Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

…For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL

May 13, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
2 Comments

The Best Resources On “Close Reading” — Help Me FInd More

The concept of “close reading” has been getting more and more attention lately as the Common Core Standards are being implement.

As Dr. Douglas Fisher explains:

Close reading isn’t in the Common Core State Standards. However, an analysis of the Common Core State Standards really says you’ve got to learn the text well. The Common Core State Standards require that students provide evidence and justification for their answers. The only way we know how students can do this – that they really learn to provide evidence and justification – is if they closely read.

You’ll find a number of related resources in other posts, but I thought it would be useful to start a compilation specifically related to this “close reading” concept. And I hope you’ll contribute more.

Here are some previously published posts that might be useful:

My Best Posts On Books: Why They’re Important & How To Help Students Select, Read, Write & Discuss Them

The Best Posts & Articles About Why Book “Leveling” Is A Bad Idea

The Best Resources Documenting The Effectiveness of Free Voluntary Reading

How Reading Strategies Can Increase Student Engagement

Here are my choices for The Best Resources On “Close Reading”:

Closing in on Close Reading is from Educational Leadership.

Close Reading and the CCSS, Part 1 is a video and transcript of Dr. Douglas Fisher. Here’s Part Two.

How Do We Teach Close Reading? is from Teacher 2 Teacher Help.

Common Core – Close Reading is a Pinterest Board from Chelsea Higgins.

What, exactly, is close reading of the text? is by Grant Wiggins.

Tools for Teaching: Developing Active Readers is from Edutopia.

Here’s a sample chapter from Notice and Note, the great book by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst.

Grant Wiggins has written a very thorough and helpful post on the topic.

Does Background Knowledge Matter to Reading Comprehension? by Russ Walsh.

Here are some Close Reading sample lessons from Achieve The Core. Thanks to Rita Platt for the tip.

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

You might also want to explore the 1100 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

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March 28, 2013
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“Five ways to get kids to want to read and write”

Five ways to get kids to want to read and write is an excerpt from my book, Self-Driven Learning, that was published by the Washington Post this morning.

There wasn’t room for the short introduction to the excerpt that I wrote, so I’ll publish it here instead:

Sir Ken Robinson has said:

“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…”

Unfortunately, we teachers might often feel pressured to believe that the best “conditions for growth” include treating students as “vessels to be filled,” giving and taking away “points,”  or using other types of punishments and rewards (eerily similar to how some “school reformers” want to treat educators themselves).

The word intrinsic comes from the Latin intrinsecus, which is a combination of two Latin words meaning “within” and “alongside.” All our students are intrinsically motivated—it just might not always be for doing what we want them to do. Our challenge is to work alongside our students and learn what their “self-interests” –  goals, desires, dreams — might be and develop the trusting relationships needed to guide, extend, and expand them.

My new book, Self-Driven Learning: Teaching Strategies for Student Motivation, which is excerpted here and is a sequel to my earlier book,  Helping Students Motivate Themselves, provides research and practice-based strategies and lesson plans that can help teachers begin to help provide fertile soil for the right growth conditions….

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December 9, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
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“Sacred Stories” Is An Amazing Site For Learning About Religions

Sacred Stories is a series of animated books with audio and subtitles that shares stories from many of the world’s major religions. It’s very accessible to English Language Learners, which is one of the main reasons I’m so enthusiastic about it.

Thanks to Nik Peachey for the tip.

I’m adding it to The Best Websites To Learn About Various Religions (& English).

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October 11, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
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Interesting Resources On Books & Reading

Here are some recent posts on books and reading. I’m adding this post to My Best Posts On Books: Why They’re Important & How To Help Students Select, Read, Write & Discuss Them:

For Those Who Want to Lead, Read is from The Harvard Business Review.

Books: A Living History is from Brain Pickings.

The Power of Purposeful Reading is by Cris Tovani.

Leah Price on the History of Reading is from The Browser.

And here are some new additions to The Best Resources On “Becoming What We Read”:

How Good Books Can Change You is from The Atlantic.

“LOSING YOURSELF” IN A FICTIONAL CHARACTER CAN AFFECT YOUR REAL LIFE is from Ohio State University.

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October 4, 2012
by Larry Ferlazzo
1 Comment

The Best Posts & Articles About Why Book “Leveling” Is A Bad Idea

I’m not a fan of book “leveling” through the use of Lexile measures — in other words, restricting book choice by students based on reading test results.

Here are my choices for The Best Posts & Articles About Why Book “Leveling” Is A Bad Idea:

I wrote a post in this blog that generated some great comments, Concerns About Book “Leveling.”

The BC Teacher‐Librarians’ Association has published Book Leveling and School Library Collections.

Clearly the best piece out there on this topic is Guess My Lexile by Donalyn Miller, who also includes an excellent list of other resources.

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

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