Teaching Tolerance: What To Do About the Civil War?

What To Do About the Civil War?: "
The Teaching Tolerance team had a confab earlier this week
to plan ahead. Looking at a 2011 calendar, Sean Price, Teaching Tolerance’s
managing editor, reminded me that the 150^th anniversary of the start
of the Civil War was fast approaching. Did we want to do something?

My first response? Frankly, no. As a former U.S. history
teacher, I suspected that the next four years will present an unending
opportunity mainly for military history buffs to strut their stuff. We would, I
suggested to Sean, better serve teachers by focusing on the themes that spoke
to racial justice.

Alan Sitomer - Why don't we just let the bubble test makers decide the school calendar, too?

Why don't we just let the bubble test makers decide the school calendar, too?: "

And in another case of the bubble tests being the tail that wags the entire educational dog, we see that one of the nation's largest school districts - Los Angeles Unified - wants to start school earlier next year.

Not add more days of school, mind you. (Of course not. That would cost money and perhaps even add value to a child's learning life.) Nope... they want to start earlier to 'give students more time to prepare for the tests.'

That's not a direct quote. Here's the direct quote...

'The Los Angeles Unified School District hails the idea as a step forward academically, arguing that students would be better prepared for exams.'

It's that blatant.

That direct.

That absurd.

Clearly, good widgets do well on good one-size-fits-all bubble tests and bad widgets do poorly on one-size-fits-all bubble tests so - just as clearly, we need to start concentrating on the bubble tests earlier next year as they are, after all, the entire raison d'etre for public education's entire existence.

It also goes to show how little the time is valued by our schools after bubble test season is over. (I've blogged about this before, about how once testing season passes the entire school shifts into 'bide-our-time til summer' mode because clearly, once the bubbles have passed, so has the need to 'really teach'.)

Why don't we just let the bubble test makers decide the school calendar and put this baby to rest once and for all? They could schedule our tests, they could schedule our pre-tests, they can schedule our practice tests, our warm-up tests, and our make-up tests.

And anything that's left over, will just be a furlough day. After all, if we are not preparing kids for the tests, how in the world can it be said that we are really teaching.

Because if it's not tested, why would we be teaching it anyway?

This will all save us time, money and energy. Since nothing else but the bubble tests matter, why are we even bothering to pretend that anything other than the bubble tests do matter.

Of course, once we parse the data, we'll know who to keep, who to fire, which kid to shame and which kid to put on the cover of the school district's newsletter.

It's a simple solution really. I have no idea why it's taken them so long to figure it out.

NYTimes - Celebrating the Civil War in the South

Celebrating Secession Without the Slaves

Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times

Camille Love, Atlanta’s director of cultural affairs, above, with Yakingma Robinson,
an official at the Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum, which is being refurbished.

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: November 29, 2010

ATLANTA — The Civil War, the most wrenching and bloody episode in American history, may not seem like much of a cause for celebration, especially in the South

.

The Best “The Best…” Lists For English Language Learners — 2010

by Larry Ferlazzo
The Best “The Best…” Lists For English Language Learners — 2010: "

I’ve post many, many “The Best… lists this year, and I thought it might be useful to highlight a few of the ones I think are particularly useful for English Language Learners. Here are my choices for The Best “The Best…” Lists For English Language Learners — 2010 (apart from various other “The Best…” of 2010 lists):

The Best Sites To Learn “Feelings” Words
The “Best” Sites For Helping Students Write Autobiographical Incident Essays
A Collection Of The Best Sites For Learning About The Seasons
The Best “When I Say Jump” Online Sites For Practicing English
The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons
The Best Collections Of Funny Signs (For Use In English Classes)
The Best Sites For Creating Personalized “Newspapers” Online
The Best Sites For Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes
The Best Sites For Creating Sentence Scrambles
The Best Sites For Learning About Animals
The Best Sites For Gaining A Basic Understanding Of Adjectives
The Best Sites For Learning About “Cool” Cars (& Designing Your Own!)
The Best Movie Scenes To Use For English-Language Development
The Best Sites For Learning About Nutrition & Food Safety
The Best Sites For Learning About Weird-Looking Creatures (And For Making Your Own!)

Additional suggestions are always welcome. If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free. You might also want to explore the nearly 500 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

The Best “The Best…” Lists On School Reform Issues — 2010

by Larry Ferlazzo
The Best “The Best…” Lists On School Reform Issues — 2010: "

I thought readers might find it useful if I gathered all my “school reform” – related “The Best…” lists from this year together. Today also has been declared a Day of National Blogging for Real Education Reform, promoted by AASA and ASCD. Cooperative Catalyst is collecting links to posts being written by bloggers across the United States and beyond. Here are The Best “The Best…” Lists On School Reform Issues posted this year:

The Best Posts About The Appalling Teacher-Bashing Column Superintendents Wrote In The Washington Post
The Best Posts & Articles About The Teacher-Bashing “Waiting For Superman” Movie & Associated Events
The Best Posts About The LA Times Article On “Valued-Added” Teacher Ratings
My Best Posts On “School Reform”
The Best Resources For Learning About Effective Student & Teacher Assessments
The Best Resources For Learning About The “Value-Added” Approach Towards Teacher Evaluation
My Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers)
My Best Posts On How To Prepare For Standardized Tests (And Why They’re Bad)
The Best Resources For Learning About How Class Size Does Matter
A Collection Of The Best “Laugh While You Cry” Videos — Contribute More!
The Best Blog Posts & Articles About Joel Klein’s Departure & The Question Of Who Should Be Leading Our Schools
My Best Posts On Building Parent Engagement In Schools — 2010
The Best Posts & Articles Analyzing Charter Schools

Feedback is always welcome. If you found this post useful, you might want to consider subscribing to this blog for free. You might also want to explore the 500 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.

The Best Quotes About Education

by Larry Ferlazzo
The Best Quotes About Education — Contribute Your Own Favorites: "

As regular readers know, I’m a member of the Teacher Leaders Network. A year ago, TLN members began to contribute their favorite education-related quotations. John Norton from TLN gave me permission to pick some of them to share here. Please contribute your own in the comments section, and I’ll post a “Part Two” of this list at the end of the year.

Here is a beginning list of The Best Quotes About Education (contributors names are in parentheses):

This is my personal favorite: “When one is building a ship, one does not begin with gathering timber and cutting planks, but rather by arousing in people the yearning for the great wide sea.” — Antoine de St. Exupery

The Best “The Best…” Lists On Technology — 2010

by Larry Ferlazzo

The Best “The Best…” Lists On Technology — 2010: "

I’ve posted many “The Best…” lists this year, and I thought readers might find it useful if I highlighted the ones specifically relating to technology. Here are my choices for The Best “The Best…” Lists On Technology — 2010:

The Best Sites Where Students Can Upload PowerPoint Presentations To The Web
The Best Sites For Beginning iPhone Users Like Me
The Best Ways To Create Online Video Playlists
My Best Posts Related To Twitter
The Best Third-Party Twitter Apps That Don’t Require Your Password
The Best Web Applications That Lets Multiple People Upload Their Photos To One Place
The Best Applications For Sending Online Video Messages
My Best Posts For Tech Novices (Plus One From Somebody Else)
The Best Sites For Learning About The History Of Technology
The Best Tools For Cutting-Out & Saving Portions Of Online Videos
The Best Online Applications For Creating Panoramas
Not The “Best,” But A List… Of Online Video Editors
The Best Sites To Learn About The Internet
The Best Resources For Learning About “Word Clouds”
The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects
The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly — 2010
The Best Applications For Creating Free Email Newsletters
The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2010

“When Pictures Make History”

by Larry Ferlazzo

“When Pictures Make History” is a neat TIME Magazine slideshow.
It features images from the cave paintings at Lascaux to the Renaissance painters to the use of propaganda by the Nazi’s. I’m adding the link to The Best Sites To See “Photos That Changed The World.”
"

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2010

by Larry Ferlazzo

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2010: "

This annual post is always the most popular one of the year. You might want to visit previous editions:

The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2009
The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2008
The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2007

(You might also find The Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly — 2010 useful)

In order to make this list, a site had to be:

* accessible to English Language Learners and non-tech savvy users.
* free-of-charge.
* appropriate for classroom use.
* completely browser-based with no download required.

It’s possible that a few of these sites began in 2009, but, if so, I’m including them in this list because they were “new to me” in 2010. You might also be interested in exploring the 530 other “The Best…” lists that I’ve posted over the past three years.

Here are my choices for The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education — 2010:

Twenty: Sitehoover is a new application that lets you create a personal homepage showing thumbnail images of your favorite websites. You can also organize them into separate “folders. It can be very useful to students doing research, or identifying their favorite language-learning site.

Bit.ly’s New “Bundles” Are Perfect For Internet Scavenger Hunts

by Larry Ferlazzo
Bit.ly’s New “Bundles” Are Perfect For Internet Scavenger Hunts: "

Bit.ly, the wildly popular application that shortens url addresses, has just introduced “Bit.ly Bundles.” All you have to do is copy and paste several url address into the box on their site, click “Bundle,” and it will give you one url address that shows screenshots and descriptions of each of the url address you pasted in — in one url address. You can add your own descriptions, as well as rearrange their order. The only negative I see is that, in order to use it, you have to actually register with the site (which takes seconds). You don’t have to register if you just want to use their regular shortening service.
This kind of feature makes it ideal to create Internet Scavenger Hunts, with teachers listing questions they want teachers to find on each website.

I’m adding it to The Best Places To Create (And Find) Internet Scavenger Hunts & Webquests, where you’ll find similar applications to use that don’t require registration. Bit.ly’s advantage, though, is that it is probably more financially stable than these others and is more likely to stick around. I’ll also be adding info on this new feature to my description on Bit.ly on The Best Ways To Shorten URL Addresses list. Thanks to TechCrunch for the tip.

The Value Of A “High-Power Pose” For Students

by Larry Ferlazzo
The Value Of A “High-Power Pose” For Students: "

Recent research has found that “high-power poses,” including leaning forward, can increase a person’s sense of feeling powerful (as measured by self-reporting and chemical tests). “Low-power poses,” including looking downward with hands on one’s lap, can increase a person’s sense of powerlessness.

You can images of the kinds of poses they’re talking about, along with greater details about the research, here. TIME Magazine has a similar report.

The results reminded me of why Kelly Young at Pebble Creek Labs reminds teachers at our school, and we remind our students, to “lean in” as one of the instructions we give when dividing students into small groups.
"

ASCD: What Students Need to Learn

What Students Need to Learn: "The pressure to raise test scores and the looming possibility of national standards has educators asking difficult questions about what students need to learn. How do state and national assessments and standards play into curricular decisions? How do schools decide..."

The Learning Network: Resources | Teaching With and About Technology

The Learning Network: Resources | Teaching With and About Technology: "A collection of resources to help teachers and students think through questions about how technology is changing the classroom and the world.

"

Free assessment and grading resources from Rick Wormeli

Free assessment and grading resources from Rick Wormeli

via The Stenhouse Blog by stenhouse on 11/22/10

Looking for support in improving assessment and grading in your school or classroom? Rick Wormeli has created a collection of resources that teachers, administrators, parents, and policymakers can use to tap into the principles and strategies in his best-selling book Fair Isn't Always Equal.

The free collection, hosted by Stenhouse, features two extensive chapter-by-chapter study guides for Fair Isn't Always Equal. One is for book study facilitators and includes tips on how to handle difficult conversations about controversial topics; the other is for teachers to use independently or in small groups.
You'll also find videos and articles in which Rick addresses key issues such as late work and collaborating with faculty members who have different views about assessment and grading. Presently there are three videos:

• "Affecting Change" offers advice for leaders on managing change with their staff.
• In "Standards-Based Grading" Rick argues against the practice of assigning a zero as the lowest F on a hundred-point scale.
• "On Late Work" explains why assigning a failing grade for a missed deadline is not the most constructive way of helping students improve their work habits.

NYTimes - On Chicago Schools

A Dilemma for Schools Seeking to Reform

By SARAH KARP

Chicago wrestles with the question of what can be done with neighborhood schools where enrollment is shrinking and academic improvement is slow.

November 21, 2010EDUCATIONNEWS

For Saudi Women, Biggest Challenge Is Getting to Play - NYTimes.com

For Saudi Women, Biggest Challenge Is Getting to Play - NYTimes.com:

THE FEMALE FACTOR

In a series of articles, columns and multimedia reports, The International Herald Tribune examines where women stand in the early 21st century.
Previous Articles in the Series »
Follow the The Female Factor on Facebook »"

NYTimes - Thomas L. Friedman

Teaching for America

Nation-building in the classroom: Arne Duncan’s push to find the next generation of teachers.

NOVEMBER 20, 2010

NYTimes - Bob Herbert on Problems in America

Hiding From Reality

The nation is in denial about the true extent of its problems, from the economy to the deficits to the wars overseas.

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

NYTimes - Charles M. Blow Op Ed on Race

Let’s Rescue the Race Debate

A new poll suggests that most white conservatives believe that discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks. Where’s the proof?

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction

Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction

via NYT > Education by By MATT RICHTEL on 11/20/10

The constant stream of stimuli offered by new technology poses a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.

Meeting Readers Where They Are: Mapping the intersection of research and practice

Meeting Readers Where They Are: Mapping the intersection of research and practice

“Products Of Slavery” Is Amazing, Tragic & Frightening

“Products Of Slavery” Is Amazing, Tragic & Frightening

via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 11/19/10

Products Of Slavery is an amazing online visualization of products throughout the world created through using child or forced labor.
It's a "near fit" to other sites on The Best Resources For Learning About Human Trafficking Today, so I'm adding it there.
Thanks to Information Aesthetics for the tip.

Anti-Slavery Website

Anti-Slavery
Interesting resource for examining slavery from a global and modern perspective.

Great Videos From ViewChange.Org

Great Videos From ViewChange.Org

via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 11/18/10

ViewChange.Org has some pretty amazing short videos from around the world.
This is how it describes itself:
Using the power of video to tell stories about real people and progress in global development.
Believe me, that doesn't even begin to tell you what's there. It's a project of a very impressive organization called Link TV, which has been on The Best Tools To Help Develop Global Media Literacy list for quite awhile.
In addition to adding the direct video link to that list, I'm also adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About The World's Different Cultures.

The Learning Network: 55 Questions for Students

The Learning Network: 55 Questions for Students

via NYT > Education by By KATHERINE SCHULTEN on 11/16/10

A list of 55 Student Opinion questions we've asked since the school year began. Invite your students to come and post comments on any of them!

The Learning Network: 12 Ways to Learn Vocabulary With The New York Times

The Learning Network: 12 Ways to Learn Vocabulary With The New York Times

via NYT > Education by By KATHERINE SCHULTEN on 11/18/10

Twelve quick, easy and engaging ways to learn and practice new words by reading, viewing or listening to NYTimes.com.

Education Week: Why I Will Not Teach to the Test

Kelly Gallagher on the merits of not teaching to the test...
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/11/17/12gallagher_ep.h30.html?tkn=TPTFfMZnmCUUXXIbIa71TkyrRZA2Xb%2BhW94M&cmp=clp-edweek

John Merrow: A Jaw Dropping Day for Education

John Merrow: A Jaw Dropping Day for Education

via Education on The Huffington Post by John Merrow on 11/10/10

I had two jaw dropping moments in just one day, November 9, 2010. The first involved Black boys in and out of school; the second, Joel Klein.

"Jaw-Dropping Data" and "National Catastrophe" were two of the attention-getting phrases in the press release from the Council of the Great City Schools, phrases I assumed were hyperbole designed to catch the reader's eye.

Wrong! The data, from the report titled A Call for Change: The Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Black Males in Urban Schools (PDF), are jaw dropping, and we do have a national catastrophe.

Let's start with educational attainment. Here are just a few of the numbers:

• Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys.
• Only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.
• In 2009, the average mathematics scale score of large city Black males who were not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch was eight points lower at grade 4 and 12 points lower at grade 8 than the score of White males nationwide who were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
• Young white male students in poverty do as well as young black male students who are not in poverty.
• African-American boys drop out of high school at nearly twice the rate of white boys, and their SAT scores are on average 104 points lower.

But the crisis doesn't begin in school, the report notes.

• Between 2003 and 2007, Black mothers had infant mortality rates at least twice as high as White mothers.
• In 2008, Black children ages 17 and under were nearly 50 percent more likely to be without private or government health insurance than White children.

And the unfortunate outcomes are all too predictable:

• Only 5% of college students in 2008 were black men. At the same time, black men were incarcerated more than any other demographic group--at 6.5 times the rate of white males.

What's to be done about this national catastrophe? The report (PDF) makes 11 recommendations. To this reader, too many of these recommendations use verbs like 'encourage', 'compile,' 'convene,' and 'marshal.' Naturally, a White House conference is at the top of the list.

I would have liked to see some very specific recommendations, such as schools exclusively for young Black boys, for example, or classes separated by gender. (Because so many of our public schools are now de facto segregated, one doesn't have to mention race. Simply calling for gender specific schools and classes is enough to assure that all the boys will be Black, or all Hispanic, or all White. That's where we are now, 56 years after the Brown decision.)

The French pre-school system has what it calls 'economic priority zones (ZEP, in French), to which the government devotes more resources, not fewer. I know we've tried that in Kansas City, Newark and other places without much success, but I think that's because the money was spent on buildings, or salaries, or adult needs.

Perhaps one of those national meetings the report calls for could come up with better ways to spend the additional dollars we are going to have to spend to solve this crisis.

Joel Klein

My jaw dropped a second time when I learned of Joel Klein's resignation as New York City Schools Chancellor. He's labored long and hard in the nation's largest school system and has achieved some noteworthy success, particularly the large network of small high schools established on his watch. (Ironically, my colleague John Tulenko is preparing a PBS NewsHour report on those schools right now and actually interviewed the Chancellor a few days ago.)

Unlike his protégé Michelle Rhee, Chancellor Klein is leaving on his own terms, to return to the business world he came from. He has accepted a big job with the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's organization. His detractors are going to have fun with that.

What's fascinating is Mayor Bloomberg's choice of a successor, another successful executive from the business world, in fact from publishing (Klein came from Bertlesmann). Catherine Black ran the Hearst empire, and now she's coming into the schools, a novice at age 66.

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that Mayor Bloomberg never even considered handing the reins to a traditional educator.

But Ms. Black is going to have to do what Joel Klein was not able to accomplish, and that is transform the city's schools into 21st Century institutions, places where students learn to ask questions, not simply regurgitate answers. Is there a road map for that work? I believe there is, but I'd rather hear from you on that.

Watch Joel Klein talk about the job of NYC Schools Chancellor after his first three years on the job in 2005.
---

John Merrow's new book, Below C Level, is now available on Amazon.
He blogs regularly at Taking Note, where this post originally appeared.
Read more: Michelle Rhee, Learning Matters, Superintendents, Education, K-12, New York City, Joel Klein, John Merrow, Race, Chancellor Joel Klein, Students, Learning, Black Males, Education News

Jenifer Fox: Students Know What Makes a Good School (VIDEO)

Jenifer Fox: Students Know What Makes a Good School (VIDEO)

via Education on The Huffington Post by Jenifer Fox on 10/29/10

Urban Academy, located in Midtown Manhattan is a public school. As their tag line says, it's a small school with big ideas.

The building is old, but feels like home with comfy albeit old couches and cozy student gathering places. The teachers skip teaching to the test in order to engage students in genuine inquiry based learning that challenges their thinking. Many of the students failed at other large, urban public schools, and now find success at Urban Academy.

Some of the students travel over an hour each way every day from as far as the Brooklyn public housing projects to attend Urban Academy. Students at Urban love their school, take pride in their education and want to succeed. The model at Urban can be replicated without pouring millions and millions of dollars into a fancy new environment -- although these students deserve as much. What is so special about Urban Academy? Listen to the students speak in their own words. What do you think makes a great school?




Read more: Public Schools, Jenifer Fox, Education, Public Education Reform, School Reform, Urban Academy, Strengths, Education Reform, Teachers, Schools, Strengths Movement, Education News

Kenneth Bernstein: The Most Objectionable Thing About Waiting for 'Superman'

Kenneth Bernstein: The Most Objectionable Thing About Waiting for 'Superman'

via Education on The Huffington Post by Kenneth Bernstein on 10/29/10

The Most Objectionable Thing About Waiting for 'Superman' is the cartoon imagery portraying teaching as peeling back the skull of a student and pouring in information.

That Davis Guggenheim chose to use that imagery demonstrates to this teacher how little he actually understands about teaching.

If teaching were only the transmission of information, we would not need skilled teachers. Access to websites with structured lessons that drilled in the key information in would surely be less expensive.

And don't kid yourself: there are people out there who think of education in that fashion, as having the kids absorb a predefined list of "important" facts. Perhaps that is why they think mutlple choice tests are an effective measure of what kids know and have learned, and how many facts they can regurgitate upon the command of the test question a measure of the effectiveness of the teacher.

If all our students were the same, then perhaps we might be able to have them learn "facts" in such a fashion, presuming we could agree on the important "facts."

But as anyone who has had a classroom of eager elementary students or an equal group of bored and turned-off teenagers in front of her knows, if that's all you got, you ain't got nothing at all. And the students will quickly realize that.

Teaching requires knowing one's material. If it is going to be effective, it requires knowledge of one's students as well. At a minimum, it requires an understanding of human growth and development, to understand the appropriate level at which one gears one's effort towards the individual students as well as the collection before you. It helps to know their interests, to find a way of connecting the material to things about which they are already passionate. It helps immensely to be aware of those who need visual reinforcement, those for whom it is not real until they say it aloud, those who perhaps need to form a mental logical map to make sense of the material.

A skilled teacher has an expansive set of instructional tools to which he can turn. It is not, however, merely knowing different instructional approaches, it is being able to match those to the needs of the students in front of you. It may require you to present the same information and structure in two or three different fashions almost simultaneously in order that no student become disconnected because he does not understand, or that how you are presenting is different from how she learns.

There is no silver bullet -- there is no one way that works for all students.

Teaching also requires one to learn humility, to recognize that there will be some students that perhaps one cannot reach. I teach high school students, ranging in age from 13 (yes, occasionally that young in 10th grade) to 19. In some cases I have to let them crash and burn -- even fail one marking period -- in order to have them grasp that they need to be willing to change how they approach things if they want to succeed. That is one of the hardest parts of being a teacher, and it is something very far removed from peeling back a skull and pouring in information.

They tell me I am a very good teacher. I have received awards from my teaching. I get thanks from parents, and from more than a few students. Most of my kids do well on external tests such as those required for high school graduation or to receive college credit for my Advanced Placement Course.

Those things are nice, but they are less important than other things.

When a student who has been struggling finally begins to"get it"...

When a former student who put more effort into fighting me than attempting to learn comes back and thanks me for not giving up on him...

When a student is able to explain cogently why she is taking a position...

When the written and verbal expression demonstrates a more complete and complex ability to think...

Or perhaps I can put it as I tell both my students and my parents at the start of the year. I teach government and politics. My job is not to brainwash them, but rather to teach them to read critically, write and speak more cogently, learn how to listen. I want them better able to express in writing and verbally what they believe. I want them able to take apart an argument without taking apart the person with whom they are arguing, or as we used to say in civil rights, to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. And, as I tell them and their parents, in the process I may create my own worst nightmare; an articulate, persuasive advocate of a position I abhor.

In which case I have done my job as teacher, I have empowered my students.

Recently a student whose politics are very different from my own traveled to another state to volunteer for a Senate candidate who will lose badly this election. That candidate was surprised that a high school student would take the time to travel to another state, and asked my student why she had come. The student explained that her government teacher encouraged students to be active for what they believed, to stand up for what they believed, to work on behalf of candidates whose ideas they supported. That candidate took the time to write me a thank you note.

The note was nice. What was more important was what my student had learned, the key thing I hope all my students take away from our course in government and politics -- that as the owners of the nation they have a responsibility to act on its behalf as they thought best.

Which ultimately is more important, the facts the young lady learned in my class -- and trust me, there are many -- or the understanding of what it means to be a citizen in our form of government? Which is a better indication of my effectiveness as a teacher?

I know my answer, and it is not represented by that cartoon in Waiting for 'Superman'.
Read more: Waiting for Superman, Teachers, Teaching, Students, Learning, Education, Education News

MovieClips Gets Even Better

MovieClips Gets Even Better

via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 11/9/10

MovieClips, which is on several "The Best…" lists, including The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL, has recently added a nice addition. You might remember that it allows you to search for short clips by all sorts of themes, in addition to creating montages of them.
Now, according to TechCrunch, MovieClips:
…recently added "related clips," which recommends similar clips to users in search. So when a user searches for a particular clip, he will be exposed to a wall of 100 related clips "related by" actor, movie, action, mood, setting, theme, director, prop, cinematographer, and many more categories.
And, best of all, it's not blocked by our school's content filters!

Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected

Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected

via NYT > Education by By TRIP GABRIEL on 11/9/10

A new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture of the achievement gap separating black from white students is even bleaker than generally known.

Important Research For Writing Persuasive Essays

Important Research For Writing Persuasive Essays

via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 11/8/10

When having students write persuasive essays, I've always found the most difficult issue is teaching the idea and importance of including opposing views and counter-arguments. In fact, on occasion I'll admit to having decided that it is more trouble than it's worth, and skipped that step entirely.
No more, however.
A survey of over one hundred studies in the last fifty years now concludes that arguments that include opposing views with counter-arguments are more persuasive. Here are some excerpts on a report about the study:
…if we bring up opposing arguments, then shoot them down, not only is the audience more likely to be swayed, we also see a boost in our credibility.
Overall this is a nice conclusion, in that not only is a balanced argument more appealing morally, it is also more persuasive. And it doesn't matter whether counter-arguments are introduced at the start, the end, or mixed in; as long as they are refuted, we are more likely to persuade the audience.

The Best Resources, Articles & Blog Posts For Teachers Of ELL’s — 2010

via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 11/1/10

My gradual "roll-out" of 2010 "The Best…" lists continues.
This is my annual list for teachers of English Language Learners. I will be posting a separate one for ELL students in a month or two.
You might also be interested in:
The Best Sites For Teachers Of English Language Learners — 2009
Here are my picks for The Best Sites For Teachers of English Language Learners — 2010 (not in order of preference):
Teaching ELL's The "Unplugged" Way: Jason Renshaw has been writing an excellent series of posts about teaching ESL/EFL/ELL students the "unplugged" way — without a formal textbook, with few materials, focusing on their lives and interests, and making it "conversation-driven." He's now putting all of the posts in this series on one page, so I'd encourage you to explore The Road to Teaching Unplugged – Ongoing Archive.
Handwriting & Learning A Second Language: The Wall Street Journal has a somewhat interesting article (and video) titled How Handwriting Trains the Brain. I was particularly interested in what it says about how writing helps the brain learn a new language (over using a keyboard). That makes sense to me. In my teaching ELL's, computers supplement language learning, but the majority of writing is done by hand.
How Subtitles In Music Videos Teach Literacy: The Boston Globe has a useful article headlined Watch and learn:How music videos are triggering a literacy boom. It's about the use of subtitles in music videos as a tool to teach native-language literacy, and shares some good stories and research. Many ESL/EFL teachers are very aware of the usefulness of subtitles in second-language instruction, too.
Appropriate Use Of Tech: "The Appropriate Use of Technology in the EFL Classroom" is a nice presentation by Ronaldo Lima, Jr.
ESL Lesson Plans: "The Library Of ESL Lesson Plans: North Carolina Curriculum Guide" is an impressive collection of life-skills lesson plans developed by several local community colleges.
ELT & Technology: ELT and Technology is the title of a wiki created by David Deubelbeiss of EFL Classroom 2.0. It's chock-full of useful information.
Using Film: Using film and moving image to enrich ESOL teaching and learning is a very nice listing of different ways to use film with English Language Learners. It was written by Cormac Conway and Michaela Salmon.
Speaking: David Deubelbeiss, founder of EFL Classroom 2.0, has just shared an excellent speaking activity he uses with his English Language Learner students. He calls it Pass The Paper, and also shares a helpful PowerPoint.
My New York Times Guest Post: English Language Learners and the Power of Personal Stories is the title of a guest post I wrote for The New York Times website. It provides a good overview of the ideas I shared in my book, English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work.
More NY Time Resources: 10 Ways to Support English Language Learning With The New York Times is an excellent resource that has just been published on the New York Times website. It's a must-read for teachers of ELL's.
Creating A Jazz Chant: Most teachers of ELL's, especially Beginners, are familiar with the "jazz chants" developed by Carolyn Graham. These are short, musical….chants that can be used very effectively in the classroom. She has written books sharing them, and I, like many other teachers, have created our own. Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto has written an excellent blog post sharing the process Graham uses to develop these chants.
Another Article By Me: Education World published my short article titled "Using A Star Chart to Teach English Language Learners." (it's not about astronomy)
Academic Language: Teaching Academic Language to English Language Learners is a PowerPoint from a Webinar presented by Dr. Robin Scarcella, Professor in the School of Humanities at the University of California at Irvine. It has some useful information.
Top YouTube Videos: David Deubelbeiss at EFL Classroom 2.0 has given us all a gift by compiling his Top 100 Youtube videos for EFL.
Writing Exercise: Sean Banville, the man behind Breaking News English and a bunch of other websites used by ESL/EFL teachers all over the world, has written a post in his blog describing a neat Paired And Group Writing Activity.
Getting ELL's To Thrive: Getting English-Language Learners to Thrive is the title of an article I've written for Teacher Magazine. It was published today. You need to register in order to access the entire article, but it just takes a few seconds to do so.
Connect With English: I've written before about Connect With English. It's a video series for English Language Learners by Annenberg Media. It has good supporting materials, is very engaging for my students, and is on The Best Popular Movies/TV Shows For ESL/EFL list. All episodes are available online and for free. We show it once a week to our Intermediate English classes.Though the supporting materials are good, you do have to pay for them. I thought readers might be interested in this one page worksheet that we use instead. Students have to make predictions based on the title of the episode, explain if their predictions were correct, write several questions about the episode that they ask a partner afterwards (who then writes the answers). It's good listening, speaking, and writing practice. My colleague, Katie Hull, created it for our students to use. Katie and I, by the way, will be writing a book together on teaching writing to English Language Learners.
Teaching Tips: Survival Tips for Teaching Kids English: 30 Tips & Resources is a great post from Shelly Terrell sharing ideas for teaching young English Language Learners.
Movie Clips: Movieclips has immediately become an indispensable website in my "teachers' repertoire" of links.
It has thousands of short video clips from movies and they're not blocked by our content filter! And they're available without registering — except for clips that have "mature" content. That in itself makes it a wonderful resource. But that's only part of why I like this new site so much. What makes it a real winner is that that clips are categorized by theme, character, setting, mood, and more. They're incredibly detailed.
Improvisation: I wrote a post about using improvisation in the classroom. It's titled Improvisation In The ESL/EFL Classroom — At Least In Mine.
Great Teacher Blog: "Frenchfrog's Little English Pond" is the name of a blog written by Laurence Haquet. She creates great interactive books that are exceptional learning tools.
Make Your Textbook Come Alive: Animating your Coursebook is the title of an amazing post, and slideshow presentation, by EFL teacher Marisa Constantinides. If you have to use a textbook in your class, it's chock-full of great ideas on how to make it come alive. It's designed for an ESL/EFL class, but the strategies can be used by any teacher and for any textbook. And, heaven knows, so many textbooks are dead and can use a little re-animation!
Using Metacognition: A Pretty Darn Good Lesson — If I Say So Myself is a humbly-titled post I wrote about what I think is a pretty good lesson we did in our Intermediate English class.
First Day: Resources For The First Day Of Intermediate English Class is another one of my posts.
Student Blogging: "What advice would you give for blogging with ESL/EFL students?" is a post by Sue Waters. In it, she shares advice I have offered, and asks for more suggestions.
Feedback is welcome, including additional suggestions.
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You might also want to explore the 530 other "The Best…" lists I've compiled.

The Learning Network: Going Into Detail: Developing Proofreading Skills

The Learning Network: Going Into Detail: Developing Proofreading Skills

via NYT > Education by By SHANNON DOYNE and HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO on 11/8/10

Lesson Plan | Using strategies for finding and fixing mechanical and grammatical errors.

In Efforts to End Bullying, Some See Agenda

via NYT > Education by By ERIK ECKHOLM on 11/8/10

Lessons to teach acceptance of homosexuality, which have gained urgency after suicides, are causing culture wars.

The Learning Network: Resources | Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War

via NYT > Education by By THE LEARNING NETWORK on 11/5/10

Resources for learning about Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

The Learning Network: Blogging History: Interpreting Civil War-Era Primary Sources

http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=e52092edb45466b1e1619e23b9a3c31d
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What A Great ESL Site!

here's another site to go along with the one i sent you guys last week that might be helpful (?)

via Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... by Larry Ferlazzo on 11/3/10

I've posted about the Minnesota Basic Education Site before, but it's been quite a quite awhile.
I was recently pleased to see that they had completely redesigned it, and it looks great!
It will certainly make one or more of my year-end "The Best.." lists.
Thanks to Ed Tech Essentials for prompting me to take a look.