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

I’m trying to wrap-up my annual “Best” lists before the end of the year, and today it’s time for another one.

Nine years ago I began publishing a regular Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week post.  You can see all my “Best” lists on instructional strategies here.

Here are my choices from the past few months:

The Best “Funds Of Knowledge” Surveys Available Online

I Wonder If This Idea Of Writing A Short Essay About Each Year Of Your Life Could Be Adapted To The Classroom?

If The CEO Of Lyft Drives Every Six Weeks, Could Principals, Central Office Staff & University Teacher Credential Professors Periodically Teach A K-12 Class?

This Study On Limitations Of AI Feedback On Student Writing Could Be Used For Great PD On How Teachers Should Give Feedback

My Instructional Videos Of The Month

My Student Cellphone Policy This Year Was A Bit Different Than Most – But It Worked Out Reasonably Well

For The Few Teachers Who Still Believe In “Don’t Smile Until Christmas,” There’s Research Now That Shows It Doesn’t Work

Was This The Biggest Teaching Mistake I Made This Year?

My Voluntary Student “Exit Interviews” Are Always A Great Way To End The School Year

Peer Review Process & Downloadable Form I Used This Year

How to Do a Close Reading Lesson in Any Subject is from Cult of Pedagogy. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On “Close Reading” — Help Me Find More.

More than Criticism: Feedback Strategies that Lead to Independent Learning is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students.

I recently shared an AI chatbot I created on English Language Learner instruction, only using resources I’ve vetted (see Try Out My New Free AI Chatbot For ELL Teachers). Check out the Classroom Instruction Expert Companion a new and different one. It, too, has a knowledge base only of resources I have vetted. In both chatbots, all you have to do is ask it for a list of the experts in the knowledge base.  It will then show you the list, and also invite you to contact me if you have suggestions for more people I should add.

Our next book, The Better Teacher’s Toolbox: Practical Ideas For Any Teacher To Become A Better One, is still set to appear next August. We’re feeling pretty good about how it looks, and are confident any teacher – new or veteran – will find it helpful.

The Lead4ward Instructional Strategies Playlist is an excellent list of…instructional strategies and how to implement them. I’m adding it to what I think is one of my most useful “Best” lists – The Best Collections Of Instructional Strategies.

A Guide to Equitable Grading in Schools (DOWNLOADABLE) is from Ed Week. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Grading Practices.

Climate Project is from The OER Project.  It contains lots of lesson plans related to…climate change.  I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change.

Students Are Unmotivated to Learn. Would Consulting Them For Curriculum Help? is from Ed Surge. It’s about a free math program called Skew The Script, focusing on connecting math to students’ lives. I’m adding it to The Best Ideas For Helping Students Connect Lessons To Their Interests & The World and to The Best Apps, Online Tools & Other Resources For Math.

The Write Center has some nice resources for teaching argument writing.

How to Keep Teaching Well When DEI is Under Attack is from Cult of Pedagogy.

The Six Biggest Mistakes I Made with Genius Hour (and How I Fixed Them) is by John Spencer. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Applying “Fed Ex Days” (Also Known As “Genius Hours”) To Schools.

I’m adding Zero-Sum Bias: Lesson Plan and Zero-Sum Bias Lesson Plan and Video to The Dangers Of “Zero Sum Thinking” In The World, Including In Schools.

Reading Stations is from Facing History. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Planning “Learning Stations” – Please Add More.

11 Teacher-Approved Strategies to Engage Students With The New York Times is from The NY Times Learning Network. I’m adding it to FIFTY-THREE WAYS TO HAVE STUDENTS INTERACT WITH TEXT – ONLINE OR IN THE PHYSICAL CLASSROOM.

Students from Around the World Slow Down to Connect, Share Stories Online is from Usable Knowledge. I’m adding it to The Best Ways To Find Other Classes For Joint Online Projects.

3 Student Self-Reflection Strategies After They Finish an Assignment is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Student & Teacher Reflection.

Strategies for Running a Truly Student-Centered IEP Meeting is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES ABOUT IEPS.

Retrieval in Action: Creative Strategies from Real Teachers is from Cult Of Pedagogy. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Retrieval Practice.

How do children learn to read? This literacy expert says ‘there are as many ways as there are students is from The Conversation. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning About Balanced Literacy & The “Reading Wars”

The NY Times Learning Network just published an exhaustive lesson plan titled Teaching About Trump’s Immigration Crackdown. It has many good ideas, though it’s more like a unit plan than a lesson plan. I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Support Schools, Teachers, Students & Families In The Face Of Trump’s Deportation Threats.

     

Military_Material / Pixabay

Here’s a pretty depressing infographic from Our World in Data, which also has many more related to to War and Peace.

And this doesn’t even count civilian casualties from those wars.

     

Tumisu / Pixabay

I’m adding this video to The Best Videos Documenting The History Of The English Language:

 

     

How Are Trump Administration Policies Affecting the Classroom? is the headline of one of my recent Education Week columns.

Leaders cry in coaching sessions. Still, they show up brave and stand strong.

Here are some excerpts:

     

For the next several months, each day I’ll be republishing a post from the past that I think readers might still find useful.  This post first appeared in 2015.

I just don’t understand why some researchers spend so much time trying to debunk the value of deliberate practice.

Another big study was released this week (thanks to Dylan Wiliamfor the tip).   Rethinking Expertise: A Multifactorial Gene–Environment Interaction Model of Expert Performance. is behind a paywall, but I forked over a few bucks to gain access to it.

Its big conclusion is that expertise is not only related to deliberate practice – it’s also connected to genetic differences and “personality, interests, social attitudes, motivational variables.” They call it a “multifactorial gene– environment interaction model.”

Is that really a big surprise?

It seems to me that deliberate practice debunkers often raise a red herring saying that advocates say that anybody can become an expert through deliberate practice.

I haven’t heard that…

What I have read and learned in research on the topic is that deliberate practice is the most important element in developing expertise that is within a person’s control.

Obviously, genetics are going to play a role, though I was disappointed that the authors of this study did not acknowledge the generally accepted research that finds a person’s economic status impacts if their genes maximize their full potential (see yesterday’s post, Study Finds That Nurture Equals Nature In The United States).

And, obviously, motivation also plays a key role. It seems to me it’s part-and-parcel of deliberate practice, but I do think the these researchers make a good point by highlighting it explicitly as another factor in developing expertise. Motivation falls into the realm of Social Emotional Learning and, as I’ve pointed out before, researchers have found that early childhood and adolescence are the two periods when it is easiest to strengthen those kinds of skills.

The useful “take-away” I get from this paper is that there’s value into more directly integrating discussions about self-control, perseverance, intrinsic motivation into lessons on deliberate practice. I probably haven’t made those connections as clear as I could in talking with students.

I just wish, however, some researchers spent more time using their substantial intellects in figuring out real world connections instead of arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

What do you think?

I’m adding this post to The Best Resources For Learning About The 10,000 Hour Rule & Deliberate Practice.