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I continue my mid-year “The Best…” lists…

The title of this “The Best…” list is pretty self-explanatory. What you’ll find here are blog posts and articles this year (some written by me, some by others) that were, in my opinion, the ones that offered the best practical advice and resources to teachers this year — suggestions that can help teachers become more effective in the classroom today or tomorrow. Some, however, might not appear on the surface to fit that criteria, but those, I think, might offer insights that could (should?) inform our teaching practice everyday.

For some, the headlines provide enough of an idea of the topic and I haven’t included any further description.

You might also be interested in:

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2012 — Part Two

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers In 2012 — Part One

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers In 2011

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers — 2010

The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice To Teachers — 2009

In addition, you might find these useful:

The Best Reflective Posts I’ve Written About My Teaching Practice In 2011

The Best Reflective Posts I’ve Written About My Teaching Practice — 2010

The Best Reflective Posts I’ve Written About My Teaching Practice — 2009

Here are my choices for The Best Articles (And Blog Posts) Offering Practical Advice & Resources To Teachers In 2013- So Far:

How My Ninth-Grade English Class Evaluated Me This Year

Here are articles, including excerpts from my latest book, that I’ve written this year and that are very practical:

Q & A Collections: Student Motivation is the title of one of my posts at Education Week Teacher. It brings all my Ed Week posts on student motivation together in one place.

The Power Of Stories

The Importance Of Explaining “Why”

“Keep Calm & Carry On”

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

I’ve published a list of the ten most popular posts from my Ed Week Teacher blog.

I’ve previously posted about LearnZillion and put it on The Best MATH Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress list. Since that time, they’ve added English Language Arts lessons, and are planning to also have ones related to Social Studies. So, now, I’m also adding it to The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress list.

The Simple Things I Do To Promote Brain-Based Learning In My Classroom is by Judy Willis. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On “Brain-Based Learning” — Help Me Find More.

What to Do When You’ve Made Someone Angry is an excellent Harvard Business Review article, and very applicable to the classroom (as well as in other areas of life).

Here’s an excerpt:

When-youve-done

It’s a refinement on what I’ve written about the importance of saying “I’m sorry” to students. I tried out Bregman’s advice in class. A student was upset because I didn’t get over to him as quickly as he would have liked when he had a question (a chronic reaction from this particular student). We’ve talked before about how I have many other students who need my help, and, typically, I just quickly say “Sorry” when he expresses his impatience and move on to his question. This time, though, I said, “Sorry, I can see that you wanted to get this work done and were frustrated you had to wait to get my help before you were able to move on” and then got to his question. He clearly was able to “let go” of his anger quicker than usual and re-focus on the work. It’s just one more positive classroom strategy to have in one’s “back pocket.”

Classroom Management Strategy: “Sometimes The Only Thing Worse Than Losing A Fight Is Winning One”

My Best Posts On Writing Instruction

Social and emotional learning gaining new focus under Common Core is a very useful and interesting article published by Ed Source.

The Best Multilingual Resources For Parents is a new “The Best” list I posted over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School.

The Best Sources Of Advice On How To Get A Teaching Job

Classroom Management Strategy: Here Are Three Things I Want. What Are Three Things You Want?

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

This is definitely one of the most interesting and useful TED videos I’ve seen (it’s actually a from a TEDx event). Marc Chun talks about Diving Into Deeper Learning. Unfortunately, since it’s a TEDx video, and not one from TED, they don’t have a transcript available. But it’s definitely worth watching. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About The Concept Of “Transfer.”

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

Stop Telling Your Employees What to Do is a post at the Harvard Business Review that has a lot of applicability to the classroom. Here’s an excerpt:

I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On “Motivating” Students.

A Very, Very Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Bullying — Please Suggest More

A Beginning List Of The Best Resources On Using Technology To Help Engage Parents is a post over at my other blog, Engaging Parents In School.

The Best Ideas On How To Finish The School Year Strong….

Famous Person Project

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

In addition to this blog, I regularly post at several other sites:

Engaging Parents In School:

Larry Ferlazzo's Engaging Parents in School Site
Weekly Posts At Classroom Q & A With Larry Ferlazzo:

Monthly Posts At The New York Times Learning Network on Teaching English Language Learners:

New York Times Learning Network
Periodic Posts at Edutopia:

Edutopia
All My Class Blogs:

I’ve written regularly in my blog and in my books about the advantages of helping develop intrinsic motivation.

Here’s some more evidence from a TIME Magazine report titled Pushing Teens to Change Their Eating Habits Could Backfire on a recent study regarding parents, their children, and diet:

Anyone see any classroom parallels?

This comic strip provides a perfect example of the wrong way to initiate a serious conversation with anyone, including a student:

Source: gocomics.com

Simple Writing Exercise Said To “Narrow Achievement Gap”

The Value Of “Mimic Writing”

Helping Students Make A Connection Between What They’re Learning In School To Their Goals In Life

How to Give Effective Feedback, Both Positive and Negative is useful column in The New York Times. Here’s an excerpt:

I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students.

The Advantages Of Helping Students Feel Powerful

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

Response: Best Homework Practices is one of my posts at Education Week Teacher.

This quote is from Marta Kagan in 7 Lessons From the World’s Most Captivating Presenters. I’m adding this info to The Best Sources Of Advice For Making Good Presentations:

“Descriptive Norms” In The New York Times & In The Classroom

Student Engagement “Requires A Conversation” is another post at my Education Week column.

Here’s a great story from Marvin Marshall, a great writer on positive classroom strategies:

Here’s The Latest Reflection/Goal-Setting Sheet I’m Using With Students

The Best Posts & Articles On Student Engagement

The Best Resources For Learning About Ability Grouping & Tracking — Help Me Find More

Many Ways To Help Students Develop Academic Vocabulary is one of  my posts over at Education Week Teacher.

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

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.

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

“Ten Elements Of Effective Instruction” is the title of one of my posts at Education Week Teacher.

The Best Resources For Learning About The Concept Of “Transfer” — Help Me Find More

Writing Letters To Students Redux

Eye On Education, the publisher of my new books on student motivation, Helping Students Motivate Themselves and Self-Driven Learning, have just posted a short video clip from a webinar I did for them.

In it, I share three strategies that can help students develop intrinsic motivation:

 

“Asking Good Questions Is Important Because…..”

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

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

Several Ways to Balance Between District Mandates & Student Needs is a post at my Education Week Teacher blog.

The Best Ways To Deal With Rudeness In Class

Response: Do’s and Don’ts for Better Project-Based Learning is a good Education Week Teacher post.

I’ve written a lot about effective ways to give student feedback, and you can seem a collection of pieces about the topic at The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students.

An article entitled Choice Words by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey has been published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and it’s an exceptional commentary with practical suggestions on giving effective feedback.

I especially like the framework they use — dividing helpful feedback into ones that emphasize student accomplishments, identity and agency.

Short, Sweet & Effective Advice On Helping Students Motivate Themselves

The Best Resources On Grading Practices

The Best Resources For Learning About Performance Assessment

A “Taxonomy For Understanding”

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.