slideshows.
August 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I Think These Critiques Of Parent Trigger Laws Are Missing The Point… is the title of my latest post at Engaging Parents in School, my other blog.
It’s a response to recent objections that parent trigger laws are bad because parents don’t know enough to improve schools.
There probably aren’t many people who are bigger critics of the parent trigger than me, but this condescending objection is insulting, short-sighted, and ___________ (insert just about any other negative adjective you can think of).
August 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments
Here are some recent good school reform posts and articles:
Cheating report confirms teacher’s suspicions is from CNN. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The Atlanta Testing Scandal.
Why I’m Against For-Profit Schools is by Chris Lehmann. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Explaining Why Schools Should Not Be Run Like Businesses.
If Gifted And Talented Programs Don’t Boost Scores, Should We Eliminate Them? comes from The Shanker Blog. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On How To Prepare For Standardized Tests (And Why They’re Bad).
Value Added — Scrutinizing The Most Widely Cited Study is by Gary Rubinstein. I’m adding it to The Best Posts Debunking The Myth Of “Five (Or Three) Great Teachers In A Row”
August 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Here are two newer publications — free and downloadable — on teaching English Language Learners that readers might find helpful:
English Language Learners with Disabilties comes Mobility International USA.
STEM For English Learners comes from the National Clearinghouse For English Language Acquisition.
August 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Gangaroo lets your search for pretty much any product on Amazon and other sites, click on it, write a review of it, and then the image, your description and your review will show up on a public list. You can make separate lists of books, DVD’s, music CD’s, etc. You can post the url address to your list and its publicly viewable, but only registered users can leave comments.
I’m adding Gangeroo to two “The Best…” lists:
The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience”
August 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
Curiosity is a website — and a new television series — from the Discovery Channel. People send in their questions — and there are some fascinating questions — and get accessible multimedia answers in return. You can also apply to become an expert to help answer questions, too.
You really have to check it out…
I’m sure it will be included in the final “The Best” list for Science sites in 2011.
Thanks to Lucian Duma on Google+ for the tip.
August 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
9 Comments
NOTE: The creators of Viewbix left a comment on this post which shares some excellent, and obvious, ways to use this in education. I guess I wasn’t fully awake when I couldn’t think of any 
Viewbix is a new free web tool that lets you bring a little interactivity to pretty much any online video. Here’s an example I created in about one minute — if you click on the button you’ll be taken to the Save Our Schools website:
I’m having a hard time thinking of how it could be used in a classroom, though. Any ideas?
August 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments
I often write about research studies from various field and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature:
The Key To Disaster Survival? Friends And Neighbors is an NPR report on a new study documenting the importance of relationships. Though it doesn’t talk specifically about relationships and educations, the connections are pretty obvious. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On The Importance Of Building Positive Relationships With Students.
Last month, I wrote a post titled “If Students Believe That A Teacher Has Taught Them Everything, They Will Be Less Motivated To Explore.” It was about a study suggesting that direct instruction was less effective than some kind of guided discovery. Since that time, I’ve learned that both Slate (Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School) and The Economist (When should you teach children, and when should you let them explore? ) also wrote about that study and a second similar one. Thanks to Jeanne Garbarino for the tip.
Harnessing The Power Of Feedback Loops is from Wired. IT discusses a number of studies on the topic. I’d be very interested in hearing from readers what this might look like in the classroom.
Does gardening reduce stress? discusses a report that answers that question with a “yes.” In the past, I’ve found that to be the case when my classes have had a school garden. You might also be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About Teens & Stress.
The Then and Now of Memory is a New York Times report on some recent research that may have relevance to the idea of activating prior knowledge with our students.
