Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

May 21, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

I’ve started a somewhat  regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention:

TESOL Report: The Changing Role of the ESL Teacher is by Diane Staehr Fenner. Here’s a direct link to the report she writes about. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Common Core Standards & English Language Learners.

The Common Core State Standards and English Learners: A Resource Page is from TESOL. I’m adding it to the same list.

35 Ways of Using Word Clouds in Language Learning is from Teacher Greg’s Education Home. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About “Word Clouds.”

Spell is from The British Council. It has interactives for ELLs about…spelling. I’m adding it to The Best Spelling Sites.

Describing people (Listening Quiz) comes from Ms. Maufroid. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Gaining A Basic Understanding Of Adjectives.

Learn English Through Cricket with English Strokes.

ESL Hip Hop teaches English through…hip hop.

May 20, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Video: Bill Clinton’s Commencement Speech Is Quite Good

I learned about Bill Clinton’s speech at Howard University from The Atlantic’s post, The Best Commencement Speeches of 2013, and it’s quite good.

I couldn’t find a written transcript, but here’s a good excerpt The Atlantic published:

But the most important thing is that we are all 99 and a half percent the same … The half a percent matters. It gave Einstein the biggest brain ever measured. He made pretty good use of it. It’s a good thing. That half a percent means LeBron James is hard to stop if he is driving for a basket. The half a percent matters. But so does the 99 and a half percent … And when you leave here I want you to never to forget for the rest of your life in the good times and bad that we live in an interdependent world and we’ve got to pull it together which means to be a good citizen you’ve got to something sometime for someone else because they are just like you are.

You can see what other commencement speeches over the year I’ve found worth watching here.

May 20, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
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More On Oklahoma Tornado, Including How To Help

Here are new additions to The Best Multimedia For Learning About The Midwest & Oklahoma Tornadoes:

How to help Oklahoma tornado victims is from NBC News.

Interactive: Deadly tornadoes in the U.S. is from USA Today.

The Associated Press has published an interactive on the Oklahoma tornado.

How to Understand the Scale of Today’s Oklahoma Tornado is from The Smithsonian Magazine.

May 20, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Quote Of The Day: “How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform”

How Michelle Rhee Misled Education Reform is an extraordinary article in this week’s New Republic magazine. It’s written by Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and author of several exceptional books.

Here’s a short excerpt:Rhee-simply-isnt

Here’s some more info on on Rhee (who lives and is based a few miles from our school):

4 concerns about Michelle Rhee is a short piece I wrote for The Washington Post.

The Best Posts About Michelle Rhee’s Exaggerated Test Scores

The Best Resources On The Memo Warning Rhee About Cheating (“It seems to me a responsible executive really ought to have looked further”)

May 20, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

The Best Multimedia For Learning About The Midwest & Oklahoma Tornadoes

Terrible tornadoes hit the Midwest this past weekend, and Oklahoma has been hit by devastating mile-wide one today. As of this initial writing of this post, the human toll is still unknown, and we can only hope it’s not as bad as the physical destruction indicates….

Here are a few quick resources that might be useful for teachers. I know that my students will be interested tomorrow in learning what happened.

You might want to start off with The Best Resources For Learning About Tornadoes.

Here are resources on the recent tornadoes (some of the embedded videos might not go through on an RSS Reader):

Action News 5 – Memphis, Tennessee

You can see more videos at CNN.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How to help Oklahoma tornado victims is from NBC News.

Interactive: Deadly tornadoes in the U.S. is from USA Today.

The Associated Press has published an interactive on the Oklahoma tornado.

How to Understand the Scale of Today’s Oklahoma Tornado is from The Smithsonian Magazine.

Oklahoma tornado – the devastation in Moore: interactive is from The Guardian.

Photos of Tornado Damage in Moore, Oklahoma is from The Atlantic.

Path of Destruction in Oklahoma is from The Wall Street Journal.

Tornadoes in America: The Oklahoma Disaster in Context is from The Atlantic.

Graphic: Oklahoma tornado destroys elementary school

Teachers Credited With Saving Students in Okla
. is from ABC.

Teachers Are Awesome: Educators as Heroes in Oklahoma Tornado is from GOOD.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This AP photo of teachers carrying students.

Here’s a partial transcript of the video embedded below:

REPORTER: there have been some amazing stories of survival that are starting to emerge from the rubble and i have one of those, brandi klein, damien klein and bobby britain. damien you’re a fourth grader at plaza tower elementary school. do you remember anything from yesterday?

CHILD: we were in glass and all we heard was the sirens go off and we all ran to the hallway. some of us had a math book, some of us had backpacks and they went off again, then we ducked again and then it went off and then we went in the bathroom, and then they went off again and then we heard the tornado and it sounded like a train coming by, and then we all, we were all covered and a teacher took cover of us, miss crossway.

REPOTER: miss crossway threw her body right over you, didn’t she?

CHILD: yes.

REPORTER: watts she covering you and some other students?

CHILD: she was covering me and my friend, zachary, and then she, i told her that we were fine because we were holding onto something and she went over to my friend antonio and covered him, and then so she saved our lives.

REPORTER: she did save your lives. how long do you remember being under the teacher? how long did it feel like for the tornado to pass over you?

CHILD: about five minutes.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The New York Times Learning Network has updated this lesson to include the Oklahoma tornado: Inside Twisters: Creating Scientific News Reports on Tornadoes.

Oklahoma tornado: What causes storms in ‘Tornado Alley’? is a video from The BBC.

The tornado’s path through Moore, Oklahoma is an interactive from The Washington Post.

Satellites See Storm System that Created Moore, Okla., Tornado shares NASA video and photos.

A Survival Plan for America’s Tornado Danger Zone is from The New York Times.

Backpacks, Human Shields, Above and Beyond: The Oklahoma Teacher Heroes is from The Atlantic.

The courage of teachers is from CNN.

Before and After: 360° Views From Moore, Okla.

Storm Chasers Seek Thrills, But Also Chance To Warn Others
is from NPR.

May 20, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

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

Here are some good relatively recent posts and articles on education policy issues:

Which Way Up: At a Glance is from The Center For Public Education and is a report on School Improvement Grants. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The Four School Improvement Grant Models.

On the need for unions and seniority is by David B. Cohen. I’m adding it to The Best Articles For Helping To Understand Both Why Teacher Tenure Is Important & The Reasons Behind Seniority-Based Layoffs.

How to Turn an Urban School District Around—Without Cheating is from The Atlantic.

Failing the Test is by David Kirp at Slate. I’m adding it to The Best Articles Providing An “Overall” Perspective On Education Policy.

The Case Against Grades is from Slate.I’m adding it to
The Best Resources On Grading Practices.

May 19, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

Another Study On Schools Providing Students Home Computers Finds The Obvious Results

Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Home Computers on Academic Achievement among Schoolchildren is the title of a new study finding that schools providing computers to students for home use resulted in no academic gains:

Computers are an important part of modern education, yet many schoolchildren lack access to a computer at home. We test whether this impedes educational achievement by conducting the largest-ever field experiment that randomly provides free home computers to students. Although computer ownership and use increased substantially, we find no effects on any educational outcomes, including grades, test scores, credits earned, attendance and disciplinary actions. Our estimates are precise enough to rule out even modestly-sized positive or negative impacts. The estimated null effect is consistent with survey evidence showing no change in homework time or other “intermediate” inputs in education.

The researchers provided computers to over 1,000 students and compared their academic results with those of another thousand in a control group (to the researcher’s credit, the students in the control group also received free computers at the end of the year-long study). The summary of the study is available for free, but you have to pay five dollars for the entire paper (which I did).

As I have stated on numerous occasions, I’m no believer in technology as a panacea. However, as I’ve previously stated in critiques of papers like these (My “Take” On Recent Study Saying Home Computer Usage Can Lead To Lower Test Scores), I believe researchers are really missing the boat.

Here’s what I wrote in that previous post:

I’ve always had questions about programs that give home computers to households with minimal training or accountability. Our school’s family literacy project of providing computers and home internet access to immigrant families resulted in huge academic gains because it combined training for parents and students and weekly monitoring and accountability. Without training or accountability, it doesn’t seem to me that schools should put much effort into getting technology into the hands of students at home.

And there are many other ways the idea of training and accountability can be implemented. I spent time showing students plenty of potentially engaging ways they can use the Internet at home to gain extra credit (since a sizable number didn’t have it at home I really couldn’t require it as an assignment and, instead, they had other ways to get extra credit), and many do so. Though I’m not that familiar with one-to-one laptop programs, I assume the training and accountability are integral to their operation — at least, in the ones that work.

Of course, students, parents, and teachers need to receive training to make all this work.

So, of course the researchers got the results they did. It would have been more useful if they had compared a control group without computers with a group that had that kind of support and accountability, which is what we did (you can read more about it at The Best Resources For Learning About Schools Providing Home Computers & Internet Access To Students.

It’s not clear in the study if individual classes were divided into halves, with one half receiving computers and the other not. I’m assuming that was the case, which even reinforces how obvious the results were going to be — teachers then couldn’t incorporate lessons that the whole class could do at home.

I sometimes wonder how much consultation researchers do with educators to help determine how useful a study would be before it’s done….

Thanks to Morgan Polikoff for the tip on the study.

May 19, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

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

As I’ve previously shared, our ninth-graders finish up the year with a unit on Mount Everest. I’ve also previously described the writing prompts we often use (see Writing Prompts — Feel Free To Contribute Your Own! and Rwanda Lesson & Writing Prompt).

As part of our “final,” we’re going to have students read Mount Everest: the ethical dilemma facing climbers and respond to this prompt:

What do you think writer Jon Henley is suggesting should be a higher priority — helping people who need assistance or not letting that get in the way of achieving your goals? To what extent do you agree with what he is saying? To support your opinion, be sure to include specific examples drawn from your own experience, your observations of others, or any of your reading (including Henley’s article).

In addition, here are some more resources I’m adding to The Best Sites For Learning About Mount Everest:

Mount Everest Is Not Immune to Climate Change is from The Smithsonian.

Maxed Out on Everest is a slideshow from National Geographic.

May 19, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Interesting Tweets From #CalTURN Conference

The California Teacher Union Reform Network just had a conference over the weekend, and here are some interesting and useful tweets that came out of it. Most were shared by David B. Cohen. David Berliner and Linda Darling-Hammond were two of the speakers there, and spoke about standardized testing and Common Core (among other topics).

I’ve used Storify to collect the tweets:


May 19, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

What Bill Gates Didn’t Say About Videotaping Teachers In His TED Talk On Education

Bill Gates announced his multi-billion dollar plan to videotape teachers in his TED Talk earlier this month (see The Best Of “TED Talks On Education”). As part of his talk, he highlighted videos of teacher Sarah Brown Wessling, who just wrote a post in The Huffington Post about it.

One portion of her piece, in particular, caught my eye:

If we want video to be an effective tool for teacher growth, here are some ways to help shore up enthusiasm.

• Keep evaluation and exercises for growth separate. As soon as evaluation becomes part of this process, the process changes. Teachers are far more likely to go into compliance mode, fearful of making mistakes. And when fear prevails, authenticity loses. So, instead, make the purpose of using video very clear: for self-reflection and growth.

This is the same point I made in The Washington Post in Videotaping teachers the right way (not the Gates way).

I don’t think Mr. Gates is too clear on that, though….

I’m adding this post to The Best Posts & Articles About Videotaping Teachers In The Classroom.

May 19, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

“Ways to Use Class Time During the Last Two Weeks Of School”

Ways to Use Class Time During the Last Two Weeks Of School is my new Education Week Teacher post.

Today’s post offers suggestions from two exceptional teacher authors: Roxanna Elden and Donalyn Miller. Part Two in this series will include responses from two more great educators: Alice Mercer and Bill Ivey. In addition, that post will share the many reader comments that have been and continue to be contributed.

May 19, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
0 comments

Find Quotations — & Their Sources — With “Quotesome”

I’ve written about my frustration with many quotation sites on the Web because they don’t provide their sources. There are some out there that do, and you can find them at The Best Places To Find Quotations On The Web.

I’m adding Quotesome to that list. The quotes have links to their sources, you can search by topic or person, and you can add your own.