Each May, I ask readers to contribute responses to the question “What Are You Going To Do Differently Next Year?” and compile them in a subsequent post (when I also share my own reflections). Sometimes I’ve turned it into an Education Week commentary, as well. I figure the end of the year is a good time to starting thinking about next year  Please share a relatively brief response about the one-to-three things you want to do differently in your school next year, along with the reasons why you want to make those changes. The deadline is June 1st. I’ll be looking forward to hearing them!
Google announced today that emails in Gmail will be automatically translated: The next time you receive a message in a language other than your own, just click on Translate message in the header at the top of the message, and it will be instantly translated into your language. You can see a screenshot at their post. Thanks to TechCrunch for the tip.
There are several sites on the Web that show you various objects to school. I thought it would be useful to readers and to me to bring them all together on one list. Here are my choices for The Best Web Tools That Show You Objects To Scale: The Scale of the Universe One and The Scale of the Universe Two are pretty darn impressive. The Universe To Scale is from TIME. Universcale compares various microscopic entities. That description does not do justice to the site — you need to go there to check it out. It can be a bit confusing, and much of the language will not be accessible to English Language Learners. However, the images can be used effectively by teachers of all students. Word Count is an interesting site. Here’s how it describes itself: “WordCount is an artistic experiment in the way we use language. It presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, ranked in order of commonness. Each word is scaled to reflect its frequency relative to the words that precede and follow it, giving a visual barometer of relevance. The larger the word, the more we use it. The smaller the word, the more uncommon it is.”
Magnifying the Universe is another interactive. Additional suggestions are 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 900 other “The Best…” lists I’ve compiled.
I saw a few tweets about something called the iTDi Blog, and checked it out. Boy, was I impressed! I asked Barb Hoskins Sakamoto if she would be open to writing a short description that I could post. Here is what she sent: The iTDi blog is presented by the International Teacher Development Institute(iTDi). Every two weeks, six teachers from our community share opinions on the same topic. This week’s topic is “Staying Healthy and Motivated”. Past topics have included dealing with large classes, considering the role of homework, and defining error correction. The team of bloggers are all iTDi Associates and faculty members from our community, including Scott Thornbury (@thornburyscott on Twitter), Steven Herder (@StevenHerder), Chuck Sandy (@chucksandy), Barb Hoskins Sakamoto (@barbsaka), Chiew Pang (@aClilToClimb ), Cecilia Lemos (@CeciELT ), Yitzha Sarwono (@yitzha_sarwono), Tamas Lorincz (@tamaslorincz), Christina Markoulaki (@christina_mark), Marcia Lima (@bamarcia), Naomi Epstein (@naomishema), Nour Alkhalidy (@missnoor28), Anna Loseva (@annloseva), Vicky Loras (@vickyloras), Vladimira Michalkova (@vladkaslniecko) and Marco Brazil. Occasional guest bloggers are also welcome, and should contact Chuck Sandy for more information. iTDi is a new venture created for teachers by teachers. Its mission is to help all teachers grow and improve education in the process by providing ongoing professional development opportunities for teachers around the world that are meaningful, accessible and affordable for all, within a safe, supportive online community. In addition to the iTDi blog, iTDI offers free Global Webinars, where teachers can interact with leading experts in ESL and EFL like Penny Ur, Scott Thornbury, John Faneslow, Adrian Doff and others. Their growing community currently includes teachers from over 70 countries, all sharing the belief that the best professional development comes from teachers helping teachers. The International Teacher Development Institute will soon launch its first online courses – Teacher Development and English For Teachers. They invite educators of all kinds to consider learning with them. For information, blog archives, and links to webinar recordings, visit itdi.pro. I’d definitely encourage people to visit their site….
Cinco de Mayo, May 5th, commemorates the defeat of the French by the Mexican Army in 1862. It’s a national holiday in Mexico, and is celebrated by Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the United States. I’ve just updated The Best Sites For Teaching & Learning About Cinco de Mayo. Additional suggestions are welcome…
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