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

TVGuessr shows you a short TV clip, and then you have to guess the country from where it originated.

I think it could be a fun game to play at the end of a class, with students in small groups and mini-whiteboards.

I’m adding this info to:

The Best Online Geography Games

THE BEST TOOLS FOR TAKING STUDENTS “AROUND THE WORLD”

     

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):

Though I think this study is constructed quite oddly, if you look hard enough you’ll find evidence in Conditions for Effective Learning from Erroneous Examples: A Systematic Review that will support the use of Concept Attainment. I’m adding it to The Best Resources About Inductive Learning & Teaching.

Happy to announce that @caldercenter.bsky.social just released two IES-funded briefs – they really are BRIEF! – about how to get a better handle on teacher demand and future teacher supply:

Supply side: caldercenter.org/publications…

Demand side: caldercenter.org/publications…
1/n

— Dan Goldhaber (@cedr.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 6:56 AM

Can We Teach Racial Justice by Talking About Virtues? is from Greater Good Magazine.

Understanding Disconnection Among American Youth is from RAND.

Improving Student-Teacher Relationships Through Feedback: The Development and Evaluation of the Stanford/Leading Educators Wise Feedback Professional Development Learning Series is from EdWorking Papers. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Learning How To Best Give Feedback To Students.

Who Wants to Be a Teacher in America? is from EdWorking Papers. I’m a bit skeptical of some of its findings, especially with it suggesting that those interested in teaching are considered to have “lower intellectual promise” than others (see Do Teachers REALLY Come From The Bottom Third Of Colleges? Or Is That Statistic A Bunch Of Baloney?).

Exploring Test-Optional Admissions Policies: Patterns in Applications, Enrollment, and Diversity During the COVID-19 is another EdWorking Papers…paper.

     

Plenty of past research has shown that that student self-assessment and student peer-assessment, when done well, assists in enhancing academic achievement (see The Best Ideas On Peer Review Of Student Writing and The Best Resources On Student Self-Assessment).

Now, a new study that’s not behind a paywall finds that they both can have a major positive impact on student motivation.

Check out Effects of self-assessment and peer assessment on motivation: two multilevel meta analysis with experimental studies.

Here’s a summary of their classroom recommendations, created by ChatGPT (and I double-checked them – also, it created a one page PDF for teachers):

Classroom Practice Recommendations

Use Self-Assessment (SA) and Peer Assessment (PA) as regular instructional tools.
The study concludes that both SA and PA have positive effects on student motivation, which in turn supports engagement and learning — so teachers should build these practices into classroom routines rather than using them only occasionally.

Include both comments and ratings in assessment tasks.
When students assess themselves or peers, using tools that combine qualitative feedback (comments) and quantitative evaluation (ratings) tends to be more motivating than using only one type of assessment.

Provide training for students on how to assess.
The meta-analysis found that reviewer training — teaching students how to evaluate work appropriately — increases the motivational impact of both self- and peer assessment. This means building in time to model, practice, and clarify assessment criteria.

Use SA and PA across different subjects and skill areas.
The evidence suggests that these assessment methods are flexible and effective across disciplines, so teachers can apply them not just in one subject area but broadly in classroom practice.

(For SA specifically) Include teacher feedback.
Teacher feedback was found to boost motivation when combined with student self-assessment, so teachers should plan formative feedback that helps students reflect on and improve their work.

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

     

The A.I. Writing Panic Is Completely Missing the Point is an article from Slate that I actually didn’t find particularly interesting.

EXCEPT for the part where some researchers are saying that newer AI detectors are now more accurate.

They were specifically talking about Pangram, which I, coincidentally, have been regularly testing out during the past several months just out of curiosity.

And I’ve been impressed by it.

I still thinking leading with the policing route is not the way for teachers to go, but it still is nice to have a detector that can be used in the pinch.

     

sof_lo / Pixabay

Interventions for students with reading difficulties in Grades 4-12: A systematic review and meta-analysis is a new study that’s open access.

Like much education research, it’s written in dense academic language which makes it challenging for a layperson to take away practice advice.

What I’ve started doing with these kinds of studies that a pretty useless to teachers because of how it’s written is ask ChatGPT to summarize it.  Then, after I read its summary, I use it as a guide to review the study again to make sure the summary is correct.

Here’s what I asked ChatGPT to do:

Here’s the full study. Please review this study and summarize VERY SUCCINCTLY what it found in terms of which reading interventions were most and least effective in helping students with reading challenges. In addition, provide specific examples of what the most effective strategies look like in the classroom.

Here’s its response (it also created a one-page PDF summary), and the study’s results seem to echo previous research you can find at The Best Posts On Reading Strategies & Comprehension – Help Me Find More!):

What the study found (bottom line)

MOST effective interventions

1. Vocabulary instruction
   – Largest effects of any reading outcome (g ≈ 0.42)
   – Especially strong when teacher-delivered and classroom-based

2. Comprehension strategy instruction
   – Consistently positive, meaningful effects (g ≈ 0.18–0.19)

3. Multicomponent interventions
   – Effective when they intentionally integrate comprehension, vocabulary, and word study

LEAST effective interventions

• Fluency-only interventions (especially repeated reading)
  – Very small effects (g ≈ 0.08)
  – Sometimes no benefit at all for older struggling readers

• Spelling-only and phonological processing-only interventions
  – Non-significant effects

Key conclusion:
For Grades 4–12, meaning-focused instruction (vocabulary + comprehension) works better than isolated skill drills.

What the MOST effective instruction looked like in classrooms

High-impact vocabulary instruction

(from the highest-quality studies)

• Explicit teaching of academic words

  • Teacher models meanings with clear definitions

  • Words embedded in curriculum texts

• Multiple, deep encounters with words

  • Use in discussion, writing, partner talk

  • Review across days and weeks

• Morphological instruction

  • Teaching roots, prefixes, suffixes to unlock new words

• Teacher-led, whole-class routines

  • Not worksheets or word lists

Classroom example

Teacher introduces 6 academic words before reading a science text, models meanings, discusses examples/non-examples, revisits words during reading, and requires students to use them in discussion and short writing tasks.

High-impact comprehension strategy instruction

(from the strongest comprehension studies)

• Explicit strategy instruction, not “read and answer questions”

• Common strategies included:

  • Identifying main ideas

  • Inference instruction

  • Text structure awareness

  • Paraphrasing

  • Self-monitoring comprehension

• Often delivered through:

  • Small-group discussion

  • Collaborative Strategic Reading

  • Graphic organizers

  • Student-led dialogue

Classroom example

Students read an informational text in small groups, preview headings, discuss predictions, identify text structure, paraphrase sections using a graphic organizer, and monitor understanding through guided discussion.

What did not work well

• Repeated oral reading without meaning work

• Fluency drills disconnected from comprehension

• Isolated subskills taught outside real reading tasks

One-sentence takeaway for educators

For older students with reading difficulties, teaching vocabulary deeply and teaching students how to think while reading is far more effective than practicing speed, spelling, or isolated skills alone.