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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
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 Texas School Vouchers Could Make Child Care More Affordable is from The NY Times.
I’m adding this next post to No, Virginia, It Appears That There May Not Be Any Miracles In Education, Including In Mississippi:
 
 
     Online Game Leaderboards & Zero Sum Thinking
Last September, I published a post about a study finding harmful student effects when playing online games showing “leaderboards” – the public ranking of where students stood (see This Research On “Leaderboards” Shows Why Blooket Is Now My Favorite Online Learning Game). I think that’s a good point, and is why I generally either had students play in groups or used tools like Blooket that allow players to “steal” points from others. Then, the public ranking has little to do with the number of questions answered correctly. Educator Peps Mccrea wrote a post about the same study. In it, he makes an interesting point that I hadn’t thought of – that leaderboards promote the idea of “zero-sum” games (I’ve written about this overall topic at The Dangers Of “Zero Sum Thinking” In The World, Including In Schools). He suggests these three alternatives: Track Personal Bests: Just as runners track their best times, have students track streaks of focused work, words written, or problems solved correctly. Highlight Then vs Now: Have students physically place a piece of work from three months ago next to a current piece to visualise their growth. Gap-Based Feedback: Focus on the distance travelled, not the position in the pack. Point out concrete improvements since the last piece of work.
These tend to promote the idea of “temporal comparisons,” which I write about in my book, The Student Motivation Handbook. Here’s a tweet I sent out about it during a bookchat soon have it was published:
All of these are good points to keep in mind.  This Guide To FAFSA If You Have Undocumented Parents Is Great, Though It Might Be Too Late For Many This Year Fotospks / Pixabay
Completing the FAFSA is stressful for students, and it’s been particularly stressful since Trump came into office for students with parents who are undocumented. Many have already submitted it, but if you haven’t done so yet and you have an undocumented parent, you’ll want to read this extremely helpful guide, Undocumented Parents? Options for the FAFSA, written by . I’m adding it to The Best Financial Aid Resources For Students Planning To Go To College — Help Me Find More.  Ed Tech Digest
Ten years ago, in another somewhat futile attempt to reduce the backlog of resources I want to share, I began this occasional “Ed Tech Digest” post where I share three or four links I think are particularly useful and related to…ed tech, including some Web 2.0 apps. You might also be interested in checking out all my edtech resources. Here are this week’s choices: MathQuest has lots of free activities. Wikiloop is a cool visualization of Wikipedia.  Free Google Location Changer lets you get test results from multiple countries. I’m wondering if it could be useful to ELLs searching in their home languages? I’m adding it to The Best Search Engines For ESL/EFL Learners. More free coloring pages. School Voice is a new school/parent communication tool. The ADHD Experience is supposed to give you a sense of what it’s like to have ADHD. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes.  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: Bringing Social Studies to Life With Data is from Edutopia. I’m adding this tweet to Does Anyone Use “Interleaving” When Teaching ELLs? If So, I’d Love To Hear What You Do:
I’m adding this next tweet to The Best Questions To Use For Class Closing Activities — What Are Yours?:
I’m adding this tweet to The Best Resources On Reading Fluency (Including How To Measure It):
I’m adding this post to The Best Apps, Online Tools & Other Resources For Math:
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