"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles

TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay

I’ve been trying to think of something simple that could help teachers deal with a very complicated topic – Artificial Intelligence usage in education.

I’m wondering if we can answer “yes” to either one of these question, then it’s okay to use AI. If not, we take a pass:

If teachers are considering having students use AI: Does this particular use of Artificial Intelligence provide an obviously superior learning benefit to students that is not available through any other means, safeguards their privacy, and is not cost prohibitive?

If teachers are considering using AI themselves: Does this particular use of Artificial Intelligence provide a superior method of planning, data analysis or development of a teaching resource that is not available through any other means using the same amount of time or energy, safeguards their privacy and the privacy of their students, and is not cost prohibitive?

I’m probably missing something. In fact, I’m probably missing many things.

Let me know what you think – all thoughtful feedback and critique is welcome. I’ve had to turn-off comments because of AI spambots, but you can contact me here or on pretty much any form of social media.

     

TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay

I’ve previously posted The Best Videos Illustrating Qualities Of A Successful Language Learner, but have never published a specific “Best” list about what elements might make up a good language learner teacher.

Today’s post is the beginning of one:

Video Of Our ELL Student Panel & Downloadable Hand-Out They Used For Preparation

Three Videos Of English Language Learners Giving Advice To Teachers

What language learners really value in their teachers — the top five qualities – and why is from The Language Gym.

Also, I’ve done a multi-year series at my Education Week column where students – ELLs and English-proficient ones – share their thoughts about good teaching.  See Student Voices.

     

The point-guard mentality didn’t just make Sam Darnold better. It’s a useful mental trick is an excellent New York Times article.

It reviews evidence showing the advantages of focusing on helping others look good, instead of just yourself – in athletics and in other parts of life.

I see it often on the basketball court.  The guys who are most highly thought of and who everyone wants to play with are the ones with that attitude.

This article could be the basis of a very important classroom lesson, with students sharing their own related experiences.

I’m adding it to The Dangers Of “Zero Sum Thinking” In The World, Including In Schools.

     

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:

Podcast Magic looks like a pretty cool tool.

ScreenFlow Pro is yet another free screen recording tool. I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Making Screencasts.

DeepTime Home is an impressive interactive site telling stories of the Australian aboriginal peoples.  I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Australia.

I’m adding this video to The Best Resources For Teacher & Student Podcasting:

 

This is interesting, from Web Curios:

Fairytale Hunt: Ooh, this is fun! A small digital toy made by Lynn Cherny, this is basically a way to explore fairytales by exploring thematic similarities and commonalities between texts; the webpage presents you with a selection of text drawn from a fairy story, and highlighting a part of said text will cause the engine to search for a similar text elsewhere within the fairytale corpus, and take you to it; there’s a light ludic layer applied to this where you can win points and (not real) prizes for finding specific things – mentions of monsters, say, or fruits or animals – and it’s a really nice way both of exploring tropes and themes that occur and recur in fairytale writing, but also of exploring how text embeddings and relational meaning networks, er, work. BONUS FAIRYTALES! Would you like a link to a huge database of classic folklore and mythology texts, with links to more stories and myths from around the world than you could shake a stick at? YES YOU WOULD!

     

Tama66 / Pixabay

Today is Arbor Day in the United States.

You might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Trees.