September | 2011 | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

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 so. 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”:

Mexico’s Drug War, Feminized is a New York Times slideshow. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Mexico’s Drug War.

Pic Juice is yet another online editor for photos I’m adding to The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects.

Six Reasons Students Get Summer Off (And The Agrarian Calendar Isn’t One of Them) is an interesting article I’m adding to The Best Resources On The “Summer Slide.”

The importance of active listening and how to do this in an EFL classroom is a useful #ELT Chat summary from Twitter. I’m adding it to The Best Listening Sites For English Language Learners.

Sra. Spanish has written a helpful post titled Classroom Skype: Do’s & Don’t's . I’m adding it to The Best Online Tools For Real-Time Collaboration.

Saudi Arabia Begins Construction of World’s Tallest Building – The Kingdom Tower is an article, with photos, I’m adding to The Best Sites To Learn About The World’s Tallest Buildings.

Children of war: Holocaust survivors is an Associated Press interactive. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The Holocaust.

Here are links to Amazing Panoramic Photos Of Hiroshima After The Atomic Bomb Blast. And here’s a Telegraph slideshow titled Japan marks the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. I’m adding both to The Best Resources For Learning About The Atomic Bombings Of Japan.

Here are two articles I’m adding to The Best Resources About Wealth & Income Inequality. They both are definitely not accessible to ELL’s, but they have great information that could be used by a teacher:

Isolated, Vulnerable And Broke is a column from The New York Times.

Can the Middle Class Be Saved? is from The Atlantic.

Here are some other regular features I post in this blog:

“The Best…” series (which now number 701)

Best Tweets of The Month

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

The ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival

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.

Photo Galleries Of The Week

Research Studies Of The Week

Regular “round-ups” of good posts and articles about school reform

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September 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments

The Best MATH Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress

The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress is a “The Best…” list that can come in very handy for teachers and for students. It lists free sites where teachers can register their students, and both can keep track of their progress. They can be useful for reinforcing concepts and language learned in the classroom. Most, thought not all, of the sites on that list focus on English.

I thought a similar list targeting sites that let teachers and students do the same with Math could be useful. I know that over the years I’ve seen a number of them, but never bothered to bookmark the sites.

So I put out a call this blog and on Twitter for suggestions. Here is what people recommended, and I hope others will contribute more:

Brad Wilson made this suggestion: Ten Marks is one that focuses on math. A colleague of mine really liked it, although I have not registered my own students before. Another for both ELA & math assessments is Easy CBM.

Nancye Blair wrote: Sokikom.com has a free component for number sense- fractions/decimals/prevents – that is very well developed, adaptive, and includes video tutorials. My students love it! They also have several components that one could pay to add on.

Bryan Corcoran said: One site that I’ve found to be quite beneficial is ThatQuiz.org. Toying around has found quite a variety of items to introduce and review with the students, and it catalogs quite a bit of data, making it easy to pinpoint individual problems, as well as class issues with specific math concepts.

Carrie Ward commented: In the past I have used Tutpop to register a whole class and track the progress they make with math through games played with each other as well as students from around the world! There are different levels, but it is aimed at elementary. I can’t remember who first told me about this site, but I like it.

This comes from Tracy Macfarlane: I love xtramath.org. It is a free site that helps kids master their math facts. Initially, the student takes an assessment quiz of what they already have mastered as indicated by a response of 3 seconds or less. Each consecutive session is based on the outcome of the previous assessments. It takes about 5 minutes a day, provides corrective feedback, visuals for goal setting, and can be used for the whole class or set up at home by a parent.

A big thanks to Kelvin Hartell, who let me know about Study Ladder. It has impressive literacy, science and math interactives, and teachers can set-up “classrooms” to keep track of student work. Plus, it’s free!

LearnZillion has tons of free video math lessons that end with a quiz. Those in themselves are not that big of a deal, but three nice things about them are that they are designed by teachers, are free, and that teachers can create “virtual” classes and monitor student progress on them.

As a non-math teacher and as someone who detests anything to do with math, I cannot vouch for the quality of these lessons. I heard about LearnZillion on NPR’s Market Watch program, and you can read/hear it here.

If you found this post useful, you might want to explore the other 750 “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.

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September 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
3 Comments

How My First Week Went….

The first week of school is over, and it was a good one. I’m embarking on some ambitious experiments this year:

I’m teaching two single periods of United States History to English Language Learners. Most of the students in these classes are Intermediates, but in one I also have a number of Beginners. I’ve developed a plan to simultaneously teach that class in two “tracks,” and, if it all goes well, many of the Beginners will be able to complete the work necessary in order to get full credit for the class. I’ll write more extensively in future posts about what I’m doing and how it’s going (including sharing online resources I’m using), and I feel pretty positive about it.

I’m also teaching a double-period class of Beginners. There, too, I’m planning on simultaneously teaching the class in two “tracks” in the hope that at least sixty percent of them can reach the point where they can receive regular English credit for it by the end of the year. Again, I’ll share more as the year progressives.

And, of course, I’m also teaching the most fun class in the world — IB Theory of Knowledge. It doesn’t get any better than that…

It should be a fun year!

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September 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Jawoco Could Be A Useful Search Engine, Especially For ELL’s

Jawoco is a new search engine that could be useful for ELL’s. After you make a query, in addition to the text links, it automatically shows a thumbnail image next to each item. It’s easier for ELL’s to see than in Google, where you have to scroll over each result in order to see a visual preview. Google’s preview is bigger than a thumbnail, of course, but if you scroll over a result in Jawoco, you can also get a much bigger preview.

Of course, the bigger question is if this slight advantage is going to enable Jawoco to make it over the long-term….

As long as it’s around, I’m adding Jawoco to The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners.

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September 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

World Teacher Day Resources Updated

World Teachers’ Day has been held annually on October 5th since 1994. It was created by UNESCO and celebrates teachers worldwide (in the United States, National Teacher Day is Tuesday in the first full week of May).

I’ve just updated and revised The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day.

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September 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

My Best Posts On Why It’s Important To Be Positive In Class

Sometimes, especially if you’re teaching in a challenging classroom situation, it’s not always easy to stay positive at school. It’s difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to stay positive one hundred percent of the time, but we can try. I’ve written a fair amount about the challenges I face in doing it myself and in helping my students do the same thing, and I thought I’d bring them all together into one post (I’ve also written a lot about it in my newest book, including lesson plans).

I was also prompted to put this “The Best…” list together after recently reading about studies that found:

…that a positive mood increases verbal fluency, improves creativity and problem solving, and helps us think less linearly, which are key to innovation. Overall, the more positive we are, the more likely we are to have penetrating moments of insight.

Here are my choices for My Best Posts On Why It’s Important To Be Positive In Class:

The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures

My Best Posts On Helping Students “Visualize Success”

The Best Posts About The Power Of Light Touches In The Classroom

The Best Resources On The Importance Of Building Positive Relationships With Students

Emphasizing Pride, Not Shame, In Classroom Management

Why The Start Of The School Day Might Be So Important…

What Do You Do When You’re Having A Bad Day At School?

“The Fun Theory”

More “Fun Theory”

“Does ‘Counting Our Blessings’ Really Help?”

A Lesson Highlighting Community Assets — Not Deficits

Have You Ever Felt Like You & Your Students Are “Enduring” Class Instead of Enjoying It?

The Importance Of Good Endings

Gratitude Letters & Student Achievement

“Fun Theory” Winners

Can Having Students Tell About Positive Events In Their Lives Impact The Classroom?

The Value Of Sharing Positive Events

Saying “Thank You”

Emphasizing What Students Can Do, Instead Of What They “Can’t”

“Do Positive People Live Longer?”

New Study On “The Influence of Positive Framing”

“The Power Of A Positive Phone Call Home”

“Small Surprise, Big Mood Change”

Maybe This Is Why Attacking Teachers Is So Popular…And Why It’s So Important To Speak Positively About Our Students

The “Three Good Things Exercise”

If You Needed More Research Saying It’s Important To Be Positive In Class….

Feedback on this topic 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.

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September 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

“Jeez, What Was Ron Clark Thinking?”

Jeez, What Was Ron Clark Thinking? is a new post at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School.

It’s about a recent ill-advised commentary on teachers and parents that acclaimed author and teacher Ron Clark wrote for CNN this past week.

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September 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Interview Of The Month — Judie Haynes

As regular readers know, each month I interview people in the education world about whom I want to learn more. You can see read those past interviews here.

Today, my guest is Judie Haynes, long time ESL teacher, author, and blogger.

What led you to teaching English Language Learners, and can you share some of your career highlights?

I came to ESL by way of foreign languages. I lived in France for three years and knew well the difficulties of
learning a new language and culture. I completed my Master’s in language education and eventually gravitated to ESL. I taught elementary ESL
for 28 years. I became interested in helping teachers of ELLs when I saw the difficulty that my students had in their mainstream classroom.
It gave me such a sense of satisfaction to help English language learners. I love learning about other cultures and languages.

What would be the three most important tips you’d suggest that teachers of ELL’s keep in mind?

I think teachers of ELLs need to be cognizant of more than second language acquisition. They need to ascertain their ELLs’ level of language acquisition and their culture and prior schooling. Teaching English learners is so much more than the actual lessons that we teach in the classroom. Teachers of ELLs need to advocate for their students. This is their most important role. Our students can not succeed if they are not part of an effective school environment. My last point is that teachers of ELLs need to know how to engage parents and make them a part of the school culture.

Can you tell us about your latest book, and if you’ve got another one coming up?

I co-authored my most recent book with Debbie Zacarian. “Teaching English Language Learners Across the Content Areas” was published in 2010 by the Association for Supervisors and Curriculum Developers. It is a book for classroom and content area teachers of ELLs. Debbie and I have a new book coming out late next year with Corwin Press that deals with teaching entry and beginning level English learners.

How do you learn and share teaching ideas online?

I am active on Twitter and am especially proud of being co-founder (with Linda Hahner) of #ELLCHAT, an educational discussion about English Language Learners. Twitter provides the most amazing professional development! I have not only met wonderful ESL and classroom teachers of ELLs through Twitter but I also have widened the scope of my interests to include early childhood education and world languages. I am also co-founder (with son Charles) of everythingESL.net which I am proud to say has been around for 12 years.

Is there anything I haven’t asked you that you’d like to share?

I left the classroom in 2008 and now have my own consulting business, everythingESL. I travel around the U.S. providing professional development to classroom and subject area teachers of English language learners.

I am currently President of NJTESOL-NJBE, a group of ESL and bilingual teachers and administrators in New Jersey. I have served on the board of NJTESOL-NJBE for nearly 20 years.

Thanks, Judie!

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September 9, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Is A Noun More Powerful Than A Verb?

There have been several articles published recently about a new showing showing that people who were asked if it was important to be a voter were substantially more likely to vote than those who were asked if it was important to vote — see The power of nouns – tiny word change increases voter turnout and Boosting Voting Rates, With One Question.

I’ve previously posted (and written further about it in my books) about a lesson I use with students at the beginning of the year where they identify the characteristics of a “community of learners” and decide if they want that kind of atmosphere or if they’d prefer being a “classroom of students.”

I’m going to use this new research study to develop another similar lesson lesson plan (which I’ll share here in the future). I’ll be looking at if students what to be a learner or want to learn, and what the differences might be…..

This is particularly interesting to me because of my community organizing background. We used to highlight the difference between the word power in English and contrast that it was a noun, as opposed to its Spanish equivalent, poder, which is a verb. In that case, however, we talked about the fact that it was more powerful as a verb, and what that might mean in practice.

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September 9, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Songboard For Karaoke

You still need to get an invitation to use Songboard, but it seems to have a pretty clean interface to show music videos with highlighted words as they are sung. It doesn’t have a way to record your singing, and you have to sign in using Facebook (though you can get access to a number of them without signing-in), but it still might be worth checking-out.

I’ve added it to The Best Online Karaoke Sites For English Language Learners.

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September 9, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Make Your Own “Dilbert” Comic Strip

At the “Dilbert” site, you can register and add your own dialogue to any Dilbert strip. It gives you three choices — create dialogue for the last box, all the boxes, or do it for one of the boxes and send the others to friends to contribute. You can then embed or link to the final product.

I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Make Comic Strips Online.

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Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Monthly Archives: September 2011

Part Two Of This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good School Reform Posts & Articles

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good School Reform Posts & Articles

“Study Ladder” Looks Great!

Letting Multiple People Upload Photos To The Same Place

This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”

The Best MATH Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress

How My First Week Went….

Jawoco Could Be A Useful Search Engine, Especially For ELL’s

World Teacher Day Resources Updated

My Best Posts On Why It’s Important To Be Positive In Class

“Jeez, What Was Ron Clark Thinking?”

Interview Of The Month — Judie Haynes

Is A Noun More Powerful Than A Verb?

Songboard For Karaoke

Make Your Own “Dilbert” Comic Strip