Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

57 Search Results for: "ferriter"

March 10, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

“Unit Overview Sheets” — Do You Do Anything Similar?

Bill Ferriter has written a post, including samples, of one-page “unit overview sheets” that he gives to students at the beginning of a course of study and revisits each day.

It looks intriguing, and helpful.

We provide a “Word Splash” sheet at the beginning of our ninth-grade units and periodically reflect on them and make additions, but it’s not the same as Bill’s sheets.

Do you have your own variations? And, if so, how do they work?

(by the way, Bill has also posted about another sheet he has students use for self-assessment)

December 23, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2012 (Part Two)

The resources on this list were not designed with education in mind, but which can easily be used for learning purposes — particularly, though not exclusively, for English language development. I only hope that creators of “educational” content can learn from the qualities that make these sites so engaging.

You might also be interested in:

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2012 (Part One)

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2011

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2010

Part Two Of The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2009

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2009

The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2008

Here are my choices for The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2012 (Part Two):

VIDEOS:

These would be fun clips to to use in any of the video activities I describe in The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL and in my article Eight Ways to Use Video With English-Language Learners.

Bill Ferriter posted a link to this “Trunk Monkey Compilation.” This hilarious video is perfect for ELL’s to watch and then describe what happened, and even do Venn Diagram to identify differences and similarities:

Have students watch this amazing illusion (you can find similar videos here):

Check out this amazing performance by French magician Yann Frisch:

ONLINE VIDEO GAMES:

I’ve previously written about how I use online video games as a language-development activity for my ELL students.

Escape From The Entrance Hall (Be sure to change language to “English”) — here’s the Walkthrough

Kumakinoko (again, change the language to English) — here’s the Walkthrough

Bonus

Silk can be used by students to create pretty magical-looking (and sounding) artwork online without registering. They can then share a link to their creation (and have students describe it verbally and in writing).

Feedback is always 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 1000 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

December 12, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2012 — Part Two

Another day, another  “The Best…” list…..

You might also be interested in:

The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2012 — Part One

The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2011 — Part Two

The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2011 — Part One

The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s — 2010

The Best Sites For Teachers Of English Language Learners — 2009

Here are my choices for The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s In 2012 — Part Two:

I should start off with links to excerpts on our new book about teaching ELL’s that have been published since Part One of this list was posted at the beginning of September:

Interview With Co-Author Of “ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide”

Using Games in the ELL Classroom, Part I

Using Games in the ELL Classroom, Part II

Using Photos With English Language Learners

Eight Ways to Use Video With English Language Learners

Another Excerpt From Our Book On Teaching ELL’s!

Here’s the longest name for a report that you’ll see today: Practical Guidelines for the Education of English Language Learners: Research-based Recommendations for the Use of Accommodations in Large-scale Assessments/2012 Update.  It provides some very useful research data that I hope schools and test-makers are aware of — it’s helpful for when ELL’s have to take the less than useful state standardized tests and for when they have to take tests of any kind in regular content classes.

Grading is always a tricky issue for teachers — and students. I’ve written about it, as well as guests, in one of my Education Week columns, Several Kinds Of Grading Systems.  The primary guide I use is whatever “will move students forward.”  As a teacher said in our school’s staff meeting last night, I don’t want to be a “gate-keeper.”  Instead, I want to be a coach/encourager.  Katie Hull Sypnieski and I also wrote about it in our book, The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide.  Katie adapted it for use in most of our ESL and mainstream classes, and I thought I’d share it here. You can download the hand-out we give students.

Breaking News English, the long-time invaluable resource to ESL/EFL/ELL teachers around the world, has just undergone a major “revamp.”  Sean Banville, the site’s creator, describes many of the changes here, and you can see the first new style lesson here. There are many improvements, including tons more online interactive exercises.

Ideas for English Language Learners: ‘Gangnam Style,’ ‘Emotion Words’ and More is the title of one of my posts at The New York Times Learning Network. You can see all my NY Times posts here.

The British Council reorganized their website awhile back, and now that have all their songs for English Language Learners (including closed-captioning) all in one place. It’s an excellent resource.

Kate Kinsella is well-known for her research on helping students learn and use academic vocabulary. The California Department of Education has put a series of her videos and materials on their website.  The videos don’t at all capture her dynamism that you see in person, but downloadable “apply the concepts” materials are worth their weight in gold! And, they’re free.

In Pursuit of the Excellent Game is an excellent piece from TESOL on using games with ELL’s.

Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice is an excellent twelve lesson resource from Teaching Tolerance.  The series is particularly suited to United States History classes, and would be accessible to mainstream and English Language Learners. I would have definitely used them last year when I was teaching United States History to ELL’s, and will adapt a couple this year for my ELL Geography class.  Though I am completely supportive of the intent and message of the lessons, I’ll probably be making some minor adjustments to them to make some of the questions a bit more subtle.

As an introductory activity, I have students in all of my classes create “Who Am I?” posters which they then share “speed-dating” style (linking up in rows, show and share, and then one row moves to the right — or left — and does it again and so on). It seems to go well, and I thought readers might find it useful to see the model I use for them (as you can see, I hold few artistic aspirations :) ):

Bill Ferriter posted a link to this “Trunk Monkey Compilation.” This hilarious video is perfect for ELL’s to watch and then describe what happened, and even do Venn Diagram to identify differences and similarities:

I’ve previously posted about research discussing the value of students sharing what is happening in their lives (see The Value Of Sharing Positive Events) and have written on this blog and in my books how I apply this finding in my teaching, primarily in my English Language Learner classes. I have students write about two positive events in the week and why they felt they were positive, and one not-so-positive event and what they could have done to make it better. They share it with a partner verbally, and each has to ask a question of the other. Then I invite a few people to share with the entire class, and afterwards collect them. Not only does it help build a positive classroom atmosphere, it provides an opportunity to write for an authentic audience and it helps me learn what’s going on in students’ lives.

I can’t really say why I haven’t done it with mainstream students in the past, but I’m starting to do so this year. We always do a short reflection on Fridays and, though I might not ask them to do it every week, I’ll include it regularly.

I thought readers might find it useful to see the model I use. I’ll print it in the body of this post, and you can also download it as a student handout here that you can modify. Here’s the content:

Mr. Ferlazzo’s Journal, Sept. 7, 2012

Here are two good things that happened to me this week:

I really enjoyed school starting this week. I love my classes and all my students because they are all hard-working and smart.

I had a great time playing basketball on Tuesday night. I scored the game-winning shot, and everybody on the team wanted to pass the ball to me.

Here is one not-so-good thing that happened to me this week:

A student dropped gum on the rug in my room, and I was not happy that I had to scrape it off. I could have reminded students to throw gum in the garbage.

Feedback is welcome, including additional suggestions.

If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free.

You might also want to explore the 1000 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

September 28, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

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”:

I’m adding this infographic to The Best Sites For Learning About Mount Everest:

Everest Routes

Browse more data visualizations.

15 technologies of today we’ll still be using in 2030 comes from NBC. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The History Of Technology.

Drought and Deluge in the Lower 48 is an interactive from The New York Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The Drought Of 2012 (& Beyond).

My Account Has Been Compromised is good advice from Twitter. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.

Teaching Teachers to Tweet is from Education Week. I’m adding it to the same same list.

Five Killer Tips for a Confident Presentation is from The Glass Hammer. I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Advice For Making Good Presentations.

How to Make Your Lost Phone Findable is from David Pogue. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me.

How do comics reflect the countries they were created in? is from The BBC. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures.

Lucky and Unlucky Numbers Around the World is an infographic I’m adding to the same list:

Lucky and Unlucky Numbers Around the World

by Designbysoap.Learn about infographic design/a>.

Here’s an interview with Bill Ferriter that appeared in Middleweb. The whole piece is worth reading, but I especially like his advice to teachers on writing a book that’s near the end. I’m adding it to So, You Want To Write A Book? Here’s The Best Advice…

Five Practices for Building Positive Relationships With Students is from Ed Week Teacher. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On The Importance Of Building Positive Relationships With Students.

Here is a list of 25 tough interview questions from The Huffington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Students Exploring Jobs and Careers. Thanks to Eric Roth for the tip.

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

“The Best…” series (which now number 950)

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

This Week In Web 2.0

Around the Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

August 24, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Interview With John Norton From The “New” Middleweb

John (Croft) Norton is the founder and co-editor of MiddleWeb.com. John also co-founded the national Teacher Leaders Network and works as an education writer, editor and virtual community developer. See his LinkedIn page for more background.

There are very few people who rival John’s connections in the education world, his editing ability, and his willingness to help.  Middleweb was my first introduction to the education tech world nine years ago…..

What’s the MiddleWeb backstory?

Thanks for giving me this opportunity, Larry. I love to talk about MiddleWeb.

Middleweb.com first appeared on the Web in 1996. The project was supported by the NYC-based E.M. Clark Foundation, which was investing heavily in middle grades reform efforts during the 1990s. MiddleWeb served both as a place to publish stories about reform efforts in districts where Clark was active and as a website where middle level educators could find resources to improve classroom and school practice. Over about six years of Clark support, MiddleWeb evolved to become more of an “all things middle grades” site, with thousands of pages of content. Like you, I’m a bit compulsive!

We also began a listserv discussion community during the 1998-99 school year, which grew to over 600 very lively and loyal educator-members. We had amazing conversations, some of the best of which were captured and published as website content. For 3-4 years in the early 2000s, we actually had F2F gatherings at locations in the US and Canada. The Clark funding ended in 2002.

What happened after that?

I kept the email chat community going and worked on the site whenever I could find the time. In 2006, the listserv group moved to the National Middle School Association (now the Association for Middle Level Education) as “MiddleTalk,” where it continues today. As the years passed, I was less and less able to keep the large website current (you know about that) but I did continue to publish a biweekly Gr 4-8 newsletter that grew to a circulation of more than 15,000.

I might say that the content of the newsletter was heavily influenced by my Clark experiences. For about 8 years I led small teams made up of journalists and educators on district visits where we observed in thousands of 4-8 classrooms and interviewed in-depth hundreds of teachers, principals and central office people. We wrote about what we learned in a district-specific newspaper of our own creation, circulated in the community and published on our website. (One of the districts was Long Beach Unified in California, which is widely recognized today as a high performing, high poverty, high minority system.) I think we learned a lot about what matters in the middle grades.

Back to the 21st century: The decade I spent trying to keep the big idea of  MiddleWeb alive while also earning a living was made possible thanks to the sponsorship of Stenhouse Publishers — a company with a strong focus on literacy and some notable middle grades teacher/authors (like Rick Wormeli, who’s been a steadfast MiddleWeb supporter since the beginning). Stenhouse bought an ad in every newsletter, which defrayed the overhead. Anyone who has loved MiddleWeb over those years has Stenhouse and marketing director Chuck Lerch to thank.

What’s going on with MiddleWeb today?

We’ve literally been reborn! Two years ago I was able to recruit Susan B. Curtis, who’s been both a middle grades teacher and a reference librarian, to partner with me. With her help we moved the newsletter to a modern mailing platform that supported graphics. We generally upgraded the looks and the content. Stenhouse agreed to expand their advertising support so we could go weekly.

Then a very good thing happened — the SmartBrief company, which publishes over 200 industry and professional newsletters in partnership with associations and special-interest groups like ourselves, invited us to partner on a new newsletter for grades 4-8: MiddleWeb SmartBrief. Stenhouse sent them to us and agreed to be the first advertiser. (What a great company – they really are committed to the work of teachers.)

We receive a small share of any advertising revenue as part of the arrangement, and that gave us the impetus to create a new MiddleWeb and devote more time to site development. We were really lucky to coax Jose Vilson, a notorious teacher/blogger/geek into helping us “mod” a new site. He picked the cool WordPress template we’re using and helped us customize it.

We launched the new WordPress-based site in mid-June, just a week before MiddleWeb SmartBrief began to appear on Tuesdays and Fridays. The response to both has been excellent. Many of our MiddleWeb community friends from the 2000s showed up to promote the new site, to urge colleagues to subscribe to the MW-SB and to contribute content and good advice.

3. What’s new about the new MiddleWeb?

Our slogan is All about the middle grades. We’re trying to keep a sharp focus on teaching & learning in grades 4-8. Of course there are many matters that concern all K12 educators and we do touch on some of those, especially in our Quick Links feature, where we feature (in short form) some of the most interesting things we come across each day.

On the new site we’ve decided to emphasize original content. We have four main threads:

• Resource Roundups: We’ve always specialized in finding and sharing resources you can use. Now we’re featuring “resource roundups” — our tag for short, link-laden essays built around a theme. Here are two recent ones: New Teacher 911 and Back to School. My partner Susan puts together most of these, calling on her teaching background and library science skills. She does a great job.

• Guest Articles: These are first-person posts, typically featuring the voices of teachers and school leaders, including folks on the front lines, who have stories to tell and good practice to share. We love to get queries from writers. We can’t pay right now (no revenue coming in yet) but we can offer fame. Anyone who’d like to write for us can check out our user-friendly editorial guidelines. Couple of samples: Nancy Flanagan’s The Teaching Essentials; and Marsha Ratzel’s No-Bunk Letter to Parents at the start of school. You may have detected that we’re putting a lot of emphasis right now on advice for new teachers and prep for a new school year.

We’re also launching several blogs between now and the end of the year. One is underway: STEM Imagineering with Anne Jolly, a middle grades science teacher and Alabama TOY who now writes STEM curriculum for an NSF-sponsored project (and helps school teams become action researchers). Our next serial blog will focus on special education and co-teaching and will be co-written by two excellent SpEd teachers and NBCTs – Elizabeth Stein (Long Island) and Laurie Wasserman (Boston). We’re still looking for a literacy-oriented blogger. If any of your readers has an interesting proposal, they can write us.

• Book Reviews: We’ve made arrangements with education publishers to share review copies with us, and our call for reviewers was well-timed for summer break (okay, luckily timed). We have over 100 books out for review at the moment, and quite a few reviews in the queue for posting. You can see what we have so far at this page. Anyone who likes book reviewing can find out more about how to get involved here.

• Interviews: We’re also talking with interesting people who have expertise around middle grades education — or just do great things for middle grades kids and schools. Visitors can peruse our Five Q Interviews for ideas, insights, and good chat. Here’s an interview with teacher/writer Cossondra George who we described as the Goddess of Good Advice for newbies. And another with Tempered Radical Bill Ferriter about writing professional books. (And thanks for letting us interview you, as well!)

We want MiddleWeb to have a community feel and one way to accomplish that is to invite readers and visitors to become participants in content creation. Here are some ideas we’ve posted about getting involved. Writing for us is just one way – but an important way! You know that I’m an editor-for-hire in one of my personas, and we offer that editorial support gratis, for what it’s worth.

4. How is the MiddleWeb SmartBrief different from your long-time biweekly newsletter “MiddleWeb’s Of Particular Interest”?

Well, as many people know, SmartBrief is an information-sharing company with lots of newsletters, including some popular education editions: ASCD SmartBrief, Accomplished Teacher, SmartBrief on Ed Tech and quite a few more. But they had nothing specifically aimed at the middle, and that’s where we came into the picture.

Our MiddleWeb SmartBrief really has two components. First there’s the content gathered by the SmartBrief editorial team, who focus on news and resource articles from the social media stream that (1) have a middle grades focus, and (2) carry a byline and are less than two weeks old. The SB editors are professional information gatherers and it’s great to have them scouring the Web for useful stuff. We worked with them to come up with the section themes for each issue: Teaching in the Middle, Tweens & Young Teens, Classroom Innovation, Technology & Connected Learning, and Middle Grades Leadership.

Then Susan and I also provide several content items in each issue — in a section labeled MiddleWeb Recommends. Most often we write about new content we’ve posted on the MiddleWeb site, but we may mention other items of interest.

Here’s the best part about the SmartBrief partnership. The SB editors work very closely with us to make sure we think what they are providing is in sync with the needs and interests of the grade 4-8 audience. We may be asked at the last minute whether some new “find” is a good fit. If not, they find something else. We also send along things we’ve spotted that we feel would be good to include, and they’re very responsive to our suggestions.

My background is in journalism and I’ve been really impressed with the quality job these folks do and the level of collaboration we’ve achieved. If a subscriber writes in and says “I’d like to see more about innovative teaching,” we all pay attention to that and try to be responsive. Our MW-SB subscriber list is growing rapidly, so I’m pretty sure we’re on the right track. It’s free and folks can subscribe here.

5. What other projects are you involved in?

I turned 64 this summer, and you’d think MiddleWeb would be enough! But I’m actually working as a consultant for two great organizations — the Alabama Best Practices Center (three states away from my NC mountain home) — and Powerful Learning Practice LLC, where I wear several hats, including editor for the Voices from the Learning Revolution group blog. We’ve published nearly 200 essays there in the last 18 months, written by educators who are making the “shift” to more digitally infused, inquiry/PBL learning. Both ABPC and PLP support significant online communities of educators and have been recognized by USDOE for their leadership in that arena. As a founder of two highly engaged online communities myself, I love staying involved in what I think is the most exciting dimension of professional learning these days.

Thanks for the interview, Larry. You really are the Web Impresario of Education.

 

 

 

August 20, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

The Best Videos For Educators In 2012 — So Far

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m doing mid-year lists to make it easier for me to do my end-of-year final lists.

You might also be interested in:

The Best Videos For Educators In 2011

Part Two Of The Best Videos For Educators — 2010

The Ten Best Videos For Educators — 2010

And you might also want to see The Best Funny Videos Showing The Importance Of Being Bilingual — Part One ; The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner and The Best Fun Videos About Books & Reading.

Here are my choices for The Best Videos For Educators In 2012 — So Far:

Here’s a short video demonstrating Bloom’s Taxonomy through scenes from the movie, “Finding Nemo.” It only has still scenes for each level with a description, but it would be easy enough to show the scenes from a DVD or via Netflix and use this video as a guide:

And here’s Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised) According to Homer Simpson. I’ve embedded the video below, though if it doesn’t show up on an RSS Readers you might have to click through to see it. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Helping Teachers Use Bloom’s Taxonomy In The Classroom, where it joins similar videos using clips from Star Wars, Seinfield and Pirates of the Caribbean to provide a similar light-hearted, but educational, perspective.

I’ve written a lot about the work of Harvard Professor Michael Sandel. Here’s short video where he’s considering the question “Should we pay children to read?” He gets to the crux of the matter in the final couple of minutes:

I titled this video “Sometimes You Just Have To Take The Risk, Jump In, & Grab An Opportunity Because It May Not Be There For Long…”:

First, congratulations to LeBron James on his first NBA Championship.

Second, thanks to LeBron for spending so much reading and making it so public.

Here’s a video on why and what he’s reading, and an ESPN article about it — LeBron James, open book.

Justin Reich posted Don’t Use Khan Academy without Watching this First, and it’s a very important post where he shared this video two teachers (and an important commentary about it), Dave Coffey and John Golden, created:

Bill Ferriter found this video and wrote a must-read commentary about it — Learning about Grading from the Baljeatles.

Let’s not turn our students into this, please. This video make a great case for why we need to help our students develop intrinsic motivation.

This really is an extraordinary video, and is tailor-made to use in an ESL class — it’s extremely engaging and has lots of different activities that students can describe and discuss. In fact, it’s engaging for anyone…. Unfortunately, it’s also a commercial for Coke, but the advertising part is very small at the end:

PBS released this wonderful remix of Mister Rogers:

Thanks to an excellent post by Jennifer Brokofsky, I learned about this short video of Sir Ken Robinson. He makes an excellent point about the importance of helping students motivate themselves (and I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On “Motivating” Students):

“Farmers and gardeners know you cannot make a plant grow….The plant grows itself. What you do is provide the conditions for growth. And great farmers know what the conditions are and bad ones don’t. Great teachers know what the conditions for growth are and bad ones don’t.”

In this video, some ducklings were able to get over the curb on their own. However, several found that it was just too high. Look at how someone provides assistance to those having trouble, and how he doesn’t tell them what to do. Instead, he offers it as an option, as a choice they can make. It’s an example of an old community organizing axiom, “If you don’t give people the opportunity to say no, you don’t give them the opportunity to say yes, either.”

Diane Ravitch calls this video clip the “greatest single commentary on flaws of data-driven school reform today.” It is pretty darn good, I have to agree:

Perpetual Ocean is a NASA video showing ocean currents over a two year period. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Oceans.

Check-out the just-released Symphony of Science video about dinosaurs. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Dinosaurs:

This is a very good short video on how our brain learns. It also reinforces the importance of deliberative practice. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Showing Students That They Make Their Brain Stronger By Learning:

This is a hilarious video using the often-used Hitler video clip to comment on school testing. I’m adding it to A Collection Of The Best “Laugh While You Cry” Videos. Thanks to Bill Ferriter for finding it.

We Are All Connected is a great one minute film from The World Wildlife Fund.

You could have English Language Learners say/write what is happening in the film, compare the two screens, and explain how they are similar.

Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer, shared this video from Kathy Collins of Choice Literacy:

Feedback is welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the 900 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free.

June 22, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
13 Comments

The Best Sites For Smartboard Resources (& For Other IWB’s)

Check out my Education Week Teacher post, The Best Ways To Use Interactive White Boards

(NOTE: This post originally was a request to readers for suggestions of Smartboard and IWB resources. Responses were so good that I’ve decided to convert this post into a “The Best…” list. However, instead of listing recommendations within the body of the post, as I’ve done with my 900 other “The Best…” lists, you should just go directly to the comments to see all the great resources people recommend)

I’ve never used a Smartboard, though I regularly use smaller versions of $2 interactive whiteboards.

And I have a lot of respect for Bill Ferriter’s judgment in most things (see Wasting Money on Whiteboards. . . and Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards).

Given all that, though, I know a lot of teachers are in situations where they have these kinds of Smartboards in their classrooms.

Reader Jay Sugerman will soon have one, and he emailed this message to me:

please recommend both the best sites to learn how to incorporate this tool as well as any collections of good interactive sites and lessons.

So, as we said in my community organizing days, we are living in the world as it is as opposed to living it in the world as we’d like it to be — what are you suggestions for Smartboard sites and collections for teachers who have them?

TESiBoard has a nice selection of IWB resources. Thanks to Vicki Davis for the tip.

Interactive Whiteboards #101 : A short primer is from The Whiteboard Blog. Thanks to Richard Byrne for the tip.

Teacher Training Videos has a screencast on how to use Smartboards with English Language Learners.

June 9, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Good Education Policy-Related Posts & Articles

Here are several recent good education policy-related posts and articles:

High School Reunion is by Mike Rose.

What Can Voucher Fans Learn from the Space X Mission? is by Bill Ferriter. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning Why School Vouchers Are A Bad Idea.

Do Our Public Schools Threaten National Security? is by Diane Ravitch. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On The Education & National Security Report.

Yong Zhao in Conversation: Education Should Liberate, Not Indoctrinate is from Education Week.

What Do NAEP Scores Mean? is by Diane Ravitch.

The worst eighth-grade math teacher in New York City is by Aaron Pallas. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The New York Court Decision Releasing Teacher Ratings.

Student surveys for children as young as 5 years old may help rate teachers is from The Washington Post. This ridiculous idea is just another example of how “school reformers” can take an idea that has great potential and warp it so everyone gets harmed. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers).

The fantasies driving school reform: A primer for education graduates is by Richard Rothstein. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher & Outside Factors Have On Student Achievement.

Teachers’ performance pay ‘does not raise standards’ is from The BBC. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning Why Teacher Merit Pay Is A Bad Idea.

The Paradox Of Performance Pay is from Farnam Street. I’m adding it to the same list.

Where should we focus our efforts? is from Delta Scape.

May 8, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

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

(Usually, I just post a weekly version of this regular feature. However, sometimes I post an extra “Special Edition” when I have more good links than usual)

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

How Americans spend money, compared with other countries is a chart from The Washington Post. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World’s Different Cultures.

Cartoon: PowerPoint Fever is from The New Yorker via This Week in Education. I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Advice For Making Good Presentations.

The Gated Community Mentality is from The New York Times. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Walls That Separate Us.

The Rich Get Even Richer is from The New York Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources About Wealth & Income Inequality.

What Makes an Answer a Great Answer? is a pretty interesting post from the Atlantic.

Who Shouldn’t Go to College? is from The New York Times. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career.

iPad in Education Resources Worth Exploring is from Bill Ferriter. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Beginning iPad Users.

January 29, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

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”:

New iPhone? Try these apps for travelers is from MSNBC. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me.

Want To Make Your iPhone’s PIN More Secure? Repeat A Digit is from TechCrunch. I’m adding it to the same list.

Storytelling lessons from Bill Cosby is from Presentation Zen. I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Advice For Making Good Presentations. Thanks to Karen Dietz for the tip.

Five Tips for Creating PowerPoint Slides that WON’T Bore Your Audience is from Bill Ferriter. I’m adding it to the same list.

Q&A: Publishing Your Own E-Book is from The New York Times. I’m adding it to So, You Want To Write A Book? Here’s The Best Advice….

The Texas Independence Convention Comic Maker is obviously pretty narrow in scope, but it’s great if you’re teaching U.S. History (the site has a nice movie, too, on Texas independence.) I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Make Comic Strips Online.

I recently discovered that Tweetdeck now has a Web version. It seems very comparable to the deskstop app. However, there is one important difference. When you retweet in the desktop app, you retweet in the “old” way — it shows your name as part of the tweet. The Web version retweets are in the “new” Twitter style. I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Beginning To Learn What Twitter Is All About.

Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post is by Michael Hyatt. I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Advice For Teachers (And Others!) On How To Be Better Bloggers.

Fifteen-Year-Old Tackles Slavery is a video from ABC News:

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Students Freeing Modern Slaves is a related website. I’m adding both the video and website to The Best Resources For Learning About Human Trafficking Today.

A Student’s Guide to Climate Change is from The Environmental Protection Agency. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change.

Common Assessments: More Details Emerge is from Education Week. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing.

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

“The Best…” series (which now number 835)

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

The Week In Web 2.0

January 9, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction

My colleague Katie Hull-Sypnieski is leading a February 1st Education Week Webinar on differentiating instruction, and I would strongly encourage people to participate. Katie’s the best teacher I’ve ever seen….

In addition, Katie and I have co-authored a piece for Education Week Teacher on the topic that will be appearing there soon, and an upcoming post in my blog there will be talking about it, too.

Given all that, a “The Best…” post was inevitable, and here it is.

Here are my choices for The Best Resources On Differentiating Instruction:

Busting Myths about Differentiated Instruction is by Rick Wormeli.

Reconcilable Differences? Standards-Based Teaching and Differentiation is by Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Deciding to Teach Them All is by Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Making a Difference: Carol Ann Tomlinson explains how differentiated instruction works and why we need it now is an Ed Week Teacher interview.

From Differentiated Instruction to Differentiated Assessment is by Douglas B. Reeves.

Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction is by Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Using Digital Tools for Differentiation is a wiki created by Bill Ferriter.

Differentiated Instruction: Setting the Pedagogy Straight is by Rick Wormeli.

Feedback and/or Additional suggestions are always 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 800 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

December 31, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
4 Comments

The Best Resources For Beginning iPad Users

Though I haven’t gotten an iPad yet (NOTE: Now I have!), we did get one for my mother-in-law. So, with an eye towards helping her now, and me in the future, I put out a call to readers to their suggested resources as well as hunting for them on my own.

You might also be interested in The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me.

Here are my choices, and choices suggested by readers (their recommendations are better than mine!), as The Best Resources For Beginning iPad Users:

iPad Getting Started is from TC Geeks.

The 10 best iOS apps of 2011 comes from The Telegraph.

The best iOS apps for children, 2011 is also from The Telegraph.

The top 50 iPad apps is from The Guardian.

Choosing the Right Keyboard For Your iPad is from Read Write Web.

The Best iPad Apps: 10 Essential Apps For The New iPad You Got For The Holidays is from The Huffington Post.

Educreations lets you easily create video lessons.

Fill Your New Kindle, iPad, iPhone with Free eBooks, Movies, Audio Books, Courses & More is from Open Culture.

iPads In The Art Room

APPiticdescribes itself as:

…an directory of apps for education by Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs) to help you transform teaching and learning.

It has over 1,300 categorized apps, including a ton organized by Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Here are great suggestions from readers:

Paul McKean has an excellent collection of fifteen useful links.

Chrissie Turkington recommends iPad Tips: Getting Started with the iPad.

Katie suggests these apps: Evernote and Dropbox; Facebook and Twitter; iMovie

Julia Ault has compiled an excellent collection of iPad resources.

Daniela Arghir Bunea suggests these apps: iBooks, Animoto Video Slideshows, flex:player and TeacherPal

Kathy Fagan writes:

I am such a newbie and the apps that have excited me so far are 1. iSpeech Translator, which will convert spoken words to text and then translate, sometimes with spoken words at the other end too. Not perfect, but may be useful in a multi-language classroom and 2. a PDF annotating tool such as GoodNotes or UPad, which obviously can be used to highlight and make margin notes but can also be used on blank “paper” to scribble quick ideas or diagrams. UPad has more features, but GoodNotes has a simple, clean interface and easy access to Dropbox.

Melissa A. Venable writes:

Don’t be afraid to put your new iPad through its paces. Consider all of the tasks you perform, media you consume, with other tech gadgets (phone, ereader, laptop/desktop, even tv, etc.) and try them on the iPad. And explore the wide variety of apps. I gathered a list of educator-recommended apps at a recent conference – the productivity apps are particularly helpful.

Darrell Rudmann suggests these apps: GoodReader, NoteTaker HD, SimpleNote, mSecure, iA Writer, iThoughts HD, Keynote, Dropbox, and ignition.

Jan Harding writes:

App Start is a great little app that walks newbies through the best apps in many different catagories. App Tracker is another good one that tracks the best FREE apps by category as well. Looking forward to seeing your post as I am also collecting info for beginning users.

Sorting Out an Avalanche of iPad Apps for the Best of 2011 is from The New York Times.

28 iPad 2 Tips and Tricks is from PC World.

Google’s Free 64-Language Translator App Comes to the iPad is from Read Write Web.

The School That Launched 1,000 iPads is a useful post from Richard Byrne’s blog.

“70 Interesting Ways To Use An iPad In Your Classroom” is the newest — at least, to me it’s the newest — in Tom Barrett’s great Interesting Ways series. You can find all of Tom’s “Interesting Ways” here, and that link is also on my The Best Places To Learn Web 2.0 Basics list. Thanks to Candace Townsley on Twitter for the tip.

IPads In The Classroom comes from Ed Tech Teacher.

The Very First App You Should Load on Your New iPad is from Jeffrey Thomas.

And if you’re considering using iPads in the classroom, Redefining Instruction With Technology: Five Essential Steps by Jennie Magiera is a must read.

20 Great Classroom iPad Apps to add to your Collection (1-5) is from Tom Barrett.

TCEA-Recommended iPad Apps is an incredible Google Document listing educational iPad apps.

My Ten Most Used Apps to Become Fluent on the iPad is from Langwitches.

30 Best Apps for Apple’s New iPad from TIME.

15 Favorite iPad Apps As Selected By Teachers is from Emerging Ed Tech.

iPad in Education Resources Worth Exploring is from Bill Ferriter.

6 Tips to Improve Typing on the iPad

Jeffrey Hill has begun a new blog called iPad English that is focusing on….using the iPad for English teaching and learning.

8 Great Free Web Resources Focused on Using the iPad in Education is from Emerging Ed Tech.

Stephanie Cook has a good Pinterest Board for iPads.

Three Apps I’m Downloading To My iPad Today

Ten Tips and Tricks Every iPhone and iPad User Should Know is a very helpful article.

Draw and Tell looks like a useful iPad app that lets you “Draw or color, add stickers, then talk about your drawing.”

102 Interesting Ways to use an iPad in the Classroom

Book Creator seems like the easiest tool for making “talking books” on the iPad. Langwitches has a tutorial on using it. I originally heard about the tool from Lea Anne.

iPad Publishing seems to have a good list of useful and educational iPad apps.

Here’s a Co.Design post about Haiku Deck, a presentation app for the iPad.

IPads Are Like Hammers is an interesting post.

Four Reasons Why School Tablet Rollouts Can Stumble – Or Fail is from ZD Net.

Little Story Maker App: Listening, Reading, Customizing, Personalizing is a post from Langwitches about an other bookmaking app.

5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make With iPads (And How To Correct Them) – From Tom on Edudemic is from Ed Tech Teacher.

Explain Everything looks like it might be a useful iPad app.

Dispelling the Myths About 1:1 Environments is from Edutopia.

What Students Can Actually DO With An iPad is from Edudemic.

Have Gadgets, Will Travel: 10 Tech Tools for Turning Your iPad into a Mobile Workstation

A list of All The Best iPad Apps Teachers Need (thanks to Joe Dale for the tip)

Top 50 iPad Apps: The Best Apps in Every Category for Your New Tablet is from ABC News.

iPad starter kit: 100 essential apps is from The Telegraph.

17 Pros and Cons of Using iPads in the Classroom is from Teachers With Apps.

A Video Tour of My Teacher iPad is from Chris McWilliams.

5 Useful iPad Apps For ESL Students is from Edudemic.

Introducing Mobile Technology Into Your Classroom: Structures and Routines is from Edutopia.

The Smart Way to Use iPads in the Classroom is from Slate.

TIME Magazine recently published their 50 Must-Have iPad Apps for 2013.

Reading a Bedtime Story Together from Afar is a NY Times article about a neat iPad app.

Thanks to everybody who contributed to this list!

Feedback is welcome.  And I hope people will continue to leave suggestions in the comments section of this post.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at the over 800 other “The Best…” lists and consider subscribing to this blog for free

November 28, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

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

Here are some recent good school reform posts and articles:

Big expansion, big questions for Teach for America is from The Boston Globe. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Raising Concerns About Teach For America.

What Counts as a Big Effect? (I) is by Aaron Pallas. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Understanding How To Interpret Education Research. Thanks to Scott McLeod for the tip, who also wrote a related post.

I think Bill Ferriter makes several important points in this post from the summer which I recently re-looked at: Make Like an Obstetrician and Deliver. And I liked his comment at another blog where he wrote “Instead of looking for the statistics that make the greatest impact, we’re looking for the statistics that are the easiest to measure.”

 

September 1, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

“TransformED” Is A New Must-Read Blog

TransformED is a new must-read blog from The Center For Teaching Quality.

It brings together posts from some of the most thoughtful teacher-bloggers in the United States, including some of my favorites like Bill Ferriter and Renee Moore — and those are just a couple of a long list of writers.

Check it out and I’m sure you’ll agree with my assessment!

August 28, 2011
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

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

Here are some useful school reform-related posts and articles that have been published recently:

Naive To Print Teachers’ Scores, Says TFA Founder is from Alexander Russo, who reports that Teach For America’s Wendy Kopp opposes the public release of teacher ratings. That’s good to hear though, as Alexander mentions, “I wish Kopp had been so clear back a year ago when this was all first being debated — it would have been brave and right of her…” I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles About The New York Court Decision Releasing Teacher Ratings.

N.Y. appeals court rules that teacher ratings can be public is from The Los Angeles Times and I’m adding it to the same list.

International Rankings That Reformers Ignore: The Children Left Behind is by Larry Cuban. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Getting Some Perspective On International Test Comparison Demagoguery.

Is “Racing to the Top” Even Possible, Arne? is by Bill Ferriter.

What Americans Think About Teachers Versus What They’re Hearing is from The Shanker Blog. I’m adding it to The Best Posts/Articles On This Year’s Phi Delta Kappa and Gallup Education Poll.

The Missing Link In School Reform shares important research about the role of trust and the development of social capital in schools. I’m adding it to The Best Posts About Trust & Education.

I’m not going to make a separate “The Best…” list related to Steve Brill’s new book on school reform, “Class Warfare.” However, here are three articles that join Steve Brill’s Report Card on School Reform, the New York Times book review, as the best commentaries that I’ve seen it:

Teachers Get Little Say in a Book About Them is from The New York Times.

Steve Brill’s blinkered view of education is from Reuters.

Should we really expect schools to cure poverty? is also from Reuters.

Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful? is from The Smithsonian Magazine. I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Learn About Finland’s Education System.