Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

Monthly Archives: October 2011

October 11, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Photo Galleries Of The Week

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:

British Wildlife Photography awards 2011 – in pictures comes from The Guardian.

World War II: Internment of Japanese Americans is a photo gallery from The Atlantic. I’m adding it to both The Best Sites For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and The Best Online Resources For Teaching & Learning About World War II (Part One).

Exile Without End: Palestinians In Lebanon is a photo gallery from the CBC. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About World Refugee Day.

The Sea: the first wonder of the world – in pictures comes from The Guardian. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Oceans.

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October 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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YouTube Launches Ed Site That Isn’t Supposed To Be Blocked By Filters

YouTube has unveiled a site where they are only placing educational videos and where comments will be disabled. The site — YouTube.com/education is supposed to be able to be allowed through content filters even though YouTube itself is blocked.

You can read more about it at the MindShift blog.

In the meantime, you might also want to check out The Best Ways To Access Educational YouTube Videos At School.

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October 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Diigo Says They’ve Connected To Delicious Again — I’m Not Convinced Yet

Diigo, the bookmarking service that in the past automatically sent copies of your bookmarks to Delicious, just sent out a tweet saying that they are connected to Delicious again. Last week, that automatic back-up process was stopped.

However, I bookmarked some sites ten minutes ago with diigo as a test, and they have not yet been bookmarked at Delicious. Perhaps it just takes them awhile,or perhaps it’s just not working.

Is it working for you?

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October 10, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Another Special Edition Of “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”

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 is Another Special Edition Of “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”:

Drug war: Cartels unrelenting in bloody conflict is an interactive from the Associated Press about the Mexican drug war. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Mexico’s Drug War. Can This Poet Save Mexico? is an article from The New York Times. I’m also adding it to the same list.

Global Protests is a nice photo gallery from The Boston Globe. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Protests In History.

PicFull is a new photo-editing site. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects. I’m adding Clip Your Photos to the same list.

TweepsMap will show all your Twitter followers on a map. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Make A Map Showing Your Facebook Friends (& Twitter Followers).

Top 10 Real Life Monsters is a TIME Magazine slideshow. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Animals.

The Ultimate G+ Collection: A Treasure Trove of Google Plus Tips, Guides, & Resources is just what the title says it is. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning What Google+ Is All About.

ELT Pics is a project initiated on Twitter to collect photos helpful to English Language teachers. I’m adding it to The Best Online Sources For Images.

Kleiner-Backed Vlix Is An Instagram For Video; Adds Filters, Effects And More To Mobile Video is a TechCrunch post about a new iPhone application. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me.

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October 9, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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More On The Marshmallow Experiment

I’ve previously written about a follow-up study released recently on the fortieth anniversary of the Marshmallow Experiment. Here are a few more pieces on the new study, and I’ll be adding this post to My Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control:

The New York Times Learning Network had a particularly interesting feature where many students commented on their thoughts on the importance of self-control.

The Willpower Circuit appeared in Wired.

The Secrets of Self-Control: The Marshmallow Test 40 Years Later appeared in TIME.

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October 8, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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The Best Resources To Learn About High School ID’s & The Scarlet Letter

By this time, many readers have probably already heard about the southern California high school that issued color-coded student ID’s based on student standardized test scores. They also made students wait in different lunch lines, among other things.

I had heard about this controversy a few days ago, but waited because I wanted to see if the Los Angeles Times would cover the story. In the past they have demonstrated that they don’t understand the concept of irony (see The L.A. Times Does Not Appear To Understand What “Irony” Means), and I was hoping to see how they’d handle this story in light of their own actions of doing to teachers what the high school principal was doing to students (see The Best Posts About The LA Times Article On “Value-Added” Teacher Ratings).

However, they have not yet published anything on the controversy, and I figured I couldn’t wait any longer. I wonder if their lack of coverage could have anything to do with this dilemma, or am I attributing too much thoughtful reflective ability to them?

The actions at the high school are so wrong on so many levels. They are pointed out very clearly in the resources on this list. But, if you want to learn more about how their policy flies in the face of fairness, justice, and just plain effectiveness, you can read My Best Posts On “Motivating” Students. You might also find this post interesting — Emphasizing Pride, Not Shame, In Classroom Management.

Before I share links to articles and posts, I should mention that I checked-out that high school’s test scores on our state Department of Education website. It’s not surprise, but you’ll find that lower-income and ethnic minority students got lower-test scores than other students.

Of course, I don’t believe test scores provide an accurate measure of student achievement, and that there are many critical qualities needed for lifetime success that you don’t see through test results. Coincidentally, you’ll be able to read all about that topic in my next Education Week column — What Are Critiques Of Standardized Tests & What Are Alternatives?

Here are my choices for The Best Resources To Learn About High School ID’s & The Scarlet Letter (there are some amazing quotes in these articles, and excellent critiques):

Principal defends color-coded IDs is from The Orange County Register.

Student IDs that reveal test scores deemed illegal is from the Orange County Register.

Anaheim Union kills color-coded ID program appeared in the Orange County Register.

Color Coded High School ID Cards Sort Students by Test Performance by Anthony Cody at Ed Week.

 

Eugenic Legacies Still Influence Education is by David B. Cohen.

Here’s the latest article from the Orange County Register.

Taking Standardized Tests to an Extreme is by Walt Gardner at Ed Week.

Feedback is 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 780 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

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October 8, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Research Studies Of The Week

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:

A new study finds that sharing a common goal with others increases the motivation people have to be successful. It’s not a brilliant revelation, but it did get me thinking a bit about one thing I do with student goal-setting. After students choose their goals, I also let them choose their own “buddies” to support each other. I wonder if I should be a little more strategic about that and encourage them to choose a partner who has a similar goal? I’m adding this info to My Best Posts On Students Setting Goals.

Back to school: Dealing with academic stress describes experiments and helpful interventions. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Teens & Stress.

Don’t Lecture Me: Rethinking How College Students Learn is a commentary on research in a college classroom, but it certainly can also pertain to K-12, too. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas.

10 Risky Behaviors More Common in Sleepy Teens comes from TIME Magazine. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Helping Teens Learn About The Importance Of Sleep.

Early to bed and early to rise — study suggests it’s keeping kids leaner is another recent study I’m adding to the same “The Best…” list.

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October 7, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Nobel Peace Prize Resources

As The New York Times has reported, 2011′s Nobel Peace Prize winners are “Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — Africa’s first elected female president — her compatriot, peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman of Yemen, a pro-democracy campaigner.” Here are additions to The Best Sites To Learn About The Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Three Activist Women is from The New York Times.

Nobel Peace prize winners – the full list is an infographic from The Guardian.

Yemen’s ‘Mother of the Revolution’, Liberian president, peace activist share Nobel prize is from MSNBC.

Here’s a video from CNN:

A closer look at the Nobel Peace Prize is a video and article from CNN.

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October 7, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”

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”:

ESL Flow seems to have a good number of useful reproducibles. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Free ESL/EFL Hand-Outs & Worksheets.

Conflict History is a pretty neat interactive showing all (or most) violent recorded conflicts in world history.

The Complete Facebook For Educators! comes from Tech The Plunge. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources For Learning About Facebook.

Dadaab: city of refugees – interactive is from The Guardian. I’m adding it to The Best Web Resources About Somalia’s Drought & Famine.

Creating Infographics with Students is from Langwitches. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Creating Infographics.

The Daring Librarian: Wikipedia is not wicked! is a useful post at The Washington Post.

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

“The Best…” series (which now number 691)

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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October 5, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Department Of Ed Revamps Research Site

The Department of Education just unveiled a revamped “What Works” website highlighting the results of their varied research. It seems to have a number of accessible tools. You can read more about it at Education Week.

They seem to have surprisingly little on English Language Learners, but I’m still going to add it to The Best Ways To Keep-Up With Current ELL/ESL/EFL News & Research. One would think it would eventually have something useful related to ELL’s on the site.

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October 5, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“Teachers Are Guardians, Not Guards”

Greg Toppo from USA Today sent out a tweet from a conference today where Randi Weingarten from the American Federation of Teachers commented on Alabama’s new immigration law. She said:

Teachers “are safety nets, not snitches. They are guardians, not guards.”

Also, today, USA Today published an article headlined School leader: Ala. immigration law ‘scary’ for students.

I’m adding this info to The Best Resources To Learn About Alabama’s Awful Immigration Law (& Its Impact On Schools).

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