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:

How Schools Can Help Students Moderate Their Social Media Use (DOWNLOADABLE) is from Education Week.

Remote For Slides lets multiple people advance a Google Slides show, great for when you’re doing a webinar on Zoom with multiple panelists.

The Classroom Tech Backlash (Ruth Reader) appeared in Larry Cuban’s blog.

Trying to briefly (!!!) capture where different social media platforms are at from an educator’s perspective.

What am I wrong about?

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— Marcus Luther (@marcusluther.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 9:11 AM

Virtual Vacation takes on on lots of virtual tours around the world.  I’m adding it THE BEST TOOLS FOR TAKING STUDENTS “AROUND THE WORLD”

Sentence Shuffler does what it says.  I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Creating Sentence Scrambles.

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:

Not using AI to assess essays, especially for high stakes assignments, is the hill I will die on. I’ve used it to assess online learning game results, low stakes grammar practice.

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 2, 2025 at 6:38 AM

A GUIDE TO AI IN SCHOOLS: Perspectives for the Perplexed is from MIT, and Tony Vincent has set it up in NotebookLM if you don’t want to read the whole thing.

Yourscape uses AI to create Escape Rooms. I’ve written in the past how I use these to help teach English (see Using Online “Point-And-Click Escape The Room” Games With ELLs; Another Gift From My Peer Tutors: Video Game Walkthroughs That Are Great For ELLs; and This Is Pretty Creative: Using Online “Escape The Room” Games To Teaching Scientific Reasoning.

Piperead is an AI-powered book recommendation tool that seems a lot better than others I’ve seen. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Get Blog, Website, , Book, Movie, & Music Recommendations.

TubeTranscript provides a…transcript of any YouTube video.  Unlike most similar tools, this one breaks it into segments which makes it more readable.

InfoGenie uses AI to create infographics. I’m adding it to The Best AI Tools For Creating Visuals & Infographics.

Check out Free AI Tools for Everything.

I think there’s little doubt 5-10 yrs from now we’ll be talking about AI in schools the way we talk about cellphones in schools now ——When Kids Adopt New Technologies, Hype Can Turn to Backlash www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/w…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 4, 2025 at 2:42 PM

This new children’s book is a bedtime story for the AI age www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM

Artificial intelligence research has a slop problem, academics say: ‘It’s a mess’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 6, 2025 at 9:00 AM

© 2005 James Sheriff, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Several days ago, I saw a tweet from Amy Fast sharing a quote from author/researcher Shawn Achor:

Before, we could only ask questions like “How smart are you?” or “How creative are you?” or “How hard do you work?” But now, we can ask the bigger questions: “How smart do you make others around you?” “How much creativity do you inspire?” “How much does your drive become contagious to a team or family?”

In other words, according to his research,  a person’s future individual success depends on one’s effectiveness with those last three “bigger questions.”

The concept is obviously attractive to me, and fits into other ideas I’ve shared at The Best Resources On Developing A Sense Of Community In The Classroom.

That was the first time I had heard of Achor, though, and I’ve ordered his book to more carefully examine his concepts and research.

However, I didn’t wait to try out this idea in class.

One student (let’s call him “John”) is very intelligent, likable, and viewed as a leader by his classmates.  He is often very unfocused, though, and can easily distract others because of his leadership role.  He and I have been talking about this issue for three years, and there has been little or no change.

A few days ago, I shared this snippet of research with him and asked him, once again, if he wanted to use his leadership ability for “good” or for “less-than-good” purposes.  He seemed intrigued by the idea of his future success being based on how much he helped others around him and we decided that instead of doing the regular warm-up each day, he would write about what he had done the day before and what he was planning to do that day to help make other people “smarter” in our class and elsewhere.  We discussed what that might look like – modeling focus by not coming in singing, helping others who were less proficient in English, etc.

He and I would meet briefly once or twice a week to review what he had been writing and doing.

It’s certainly too early to call this intervention a success.  However, it has clearly been far more effective so far than anything else we’ve done during the past three years.  He has been exceptionally focused, respectful and helpful.

I’ll give a progress report in a few weeks and, depending on how it goes, might see if he wants to write about it for this blog, too.

ADDENDUM: I asked ChatGPT in 2026 if Achor’s position is supported by more recent scientific research.  Here’s its response, which I think still supports its use in the classroom the way I outlined it in the post:

Short answer: partially supported, but overstated as a general law of success.

Achor’s “bigger questions” idea — that your future success depends on how much you elevate others — aligns with several well-established research traditions. But the strong causal framing (“your future individual success depends on this”) goes beyond what the science can firmly prove.

Here’s the breakdown.

What Is Supported by Research

1️⃣ Emotional Contagion Is Real

There is strong evidence that:

• Emotions spread within groups.

• Leaders’ moods affect team performance.

• Positive affect can increase cooperation and creativity.

Research on emotional contagion (e.g., Sigal Barsade and others) shows that group mood can influence performance and collaboration. So the idea that your positivity or drive can influence others is well supported.

2️⃣ Prosocial Behavior Predicts Success

Longitudinal studies show that:

• Helping behavior predicts career advancement.

• High-quality relationships predict performance and well-being.

• “Generous” employees often outperform purely self-focused high performers.

Adam Grant’s research on “givers” (while more popularized) is grounded in organizational psychology showing that prosocial behavior can correlate with success — especially in collaborative environments.

3️⃣ Social Capital Matters

Large bodies of research in sociology and organizational psychology show that:

• Network strength

• Social trust

• Relational leadership

…predict long-term outcomes like promotions, income, and job satisfaction.

So the idea that your ability to uplift others contributes to success is consistent with the literature on social capital and relational leadership.

What Is Less Solid

⚠ 1️⃣ Causation Is Hard to Prove

Most of the supporting research is:

• Correlational

• Context-specific

• Moderated by personality, culture, and environment

It’s difficult to prove that:

“Making others better causes your future individual success.”

It may also be that:

• High performers both succeed and uplift others.

• Strong environments enable both.

⚠ 2️⃣ Effects Are Context-Dependent

Being highly prosocial does not always predict success:

• In competitive environments, generosity can be exploited.

• In hierarchical systems, performance metrics may outweigh relational influence.

• Cultural norms vary.

So the claim works better in:

• Team-based workplaces

• Leadership roles

• Collaborative settings

Less predictably in:

• Individual performance-based systems

• Highly competitive contexts

⚠ 3️⃣ Success Is Multifactorial

Individual success is influenced by:

• Cognitive ability

• Opportunity

• Structural advantages

• Persistence

• Skills

• Luck

The research does not support the idea that social influence alone determines future success.

What Science Would Say More Precisely

A more defensible version of Achor’s conclusion would be:

Individuals who positively influence others’ emotions, motivation, and performance tend to experience better long-term outcomes, particularly in collaborative and relational contexts.

That’s supported.

But this stronger claim:

Your individual future success depends primarily on how much you uplift others.

That’s motivational framing, not settled science.

For Classroom Contexts

The “bigger questions” idea aligns well with research showing:

• Cooperative learning improves achievement.

• Peer influence shapes academic norms.

• Class climate predicts student outcomes.

So encouraging students to think:

• “How do I contribute to others’ learning?”

• “How do I elevate the group?”

…is consistent with solid educational research.

Just not as a universal success formula.

Bottom Line

✔ Supported: Social influence, emotional contagion, and prosocial behavior matter for success.
⚠ Not fully supported: The claim that these factors determine individual future success.
🎯 Best interpretation: They are important predictors among many.

NewsGuard AI is a new free AI chatbot that is supposed to be a “reliable” source of news, with it only drawing its information from sources judged by the site’s owners as reputable.

You can read more about it at CNN.

Of course, the question is how much confidence can we have in the site owner’s judgment?

Whatever happens with this site, I think it’s an example of the kind we’ll be seeing more and more of – chatbots that draw from a base of vetted information (I’ve even created five of my own just like that – see I’ve Created Five Free Chatbots For Teachers & Others, And Some Have Become Quite Popular – Here Links To All Of Them.

As people get questionable results from the major chatbots, I think they’ll be drawn to ones whose information base has been developed by people or organizations that they trust…

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:

Evidence Without Hype, Gamified Quizzing in EFL and ESL Classrooms in Low-Input Contexts, a Critical Review and Minimum Reporting Standards

Key differences between primary and secondary school learners in terms of aptitude for instructed second language acquisition according to research by Piaget (1952; 1970), Vygotsky (1978), Baddeley & Hitch (1974), Baddeley (2003), Lenneberg (1967), Flege (1995), DeKeyser (2007;… pic.twitter.com/p5BR7JUFiU

— Dr Gianfranco Conti (@gianfrancocont9) November 29, 2025

TEACHING DICTATION SUCCESSFULLY – Principles of effective dictation training informed by research – e.g. Field (2008; 2019), DeKeyser (2007), Vandergrift and Goh (2012), Sweller (1988; 1994), Flege (1995), Kuhl (2004), Cutler and Norris (1988), Macaro (2001; 2013), Graham (2015),… pic.twitter.com/56Ip9tDz89

— Dr Gianfranco Conti (@gianfrancocont9) November 28, 2025

I’m pretty sure this video is AI-generated, but it would still be useful to show ELLs and have them talk/write about what they saw (and maybe have them discuss if they think it was AI-generated or not):

oh my god 🐾 pic.twitter.com/ImErkwPHci

— 🐶dog🐶 (@dog964450058141) November 27, 2025

A myth, but works just fine for our pronunciation maze. I’ve updated the maze and the link in the storage, in case you’ve bookmarked it for your learners. Happy schwa-ing)) https://t.co/nSOWe7nfdh pic.twitter.com/EQnkC8Vw6C

— Svetlana Kandybovich (@ELT_CATION) November 13, 2025

Nomido is an online word game from The Browser.  It provides a bunch of tiles with two letters, and you have to connect them to create words.  It’s probably too difficult for all by advanced ELLs, but I think teachers (maybe with AI assistance) could create their own that would be accessible to more students.  I’m adding this info to The Best Ideas For Using Games In The ESL/EFL/ELL Classroom.

I’m adding Translanguaging in the Classroom to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT TRANSLANGUAGING.

ELL students can watch this video and talk/write about what they saw:

What does research say about using digital games for language teaching and learning? ⁰
This infographic summarises evidence from 23 studies.
⁰👨‍🏫 Teachers can offer a holistic support system for language learning through exercise & communication opportunities in single and… https://t.co/DY3mxDxCvh pic.twitter.com/Wa4AkUZpoF

— TESOLgraphics (@tesolgraphics) November 30, 2025

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:

How to Develop Test-Ready Students is from Edutopia. I’m adding it to Best Posts On How To Prepare For Standardized Tests (And Why They’re Bad).

The Science of Strong Business Writing is from The Harvard Business Review. I’m adding it to Best Posts On Writing Instruction.

The Science of Learning: Explainer Series is a nice set of videos.

I’m adding this video to The Best Resources For Using “Object Lessons” In History:

This week won so here’s the link (there are around 1200 files in all): https://t.co/tEtmpq3SQL.

These are made available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license: https://t.co/qei9LJvtu1. This means you can Share and
Adapt the material with the following conditions: pic.twitter.com/f7qXLv15wH

— Dylan Wiliam (@dylanwiliam) December 23, 2025

Weaning Students from the Lecture Into Active Learning (Jeremy Murphy) appeared in Larry Cuban’s blog. I’m adding it to The Best Research Demonstrating That Lectures Are Not The Best Instructional Strategy.

A young NBA star asked Jalen Brunson about winning. His answer was about failure is a nice article in The Athletic at The New York Times.

I’m adding it to The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures.

Here’s a video embedded in the article:

In Video: Official World Cup Song Would Be Great For ELLs – & All Other Students, Too!, I discussed songs that are accessible to ELLs and also carry the added benefit of being about topics that could encourage reflection and confidence.

Stephen Colbert just did another one – a remake of the “Arthur” theme song.

You can read the lyrics here.

Colbert’s video is below, followed by a “lyrics video” usable for class.

I’m adding this info to The Best Music Websites For Learning English.

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):

Featured in the latest Digest: School Cell Phone Bans and Student Achievement

www.nber.org/digest/20251…

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— NBER (@nber.org) December 18, 2025 at 5:02 AM

I’m really proud to have been a small part of this amazing effort by the Centre for Education Systems to bring together high-quality analysis of different educational systems, providing comparisons of curriculum, assessment, special needs, and more: https://t.co/uwl88Qc6Tz

— Dylan Wiliam (@dylanwiliam) December 18, 2025

Being in nature reduces fatigue and boosts attention.

34 experiments: After walking, playing, and learning in parks, forests, or water, kids & teens show better focus and self-control.

Not all outdoor time is equal. Green and blue spaces are more refreshing than urban settings. pic.twitter.com/LNycNuzsR6

— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) December 18, 2025

New meta-analysis concludes that prequestions confer an advantage to content relevant to the prequestions, but the advantage does not bleed over to other content. link.springer.com/article/10.1…

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— Dan Willingham (@dtwuva.bsky.social) December 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM

Linking Student Absenteeism on Different Weekdays to Student Achievement journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1…

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— Paul Bruno (@paul-bruno.com) December 26, 2025 at 8:30 AM

“Foreign Accents and Employer Beliefs: Experimental Evidence on Hiring Discrimination”

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers….

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— John Holbein (@johnholbein1.bsky.social) December 25, 2025 at 1:03 PM

Prawny / Pixabay

Here’s my regular round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 2,595 of them categorized here – you might also want to check out THREE ACCESSIBLE WAYS TO SEARCH FOR & FIND MY “BEST” LISTS).

Here are the lists from this month:

The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2026 – So Far

The Best Resources For Teaching & Learning About The 2026 World Cup

2026’s Best Posts On New Education-Related Research Studies – So Far

Best Videos For Educators In 2026 – So Far

2026’s Best Posts From This Blog – So Far

The Best Resources On The Gradual Release Of Responsibility Framework – And Its Variations

The Best Resources On What Poverty Does To Children’s Brains – And What We Can Do About It

The Best Online Learning Games & Apps For Toddlers (Though Only For Very, Very Limited Times)

The Best Resources For Using “Vision Boards” In Class

2026’s Best Artificial Intelligence Tools & Resources For Teachers & Students – Part One

I’m fairly active on Pinterest and, in fact, have curated 25,000 resources there that I haven’t shared on this blog.

I thought readers might find it useful if I began sharing a handful of my most recent “pins” each week (I’m not sure if you can see them through an RSS Reader – you might have to click through to the original post).

Here they are:

Here are my choices for the best AI tools and resources for education over the past six months:

“My AI Toolkit: Studio” Is An Exceptional Resource For ELL Teachers

“Twin Pics” Looks Like A Good Classroom Game To Support ELL Writing

“How to Use Artificial Intelligence With English Learners—According to Teachers”

Inductive Teaching Has Always Been An Effective Strategy, Perhaps Even More So In The AI Era

Google Translate’s “Practice” Feature Finally Makes Itself A Useful Tool For Language Learning – It Now Assesses Your Pronunciation!

What Do You Think Of These Two Questions For Helping Guide School AI Use?

This Idea Of Beginning Lessons With A “Micro-Inquiry” Is A Good One, & I Like This Free AI Tool Designed To Create Them

Note To College Instructors: Um, I Don’t Think Your Students Are Reading Your Textbook Or Materials

“The Claim Auditor” Uses AI To Verify…Claims That People Say Are Research-Based

“Quizdes” Is A Free & Decent Alternative To Wayground Or Kahoot – If You Needed One

“What If History” Is A Fun AI Tool & Also Makes Me Feel Sad About What AI Has Done To Classrooms

“Dulink” Translates Any Article AND They Make It Look Nice

“Write In English” Is A New & Free AI Tool I Created That Is A Rough Approximation Of Something That Could Be Very Effective In Helping ELLs

Google Translate Now Offers Simultaneous Translation On iPhones Using Headphones – This Will Be Great For ELL Students In English-Proficient Classes

How Did I Not Know About YouTube’s “Ask About This Video” Feature? It Can Be An Excellent Tool For ELLs

“Speak Free” Is A Decent – & Free – Tool for Practicing English Pronunciation

This Is Interesting: Foundations Putting A Bunch Of Money Into Creating AI Tools For English Language Learners

In Many Ways, I Think “ESLvideo” May Now Be One Of The Best Examples For AI Education Use On The Web

The Best Resources For Teachers, Especially Those Teaching ELLs, To Learn About Google’s NotebookLM

“Spot Different” Could Come In Very Handy For ELL Teachers

“Instrument Playground” Would Be A Good Tool For Students Learn About Different Musical…Instruments

“Padlet Arcade” Looks Like A Great – &, For Now At Least, Free – Place To Easily Create Online Learning Games

Who’d Have Thought? Students Who Prompt AI To Create Texts They’re Interested In Are More Likely To Want To Read Them

I’ve Created Five Free Chatbots For Teachers & Others, And Some Have Become Quite Popular – Here Links To All Of Them

Google Uses Its AI To Create Its Most Elaborate Relatively Useless Tool Yet

Google Just Created A New AI Tool That Is Perfect For Teachers Of ELL Newcomers

“Vocab.top” Seems Like A Particularly Good Multilingual Dictionary

“My Story Steps” Has Potential For Long-Distance Grandparents Like Me

“Odyssey” Is An AI-Powered Video Tool That Could Be Useful To English Language Learners

“LineSpeak” Is An AI Tool To Assess Pronunciation & It Seems To Have A Generous Free Plan

“Uttered” Might Become A Decent Video Option For English Language Learners

Some Studies Say That AI Tutors Are Supposedly Effective, But For Whom?

If I Was Still Teaching, I’d Use This Writing Prompt As Part Of My Unit On Artificial Intelligence

I Benefited A Lot From Reading This Piece About AI In Education, & I Think All Educators Could, Too

“LangTwo” Seems Like A Decent AI-Powered Language Tool & It’s Free (For Now, At Least)

“Spelly” Looks Like A Good Free Tool Where ELLs Can Get Their Pronunciation Assessed

“New Life” Seems To Do An Excellent Job Of Comparing What Life Is Like In Two Different Places

Five AI-Created Infographics Sharing Info On AI Research & My Recommendations

Excellent Summary Of Research On AI & Learning, But Recommendations Are Pretty Weak

“Hidden Door” Uses AI To Let You Role-Play Within Classic Novels

I’m Pretty Surprised That Sal Khan Wrote This Op Ed, & Even More Surprised The NY Times Published It

“Mock Talk” Looks Like A Good – And Free – Tool Where ELLs Can Practice Speaking

The Most Useful Free Or VERY Low Cost AI Tools For Supporting English Language Learners

With “Learn Everything,” Google Strikes Out Again In Trying To Make AI Useful

“Talk To Dai” Seems Like A Decent AI-Powered Language Learning Tool, & It’s Free (At Least, For Now)

I REALLY Think Secondary ELL Teachers Should Consider Radically Restructuring Classes, But I’m Not Sure If They Are

“Hello Nabu” Looks Like One Of The Best Free AI-Powered Language Learning Tools That I’ve Seen So Far

Google Unveils “Scholar Labs” For Academic Research – Seems “Meh”

Though I think the author here is kidding himself with some of the assignments he suggests are AI-resistant, there are a few that could be useful. I’m adding it to The “Best” Strategies For Creating AI-Resistant Assignments.

Writing builds resilience by changing your brain, helping you face everyday challenges is from The Conversation. I’m adding it to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR HELPING STUDENTS SEE THE BENEFITS OF WRITING (IN THE AI AGE).

Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out is from Wired.

AI-generated lesson plans fall short on inspiring students and promoting critical thinking is from The Conversation.

EduGems has a nice collection of prompts that teachers can use with AI chatbots. I’m adding it to NOT NECESSARILY THE “BEST,” BUT A LIST OF AI TEACHER PREP SITES.

When I was teaching about Indigenous Societies and Knowledge during our IB Theory of Knowledge classes, I always included lessons about the crime and tragedy of U.S. and Canadian boarding schools.

Students in my classes, half of whom were typically members of indigenous communities themselves, were always shocked by what they learned.

I wished I had known about the boarding school lessons offered free by The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

You can read more about them at today’s AP article, As Native American boarding schools project ends, survivors describe feeling honored and restored.

I’m adding this info to:

RESOURCES ON CHALLENGES NATIVE AMERICANS FACE IN SCHOOLS

The Best Sites For International Day Of The World’s Indigenous People

Another day, another mid-year “Best” list.

Now, it’s time for research studies.

You can see all previous editions of this list, as well as all my ed research related “best” lists, here.

Here are my choices for the past six months:

Study Identified A Long Overlooked Aspect Of Student Achievement – The Impact Of Student Mobility

No Sh_T Sherlock, Another Study Finds That Just Because Your Students Do Well At Advantaged School Doesn’t Mean You’ll Have The Same Success At A Low-Income One

Yet Another Study Finds Reasons To Be Very Cautious When Using Value Added Measurements To Evaluate Teachers

More Research Shows What Most Educators Know: Teachers Get Better As They Gain More Experience

Here’s A List Of “Interactive Teaching Methods” A New Study Has Found Effective In Social Studies Classes

This Is Pretty Interesting: Meta-Analyses Ranking Instructional Math Strategies

Every ELL Teacher In The U.S. Will Want To Read These Results From An Ed Week Survey On Teaching English Learners

Yet Another Study Finds This Program Is Successful For Ninth-Graders – I’m Not Really Sure Why Most Schools Don’t Implement It

New Study Finds That Peer & Self Assessment Helps Create The Conditions For Student Motivation

Big New Analysis Of What Works In Reading Instruction For Older Readers – Here’s What It Says

“The Claim Auditor” Uses AI To Verify…Claims That People Say Are Research-Based

New Study Confirms What Most Teachers Know – Having A Sense Of Humor Helps Big-Time In The Classroom

Even MORE Research Finding That Reclassifying ELLs Isn’t The Preferred Goal That It’s Cracked Up To Be

This Is A VERY Interesting & Useful Study On The Use Of Collaborative Writing In An ELL Classroom AND I Think It’s Findings Can Be Applicable With English-Proficient Students, Too

Are State English Tests For ELLs Like WIDA & ELPAC Actually Valid? For What It’s Worth, Here’s What Google Gemini & ChatGPT Say

This Research About Teacher/Student Misalignment Is From Ghana, But I Think It Also Holds True In The U.S.

Who’d Have Thought? Students Who Prompt AI To Create Texts They’re Interested In Are More Likely To Want To Read Them

Study Finds That Speaking An Additional Language Can Keep You Healthier Physically

Online Game Leaderboards & Zero Sum Thinking

Shocking (NOT) Research Result – SEL Can’t Mitigate The Affects Of Poverty On Academic Achievement

New Study Suggests The Main Reason Students May Find Math – Or Any Other Subject – Challenging Is Because They Don’t Know How To Handle Mistakes

New Study Finds Learning Another Language Slows Down Ageing Of Your Brain

Recommendations For Teachers From A Study On How To Enhance Student Motivation

Survey Finds Parents/Guardians More Likely To Respond To Messages About Absences Early In AM Or Later Afternoon

Some Studies Say That AI Tutors Are Supposedly Effective, But For Whom?

New Study Reinforces Key Strategy For Identifying Leaders

How Many Teachers Leave The Profession Within Their First Five Years?

Excellent Summary Of Research On AI & Learning, But Recommendations Are Pretty Weak

Study Finds, To No One’s Surprise, That Well-Designed Peer Assessment Can Be Effective

Small Slights Matter – This Workplace Research Has SO Much Relevance To The Classroom

Genes Are Not THE Predeterminant To How Smart You Are

No Shocker To Teachers, But New Study Finds SEL Helps Students’ Academic Achievement

Research Finds That Employers Are Looking For People With Social Skills – I’d Show Students This Article If I Was Still In Classroom

Study Basically Reinforces Idea That Students Will Learn More With Active Learning

Statistic Of The Day: Fewer People Want To Be Teachers

New Study Finds ICE Raids Are Hurting Lots Of Students, ‘Regardless Of … Immigration Status’

Teachers must shift their mindset from dictating rules to co-creating a living list of agreements.

Here are some excerpts:

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:

GemiBoard will create a narrated (with captions) explanation about anything – using diagrams to illustrate its points. It’s an intriguing idea, but the diagrams are pretty confusing. Here’s one on how to teach English Language Learners.

Geobarta creates bulleted points news for the area you choose. I’m adding it to The Best Visually Engaging News Sites.

Describe and Document AI Use is from Conestoga Online.

The future of education technology after the arrival of ChatGPT is from Kappan.

I agree that AI, carefully used, can benefit ELL students. However, I am not interested in hearing from people who are not ELL teachers, or teachers at all, about how to do it ——‘Instant Support’: Why We Should Embrace AI Tools for English Learners www.edweek.org/technology/o…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 11:01 AM

I’m adding this post (and it’s worth logging into BlueSky to read the replies) to The “Best” Strategies For Creating AI-Resistant Assignments:

Nice to see @mememedianmode.bsky.social’s oral exams profiled here!

I had big dreams of doing @andrewdeanho.bsky.social’s Conversational Celebration of Learning, but with 52 kids, I ultimately decided I was in over my head. Maybe in the future with a smaller class.

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— Jen Jennings (@jenjennings.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 7:06 AM

I just got around to reading this amazing piece and would recommend others do so, too

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 9:23 PM

This description/reflection from @mattdinan.bsky.social on how he essentially delegitimized using LLMs as a way to outsource student thinking/writing is a model on how to work through your values and build a course around them. mattdinan.substack.com/p/the-ai-ske…

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— John Warner (@biblioracle.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 11:03 AM

Splash Canvas is a Google tool for using AI to create artwork.

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):

Trump Administration Shifts Special Education Programs to Health Department www.nytimes.com/2026/06/16/u…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 16, 2026 at 11:33 AM

Trump further guts Education Dept. by shifting oversight of special ed, civil rights is from NPR.

I’m adding this post to The Best Resources For Learning Why School Vouchers Are A Bad Idea:

Private school vouchers leave behind many kids in public schools apnews.com/projects/pri…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 16, 2026 at 6:45 AM

Education Department Lowers Student Loan Interest Rates for Two Years is from The NY Times.

One state chief welcomed modest flexibility. Another warned that federal dollars are pushing states to conform to the Trump administration’s beliefs.

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— Chalkbeat (@chalkbeat.org) June 18, 2026 at 3:35 AM

Indiana Professor Who Taught Anti-White Supremacy Lesson Loses Job www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/u…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 17, 2026 at 5:27 PM

In the eight months since Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill passed, SNAP enrollment has declined by 4.7 million, according to USDA data. In states where demographic data are available, about half the decline comes from kids losing food aid.
The Trump administration describes this as a success story

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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) June 20, 2026 at 8:51 AM

Poll: Americans believe they aren’t being taught enough about democracy www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 20, 2026 at 7:24 AM

Disability Groups Fear RFK Jr.’s New Special Education Role www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/u…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 20, 2026 at 6:29 AM

A ProPublica analysis revealed a stark pattern across the Deep South, where about 200 majority-Black public school districts educate 1.3 million students.

Alongside those districts are private academies filled almost entirely with white students.https://t.co/JqAEsVnTwx

— ProPublica (@propublica) June 21, 2026

The ‘No Child Left Behind’ Nostalgia Is Delusional www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/o… gift link

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 22, 2026 at 5:41 AM

Embattled Superintendent of Los Angeles School District Resigns www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/u…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 22, 2026 at 6:56 AM

U.S. Oil Blockade Means Children in Cuba Are Missing School www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/w…

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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) June 22, 2026 at 5:38 AM

Editor’s Note: My talented colleague Pam Buric led an extraordinarily successful – on a number of levels – project at our school this month. She agreed to write about it in this guest post. I’ve added a few comments and links that might be helpful if you’d like to do something similar at your school.

Pam Buric has been teaching at Luther Burbank High School for 18 years and has teaching English learners for most of that time. In addition to teaching, she is the lead teacher of a small learning community and the multilingual coordinator for the school site.

A few weeks ago, my EL students were given the opportunity to share their stories with the “mainstream” students at our school.  The idea was dropped in my lap by administration as a means to promote empathy, our school social-emotional learning focus for the month of March.  I was slightly annoyed by the short turn-around time, the fact that my seniors would have to postpone their work on senior projects, and that it was a great idea that wasn’t mine.  I took a deep breath, adjusted my attitude and embarked on one of the highlights of my teaching career.

 “…We are not rich.  My mom doesn’t have a job. What matters most is to have something to eat before going to school….I don’t care if I go to school with an empty stomach.  I can survive a day without meals.  But to my brother, I do care.  He’s just six years old and that’s too young to go to school starving.  I would go to my friends’ houses and ask them if they have any spare food for my brother.  They always help.  But asking someone for something is what I don’t like. I don’t want to owe people.  I don’t have anything to give back.”  — Erisa, Marshall Islands

The stories of the lives of my students are heart-wrenching, poignant, incomprehensible.  They are stories of the harshness of this world and the resiliency of the human spirit.  To observe these students, you would never know… They laugh, they tease each other, they come to school, they work…. On the outside, the seem to be “normal” kids, but they have lived bigger lives than most of us. Almost all of the students expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to receive an education that could lead to endless possibilities.

“Almost every child is involved with the gang…. At this time, if I was in El Salvador, maybe I will not exist anymore in this world…. It was hard coming here.  I had to cross three borders walking, sometimes in a car, but I had a lot of difficulties in Guatemala and in Mexico with immigration.  But this country gave me a lot of opportunities to go to school to prepare me if I want to be something…. I want to change everything to a better life for my family and make them proud of me.” — Ronald came to the US alone at the age of 14.

For one week, my students shared their stories during our class period.  We organized this in the library.  My students sat one-on-one with students from other classes for about seven minutes, then, they moved to another table and another group of students.  During the class period, they told their stories six or seven times. It was gruelling, and we were asking a lot from them.  Their vulnerability and transparency took an emotional toll, and by Friday, a few of them bowed out.  I couldn’t blame them.  Every day, they had been asked to relive tragic and painful memories, and express them in a language that is not the language of their hearts.

(Editor’s Note: Our colleague Nichole Scrivner prepared very useful note-taking sheets for listeners, as well as a prep sheet for teachers of the visiting listeners).

“There were some people who put poison gas around the school, and no one knew about it. After a few minutes, I smelled a really hurtful smell.  And I started feeling dizzy, and all the students were the same as me.  A few minutes after this happened, I was in a situation that I wasn’t able to see around me and I fainted.  When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital with other students.  I started crying, and I felt really afraid.  My mom was there, and she hugged me.” — Maria, Afghanistan

The effect the students’ stories had on their listeners was profound.  As students and teachers interacted with my students, many wiped away tears as they listened.  The conversation didn’t stop with the ending of the story.  The listeners asked questions that lead to more questions that lead to connections to their own lives.  Everyone involved, storytellers and listeners, came away with a better understanding of the humans at our school.

After the students’ week of telling their stories to students who are not English learners, they had the opportunity to teach the beginning English learners how to write their own stories.  They enjoyed passing on what they had learned and helping the beginners to put their stories into English. After they told their stories to the beginners, my students helped the beginners with scaffolding in the form of sentence starters. After the beginners wrote their own stories, they had the opportunity to read them one-on-one to the students in my class in a rotation similar to the one we used in the library.  

(Editor’s Note: You can see all the stories written by the Beginners at our class blog. Here’s the graphic organizer they used to plan their stories.).

As the teacher of these courageous students, I was blown away.  I know that they participated so readily because I asked this of them.  They trusted me that their stories would be heard with respect and that they would be protected.  They trusted that the students who were listeners would be prepared for what they would hear.  They trusted that their stories would make a difference.  I am humbled by my students’ trust in me.

(Editor’s Note: I’m adding this post to The Best Resources On Helping To Build Empathy In The Classroom – Help Me Find More)

ADDENDUM: Here are all the personal stories written by Pam’s Intermediate students…

SECOND ADDENDUM:

I’ve created some additional resources I’ll be using with my ELL Newcomers that I thought readers might find helpful:

* A list of ideas that Newcomers could write about

* Three model texts

* A writing frame Newcomers can use.

As most teachers (and parents) have discovered, having a controlling style doesn’t often work for kids.

Yet another study reinforces that finding – The impact of controlling teaching style on student engagement and academic achievement: Differences across varied motivation profiles.

Most of it is behind a paywall, but Carl Hendrick offers a pretty comprehensive summary of it (just scroll down a little bit there).

Many other studies have found that “authoritative” beats “authoritarian” every day.

Here are my previous posts about this research and topic:

“Authoritative” School Climate Connected To Reduction In Student Suspensions

Study: “Authoritative,” Not “Authoritarian,” Classroom Management Works Best For Boys

New Study Finds What Most Teachers Already Know – Our Tone Matters

Surprise, Surprise – Punishment May Not Be The Best Parenting (Or Teaching) Strategy

Parental Style Study Makes Sense For Teachers, Too

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Roe v. Wade was overturned three years ago.

You might be interested in USEFUL RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT THE REPEAL OF ROE.