geralt / Pixabay

The Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework is known by just about every classroom teacher.

And there are also several variations.

Here are my choices for most useful resources for learning about it and its modifications:

A Fourth Step: “I Do, We Do, You Do” and then “You Teach” is one of my posts.

Deciding: I Do, We Do, You Do or You Do, We Do, I Do? is from Doug Fisher.

Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework is from Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey.

Here’s another post by Doug Fisher.

A Guide to Meaningful Instruction: Rethinking the Gradual Release of Responsibility is from AJ Juliani.

Cognitive Apprenticeships: The importance of “I/we/you do” guided practice is from Class Teaching.

Revisiting the Rules of Gradual Release of Responsibility is by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey.

Adapting Gradual Release of Responsibility for English Language Learners is by Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton.

Rethinking the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model comes from NCTM.

Gradual Release of Responsibility and Complex Text is by Timothy Shanahan.

The Role of Cognition in the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model appeared in Edutopia.

How to Teach Skills With the Gradual Release Model is from The Art of Education.

– Instead of assigning writing, co-write w/ MLs (we do)
– Then put them in pairs to co-write (you & a partner)
– Then have them write independently (you do alone) pic.twitter.com/0TL7zgOzXv

— Tan K Huynh (he/his) 🇱🇦🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈 (@TanKHuynh) August 26, 2024

This is not “how the brain learns”. If we want students to not just “get it”- to “own it” teachers must set up activities where students notice, observe, inquire, experiment, practice, reflect, and ask more questions. #iTeachMath https://t.co/h7zBQIIuLk

— Ralph Pantozzi (@mathillustrated) November 20, 2025

Be a Shade of Gray in the Either/Or Math War appeared in Middleweb.

What is ‘Presentation, Practice, Production’ (PPP)? is from The Barefoot TEFL Teacher.

A Guide to Planning a Present-Practice-Produce (PPP) Lesson is from TESOLPOP.

Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here.

You can also see all my “Best” lists on instructional strategies here.

Here are this week’s picks:

Harnessing scaffolding to support every student is from StepLab.  I’m adding it to The Best Resources On Providing Scaffolds To Students.

Growth Discourse: A Framework for Discussing Hard Topics with Students is from Cult of Pedagogy. I’m adding it to The Best Resources Sharing The Best Practices For Fruitful Classroom Discussions.

How Student-Led IEP Meetings Promote Self-Advocacy is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES ABOUT IEPS.

Or, walking through the halls after fixing the jammed copier in the teacher workroom https://t.co/KlHj6O1OqG

— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) December 8, 2025

I’m adding this post to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT PROJECT ZERO’S THINKING ROUTINES:

Think-Pair-Share is from DistillED.

The Robertson Program for Inquiry-based Teaching in Mathematics and Science “is a small, donor-funded organization committed to advancing equitable access to high-quality math and science education. We aim to make research-based, classroom-ready content freely available to all teachers and students.”

Eight years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention.

You might also be interested in all my Best lists on teaching ELLs.

Also, check out A Collection Of My Best Resources On Teaching English Language Learners.

In addition, look for our latest book on teaching ELLs, The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox 2.0.

Here are this week’s choices:

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Supporting English Learners? is from Ed Week.

Off to a Great Start: The Potential for Tutoring Paired with the Off2Class Foundational Literacy Curriculum to Boost English Proficiency Gains for Adolescent Newcomer English Learners is a recent study.

ELLs can watch these videos and then talk/write about what they saw:

Just published this new report at @tcfdotorg.bsky.social. Quick thread explaining what we found. tcf.org/content/repo…

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— Conor P. Williams (@conorpwilliams.bsky.social) November 12, 2025 at 8:10 AM

NEW: The National Committee for Effective Literacy highlights practices & policy recs that teacher preparation programs should employ to ensure educators are ready to support #MultilingualLearners.

Read the report: https://t.co/O3l1bSx7pC pic.twitter.com/YJoJqGRVl5

— Californians Together (@CalTog) November 13, 2025

I’m adding this video to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ADULT ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS:

This is a nice idea:

“Viva la Vida” is a nice lesson plan from OntheSamePage ELT.

What does research say about how practitioner-research in HE conceptualised, applied and evaluate Ss’ autonomy, esp. in Japan? ⁰ ⁰This infographic summarises evidence from both English and Japanese qualitative studies, 14 in total.

🧑‍🏫 Ts are recommended to design… https://t.co/HlgtnGY0rL pic.twitter.com/zoyemgKOYl

— TESOLgraphics (@tesolgraphics) November 16, 2025

What Makes a Language Teacher Charismatic? is from The Language Gym.

A-MAZE-ING GAME: THE PEACEFUL ALTERNATIVE TO BATTLESHIPS is from ELTcation.

“The Perfect Gift”: A Christmas Chat Story is from Onthesamepage ELT.

A new study came out yesterday that was covered by NPR, and you can read about it at Socioeconomic factors are becoming ‘biologically embedded’ in children’s brains.

It documents the harm that poverty can have on children’s cognitive abiltiies.

I’ve published quite a few posts over the year sharing similar studies, and I’ll post links to them all here.  So the connection isn’t new.

What’s more important, of course, are practical strategies teachers can implement to try and counteract these harms.  I’ll start off this list with links to those ideas:

“How Income Affects The Brain” & What We Can Do About It

I Like The New Science Of “Positive Childhood Experiences” & The Role Educators Can Play In Them

New Study Finds That Teachers Can Provide Positive Experiences To At Least Partially Counteract Student Trauma

The Best Ways For Responding To Student Trauma – Help Me Find More

Here are links to past studies making similar connections to the ones the research highlighted by NPR found:

The Brain & Poverty — Upcoming New & Potentially Useful Study

No Surprise Here: Poverty Can Affect Young People’s Brains

Quote Of The Day: Children, Poverty & Brain Size

Another Study Finds That Poverty Causes Cognitive Challenges, Not The Other Way Around

Excellent Piece On How Poverty Can Affect “Cognitive Bandwidth,” But It Has A Pretty Bad Title

“Author Interview: ‘Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources’ Lost to Poverty and Racism”

You might also be interested in:

The Best Posts On The Nature/Nurture Debate

The Best Resources For Showing Students That They Make Their Brain Stronger By Learning

Kids Tales has a ton of free “talking” books for early readers.

The audio narration is a pretty robotic one, but still workable.

I’m adding it to The Best Websites To Help Beginning Readers

bernswaelz / Pixabay

June 12th would be Anne Frank’s 97th birthday.

You might be interested in The Best Sites To Learn About Anne Frank.

The new official World Cup song would be a great one for English Language Learners – and for all other students, too.

It’s about doing your best and perseverance. Having ELLs listen to it, sing, and then discuss the lyrics’ meaning and how they could relate it to their life would be a nice lesson, and English proficient students could certainly benefit from doing that last part, too.

You can find the lyrics here and here.

I’ve embedded three videos below – the official World Cup music video, a “lyrics video” of the song showing the words as they’re sung (which is my preferred way of teaching with songs), and a lyrics video of a song I use in similar ways – “You Can Do It If You Really Want.”

I’m adding this info to The Best Resources For Teaching & Learning About The 2026 World Cup.

Student engagement – what it looks like, why it’s important, and how it can be measured – is a topic of understandably constant attention by educators.

I have a lengthy “Best” list on it – The Best Posts & Articles On Student Engagement – and have shared how I have measured it in my classrooms (Intriguing New Study On “Student Engagement” & How To Define It).  By the way, another study recently came out with a different measurement instrument that might be worth looking at….

Student Engagement Is Critical to Student Success is a recent post appearing at the USC EdPolicy Hub.

It gives a good overview of the topic, and includes lots of great links.

Even though it only briefly touches on practical solutions, if I was still teaching, I’d propose it as something we’d read and discuss as faculty.

wynpnt / Pixabay

Juneteenth is coming up.

You might be interested in The Best Resources For Learning About Juneteenth.

PublicDomainArchive / Pixabay

The United Nations has declared June 12th to be The World Day Against Child Labor.

You might be interested in The Best Resources For The World Day Against Child Labor.

As anyone who has been reading the news today knows, the feds issued a report today that, among other things, found that young people aren’t reading much for fun.

Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows is from NBC News.

I think many aspects of the Science of Reading movement have been positive. However, at least from what I’ve seen and heard, some advocates have not supported the idea of making class time available for students to read books of their choice – or at least haven’t been as vocal about that as they have for interventions like phonics instruction.

When I was in the classroom, “warm-up” time was always ten-or-fifteen minutes of students reading what they wanted. I would spend that time checking in with students and helping them find books (including many I would purchase myself)) they found engaging.

Not that I think standardized test scores are the be all, end all of things, but here’s another excerpt from the NBC News article:

Students who read in their free time are more likely to score higher on standardized tests than their peers who read less frequently, according to the NCES report.

I’m adding this info to The Best Resources Documenting The Effectiveness of Free Voluntary Reading.

The New York Times has just published America, One Line At a Time:

The United States was written into being. Now, 250 years after the Declaration of Independence, we look at six sentences that shaped the American story — taken from a founding document, an incendiary speech, a classic autobiography, an inaugural address, a protest song and a baseball cap.

I think highlighting sentences and examining them can be very useful in the classroom – with both students and teachers choosing them.

And, as regular readers know, I also publish a regular “Sentences of the Week.”

I’m adding this info to:

The Best “Lists Of Lists” Of Influential People, Events & Ideas

The Best Resources For Helping Teach About The 250th Anniversary Of The American Revolution

Alexandra_Koch / Pixabay

The third Sunday in June is Father’s Day in the U.S.

You might be interested in The Best Father’s Day Sites.

Inside the latest global research on school cellphone bans from The Hechinger Report provides a good summary of recent research on the topic.

I do find it interesting that a fair number of people who don’t work in schools look at the research showing that it’s not a huge help, but then say it’s still a good thing.  I, and I’m sure practically all teachers, agree about it being a good thing no matter what the actual research says.

I wish all those people who don’t work in schools would also support other efforts that might have mixed research behind them, like smaller class sizes and teaching about a growth mindset, but that most teachers are also behind.

I also wish those same folks would acknowledge more often that most elements that affect student academic achievement are outside of school grounds, and do something about them, too….

I’m adding this info to The Best Posts On Student Cellphone Use In Class — Please Contribute More.

There’s no question that developing English conversational skills is critical for our ELL students.

However, for our Beginning Students who are being parachuted into predominantly English proficient content classes, being able to use increasingly sophisticated simultaneous translation tools so they can understand what their teachers and classmates are saying will be even more important now as schools are closing down Newcomers classes because of reduced numbers.   Yes, in an ideal world, content teachers will work hard at making their content more accessible because that helps everybody, but some won’t.

In addition, these translation tools make teacher/parent/guardian conversations more accessible.  For critical ones, schools still need to hire interpreters.  But for most run-of-the-mill talks, these tools work great.

Today, Google unveiled a huge upgrade to their Live Translate feature, including on their Google Translate app.  And it can be used for phone conversations, too!

I’m adding this info to THE BEST RESOURCES TO HELP ELL STUDENTS WITH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION IN THE CLASSROOM.

TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay

Though I still think my favorite AI resistant strategy for essay writing is to have students do everything in class, I am impressed with how National History Day is dealing with it.

NHD is a national contest where students submit essays.

I first learned about their AI strategy from a post by Stephen Fitzpatrick, who examined several national writing competitions and how they handled AI.

Here is how he summarized what NHD does:

NHD built something practical – a process paper, an annotated bibliography, and an interview – a pedagogical methodology that was never designed for AI but turned out to be perfectly suited to it.

You can learn more about what they looks like in practice at Stephen’s blog post, and from NHD’s Get Started on Your Project.

They also have an excellent AI Guidance For Students infographic.

I’m adding this info to The “Best” Strategies For Creating AI-Resistant Assignments.

Mark Twain has been credited with the above comment, but he never said it.

I was thinking about the comment as I thought about reduced student test scores (see Yes, A Big Study Came Out Today Highlighting Plummeting Test Scores But, No, I Don’t Think It Tells The Whole Story).

So, I asked both Google Gemini and ChatGPT if there had been similar upticks and declines in student test scores in the past and, if so, what were their supposed causes.

You can read both of their responses in PDFs here:

Gemini

ChatGPT

I don’t necessarily think there are any magical answers there, but I do think educators would find them interesting.  I did not check their references for accuracy.

There do appear to be a myriad of reasons behind the falling scores (including ones not typically identified by education researchers – like growing economic disparities).  Of course, this also begs the question of if these test scores are really accurate indicators of student academic success?

Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in seeing all my “Best” lists related to education policy here):

Of course, school district superintendents do this all the time https://t.co/9hpd24wuPz

— Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) June 2, 2026

Reimagining the Public High School in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Part 1) is by Larry Cuban.

Four Unexpected Ways Schools Are Addressing Housing Instability is from Ed Policy Hub. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Learn What Impact A Teacher (& Outside Factors) Have On Student Achievement.

Black teachers improve outcomes for all students, but the profession remains largely white is from The Conversation. I’m adding it to New & Revised: The Best Resources For Understanding Why We Need More Teachers Of Color.

‘Teachers Are Going to Hate It’: How Social Media Apps Hooked Teens at School www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/u…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 4, 2026 at 6:19 AM

Screens are leaving schools fast, though some students with disabilities rely on them www.npr.org/2026/06/04/n…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 4, 2026 at 6:19 AM

The sweeping ways religion is mixing with public education www.washingtonpost.com/education/20… by @laurameckler.bsky.social

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 4, 2026 at 6:14 AM

This is obviously a bad idea.I am interested,however, in hearing how some professors can support test-based accountability 4 k-12 schools but oppose similar ‘accountability’4 their institutions-Loan rules would gut aid for thousands of low-paying college majors www.washingtonpost.com/education/20…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 5, 2026 at 7:01 AM

Most K-12 teachers say AI’s impact on education will eclipse the internet or computers www.npr.org/2026/06/05/n…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 5, 2026 at 4:44 AM

Trump officials went after dozens of colleges. Now they’re rewriting the rules for all of academia
apnews.com/article/trum…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 4, 2026 at 11:58 AM

‘It’s a family’: How a California tribal college is opening doors for Native students is from Cal Matters.

Trump’s Education Department is backing away from addressing civil rights for Black students is from the AP.

FCC Launches Review of E-Rate Program Amid Screen Time Debate is from Ed Week.

Firing Mike Brown was one of the many terrible decisions the Sacramento Kings owner has made over the past several years as we local basketball fans suffer the consequences.

Today’s NY Times article, Mike Brown and the Knicks found redemption together on magical NBA Finals run, gives you a good sense of why he’s such a great coach.

And it also gives clues, perhaps, to practices superintendents, principals, and teachers might want to consider implementing in their professional lives.

One of them is highlighted in the text box at the top of this post. I never had the luck to work under a particularly competent superintendent, but one who consults with their principals and teachers, along with their parents and students, I bet would have a better-than-average chance of success.

Fortunately, I always worked under principals who did just that.

And I often had leadership teams of students in my classes who I regularly consulted.

The Times article also highlights Brown’s other qualities, including his willingness to risk and fail, and his willingness to support others to do the same.

I can think of role models who would be far worse.

I’m adding this info to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES ON LEARNING ABOUT LEADERSHIP – SHARE YOUR OWN.

RosZie / Pixabay

The tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19 of this year, and I thought I’d get a head start on putting together related resources.

I’ll obviously be adding to it as time progresses.

I’ll begin with relevant ones from these previous World Cup “Best” lists:

THE BEST SITES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE 2022 WORLD CUP IN QATAR

The Best Sites For Learning About The 2018 World Cup In Russia

The Best Sites For Learning About The 2014 World Cup In Brazil

The Best Sites For Learning About The World Cup

Here are links useful for this year’s World Cup:

I’ve published two posts at The New York Times for English Language Learners that focus on soccer: one on Lionel Messi and the other on a Mexican girls soccer team.

Learn about synonyms and the World Cup in my third New York Times post for English Language Learners on soccer.

Of course, there’s the official World Cup site.

A Brief History Of The World Cup is a TIME Slideshow.

Here are three interactives from The Guardian:

The World Cup’s top 100 footballers of all time – interactive

World Cup kits through the ages – interactive guide

How to teach … the World Cup 2014 is a treasure trove from The Guardian that has resources and ideas applicable to this year’s event.

Photos: The World’s Game is from the NY Times.

10 things non-soccer fans need to know about the World Cup is from Vox.

HOW WE PLAY THE GAME is a NY Times interactive.

Stop the Ball is a fun interactive from The New York Times.

Battle Cries is a wonderful interactive from The NY Times.

The split-second psychology of football is from The BBC.

The Clubs That Connect The World Cup is a NY Times interactive.

Watch the Most Beautiful Free Kicks in World Cup History is from Slate.

How We Play The Game is another neat interactive from the NY Times.

Photos: Soccer Fields Around the World is from The Atlantic.

Why do classic soccer balls have those black and white pentagonal panels? Television. pic.twitter.com/oGCE3HHPNu

— Vox (@voxdotcom) June 15, 2018

I wrote a quiz on the history of football/soccer — in particular, on the sport’s impact off the field. How many can you get right? https://t.co/w8nX5q5Sjj via @nytopinion

— Keith Williams (@wmskeith) June 18, 2018

Though these lessons were designed for the last World Cup, most of the ideas can be applied to this one, too:

Check out @ShellTerrell‘s roundup of resources for teaching #English during the #WorldCup: https://t.co/cEuyocxeIU #ELT #ESL pic.twitter.com/Vl0Fv1u3DC

— Ellii (formerly ESL Library) (@ElliiLearning) June 13, 2018

What are the benefits of chanting your favourite footballer’s name this #WorldCup? https://t.co/U950TvhSJ6 pic.twitter.com/9rhVWlc5ks

— BBC Ideas💡 (@bbcideas) June 26, 2018

Flopping infuriates loyalists and reinforces soccer skeptics. Here’s why soccer players do it: https://t.co/kTdWQdPLTc

— Vox (@voxdotcom) June 24, 2018

Why the World Cup Needs Music is from The NY Times.

All Eyes On the World Cup is a photo gallery from The Boston Globe.

The modern soccer ball –> ⚽️ is recognized by billions around the globe, but it looked very, very different at the 1966 World Cup.

(Hint: think orange volleyball.) pic.twitter.com/y9k54GjRhP

— Vox (@voxdotcom) July 11, 2018

You will find more infographics at Statista

The making of a World Cup kit is from The Washington Post.

Both of these infographics are from Visual Capitalist:

The World Cup as Teachable Moment? How One Teacher Approached It is from Ed Week.

For Teachers: Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 Lesson Plan

FIFA Football for Schools

New on @WashingtonPost: “That’s a clear offside! But why?” https://t.co/iaj8LGPq51

— Interactive Journalism (@InteractiveFeed) November 23, 2022

In Miami, soccer balls are turned into one-of-a-kind art as World Cup nears is from The Associated Press.

Dangerously hot, humid weather is likely at many of the 2026 World Cup soccer venues. We crunched the numbers to see which matches are most at risk.

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— NPR (@npr.org) June 6, 2026 at 2:26 PM

The disease detectives suiting up for the World Cup

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— Politico (@politico.com) June 6, 2026 at 1:04 PM

In these schools, the World Cup is a teachable moment is from NPR.

Video: Official World Cup Song Would Be Great For ELLs – & All Other Students, Too!