School of Practice

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How to Jumpstart Belonging in Your Classroom From Day One

July 14, 2026

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 studen...

11 Ways to Improve Teacher Well-Being

June 09, 2026

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 m...

Rethinking Zeros in the Grade Book

May 26, 2026

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...