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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
August’s “Best” Lists – There Are Now 2,613 Of Them! Prawny / Pixabay
Here’s my regular round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 2,613 of them categorized here – you might also want to check out THREE ACCESSIBLE WAYS TO SEARCH FOR & FIND MY “BEST” LISTS). Here are the lists from this month: The Best Resources For Learning About The Science Of Reading & English Language Learners The Best Resources Discussing What Term Or Terms Should Be Used To Describe ELLs The Best Online Dramatic Video Series Specifically Designed For English Language Learners The Best Resources For Using “Mediation Activities” With English Language Learners The Best Resources For Starting Off The New School Year In English Language Learner Classes The Best Resources For Teaching Social Studies To English Language Learners The Best Resources On “Grade Inflation” – Everyone, Please Take A Chill Pill      Google Unveils A Very Impressive Interactive Site On National Parks
Google Arts and Culture is one of the most impressive sites on the Internet. Over the past few years, though, I’ve thought that many of their new additions were meh. Not this one. United Parks Of America is a pretty amazing feature on U.S. National Parks. You can read more about it at their announcement. I’m adding this info to The Best Sites For Learning About Yosemite & Other U.S. National Parks.  If You Haven’t Yet Read MIT’s Report On AI and Education, You Should
This past week, MIT published a report titled AI and Education where they shared recommendations for how the university and instructors should think about and act on AI’s role in instruction. It’s quite short – and profound. It seems to me that most, if not all, K-12 and University leaders and teachers can benefit from reading it. I’ve been traveling this past week, which is why this post about it is coming out a few days later. In the meantime, several other useful pieces have been written about the MIT report. I’d recommend you check out: Reading That MIT Report on AI as a High School Teacher by Marcus Luther MIT AI Report Calls for Alternative Grading, More Social Learning is from Inside Higher Ed MIT just called time of death on the take-home assignment is from How To Teach With AI  Yes, It Is Possible To “Scale Good Teaching”
Alpha School wants AI to teach a billion kids. Should it? is a recent article in Scientific American. It’s been receiving a fair amount of attention, particularly about some quotes in it from education researcher Carl Hendrick. Though I disagree with a fair number of Carl’s perspectives on education, I also think he’s done some very good work. I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt that he might have been misquoted or quoted out of context. It’s difficult for me to believe that any educator would actually compare the teaching of a student to the training of the Waymo self-driving car, as he appears to do so in the article. Here, I primarily want to take issue with another quote attributed to him in the article – “You can’t scale good teaching.” I think you absolutely can! Sure, there’s disagreement about lots of different types of education methods. But there’s almost universal agreement on many. They include: * The importance of teacher-student relationships
I’d say there are other instructional strategies that are equally important, though some may disagree. These include: * Inductive learning and teaching strategies
If you provided teachers with professional development opportunities on these strategies, including instructional coaching and the time to observe colleagues in action, I think you could certainly “scale good teaching.” Would it look the same everywhere like an Alpha School software program would operate the same? No! But I don’t think we want that for our students. As education researcher Dylan Wiliam says: “Everything works somewhere; nothing works everywhere.”  My Best Posts That Appeared In August
I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here). You can also see my all-time favorites here. I’ve also been doing “A Look Back” series reviewing old favorites, too. Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference) – also note that I group many updates on the Trump administration’s current attack on education and democracy in weekly posts you can find here): Great Summary Of Research On Writing Instruction Would Be A Good Focus For Professional Development Third Edition Of “The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide” Is Done & Will Be Out Early Next Year! Review Of Research Suggests Reciprocal Teaching Could Be Best Strategy For Older Readers Excellent Series Of Reflective Questions For Students & Teachers Alike I TRY To Keep On Top Of English Language Learner Research In These Four Ways Classroom Before The First Day Of School Though, This Time, It’s My Grandson’s! Yet Another Study Finds That Human Connection & Relationships Are Key In Schooling “Teachers as Improvisers” Is A Post Worth Reading Two New, Important, & Useful Documents On Student Motivation Join Me At A Free Sept. 29th Webinar On Supporting ELL Students’ Sense Of Belonging As Educators Warned Years Ago, Lots Of Teachers Are Leaving The Classroom Amazing Interactive Compares 2,300 “Essential English Vocabular Words” From 1953 To Now “Finlingo” MIGHT Be A Decent Option For A Financial Literacy Program “Is Teaching an Art or a Science?” “How Has the ‘Science of Reading’ Impacted English Learners?” “School Superintendents, Don’t Neglect Any of Your Stakeholders” “From the Mouths of Teachers: Sage Advice in Six Words or Less” “Relationships With Students Can Go Wrong. How Teachers Can Right Them”
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