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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
A Look Back: For The Few Teachers Who Still Believe In “Don’t Smile Until Christmas,” There’s Research Now That Shows It Doesn’t WorkFor the next month or so, I’ll be republishing my best posts from the last half of 2025.
I don’t think there are many teachers left who believe in the very old idea that they shouldn’t smile until Christmas but, if there are, there’s now research that debunks it. Research: When Leaders Express Positivity Early On, Employees Perform Better is a column in The Harvard Business Review that focuses on “employees,” but it’s pretty easy to substitute “students.” You can see the primary finding in the above text box. They also found that critical feedback is better received after the first few months, which pretty much every teacher – and every person – knows. We’re all more likely to listen to critique after we’ve developed a level of trust with people and believe they know what they’re doing and have our best interest at heart. I’m adding this info to Best Posts On Classroom Management.      This Week’s Free & Useful Artificial Intelligence Tools For The Classroom
 geralt / Pixabay
At least, for now, I’m going to make this a weekly feature which will highlight additions to THE BEST NEW – & FREE – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS THAT COULD BE USED IN THE CLASSROOM. Here are the latest: Deck Nova seems like a decent text-to-presentation tool. Textbook graph makes dense textbooks more accessible through visualizations. Interactmet isn’t free, but it’s just another of those amazing online tools that provide simultaneous translation. Fluensa is a chrome extension for learning languages. Story Evolve is an “AI-Powered Interactive Story Creation Platform.” Walkie Talkie looks pretty cool – you can use it to easily create multilingual audio guides, primarily for museums, but for neighborhoods, too. You can create one for free. AI-Proofing Is a Myth is from Stephen Fitzpatrick. I generally don’t pay much attention to teachers at U.S. private schools, but this is definitely worth a read. I’m adding it to A Beginning List Of Different Types Of Guidance Educators Are Giving Students About AI Use In Their Classes.
 Just Sent-Out Free Monthly Email Newsletter geralt / Pixabay
I’ve just mailed out the February issue of my very simple free monthly email newsletter. It has over 3,000 subscribers, and you can subscribe here. Of course, you can also join the tens of thousands of others who subscribe to this blog daily: 7 WAYS YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO MY DAILY BLOG POSTS FOR FREE  The Best Ideas For Teaching About Bad Bunny & His Super Bowl Halftime Show
As everyone knows, the Super Bowl is this Sunday and Bad Bunny is performing as the halftime show. Each year I share The Best Sites Where ELL’s Can Learn About The Super Bowl, but I thought readers might find it helpful if I published this special “Best” list specifically about Bad Bunny: An obvious lesson would be on the backlash to his selection and how students feel about it. This USA Today article, Why some politicians are mad about Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance, is a good start. Students could read it and respond to this prompt: In your own words, why are some people objecting to Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance? To what extent do you agree or disagree with them? To support your opinion, be sure to include specific examples drawn from your own experience, your observations of others, or any of your readings. Here’s an older NY Times Learning Network interactive: Vocabulary in Context: Bad Bunny Bad Bunny & “DeBÍ TiRaR MáS FOtoS”: More Than Entertainment—A Cultural Statement That You Need To Teach is from The Cultural Classroom. Fans race to learn Spanish before Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show is from The Guardian. Bad Bunny 101: Your guide to his lyrics and more ahead of the Super Bowl halftime show is from NBC News. Check out The Bad Bunny Syllabus. Here are two resources for specifically teaching Bad Bunny in Spanish classes.  This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in seeing all my “Best” lists related to education policy here):
  How useful are meta-analyses really? is from From Experience To Meaning. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Understanding How To Interpret Education Research.
 Colleges See Major Racial Shifts in Student Enrollment is from The NY Times. California faces teacher strikes across state for better pay and work conditions is from The Guardian.
Congress Has Passed an Education Budget. See How Key Programs Are Affected is from Ed Week.
Schools are increasingly telling students they must put their phones away – Ohio’s example shows mixed results following new bans is from The Conversation. I’m adding it to The Best Posts On Student Cellphone Use In Class — Please Contribute More.
How ICE Raids Are Affecting Children—And What Schools Can Do is from Greater Good. I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Support Schools, Teachers, Students & Families In The Face Of Trump’s Deportation Threats.  More Recent Articles
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