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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL
Eight years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention. You might also be interested in all my Best lists on teaching ELLs. Also, check out A Collection Of My Best Resources On Teaching English Language Learners. In addition, look for our latest book on teaching ELLs, The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox 2.0. Here are this week’s choices: Speaking and Writing: Let’s Get these Personality Adjectives Moving is from blod de Cristina. Tutoring Helps Adolescent English Learners in South Carolina Improve Reading Scores is from New America. BiRead is a browser extension that will translate any web page by showing the target language below the original one. It appears to do it paragraph by paragraph. It doesn’t quite fit, but I’m adding it to THE BEST TOOLS THAT SHOW “PARALLEL TEXT” – SAME SENTENCES TRANSLATED INTO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES SIDE-BY-SIDE. ELL students can watch this video, or portions of it, and then talk/write about what they saw:  Map It Out! Exploring Metaphor Maps is from On The Same Page. Connect first – correct later is from TEFL Zone. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On ESL/EFL/ELL Error Correction. 8 Cooperative Learning Strategies is from On The Same Page. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Cooperative Learning Ideas. The effectiveness of bottom-up and top-down approaches in reading comprehension of ESL learners: A study among ESL students of a Sri Lankan university is an interesting research paper. I had not previously heard of reading comprehension described using these “approaches.” Colorín Colorado Book Finder is from Colorin Colorado. I’m adding it to THE BEST PLACES WHERE YOU CAN ORDER BILINGUAL BOOKS and to A Beginning Collection Of Resources About Books As “Windows, Mirrors & Sliding Glass Doors” – Please Suggest More. U.S. citizen students face an agonizing choice: Affording college or protecting parents from deportation is from The Hechinger Report.      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: Boosting Engagement in Biology With Storylines is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES ON TELLING STORIES WHEN WE TEACH. This is worth reading about writing letters of recommendation:
I’m adding this to The Best Posts On Reading Strategies & Comprehension – Help Me Find More!:
I’m adding this video to SOME “BEST” IDEAS FOR USING MINI-WHITEBOARDS IN THE CLASSROOM:  All History Is Local is a lesson collection from New American History.
 Sentences Of The Week geralt / Pixabay
I thought readers might, or might not, find this new regular post useful. Each week, I highlight several sentences, with links to their sources, that I find interesting/concerning/useful. And they may, or may not, be directly connected to education. I may also include my own comments or related links. This regular post will join my other regular ones on teaching ELLs, education policy, Artificial Intelligence, infographics, and Pinterest highlights, not to mention sharing of my regular Education Week posts. Here are this week’s sentences: Students do not care about bringing their best work to an AI chatbot. Noting that 80% of high school students report they don’t feel engaged in meaningful learning, it calls for “disciplined innovation” in high school design that integrates career pathways, dual enrollment and project-based learning while building sustained relationships. “Ed tech is just big tech in a sweater vest,” said Missouri state Rep. Tricia Byrnes (R), who introduced the legislation and blames what she described as the overuse of technology for middling test scores. See The Best Posts & Articles Highlighting Why We Need To Be Very Careful Around Ed Tech The number of public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade has fallen in 30 states since the mid-2010s. While there’s ample evidence that demonstrates students who read more are better readers, there aren’t many studies that pinpoint exactly what a child’s reading diet should look like. For the most part, the research shows that AI can alter texts in ways that lowers their grade level readability estimates – but it isn’t clear whether they make the texts easier to comprehend. Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. The real story of creation is not about boundlessness, but boundaries. Real critical thinkers do not only question others. They also question themselves. See The Best Resources On Teaching & Learning Critical Thinking In The Classroom One calls the chatbot “not helpful” for complex questions and “not close to the same as an actual teacher.” Moral elevation… can rewire our brains, and that’s because when we witness someone defying our understanding of what humans are capable of, in turn, it cracks open our own imagination about what we are capable of, and it transcends domains. “Finally, the resolution agreement you have provided contains provisions that are inconsistent with the values that inform our work of supporting all children in our communities,” the letter said. “We will never issue a policy that devalues certain members of our diverse community.” Being offered a new curriculum is one thing; being told by the government that what you are teaching is a crime is something else entirely. We should wonder how we can play a more interesting melody with computers in class, kids switching in and out of them as easily as switching between people in a conversation, between pages in a book, between instruments in a symphony called learning. “I really think it comes down to creating the conditions for the teacher to be successful,” said Noguchi, the former Modesto City superintendent. “It’s really about building a relationship with that third grade teacher, fifth grade teacher, what have you, because everyone has different needs.” We are also familiar with ideas “of their time,” ideas that were “in the air” and thus were often simultaneously discovered such as the telephone, calculus, evolution, and color photography. What is less commented on is the third possibility, ideas that could have been discovered much earlier but which were not, ideas behind their time. Three-quarters of U.S. adults see racial and ethnic diversity as a good thing for the country.
 Save The Date! You Can See/Hear My Co-Author, Katie Hull Sypnieski, Speak On July 10th About Teaching ELLs
My friend and co-author Katie Hull Sypnieski is speaking about teaching ELLs at the HS English Teacher Summit, sponsored by English Teacher Vault, on July 10th. I believe you’ll learn the exact time of her presentation after you register for free. You can watch all the presentations happening there for free on the days they air – you need to pay a registration fee if you want to view it on demand. Katie does very few of these kinds of presentations, so I’d encourage you to check it out!  A Look Back: My Growth Mindset Lessons Usually Go Well, But What I Did Today Was The Best Yet (Student Hand-Outs Included)For the next several months, each week I’ll be republishing posts from the past that I think readers might still find useful. This post first appeared in 2017.
The one I did today, though, was probably the best one yet. Our school emphasizes Social Emotional Learning, and a growth mindset is our focus for September. A number of us are responsible for giving formal SEL lessons to our classes, while other teachers are provided with professional development about how to support it in their classes. Today, I did the lesson with my English Language Learner United States History class. Truth-be-told, I was probably a bit more motivated than usual to do something new and creative for two reasons – one, because, even though the lesson I had done for the past two years was a good one, I a bit tired of it and, two, members of the California State Board of Education were coming in to observe it. Here’s what I did: I first began by providing a definition of a growth mindset. I asked students what “grow” meant, and then what “mind” meant. I continues by explaining it meant to grow our mind by looking at problems as just another thing to get through, and not to feel stopped by them – they were opportunities to “grow our mind.” I then showed each of these video clips (which I’ve used in prior lessons). After each one, I had student think for a moment about what the video clip might be saying about what a growth mindset meant. Students shared with a partner, and then I called on students to share with the entire class. Below the clips, I’ve included a picture of the easel paper showing what students came up with…. 
I then distributed, and read aloud, these three stories showing a growth mindset. I explained that as I read them, students should be thinking of their own examples since they would be writing them next. You can download it here. GROWTH MINDSET STORIES-19tapjv
Next, I gave students this writing frame (you can download it here). I asked them to think about what we wrote on the easel paper about the elements of a growth mindset, and try to remember a time when they acted like that. We went through each section one-at-a-time, and then students copied them down into a paragraph. Everyone was very engaged.
Almost everyone finished their story (many, though not all, were about learning English). Tomorrow, students will be sharing them with each other and, eventually, posting them on our class blog. The sharing should be a good community-building experience. In addition, we now have a common growth mindset vocabulary which enables me to not have to say, “Jose, please put your head up.” Instead, I will be able to say, “Jose, remember our growth mindset lesson?” That should help students, and will be much more energizing for me, too!  More Recent Articles
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