August’s “Best” Lists – There Are Now 1,599 Of Them

Here’s my regular round-up of new “The Best…” lists I posted this month (you can see all 1,599 of them categorized here):

The Best Data On How Much Money Teachers Pay Out Of Their Own Pocket – What Do You Spend?

The Best Resources For Learning About “Learning Strategies”

The “All-Time” Best Sources Of Online Images

The Best Resources On The Study Finding That Reading Books Makes You Live Longer

The Best Resources On Students Having A “Purpose For Learning”

August’s Top Posts From This Blog

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here).

You can also see my all-time favorites here.

Here are some of the posts I personally think are the best, and most helpful, ones I’ve written during this past month (not in any order of preference). There are a lot of them this month:

Video: “10 Strategies to Help Students Develop Intrinsic Motivation to Write”

Study Reinforces That Prior Knowledge Is Important – As Well As Critical Thinking Skills

New Ken Burns Film, “Defying The Nazis,” Looks Good & Has Tons Of Free Teaching Resources

Chicago Teacher Creates Very Impressive Rap Video To Welcome His Students

Request Free Kindle E-Readers For Your Classroom

“Q & A Collections: Science Instruction”

New Resources On Starting The New School Year Strong

Newsela Unveils Exceptional Library Of Primary Sources Edited For Different “Levels”

California Supreme Court Puts Stake In Heart Of Challenge To Teacher Tenure

Video: John Oliver Takes On Charter Schools

Researchers Find – Once Again – That Extrinsic Motivation Doesn’t Work

Big News: EFL Classroom 2.0 Is Now Entirely Free!

Important NY Times Column On Separating “Art & Artist” – Here’s The Writing Prompt I’m Using With It

“Zooniverse” Is One Of The Coolest Ed Sites On The Web – I Can’t Believe I’m Just Hearing About It!

“Q & A Collections: Author Interviews”

Important Analysis Of Schools With Fewer Suspensions Makes Important Points, As Well As Highlighting Gaps

The Importance Of Teacher & Student Autonomy

“Call Me Ishmael” Is A Neat Site & Model For Student Book Activity

Create Virtual Classrooms With “Awesome Stories” – Plus Students Can Write For An Authentic Audience

New Study Shows Intervention Has Big Impact On “Achievement Gap” – Also Shows Shortcomings Of Ed Research

“Q & A Collections: Reading Instruction”

Another Very Positive Review Of Our Latest Book On Teaching ELLs

“Giving Students ‘a Place to Belong’ When Starting a School Year”

Deliberate Practice, The Olympics & Red Herrings

Facebook Unveils New “Personalized Learning” Platform They’re Making Available To Everyone

New Study Says Teacher-Student Relationship In Fifth Grade Sets Stage For Future Behavior

“eLesson Inspirations” Is An Excellent Collection Of Critical Thinking Lessons For ELLs

Noise Level Charts

The Endless Loop Of Negative Attention

A Look Back: What Were The Number One Websites For Learning In 2007 & 2008?

Great Source Of Advice For New Teachers

A Look Back: Sister Classes Around The World

Guest Post: Response From David Yeager To My Question About SEL, Race & Class

This ESSA Update Is A “Must-Read” For Anyone Teaching ELLs In The United States

This Would Be Great For ELLs: Play – Or Create – A “Listening & Speaking” Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story

Great Piece On Setting Goals Like An Olympian

Confirmed! I’m Writing Two More Books….

iCivics Steps Up Its Game Big Time With Free Virtual Classrooms & Primary Source Interactive

Fascinating Interactive Comparing How Democratic & Republican Delegates Described Their States

All Of This Year’s Presidential Campaign Ads & How To Use Them In Class

A Look Back: “Twenty Questions Game”

“Write The World” Provides An Authentic Audience & A Space For Peer Review

“‘Learning That Lasts’: an Interview With Ron Berger, Libby Woodfin & Anne Vilen”

Create Free Virtual Classrooms & Monitor Student Progress At Vocabulary.com

Here’s A Narrated Version Of My Slide Deck On SEL & The Common Core

Important Advice On Classroom Rules From The New Yorker

“What Would You Do?” Is A Fantastic Video Series For Theory Of Knowledge Classes

Wow – “My Simple Show” Is An Extraordinary Tool For Creating Free Video “Explainers”

Video & Transcript Of President Obama’s Speech – Plus Writing Prompt on “Making Mistakes”

Video & Transcript: Michelle Obama’s Speech To The Democratic Convention (Plus Writing Prompt!)

August’s Updated “Best” Lists

I am constantly adding new resources to my nearly 1,600 categorized “Best Lists.

I also regularly “cull” through the lists to weed-out dead links, but haven’t been very systematic about doing that task.

So, I’ve started to go through them and highlight the ones that I’ve gotten around to completely cleaning-up and revising.

Here are a list of them from this month (you can see previous compilations here):

The Best Images Of Spectacular Bridges (& How Students Can Make Their Own)

The Best Resources For Learning About Women’s Suffrage

The Best Sites For Learning About Women’s History

The Best Sites For Learning About Yosemite & Other U.S. National Parks

The Best Sites For Learning About New York City

The Best Sites To Learn About The Internet

The Best Sites For Walking In Someone Else’s Shoes

Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience”

The Best Websites For Learning About Labor Day

The Best Resources For World Humanitarian Day

The Best Sites For Learning About The War In The Pacific

The Best Sites That Students Can Use Independently And Let Teachers Check On Progress

The Best Online Tools For Real-Time Collaboration

The Best Online Sources For Images

The Best Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced English Language Learner Sites

The “All-Time” Best Ways To Create Online Content Easily & Quickly

The Best Resources For Learning About Flight

The Best Resources For Learning About The Perseid Meteor Shower

The Best Sites For Learning About Meteor Showers

The Best Ways To Find Other Classes For Joint Online Projects

The Best Resources For Learning About The Atomic Bombings Of Japan

The Best Websites To Learn About Various Religions (& English)

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

The Best Places To Learn About President Barack Obama’s Life

The Best Online Instructional Video Sites

The Best Sites For Learning About The Korean War (& Tensions Since Then, Too)

The Best Sites For Learning About Cartograms

The Best Sites For Online Photo-Editing & Photo Effects

The Best Sites To Learn About Los Angeles

Most Popular Blog Posts Of The Month

As regular readers know, at the end of each week I share the five most popular posts from the previous seven days.

I thought people might find it interesting to see a list of the ten most popular posts from the previous thirty days. This is the inaugural post in what will be a monthly feature:

A Look Back: Best Posts From 2007 To 2009

Next February, this blog will be celebrating its ten-year anniversary! Leading up to it, I’m re-starting a series I tried to do in the past called “A Look Back.” Each week, I’ll be re-posting a few of my favorite posts from the past ten years.

At the end of each month, I’ll also compile a few of them that I think readers might find particularly useful.

In August, I shared posts from 2007 to 2009 (I’m not quite finished with 2009 yet). Here is a selection of the ones I shared from those years:

A Look Back: The Best Piece Of Classroom Management Advice I Ever Read

A Look Back: “Data-Driven” Versus “Data-Informed”

A Look Back: Compasses Or Road Maps?

A Look Back: A Pretty Interesting Year-Long Ed Tech Experiment

A Look Back: “Evaluating Teachers In Order To Fire Them?”

A Look Back: Teachers Making Home Visits

A Look Back: A Super Tool To Help When You Have A Sub

A Look Back: My Book & Blog On Parent Engagement In Schools

A Look Back: Ways To Collaborate Online – In Real Time

A Look Back: Dvolver Moviemaker Is Still One Of The Easiest Web Tools For Creating Online Content

A Look Back: “Dad, Look – There’s A Deer Over There!”

A Look Back: When A “Good” Class Goes “Bad” (And Back To “Good” Again!)

A Look Back: Providing Computers & Home Internet Access To Immigrant Families