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

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There has been, and I’m sure there will continue to be, discussions about the most appropriate term to use when describing English Language Learners.

I continue to use ELLs because it is still the most widely used and recognized term, and I don’t necessarily see the word “learners” through a deficit lens.

But I might very well change my mind in the future.

Here are thoughtful commentaries on the topic:

ELL? EL? EB? MLL? CLD? How Labels Help — and Hurt — Students is from Stephen Fleenor.

An Asset-Based Approach to Multilingual Learner Terminology is from IES.

English learners? Emergent bilinguals? Multilingual learners?: Goals, contexts, and consequences in labeling students is from TESOL.

English learners? Emergent bilinguals? Multilingual learners?: Goals, contexts, and consequences in labeling students

SUPPORTS FOR MULTILINGUAL STUDENTS WHO ARE CLASSIFIED AS ENGLISH LEARNERS is from Ed Research For Action.

     

geralt / Pixabay

The United Nations has declared September 8th to be International Literacy Day.

You might be interested in The Best Resources For International Literacy Day.

     

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:

Carbon Viz provides a report on your carbon footprint.  I’m adding it to The Best Online Carbon Calculators.

American Dream Jobs seems good for  career exploration.  I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Students Exploring Jobs and Careers.

Chronos is a tool for creating historical timelines.  I’m adding it to The Best Tools For Making Online Timelines.

Geocards is an interesting map tool.

I’m adding Fake Threads Post Generator to The Best Tools For Creating Fake “Stuff” For Learning.

This is from Wonder Tools:

Craft is a surprisingly useful, underrated tool for creating and organizing notes and documents. Use it to develop attractive lesson plans, student handouts, syllabi, or collections of resources.

How to use it: Organize materials into neat visual cards students or colleagues can click to explore. Add text, images, links, or tables to your documents. They’ll be more visually appealing than Microsoft Word or Google docs, or Apple Notes.

Sharing Craft docs: It’s easy to share Craft docs publicly or privately with a link, or export them as PDFs or Word docs. You can even transfer content directly to Ulysses, Bear, iA Writer, Day One, or other tools. I find it easier to use than Notion, Coda, or other pro tools I like, and I prefer the look of the shared docs.

Example — see how it looks: Here’s a Lesson Planning Resource I made with Craft to illustrate how you can use it for handouts and guides. It has subpages that hold PDFs, notes, docs, lists, and various other content.

Other features: Craft has a remarkably good mobile app for designing and viewing full docs. And while docs are private by default, you can now enable collaborative or even public editing, so people can work together on a project.

Pricing: Craft is free with a content limit, or $6/month for unlimited use.

Bottom line: Consider Craft as a new, flexible place to make, organize, and share docs, especially if you’re drowning in scattered teaching materials.

FCC Review Could End School Internet Program. Advocates Plan ‘Very Loud’ Protest is from The 74.

     

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):

Gamification on Mathematics Engagement and Motivation in Secondary School and Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – I’m adding it to The Best Posts On “Gamification” In Education — Help Me Find More.

Student engagement declines across adolescence: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies – I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles On Student Engagement.

The Influence of PBL and PjBL Models and Learning Motivation on Science Learning Outcomes

Supporting Somali- and Hmong-Speaking English Language Learners’ Acquisition of Morphological Awareness

“each weekly hour of math instruction in a given topic increases student test scores in that topic by 4.3% of a SD. However, the productivity of time varies based on the implementation of teaching practices that prioritize student active participation” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti…

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— Paul Bruno (@paul-bruno.com) February 9, 2026 at 4:09 AM

Our new working paper on school-level attendance practices and systems in MI and GA! In addition to cataloguing more and less common practices, we also show there is relatively little variation both across states and within states across contexts in attendance strategies. 1/2

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— Jeremy Singer (@jeremylsinger.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 6:07 AM

     

Every two months, I reprint this post so that new subscribers learn about these resources.

I have many free resources, including excerpts and student hand-outs, available from all “my” books (“my” is quotation marks because several are ones I have co-authored or edited). Clicking on the covers will lead you to them.

Katie and I have begun work on a new book for both ELL and non-ELL educators.  Look for it in Spring, 2027!

Coming up with an idea for a book and then getting a contract with a publisher for it is great – up until the time one actually has to write it 🙂