Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

47 Search Results for: metacognition

June 13, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

My Best Posts On Writing Instruction

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Photo Credit: D. Sharon Pruitt via Compfight

I’ve published a number of posts on writing instruction, and thought I’d bring them all together into one “The Best” list.

I’ve previously posted tons of lists sharing sites that are useful in writing instruction, but none collecting posts I’ve written about what to actually do in the classroom.

Before I get to those posts, though, here are the website lists:

The Best Websites For K-12 Writing Instruction/Reinforcement
The Best Places Where Students Can Write Online
The Best Sites For Grammar Practice
Not “The Best,” But “A List” Of Mindmapping, Flow Chart Tools, & Graphic Organizers
The Best Resources For Researching & Writing Biographies
The Best Resources For Learning How To Write Response To Literature Essays
The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience”
The Best Places Where Students Can Create Online Learning/Teaching Objects For An “Authentic Audience”
The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories
The Best Sites To Learn About Advertising
The Best Websites For Developing Academic English Skills & Vocabulary
The Best Online Interactive Exercises For Writing That Are Not Related To Literary Analysis
The Best Online Resources To Teach About Plagiarism
The Best Resources For Learning Research & Citation Skills
The Best Sites For Students To Create & Participate In Online Debates
The Best Online Resources For Helping Students Learn To Write Persuasive Essays
The Best Spelling Sites
The Best Sites For Gaining A Basic Understanding Of Adjectives
The “Best” Sites For Helping Students Write Autobiographical Incident Essays
The Best Sites To Learn “Feelings” Words
The Best Sites For ELL’s To Learn About Punctuation
The Best Resources To Help Students Write Research Essays
The Best Sites For Learning To Write A Story
The Best Writing Advice From Famous Authors
The Best Resources On Punctuation

And, now, here are my writing instruction posts:

I published a four-part series on teaching writing over at my Education Week blog. Here’s a link to the final post in that series — it contains links to the previous three, too.

My Revised Final Exams (And An Important Lesson)

Five ways to get kids to want to read and write

“Instead of seeing students as Far Below Basic or Advanced, we see them as learners” is a guest post written by my colleague Lara Hoekstra.

More Mount Everest Resources, Including Prompt We’re Using As Part Of Our “Final”

Writing Prompts — Feel Free To Contribute Your Own!

Rwanda Lesson & Writing Prompt

Here’s The “Growth Mindset” Article & Prompt We’re Using As Part Of Our Semester Final

“Point, Quote, Connect”

Helping Students Write Essays

Student Writing & Metacognition

My Student Handout For Simple Journal-Writing

Feel free to offer links to your best posts (or pieces that others have written) on teaching writing….

June 3, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

The Importance Of Explaining “Why”

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I’ve often written — in articles, in my books, and here in this blog — about the importance of agitating students to explain their answers. As I wrote in The New York Times while discussing a lesson where students had to do a sequencing task by putting text fragments in the correct order:

Putting the passages in the correct order, however, is just one part of this kind of learning task. Equally important is having students explain (for example, by highlighting “clues”) why they believe certain text goes where it does. As research shows, this kind of “explanation-based learning” can have numerous benefits, especially increasing the odds of students using the strategies they successfully apply in these sequencing activities to other comprehension tasks.

New research has just come out reinforcing the importance of “explanation-based learning” and its ability to help students gain a greater understand so they can transfer their knowledge to new situations.  You definitely want to read the entire article at Education Week, but here’s an excerpt:

“Often students are able to say facts, but not able to understand the underlying mathematics concept, or transfer a problem in math to a similar problem in chemistry,” said Joseph Jay Williams, a cognitive science and online education researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

For example, a student asked to explain why 2×3=6 cannot simply memorize and parrot the answer, but must understand the underlying relationship between multiplication and addition, Mr. Williams said. Students who can verbally explain why they arrived at a particular answer have proved in prior studies to be more able to catch their own incorrect assumptions and generalize what they learn to other subjects.

“We know generating explanations leads to better educational outcomes generally. When children explain events, they learn more than when just getting feedback about the accuracy of their predictions,” said Cristine H. Legare, an assistant psychology professor and the director of the Cognition, Culture, and Development Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin.

I’m adding this info to both The Best Posts On Metacognition and to The Best Resources For Learning About The Concept Of “Transfer.”

February 25, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

February’s Best Posts From This Blog

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here).

These posts are different from the ones I list under the monthly“Most Popular Blog Posts.” Those are the posts the largest numbers of readers “clicked-on” to read. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit lax about writing those posts, though.

Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference):

Summary: Week Four Of Twitter Chat On Student Motivation Using #selfdrivenlrng Hashtag

I Began This Blog Six Years Ago: Here Are My All-Time Most Popular Posts

Video: Excellent Classroom Example of Dan Pink’s “One Sentence Project”

What A Neat Lesson Idea For Using Photos!

Knowledge Isn’t Power — “Power is Power”

Study: More Power Equals More Self-Control & Less Power Equals — You Guessed It!

Free Book Excerpts — Lesson Plans On Bloom’s Taxonomy & Metacognition

“Teachers As ‘Persuaders’: An Interview With Daniel Pink”

The Harlem Shake As A Language-Learning Activity

“7 Qualities to Maximize the Impact of Your Lesson Plans”

“Several Ways to Balance Between District Mandates & Student Needs”

You Can Now Pre-Order My Book, Self-Driven Learning, On Amazon

I’ll Be A Guest At An Ed Week Webinar On “Developing Intrinsic Motivation in Students”

“What Does It Mean to Be a Citizen?”

“Brainy Box” Is A Winner!

“How Peer Assistance Can Improve Teacher Practice”

Brain “Priming” In The Classroom

What A Great New Financial Literacy Tool For English Language Learners & Everybody Else

“Creating a Culture of Improvement With Peer Assistance & Review (PAR)”

Student Reflection Form On Goals & Joy

New Research Shows Why Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Character Education Are Not Enough

One New Activity I’m Doing To Help ELLs Learn Academic Vocabulary – & Practice Speaking It

Washington Post Reprints My Evaluation Post

“Response: Do’s and Don’ts for Better Project-Based Learning”

February 23, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

What A Neat Lesson Idea For Using Photos!

I saw these tweets (which I have put together in a Storify) from Dan Krutka today that demonstrated a new — at least, to me — neat idea on how to use photos in lesson.  He uses the famous image from Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination, but it could be used with many other photos, including ones that are not well-known.  It could incorporate vocabulary acquisition and metacognition, especially with English Language Learners.  I’m definitely adding it to The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons.

February 19, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Free Book Excerpts — Lesson Plans On Bloom’s Taxonomy & Metacognition

Eye On Education has just made an excerpt from my upcoming book, Self-Driven Learning, available free online. Just go to the link and click on “Click for PDF sample pages.”

It will lead you to a portion of my chapter on higher-level thinking skills, and includes ideas and lessons for Bloom’s Taxonomy and metacognition. It’s not the entire chapter, but it will certainly give you a flavor of the book, as well as some useful lesson ideas.

January 17, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Here’s The Table Of Contents & Free Resources From “Self-Driven Learning”

Eye On Education has made their page live on my new book, Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation. It’s a sequel to Helping Students Motivate Themselves. It’s also available on Amazon.

All Excerpts From My Book, “Self-Driven Learning,” In One Place

This excerpt appeared in The Washington Post: “Five ways to get kids to want to read and write”

Here’s an excerpt that appeared in Education Week Teacher.

Links To The Entire Six Week Twitter Chat On Helping Students Develop Intrinsic Motivation

Summary Of #selfdrivenlrng Twitter Chat On Student Motivation — Week One

Summary: Week Two Of Twitter Chat On Student Motivation Using #selfdrivenlrng Hashtag

Summary: Week Three Of Twitter Chat On Student Motivation Using #selfdrivenlrng Hashtag

Summary: Week Four Of Twitter Chat On Student Motivation Using #selfdrivenlrng Hashtag

Summary: Week Five Of Twitter Chat On Student Motivation Using #selfdrivenlrng Hashtag


Free Book Excerpts — Lesson Plans On Bloom’s Taxonomy & Metacognition

Video: “Helping Students Motivate Themselves”

“Ethical & Effective Test Prep” Is Another Excerpt From My New Book

Nice Book Review

Another Positive Review Of My New Book

The Best Resources For Doing A “One-Sentence Project”

My New Book, Self-Driven Learning, Is Now Available On Kindle

Here’s A Goal-Tracking Sheet I’m Giving To Students

“Positive, Not Punitive, Classroom Management Tips”

More Positive, Not Punitive, Classroom Management Tips

The BAM Radio Network interviewed several guests, including Daniel Pink and me, for a program on student motivation. You can listen to it here.

Here’s the Table Of Contents:

Chapter 1: I Still Want to Know: How Do You Motivate Students?
Chapter 2: What Can I Do to Help Students Feel More Positive About School and Learning?
Chapter 3: How Do You Handle Rudeness in Class?
Chapter 4 : How Can You Best Handle Classroom Management?
Chapter 5: I Still Want to Know: How Can You Help Students Develop Higher-Order Thinking Skills?
Chapter 6: How Can I Get My Students More Interested in Reading and Writing?
Chapter 7: How Can You Best Prepare Your Students for Standardized Tests While Doing No Harm to Them?

December 30, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

My Best Posts From The Last Six Years

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I’ve recently looked back in the archives of the blog to identify the best posts of each year, and now I’m up to 2012!

The first list in this series, My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume One, focused on the year 2007 and included a fair amount of still-useful material (at least in my opinion).

I’d say the same thing about my review of posts from 2008, which you can find in My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume Two.

Volume Three covered 2009.

Volume Four reviewed 2010.

Volume Five looked at 2011.

And now it’s time for 2012:

I published my fourth book, “The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Strategies, Tools, and Activities for Teaching English Language Learners of All Levels,” (co-authored by Katie Hull Sypnieski). You can see lots of excerpts here.

Here are some of my favorite “The Best…” lists from this year (by the way, the total lists I’ve published reached 1,000 this year):

The Best Sites To Learn About Saul Alinsky

The Best Fun Videos About Books & Reading

The Web 2.0/Social Media Tools I Use Everyday & How I Use Them

The Best Posts & Articles On Building Influence & Creating Change

The Best Posts Questioning If Direct Instruction Is “Clearly Superior”

The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons

My Best Posts On Metacognition

The Best Funny Movie/TV Clips Of Bad Teachers

The Best Resources On The Newly-Released California Educator Excellence Task Force Report (I served on the Task Force)

The Best Resources On The Importance Of Knowing What You Don’t Know

A Sampling Of The Best Tweets With The #SaidNoTeacherEver Hashtag

I’ve published quite a few articles in other publications this year. Here are a few of my favorites:

I’ve enjoyed doing my monthly New York Times column on teaching English Language Learners and my weekly teacher advice column in Education Week Teacher.

My article in ASCD Educational Leadership, Eight Things Skilled Teachers Think, Say, and Do, has been the most popular article on their website for months.

Here is a good post on classroom management:

How To Recover From A Classroom Train Wreck….

And one on education policy:

“Sacramento City Teachers Association declines to participate in Race to the Top “

Here are some on instruction:

“Instead of seeing students as Far Below Basic or Advanced, we see them as learners” (Guest post by Lara Hoekstra)

Have You Ever Had A Student Say “This Is Boring”? Here’s A Lesson On It I’m Trying Out Tomorrow

Series Of Good Dan Pink Videos To Use With Students

“What I Cannot Create, I Do Not Understand”

Ducklings Video Demonstrates Great “Differentiated Instruction”

And here are a few miscellaneous ones:

All My Class Blogs

Eight Ways To Build An Audience For Your Blog

Prof. James Heckman Says Adolescence Is Key Time To Teach (& Learn About) Self-Control & Perseverance

“You Cannot Make A Plant Grow — You Can Provide The Conditions For Growth”

How I’m Helping My Students Try To Avoid The “Summer Slide”

Wow! Voice Of America Dramatically Redesigns & Expands Its Learning English Features

Part Two Of “How I’m Helping My Students Try To Avoid The “Summer Slide””

Daniel Pink Answers Two Questions About Group Incentives

Is This The Most Important Research Study Of 2012? Maybe

December 5, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume Five

I’ve been writing this blog for six or seven years. I thought readers might find it useful for me to dig back in the “archives” and highlight my choices for some of the best posts that appeared during that time.

The first list in this series, My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume One, focused on the year 2007 and included a fair amount of still-useful material (at least in my opinion).

I’d say the same thing about my review of posts from 2008, which you can find in My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume Two.

Volume Three covered 2009.

Volume Four reviewed 2010.

And now it’s time to look back at 2011:

I published my third book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves. You can find lots of excerpts at the link.

Here are some of my favorite “The Best…” lists from that year (of course, they’ve all been updated since that time):

The Best Resources Showing Why We Need To Be “Data-Informed” & Not “Data-Driven”

The Best Tools For Creating Fake “Stuff” For Learning

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

The Best Posts Discussing Arrogance & School Reform

So, You Want To Write A Book? Here’s The Best Advice…

The Best Posts & Articles About Compromise

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

The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner

The Best Articles Describing Alternatives To High-Stakes Testing

I published quite a few articles in other publications that year:

Videotaping teachers the right way (not the Gates way) appeared in The Washington Post.  I still think it’s the best piece I’ve ever written.

“Finishing the School Year Strong” was a very popular piece that appeared in Education Week.

Five Questions That Will Improve Your Teaching

What’s really wrong with ‘parent trigger’ laws

Why schools should not grade character traits

Here are some useful classroom management posts:

What Can We Learn About Classroom Management From Abraham Lincoln?

Collective Punishment In The Classroom

Whenever You’re Tempted To Use Punishment As A Classroom Management Tool, Remember This Comic Strip

What Is The “Zeigarnik Effect” & How Did I Apply It In The Classroom Today?

Here are my favorite posts on instruction:

How I Milked A Lesson For Every Last Ounce Of Learning And Why I’m An Idiot For Not Thinking Of It Earlier

An Effective Five-Minute Lesson On Metacognition

Is This The Most Important Research Study Of The Year? Maybe

This Is The Best Lesson Plan On Punctuation I’ve Ever Read

Three “Bonus” Posts:

Three Good Questions For Teachers To Ask Themselves

Moonwalking Birds Video

“Draw A Stickman” & Make Him Come To Life

December 2, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume Four

I’ve been writing this blog for six or seven years. I thought readers might find it useful for me to dig back in the “archives” and highlight my choices for some of the best posts that appeared during that time.

The first list in this series, My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume One, focused on the year 2007 and included a fair amount of still-useful material (at least in my opinion).

I’d say the same thing about my review of posts from 2008, which you can find in My Best Posts Over The Years — Volume Two.

Volume Three covered 2009.

And now it’s time for Volume Four, which covers posts from 2010:

My second book, English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work, was published. You can read a number of excerpts at that link.

For some wisdom and humor, you can’t beat A Collection Of The Best “Laugh While You Cry” Videos.

And, for inspiration, check out The Best Quotes About Education.

As teachers continue to be blamed for many of our school’s ills, you might want to read The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher & Outside Factors Have On Student Achievement.

Here’s a fun one: The Best Sites For Learning About “Cool” Cars (& Designing Your Own!)

The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas continues to be one of the all-time most popular posts.

I’ve been a longtime advocate of teachers using student evaluations to improve our practice, as I describe in The Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers).

The Best Posts & Articles On “Motivating” Students is another popular one.

I wrote quite a few articles for other publications that year.  Here are the ones I especially liked:

I shared my reasons for writing this blog.

Here are some of my favorite classroom management-related posts from that year:

The Problem With “Bribing Students”

“Be Niiiiiicccccceeeee”

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

Being Present

When & Why Is It Important To Have Silence In The Classroom?

Hilarious Video Clip On Motivation, Alfie Kohn, & “The Office”

Here are some good ones on education policy issues:

This Is A Great Explanation Of One Of My Biggest Concerns About “School Reformers”

“Schools would be great if it weren’t for the kids”

The “Smell Test” & Education

Now We Know How To “Fix” Schools — Fire 80% Of All New Teachers

Did You Know That THE Key To Saving American Education Is Firing Bad Teachers?

How Much “Content” Knowledge Do You Really Need To Be An Effective Teacher?

Why I Oppose Teach For America Coming To Sacramento

And here is a mix of posts on different topics:

Student Metacognition & Instructional Strategies

A Question On Teacher Attire

A Lesson Highlighting Community Assets — Not Deficits is just about my favorite lesson plan.

“Idolizing Just One Person Undermines The Struggle”

Persuasive Essays, Low-Income Communities & The Census Count

Thanks, Thomas Edison, For The Light Bulb, Phonograph and…the SAT?

Academic Research Has Its Place, But It Also Has To Be Kept In Its Place

What Can Teachers Learn From Terrorists?

“Mr. Ferlazzo, I Need My Post-It, Too” is about one of my favorite classroom moments — ever!

December 2, 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”:

Adaptive Testing Evolves to Assess Common-Core Skills is from Education Week. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing.


Common Core Tech. Demands Raise Budget Worries is from Education Week. I’m adding it to the same list.

Five Tips for New Teachers to Become Connected Educators is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to The Best Advice For New Teachers.

European Union: Key Moments is a slideshow from The PBS News Hour. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About The Nobel Peace Prize.

An Immigrant’s ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ En Espanol is from NPR. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The War Of 1812.

Resume Builder Online is a very simple tool to…create a resume. I’m adding it to The Best Places For Students To Write Their Resumes (By the way, I’ve just completely revised that list).

Metacognition and Student Learning is from The Chronicle on Higher Education. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Metacognition.

A Brief History of American Labor is an interactive timeline from The American Prospect. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Labor Day.

You Are Blind is a site designed to give the user the experience of having vision loss. It’s received a lot of praise, though I think it may be over-hyped a bit. Nevertheless, I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes.

History Of Education is an interactive timeline. It has a lot of info, though is definitely missing a lot, too. I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Learn About World Teachers Day. Thanks to Edudemic for the tip.

Wendi Pillars provides a nice step-by-step explanation about how to use the Picture Word Inductive Model with English Language Learners. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons.

September 2, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

My Best Posts On New Research Studies In 2012 — So Far

(NOTE: New addition — Is This The Most Important Research Study Of 2012? Maybe)

I’m continuing to do early versions of “The Best Of The Year” lists so in December, when I do the final ones, I won’t have to review an entire year’s worth of posts.

I write many posts about recent research studies and how they can relate practically to the classroom. In fact, I post a regular feature called Research Studies of the Week. In addition, I write individual posts about studies I feel are particularly relevant to my work as a teacher.

You might also be interested in:

My Best Posts On New Research Studies In 2011

Here are my choices for My Best Posts On New Research Studies In 2012 — So Far:

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 800 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

June 27, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

June’s Best Posts

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see my previous Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month.

These posts are different from the ones I list under the monthly“Most Popular Blog Posts.” Those are the posts the largest numbers of readers “clicked-on” to read. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit lax about writing those posts, though.

Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference):

No, The Dancing Guy Does Not Teach The Best Leadership Lessons

Part Two Of “Can’t Economists Stay Away From Schools?” — My Worst Fears Realized

Video Of Yong Zhao’s Keynote Speech At ISTE

Variations On “The Benjamin Franklin Effect”

“First Year Highlights: Helping Our Students Become Better Readers”

Guest Post: Here’s What Was Missing From The Wall Street Journal’s Column On Teacher Evaluation

Wow, MarQueed Could Be One Of The Best New Web 2.0 Tools Of The Year

Collaborate On An Essay With Nietzsche, Poe, & All Your Favorite Dead Writers

Being Reminded Of The Consequences Of Losing Self-Control Doesn’t Help; Asking About Goals Does

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

“21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity”

Can’t Economists Stay Away From Schools? Don’t They Have Enough Other Things To Do?

“ImageSpike” Seems — Almost — Just Like “Thinglink”

This Sure Is One Impressive Interactive Infographic On The Civil War

Teachers’ Union Unveils Site To Share Lessons

“First Year Highlights: Student Motivation”

Yet Another Reason Why We Need To Be Positive With Our Students

“BeeClip.Edu” Looks Great

Subject Matter Knowledge Versus Pedagogy?

On The Importance Of Being Positive In Class

“Stories are about 22 times more memorable than facts alone”

How Students Evaluated Me This Year

“Check This” Is Another Super-Easy Way To Create A Webpage

This Is Really An Extraordinary Video…

An Even MORE Useful Infographic On “Smart Teaching”

“Response: Several Ways We Can Help Students Develop Their Creativity”

“‘What Money Can’t Buy’ and What it Shouldn’t Buy”

“Test Scores vs. Entrepreneurship”

“Did You Ever Grow Anything In The Garden Of Your Mind?” — Great PBS Remix Of Mister Rogers

This Post By John Thompson On Gates Is Candidate For Best Ed Policy Commentary Of The Year

“What If?” Slideshows From My English Language Learner Students

Qwiki Is Back! (Though It Never Really Went Away)

“Part Two Of Several Ways We Can Help Students Develop Good Habits”

“Tank Man of Tiananmen”

“You Cannot Make A Plant Grow — You Can Provide The Conditions For Growth”

U.S. Department Of Education Tries To Put Lipstick On A Pig

“You’re Never Going To Keep Me Down”

Excellent Commencement Address On Failure By Atul Gawande

More Evidence Reinforcing The Importance Of Connecting To Student Prior Knowledge

“Croak.it” Lets You Easily Record a Thirty Second Message

A Very Good Article On Metacognition

Here’s Another “Wow!” Site From Google — The “World Wonders Project”

Part Two Of “How I’m Helping My Students Try To Avoid The “Summer Slide””

How I’m Helping My Students Try To Avoid The “Summer Slide”

“Several Ways To Connect With Disengaged Students”

Free Resources From All My Books

“Film Story” Is A Very Impressive Site

June 1, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

A Very Good Article On Metacognition

I’ve previously posted about a very useful study done on metacognition by Dr. Steve Fleming (see Does Getting Better At Metacognition Physically Alter The Brain?) and his follow-up comments (Update On Metacognition Study).

Today, BrainFacts.org published a nice interview with him discussing metacognition. In fact, it’s been one of the most accessible pieces on the topic that I’ve seen — Metacognition — I Know (or Don’t Know) that I Know.

I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Metacognition.

May 27, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

May’s “The Best…” Lists — There Are Now 907 Of Them

Here’s my monthly round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 907 of them categorized here):

The Best Resources For Learning About May Day

The Best Images Of The Ring Of Fire Eclipse

The Best Nature Photographs Of The Year

The Best Web Tools That Show You Objects To Scale

The Best Sites For Learning About The Golden Gate Bridge

The Best Resources For Learning About The Maya

The Best Sources Of Advice On Helping Students Strengthen & Develop Their Creativity

The Best Posts & Articles About Asking Good Questions — Help Me Find More

The Best Tools For Creating Clozes (Gap-Fills)

The Best Posts Questioning If Direct Instruction Is “Clearly Superior”

The Best Resources For Teaching “What If?” History Lessons

My Best Posts On Metacognition

The Best Tools For Displaying Instagram Photos On The Web

The Best Sites For Learning To Write A Story

The Best Writing Advice From Famous Authors

May 16, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

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:

What You Need to Know about Willpower: The Psychological Science of Self-Control is a new publication by the American Psychological Association that gives a pretty thorough review of the research. I’m adding it to My Best Posts About Helping Students Develop Their Capacity For Self-Control.

Can Blaming Others Make People Sick? is a report on an interesting study that finds “… bitterness may result in global feelings of anger and hostility that, when strong enough, could affect a person’s physical health.” I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Helping Students (& The Rest Of Us) Learn The Concept Of Not Blaming Others.

A study found that “requiring children to gesture while learning the new concept helped them retain the knowledge they had gained during instruction.” I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Students Using Gestures & Physical Movement To Help With Learning.

Do Students Know Enough Smart Learning Strategies? is an important post at MindShift that describes a recent Australian study. It highlights the importance of helping students develop metacognitive skills, and is another reminder to me to create a “The Best…” list bringing together all my posts on metacognition.

I’ve previously posted about a study that explored the impact of wearing certain kinds of clothes can affect the person wearing them — see Can An Educator’s Clothes Affect How He/She Teaches? Recently, though, The New York Times published an article on the same study and, even more interestingly, The New York Times Learning Network posted a related lesson plan.

May 13, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

The Best Posts On Metacognition

Helping students strengthen their understanding of metacognition — thinking about their thinking — is an important goal of my teaching. And I’ve written a lot about it. I thought it would be helpful to gather all of those posts in one “The Best…” list.

Here are My Best Posts On Metacognition:

ALSO:

How People Learn:Bridging Research and Practice is a new book from The National Academy Of Sciences and can be read for free online. It focuses on three teaching strategies — activating prior knowledge, focusing on big concept ideas and encouraging pattern recognition, and developing awareness of metacognition.

Do Students Know Enough Smart Learning Strategies? is an important post at MindShift that describes a recent Australian study. It highlights the importance of helping students develop metacognitive skills.

Metacognition and Student Learning is from The Chronicle on Higher Education.

Bringing Metacognition into the Classroom is by Lizzie Pinard.

The Importance Of Explaining “Why”

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.

April 29, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
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April’s Best Posts

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see my previous Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month.

These posts are different from the ones I list under the monthly “Most Popular Blog Posts.” Those are the posts the largest numbers of readers “clicked-on” to read. I have to admit, I’ve been a bit lax about writing those posts, though.

Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference):

 

April 24, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
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What Is Metacognition?

The Royal Society has just published a journal issue on metacognition.

It’s pretty technical, and I don’t think particularly helpful to teachers.

However, they also published a short video interview with the guest editors of the journal. In it, one of the editors, Christopher Frith, had some useful comments on metacognition. I think most of us know it already, but it was helpful to hear it anyway. It’s just another reminder to me about creating a “The Best…” list on my posts about metacognition.

Here are his two comments that struck me:

Psychologists describe [metacognition] as monitoring and control. An example is when you’re doing something like typing, you monitor what you’re doing so you notice if you’ve made an error and then you slow down — which is the control bit — to prevent the error from happening in the future.

At the very top end of metacognition when we are reflecting on what we’re doing, it has a very important social function. We can actually tell people why we did something. It turns out that most of the time we’re not very good at knowing why we do things. But by actually discussing it with other people we get better.

April 8, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Student Writing & Metacognition

I’ve previously posted about having English Language Learner students write and describe the process they’ve used to write an essay (see A Pretty Darn Good Lesson — If I Say So Myself :) ). They then record themselves using the Fotobabble web tool.

I’ve got to collect all my posts related to metacognition into a “The Best…” list…

Last week, I had my Beginning ELL students do something similar, but a little different.

We’ve been working writing research essays, and using graphic organizers that they construct. Their first one was on an animal of their choosing (we’re going on a field trip to the zoo soon). They’ll be doing another one on a country of their choice and, to further solidify the writing process in their minds, they described the process they used. They’re holding their essays and their graphic organizers in the photos.

It’s a simple exercise that covers all four domains — reading, writing, speaking, and listening (we post them on our class blog and show them to the class).

Here are a couple of examples: