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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
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!  Ed Tech Digest
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: Ally Class lets you create online interactive class activities. It seems to me like a slimmed down Quizizz/Wayground, and it’s free. NewsletterLab looks like it has potential for email newsletters. I’m adding it to The Best Applications For Creating Free Email Newsletters. Banning Social Media is from The NY Times.
 A Look Back: Now This Is A Student Goal-Setting Strategy That May Actually WorkFor 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.
I posted “Everyone Is A Teacher” Is A New Engagement Strategy I’m Using & It Seems To Be Working earlier this week, and it was – rightfully, I think 🙂 – a very popular post. In it, I discussed how I was trying to build a classroom culture in my Beginner ELL class where everyone would feel they had a responsibility to be a teacher. It’s early, but has gone very well, and some of my colleagues have already begun to replicate it in their classes. On Friday, I tried a next step to the strategy. I created a simple form listing the actions the class had determined they could do as “teachers” and had them glue it in their notebook. You can download it here. I explained that each Friday, they would grade themselves on how they had done in that area during the previous week, but that I would not look at it. I would ask that they would share their grades with a partner of their choice and also identify one – just one – area they wanted to improve on in the coming week. I would ask that they share that goal with the entire class. Students approached it eagerly. Then one student came up to me and said she wanted to show me her grades. They were accurate, and also not very good. I publicly praised her for her honesty and then everybody wanted to show me their grades. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was brutally honest with themselves. Here are a couple of examples:
Students liked sharing with a partner, and then everybody picked an area for improvement. And just about every student picked the area that I would have chosen for them! I have tried tons of different goal-setting strategies over the years (see Best Posts On Students Setting Goals) with varying levels of success and failure. This one might end up being one of the more successful ones.  More Recent Articles
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