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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
What Do The Election Results Mean For Education? Schäferle / Pixabay
It was a great election night, and it only seems to be getting better! Here are some decent commentaries from folks about what the results mean for education: Democrats Will Control Congress. What Educators Can Expect is from Ed Week. How the 2026 election scrambled the politics of American education is from Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat. For those of us in California, here are some articles from Ed Source: Xavier Becerra will become California governor as education shake-up looms Richard Barrera leads Sonja Shaw in California superintendent race by wide margin, results show Split decision on taxing the wealthy: Prop. 3 wins, Prop. 40 losing And here’s an interesting article from some folks at USC: What Should Governor Becerra Do About Education? Three Ideas      A Beginning List Of The Most Interesting & Helpful Posts On “Sold A Story 2” & Direct (or “direct”) Instruction geralt / Pixabay
Emily Hanford’s Sold A Story podcast has helped prompt a debate on the so-called “Science of Reading” (I think Michael Pershan’s post, Emily Hanford’s Story Was Basically Wrong is the best piece to read about it). Now, she’s back with Sold A Story 2, which focuses on Direct (with a capital D) Instruction. It’s obviously sparking debate, and here’s a beginning list of what I think are the most interesting and useful pieces to read about it (I’ll be adding to the list as time goes on): Direct Instruction is the American Default is by Michael Pershan. What ‘Sold a Story’ Misses About Direct Instruction is the headline of one of my recent Education Week columns. DI and di – why they are not the same and why that matters is by Daniel Muijs. Direct Instruction: What to Know About the Topic of the Next ‘Sold a Story’ Podcast is from Ed Week. To Sell a Story is by Marcus Luther. Selling a story that’s lost the plot is by Ben Riley. Abuse as Old as Time is by Gary Stager. For what it’s worth, I found this ChatGPT explanation of Project Follow Through, highlighted in Sold a Story 2, very illuminating. Trevor Aleo and Nick Covington have been publishing a good series of posts analyzing the podcasts.
 New Game From The New Yorker Can Be Adapted For ELL & English-Proficient Classes
The New Yorker magazine recently unveiled a new game called “Catalogues.” In it, players are presented with seven items that they have to put into some kind of order. The trick is that you are not told what “order” means – it’s often not chronological. I found it very intriguing. I often had my ELL and English-proficient students do sequencing activities where they had to put items into chronological order, but I really liked The New Yorker’s addition of a critical thinking skill of needing to identify the meaning of “order.” But I was stumped. So, I asked ChatGPT: The New Yorker has a new game called Catalogues. Basically, players are given a list of items and have to put them in the correct order, but you have to figure out what the correct order really is. I’m trying to figure out how I and if i can adapt this to a game in my ELL class students can play in groups with min whiteboards and I display a teacher made version in front. I often have students do a sequence activity where they have to put things together in an obvious chronological sequence. However, I like the idea of this new game because it adds the critical thinking challenge of players needing to figure out what “order” is. However, I’m stumped right now in figuring out if it’s feasible. Any ideas? It had a great answer (which is why I’m adding this info to The Best Ideas For Using Games In The ESL/EFL/ELL Classroom): I think it’s very feasible, but I’d adapt the mechanic rather than copy it exactly. The challenge for ELLs is that if students have to figure out both the language and a very obscure ordering principle, the cognitive load may be too high. But if you choose ordering principles that are discoverable from language and background knowledge, it could be excellent. Here are a few versions: 1. “What Is The Rule?” (My favorite)Display:
Groups discuss:
Possible answer:
Students write both the order and the rule on mini-whiteboards. This creates language output:
or
2. Multiple Plausible RulesDisplay:
Students must determine: Youngest to oldest The nice thing is that students will often propose incorrect but reasonable hypotheses first. That discussion is where the language learning happens. 3. Content-Based VersionFor science:
Students must discover: Life cycle of a plant For social studies:
Possible rule: Level of government authority or Who serves the largest population 4. “Catalogues With a Twist”Give six items. Only five fit the hidden rule. Example:
Students must:
This adds another layer of reasoning. 5. Language-Focused VersionDisplay:
Students discover: Biggest to smallest This works beautifully with vocabulary instruction. You could also do:
6. The “Larry Version”Because you often use sentence-building activities, you could make the ordering principle linguistic. Display:
Students must discover that the correct order creates a grammatical sentence. Or:
Answer:
The hidden rule is:
A Competitive Classroom Format
Scoring:
This is important because students can sometimes identify the rule without perfectly ordering every item. Why I think this could work well with ELLsYour current sequencing activities mainly practice chronology. This game adds:
Students have to say things like:
Those are exactly the kinds of productive language moves we want ELLs making. The sweet spot is probably making the hidden rule challenging enough to require discussion, but obvious enough that groups can solve it within 1–2 minutes. That’s where the engagement comes from.
Then, I asked: Sounds good. Can you give me more examples? I actually think there are three different versions of this game that would work particularly well for ELLs: Type 1: Ordering by a Hidden AttributeStudents know all the words. The challenge is discovering the ordering principle. Example: Animals
Answer:
Example: Jobs
Answer:
Not immediately obvious. Example: School Objects
Answer:
Example: Foods
Answer:
Type 2: Hidden Process or SequenceThese are closer to your current sequencing activities but less obvious. Example
Answer:
wood → spark → fire → smoke → ashes Example
Answer:
Example
Answer:
Example
Answer:
Type 3: Vocabulary DevelopmentThis is where I think the biggest payoff might be. Example
Answer:
Example
Answer:
Example
Answer:
Example
Answer:
My Favorite Twist: Two Possible RulesThis is where the game becomes really interesting. Example
Groups may think: smallest → largest Correct. But then ask:
Maybe:
Students have to defend their reasoning. That creates authentic discussion. Social Studies ExamplesGovernment
Answer:
Rights
Answer:
Students have to figure it out. Immigration
Students determine the organizing principle. Science ExamplesWater
Answer:
Solar System
Answer:
Weather
Answer:
A Variation I Think You’d LoveGive students:
Tell them:
Groups get a point for each valid rule they can identify. Possible answers:
This shifts the activity from “guess what the teacher is thinking” to “justify your reasoning,” which is often more productive for language development. For your students, I’d probably start with concrete categories (animals, food, transportation, school objects) and then gradually move toward abstract concepts (emotions, government, historical events, scientific processes). That’s where the critical-thinking element really starts to emerge.  Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week
Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here. You can also see all my “Best” lists on instructional strategies here. Here are this week’s picks:
Hinterland: Teaching Beyond the Curriculum is from Joel Kenyon. I’m adding it to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES ON TELLING STORIES WHEN WE TEACH. Building Routines to Manage Cognitive Load is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On The Value Of Classroom Routines. I’m adding this post to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING HOW TO USE PROJECT-BASED LEARNING & PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING IN YOUR CLASSROOM:
Using Supreme Court Cases in Middle School Social Studies is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About The U.S. Supreme Court.  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):
A snapshot of America’s schools: Trends and global comparisons is from Brookings. 
With House Likely to Flip, Democrats Look to Stop Education Dept. Dismantling is from The 74.
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