School of Practice

Do you want to build a vibrant classroom community this year, but you’re not sure where to start?

Research shows it’s well worth the effort—and the first week of school is the perfect time to lay that foundation. When students feel a strong sense of belonging at school, they tend to be more motivated to learn and achieve higher academic outcomes.  

In this first back-to-school episode from School of Practice, teacher Marcus Luther shares a simple activity that helps him get to know his students from day one, and sets the tone for the year ahead. Then, he shares two easy strategies for keeping that feedback practice going, so you can continue to build belonging and engagement all year long.

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A First-Week Survey That Fits on an Index Card

Collecting and Using Student Feedback Throughout the Year

Monthly Pulse-Check Template: Ask Your Students How Class is Going

Creating a Cycle of Student Feedback

Making Schoolwide Use of Student Surveys

The Value of Soliciting Student Feedback

Improving Teaching with Expert Feedback – From Students

Research: Strengthening School Connectedness to Increase Student Success

Research: The relationships between school belonging and students’ motivational, social-emotional, behavioural, and academic outcomes in secondary education: a meta-analytic review

Teaching is hard (often draining) work, and educators’ instincts about what will bring relief are frequently wrong—just as they are for most people. 

That’s because our minds deceive us, says cognitive scientist and Yale professor Laurie Santos, one of the world’s leading researchers on well-being and happiness. “One of the most annoying features of the mind is the fact that we all have these intuitions about the kinds of things we should be doing to feel better. But the research shows that many of those intuitions are just incorrect.”

In this episode of School of Practice, Dr. Santos joins host Kristin Leong to debunk some of the most popular and persistent myths about happiness—more money *mostly* doesn’t buy more happiness, for example, and a values mismatch at work may be more consequential for burnout than you think—and shares a set of evidence-based tools teachers can begin to apply right away to reclaim a sense of balance. 

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The Research on Protecting Teacher Well-Being 

Coursera: The Science of Well-Being

The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

Yale’s Happiness Professor Says Anxiety Is Destroying Her Students

What a New Survey Says About Teachers’ Plans to Leave Their Jobs 

The Burnout Challenge

No, You Don’t Always Have to Confront Your Feelings Right Away

Ross Gay on Finding Everyday Delights

Research: Exploring the Ripple Effect of ‘Always On’ Digital Work Culture in Secondary Education Settings (2021)

Research: Time Confetti and the Broken Promise of Leisure (2020)

Research: Buying Time Promotes Happiness (2017)

Research: Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself (2015)

Research: High Income Improves Evaluation of Life but Not Emotional Well-Being (2010)

Research: Toward a Durable Happiness (2008)

Research: Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change Your Actions, not Your Circumstances (2006)

Research: Counting Blessings versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life (2003)

What’s your take on eliminating zeros from the grade book? Does your school have a no-zeros grading policy? Even if it doesn’t, you probably have opinions about it. 

Setting 50% as the minimum grading threshold is a well-meaning effort to more accurately assess student learning, but it can also create new—and frustrating—challenges for teachers and students.

In this episode of School of Practice, teacher and instructional coach Tyler Rablin explores the tradeoffs of eliminating zeros from the grade book. We’ll hear from teachers in our community with firsthand experience navigating the policy, and discuss exceptional strategies for building motivation and accountability without relying on numerical penalties.

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Getting Rid of Zeros Won’t Fix the Grade Book

Template: Tyler Rablin’s Late Work Contract

Do No-Zero Policies Help or Hurt Students?

Why the 100-Point Grading Scale is a Stacked Deck

The Case Against Zeros in Grading

How to Help Students Focus on What They’re Learning, Not the Grade

Why Teachers Should Grade Less Frequently

Research: “Equitable” Grading Through the Eyes of Teachers

Research: Can We Trust the Transcript? Recognizing Student Potential Through More Accurate Grading

The end of the school year can feel like the best––and worst––of times. 

On the one hand, it’s a great stretch because “the routines and procedures are set,” and the kids have their sights set on summer vacation, says Kansas City-based middle school ELA teacher Jeremiah Kim. But the workload for teachers closing out the year can be intense. “We all just want to be done, but we still have these boxes to check,” he says.

In this episode of School of Practice, Kim joins host Kristin Leong to explore a toolkit of low-lift, delightful,  teacher-tested activities that inject celebration, meaningful reflection, and even some review into the last few weeks of class. 

Hang in there, teachers, summer break is just around the corner! 

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19 Highly Engaging End-of-Year Activities

Wrapping Up the School Year in English Language Arts

Meaningful Learning to End the Year Strong

Finishing Strong in Elementary School

4 Meaningful Activities to Mark the End of School

How to Celebrate the End of the Year in Elementary School

8 Epic Ideas for Ending the School Year

Research: Reappraising Academic and Social Adversity Improves Middle School Students’ Academic Achievement, Behavior, and Well-Being

It’s a mistake to assume that good differentiation always means splitting students up into small groups, says Michael McDowell, an author, coach, and former teacher. 

A more effective approach, he says, is to design rigorous learning routines that unite the whole class—from fast finishers to kids who need extra support—with shared strategies, structures, and thinking moves. 

Think: Same surface, different deep problems, much more time in the “we do” space, and a big emphasis on high-quality classroom discussion.

In this episode of School of Practice, McDowell breaks down three low-prep differentiation strategies, explains how and when small groups fit into the picture, and makes the case for basketball over ping-pong question protocols. 

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How to Differentiate Without Splitting Students Up

Teaching a Class With Big Ability Differences

AI Tool Demo: Differentiating Class Materials With Diffit (video)

A Starter Kit for Differentiated Instruction

4 Research-Backed Ways to Differentiate Instruction

Actionable Assessment: A Step-by-Step Guide to Responsive Teaching and Student Growth