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

I’ve begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists.

Also, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources.

Here are this week’s picks:

What Olympians Can Teach Us About Disappointment is from The NY Times. I’m adding it to The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures.

This Is The Simplest Way To Make Your Life Awesome is from Barking Up The Wrong Tree.

How your personality impacts your career success (and what you can do about it) is from Fast Company.

I’m adding this video to The Best Posts & Articles On Building Influence & Creating Change:

This brief segment from Star Trek:Starfleet Academy offers the essential insight all good community organizers need to understand

[image or embed]

— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) February 18, 2026 at 12:05 PM

This is an excerpt from I was an unlikely Super Bowl MVP. You should know the full story:

Luck was not a concept we considered impacting a football game. It was never a topic of conversation whether we got a good break or a bad one. Coach Carroll never said: “We’ve got to get lucky.”

In sports, you have to make your own luck. You’re either in a position to take advantage of situations, or you’re not. You either did something to get you there in that position, or you didn’t. That’s always been my thought, and that’s the undertone to my career.

I choose to believe that you make your own luck and fortune with the extra effort that often goes unseen.

I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES ON LEARNING HOW TO IMPROVE OUR “LUCK”

     

You might be interested in Celebrate What Would Have Been Paulo Freire’s Birthday – Here Are Related Resources.

     

KargulTV / Pixabay

The government of Singapore has announced a new program to encourage their residents to read by paying them to do just that.

You can read all about at these two articles:

Singapore is paying people to read books – can it fix the reading crisis?

Singapore pays people to pick up a book in battle against doomscrolling

Sigh.

This kind of extrinsic motivation is not going to work.

I wrote extensively about this very idea at No, I Wouldn’t Recommend You Follow NY Times Columnist Advice That You Pay Your Child $100 To Read A Book, so I don’t feel I need to repeat it all here.

And, even though I’m a big supporter of creating the conditions for intrinsic motivation to flourish (in fact, I’ve written four books about how to do it), that doesn’t mean I don’t think extrinsic motivation doesn’t have a place.

Here’s what the developers of Self-Determination Theory, the primary researchers about what it takes to enhance intrinsic motivation, had to say about how to use extrinsic motivation to encourage reading:

“One of the downfalls of extrinsic motivation is that you just have to keep upping the ante to get the same result,” she said. But summer has a natural end, and then school takes over.

If parents do want to offer rewards for reading, Dr. Briggs said, they don’t necessarily have to be money, treats or toys: “It could be that it’s a special thing to go to the library with Dad, and that the alone time is part of what’s rewarding about it.”

Such nonmaterial rewards may be the most effective. Dr. Deci of the University of Rochester and his colleague and collaborator, Richard Ryan, suggest that if reading is something parents value, then it’s the value, rather than the practice and the skill, that we should emphasize. The “bribe” of an excursion with a parent, or of special time reading together or discussing a book, conveys the importance of reading, said Dr. Ryan. “When we set aside time for reading, or set limits on other activities, we’re showing our children that we support them in developing an important skill.”

When I talked further with the parents who told me that they offered rewards for reading, I found that what looked like bribes were actually closer to what Dr. Deci and Dr. Ryan sought. Payments came with lengthy book discussions. One family went from offering rewards one year to running a book club the next. Parents reflected on years of star charts and prizes, along with years of family trips to the library. Bets were made over who could read the most, and late-night reading under the covers with a flashlight was indulged and encouraged. What I saw — when I really looked — were external motivations to read accompanied by powerful messages about the internal joy to be found in books.

Research has also shown that verbal praise can be very effective and not reduce intrinsic motivation, particularly if it’s praise for specific actions (“that’s great that you put the effort into writing a second draft – it showed a lot of perseverance!”)

Of course, there are also just those times in the classroom or at home when you’ve just got to get the kid to do something or stop something immediately.  Here’s what Dr. Deci said about that:

I was surprised and, frankly, relieved that all the experts I spoke with said it’s O.K. to resort to old-fashioned, blunt rewards on occasion. If you simply must get that child on the plane or it will take off without you, or if you absolutely need that child to stop misbehaving so you can speak to the doctor, go ahead, bribe away. As Dr. Deci told me, “If you’re under a lot of stress or in a bad place, then having a conversation at that moment is not going to work.”

But, he emphasized, don’t let the situation end there. “You need to sit down the next afternoon when everyone’s calm, talk it through from both sides, then discuss ways so the behavior doesn’t happen again,” he said. “Always use the blow up as a learning moment the next day.”

But, who knows, there are probably going to be some folks in Singapore who just might get more invested in reading from participating in this government program.  I wouldn’t bet it’s going to be more than a few.  I’d ordinarily say it can’t hurt, but it will since the money being spent could be used in more effective ways to support reading, like giving teachers money to buy books that their students say they want to read.

I’m adding this info to Best Posts On “Motivating” Students.

     

Ten 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:

Why Career-Connected Learning Matters for Newcomer Adolescents is from The Internationals Network.

ELL students could watch these videos and discuss/write about the difference:

A video analysis of the difference between dog joining cat and cat joining the dog..
pic.twitter.com/ODjZbqBCFe

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 7, 2026

Here’s a recent issue of my favorite ELL journal, Humanising Language Teaching.

New Research on Early Literacy Laws and Multilingual Learners: Lessons From Massachusetts is from West Ed.

Contrastive Pairs: A Powerful Tool for Clarifying Grammar — When Used at the Right Time is from The Language Gym.

10+1 videos on my YouTube channel is from The TEFL Zone.

BE YOUR OWN VALENTINE is from ELTcation. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Valentine’s Day.

Lesson Planning Essentials #1: Warm-ups and Lead-ins is from Journey in TEFL. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For “Do Now” Activities To Begin A Class.

ELL students could watch this video and then talk/write about what they saw:

 

A Hidden Barrier For English Learners is from ASCD.

How to Fall Back in Love with Teaching is from The Barefoot TEFL Teacher. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Teacher Action Research – Help Me Find More.

ELL students could watch this video and then talk/write about what they saw:

 

     

Mohamed_hassan / Pixabay

I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature.

You can see all my “Best” lists related to education research here.

Here are some new useful studies (and related resources):

Research Bite #56: Updated Meta-Analysis of the Research on Response Cards is from Tips For Teachers.

The Trade-off between Quality and Quantity: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Tutoring

The Effect of Air Pollution on Student Achievement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence

Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Middle School (PRISMS) Toolkit is from IES.

From connections to achievements: investigating the influence of school climate and school membership on adolescent students’ academic achievement

I’m adding Student Feedback Use During Cross-Age Peer Tutoring to THE BEST RESOURCES ON PEER TUTORS.