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"Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day…" - 5 new articles
A Look Back: Study Finds That “Student-Centered” Activities Better Than “Teacher-Centered” Ones – Except When It Comes To PacingFor 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 2020.
 sasint / Pixabay
Countless studies have found that “student-centered” instruction can be much more effective than ones that are commonly considered “teacher-centered” (see The Best Research Demonstrating That Lectures Are Not The Best Instructional Strategy and The Best Resources About Inductive Learning & Teaching). Of course, that doesn’t mean that we teachers are not supposed to stand there like “potted plants” and just let students do whatever they want. Critics of active learning sometimes try to paint this kind of constructivist instruction in that way, but they are just using the “straw man” fallacy . I’ve discussed this point at Is This The Most Important Research Study Of 2012? Maybe. Really, as the saying goes, we need to be “guides on the side.” A new meta-analysis reached the same conclusions, with one interesting twist. The study is called Twenty‐first century adaptive teaching and individualized learning operationalized as specific blends of student‐centered instructional events: A systematic review and meta‐analysis – whew, that’s a mouthful! It find that teachers do, indeed, need to act as guides for effective student-centered instructions (they give examples like cooperative learning and peer‐tutoring). Interestingly, though, they found that “excessive student control over pacing appears to inhibit [learning].” Even though I hadn’t thought about it before, that makes sense to me. I try to provide a lot of student choice and autonomy in classrooms. However, nine times out of ten, students want to move things at a slower pace than I think is appropriate, even though they almost always complete it in the shorter time I give to them. I guess it might be a version of Parkinson’s Law.      This Week’s Free & Useful Artificial Intelligence Tools For The Classroom geralt / Pixabay
At least, for now, I’m going to make this a weekly feature which will highlight additions to THE BEST NEW – & FREE – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS THAT COULD BE USED IN THE CLASSROOM: Voice to Picture won’t actually produce a photo but, instead, a drawing. Free AI Tool For That shares…free AI tools. No, Direct Instruction Will Not Have a Renaissance at Alpha School is by Dylan Kane.
 Practical Ways To Get Started Using Claude For Educators is from A.J. Juliani.  The Broken Record by Audrey Watters is very good. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Highlighting Why We Need To Be Very Careful Around Ed Tech. I’m adding this post to THE “BEST” IDEAS FOR USING CHATGPT, BARD, & OTHER FORMS OF AI WITH STUDENTS:
Keep your SAT prep on track with practice tests in Gemini. is from Google. Google packs Search and Gemini with new AI study tools is from TechCrunch.  “Anton” Is A Very Good Free Site For English Language Learners
I mentioned Anton a year or two ago in passing as a site that ELL teachers might want to check out. They have really upped their game since that time. Teachers can create free virtual classrooms, and it has tons of activities for all subjects, including for ELLs. They have a generic section for ELLs, and a separate one for Spanish-speaking ELLs. It’s easy to use, and it’s free. If I was still teaching in the classroom, I’d encourage my Newcomer students to use it at home.
 The “High-Dosage Tutoring” Bubble Appears To Be Popping, & That’s Why I’ve Been Pushing “Peer Tutoring” For Years, Instead
I have questioned the hype for “high-dosage tutoring” for years – because of its cost, the inability to find and train adult tutors, and the challenge of integrating separate tutoring sessions during the school day. Matt Barnum highlights these challenges in his Chalkbeat article today, The rise, fall — and possible future — of high-dosage tutoring. I just haven’t understood why more schools haven’t implemented peer tutoring, like my old school did, instead. You can read more about it at THE BEST RESOURCES ON PEER TUTORS. And, while I’m on my hobby horse, I’ll repeat my other two low-cost/big gain strategies that I continue to believe schools should implement:
 If I Was Still Teaching, I’d Carefully Use Some Combination Of These New Videos In A Unit About AI Literacy TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay
I’m adding these videos to A Beginning List Of The Best Resources For Teaching About Artificial Intelligence:       More Recent Articles |
