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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
I’m Co-Hosting A Short Free Webinar On June 1st On How To Support ELLs With One Of The Most Unique Teacher Books I’ve Ever Seen
As the image above says, I’ll be co-hosting a short webinar with some great people on June 1st (if you, like me, did not know what ELPS means, it’s “English Language Proficiency Standards”). You can register -for free – here. We’ll be talking with Allison Hand, who has co-authored a very unique book for teachers – one unlike any other I’ve ever seen. Here’s an image of the inside:
I’m really interested in hearing from Allison how teachers of ELLs can use this book for planning. And, for a half hour after the webinar is over, we’re all going to hang around to talk about anything ELL-related participants want to talk about! If you can’t actually make the live webinar, sign-up anyway and you’ll get a link to the recorded version. See you on the 1st!      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): Reading gains in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana are often touted, but don’t show full picture of literacy is from The Conversation.
I’m adding this post to The Best Resources For Learning About Homework Issues:
 Linda McMahon punches back at senators questioning Education Department cuts is from NPR. As school choice expands in Iowa, one district is in a crisis from losing students is from NPR.
I’m adding this post to The Best Resources For Learning Why School Vouchers Are A Bad Idea:
 It’s Star Wars Day: Here Are Four Education-Related Resources
From the Star Wars site: “May the 4th be with you.” What started as pun warmly shared by fans has become a full-fledged Star Wars holiday: Star Wars Day, a special once-a-year celebration of the galaxy far, far away. Here are five related resources: First, awhile back I wrote a column for Education Week headlined What ‘Star Wars’ Can Teach Educators About Parent Engagement. Secondly, here’s a video included in The Best TV/Movie Scenes Demonstrating A “Growth Mindset”: 
Thirdly, Latest ‘Star Wars’ Teaches The Value Of Failure is from NPR. Fourth, from Edutopia: A Star Wars Day Activity That Lasts All Week Lastly, here is a Twitter thread I did last year when I had too much time on my hands:
BONUS: Create your own “Star Wars Crawl” here.  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: Reading is hard to teach, hard to sustain and not connected to any one policy shift. “The interesting issue for folks to consider is not should there be more homework, but should there be better homework,” Epstein said. Some families recently delivered to Mayor Zohran Mamdani a petition with thousands of signatures calling for a two-year moratorium on generative A.I., such as chatbots. What I’ve learned, across every one of these close calls and near misses, is that what keeps us safe isn’t the stuff we pack or stockpile; it’s the community we build before calamity strikes. Each time we focus on learning from failure instead of being consumed by it, we rewire our brains, building pathways that make thoughtful responses more natural than automatic reactions. We understand the risks there, and I think that we have to understand the same risks when we talk about media and devices that aren’t inherently bad, it’s just that they need to be used in a way that’s appropriate for the person using them. Students need explicit instruction in how algorithms shape what they see, how online communities can normalize dehumanization, and how emotions like shame, envy, and humiliation are often being deliberately activated and exploited. “They are using generative A.I. to write before they learn how to write. They are reading ChatGPT summaries of a book before they have ever read a book,” he said. Fantasies of violence against political enemies are, in fact, a defining feature of Trump’s political language.
 What I Do As A Volunteer Tutor In Our County’s Juvenile Facility Elf-Moondance / Pixabay
As regular readers of this blog know (see How I’m Spending My Time Now That I’m Retired From Classroom Teaching), in addition to writing and playing Pickleball, I’ve been working as a volunteer tutor at our county’s Juvenile Facility, as well as being a volunteer tutor at an elementary school working with ELL Newcomers. I thought readers might, or might not, be interested in hearing about my work at the county. First, I need to say that I’m quite impressed with the facility itself and the quality and attitude of the officers working there. A sense of caring for the youth is pretty obvious. My time there is divided in half. I spend the first hour each day working in the “pod” containing the younger youth who are working online to complete high school classes. They primarily work on an asynchronous program which I suspect is as good and as bad as all online asynchronous programs are. There is a teacher supervising them in the facility, and I have been impressed that they receive narrative feedback on their work from the online program relatively quickly, though I don’t know if it’s all AI-driven (I suspect it might be AI and then human-edited). There is also off-line work available, though it seems like most of the youth prefer working on the computer. While there, I’ll sit next to one and help them for awhile before switching to another youth. Our conversations are sometimes about the academic work, sometimes about their lives and interests. There are very few youth in my teaching career that I haven’t been able to develop some kind of a connection with, and that skill has served me well here. Next, I move to the older youth. When they have access to computers, I’m able to help them with online community college classes. When they don’t have computer access, I’ve purchased books of their choice for them (approved by Facility staff) and we read and discuss a chapter from the book each week. I’ve encouraged some of them to write about their lives, and that seems to have inspired a couple to start. I’ve been pretty impressed with the titles they’ve selected: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz, Mastery by Robert Greene, The Miracle Of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh, The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained are a few of them. It doesn’t take me very long to read a chapter from each one during the week and come up with some questions. At one point, I tried asking ChatGPT to develop discussion questions, and they were absolutely terrible! Our discussions seem to go well – the youth seem to get something out of them, and I enjoy the time. Every other month, I come in during their PE time and we have three-point and free-throw shooting contests (I’m not allowed to actually play a basketball game). Just like when I was teaching, interacting with students outside of a classroom setting does wonders to solidify relationships. Playing ball here is like going to see a high school student at my old school playing in a game or acting in a play. Hopefully, my presence helps a bit….
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