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by Edutopia
School of Practice, the first podcast from the team at Edutopia, brings you ready-to-use strategies to improve your teaching today. Join us for 15-minute episodes filled with smart, pedagogy-shifting advice—backed by research and test-driven by teachers just like you.
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- 1 weeks ago23 min
Rethinking Zeros in the Grade Book
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. Related resources: Learn more about this episode 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
- 3 weeks ago19 min
14 Excellent Ways to End the School Year
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! Related resources: Learn more about this episode 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
- Apr 28, 202621 min
One Task, Many Doors: A More Effective Way to Differentiate
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. Related resources: Learn more about this episode 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
- Apr 16, 202622 min
Helping Students Overcome the Forgetting Curve
Have you ever delivered a lesson and felt your students were acing it, only to revisit the same information a week later and realize hardly any of the new content stuck? You just came up against the forgetting curve—and lost. Our brains are hardwired to forget things unless we take active steps to remember. According to research, nearly half of new information—if not used right away—is forgotten within an hour of exposure. And if you wait a week, up to 90 percent fades into the mist. But that’s not inevitable. In this critical episode of School of Practice, high school teacher Cathleen Beachboard shares her top three strategies to help students remember what she’s just taught them. We’ll ask her how she weaves these strategies directly into the learning process as she works to “flatten the forgetting curve.” Related resources: 3 Ways to Help Students Overcome the Forgetting Curve How to Engage Elementary and Middle School Students’ Memory Processes to Improve Learning Why Students Forget—and What You Can Do About It Making Retrieval Practice a Classroom Routine (video) Connecting Science to Problem-Solving in the Real World (video) Finding the Retrieval ‘Sweet Spot’ for Students Research: A New Look at Memory Retention and Forgetting
- Mar 31, 202622 min
How to Teach Students to Spot What’s Real, Fake—or Deepfake
Can your students spot what’s real and what’s AI-generated on TikTok and Instagram? How about when they’re researching topics for humanities classes, gathering sources in social studies, and preparing for math assessments? In this super-engaging lesson developed by science teacher Katie Coppens and researcher and former STEM teacher Andy Zucker, students become digital detectives, analyzing a set of videos and websites to determine what’s real, what’s been altered, and what’s just pure misinformation. The catch? They can’t just guess. They have to be able to defend their conclusions with evidence. Join us for this unmissable episode of School of Practice, we’ll walk through detailed lesson instructions, explore the best strategies for zeroing in on digital misinformation, and share all the resources you’ll need to teach this 60-minute lesson in your own classroom. Related resources: Learn more about this episode Real, Fake, or Deepfake? This Lesson Helps Students Decide 5 Ways to Build Critical Literacy in the Age of AI What Fact-Checkers Know About Media Literacy—and Students Should, Too Teaching Students to Evaluate Websites Helping Students Find the Truth in Social Media Teaching Students to Analyze Fake News Giving Students the Skills to Spot Fake News (video) Evaluating Primary Sources Through a See, Think, Wonder (video) New Perspectives on Combating Misinformation Research: People are More Susceptible to Misinformation with Realistic AI-Synthesized Images that Provide Strong Evidence to Headlines (2025) Research: Lateral Reading on the Open Internet: A District-Wide Field Study in High School Government Classes (2022) Research: Students’ Civic Online Reasoning: A National Portrait (2021) www.katiecoppens.com Improvethengss.org Video clip: Bobsled and Snowboarder Video clip: Deepfake Newscasters Video clip: Waterskiing Squirrel
- Mar 17, 202620 min
How to Teach Deep Mathematical Thinking
Narrow, rigid math has “turned students off for generations,” says renowned researcher and Stanford mathematics professor Jo Boaler. Yet teachers often don’t have much choice when it comes to math curriculum—what’s mandated by a school or district is what they need to teach. That’s where *rich tasks* can be transformative, Boaler argues, because they invite the type of reasoning and problem-solving that get kids digging in and taking risks. In this episode of School of Practice, we’ll chat with Boaler—who’s spent decades studying math teaching—about how to choose, adapt, and improve math tasks; the power of reasoning and visualizing math questions; and the impact of tiny tweaks, like asking students: “Can you prove it to me visually?” Related resources: Learn more about this episode 5 Ways to Encourage Deep Mathematical Thinking Are We Teaching the Math Kids Need? Rough Draft Thinking Can Make Math Class More Inclusive Should More Time Be Spent Learning Math Facts? 7 Ways to Balance Joy With Rigor in Math Class If You’re Not Failing, You’re Not Learning Research: Productive Failure in Learning Math (2014) How to Build a Healthy Math Identity (video) 6 Unproductive Ways to Learn Math Basics—and What to Do Instead Math-ish YouCubed: Moving from Maths Anxiety (video) YouCubed: Math-ish in the Classroom YouCubed: Jo Teaching a Visual Dot Card Number Talk YouCubed: Fluency without Fear YouCubed: Wise Investments, Big Returns: Prioritizing Teachers for Districtwide Mathematics Success
- Mar 3, 202621 min
Smart Strategies to Improve Your Scaffolding
Getting scaffolding right—amid the messy reality of teaching 30+ students at different skill levels—is one of the toughest challenges in teaching. Done well, it looks like tactical magic: teachers seamlessly know how and when to support kids, then step back at just the right moment, building independence by removing the training wheels. In this episode of School of Practice, we get into it with Beck Alber, a former high school ELA teacher and UCLA School of Education instructor. She unpacks the evidence-based essentials of smart, timely scaffolding—both for new teachers, as well as classroom veterans (have you changed up your routines lately? No? Alber’s got suggestions for that). We’ll chat about how to determine if your scaffolds are working, what to do if they’re not, and what a strong scaffolding toolbox looks like. Related resources: Learn more about this episode 6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students Empowering Middle School Students to Create Their Own Scaffolds Scaffolding Like a Pro: Powerful Ways to Support Learning 6 Foundational Ways to Scaffold Student Learning Frayer Model (downloadable) Fishbowl Method (downloadable) 60-Second Strategy: Fishbowl Discussion (video) Choosing Words to Teach Research: Benefits of Interactive Graphic Organizers in Online Learning: Evidence for Generative Learning Theory (2021) Research: The Early History of the Scaffolding Metaphor: Bernstein, Luria, Vygotsky, and Before (2019)
- Feb 17, 202619 min
Boosting Reading Comprehension for All Students
Maybe you’ve seen it in your classroom: Students who zip through chapters but then can’t tell you much about what they just read. To move those kids from fluency to sense-making, you’ve got to teach them the habits of good independent readers. In this episode of School of Practice, educator and literacy specialist Nina Parrish walks us through evidence-based strategies that keep kids focused as they tackle challenging texts—from pre-reading tactics that make vocabulary stick and activate prior knowledge, to active reading protocols that turn kids into engaged, metacognitive readers who are always asking themselves, “Did I really understand that?” Related resources: Learn more about this episode 5 Ways to Support Students Who Struggle With Reading Comprehension 5 Research-Backed Ways to Build Better Readers 4 Reading Strategies to Retire This Year (Plus 6 to Try Out!) How to Move From the ‘Main Idea’ to ‘Background Knowledge’ Slowing Down the Reading Process to Build Students’ Comprehension Skills Aiding Reading Comprehension With Post-its 4 Ways to Teach Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension Sweeping Round Robin Reading Out of Your Classroom Research: Promoting Fluency Through Challenge: Repeated Reading With Texts of Varying Complexity Research: A Longitudinal Randomized Trial of a Sustained Content Literacy Intervention from First to Second Grade: Transfer Effects on Students’ Reading Comprehension Research: Effects of a Read Aloud Intervention on First Grade Student Vocabulary, Listening Comprehension, and Language Proficiency Research: Understanding Specific Reading Comprehension Deficit: A Review Research: The Effect of Mandatory Reading Logs on Children’s Motivation to Read
About School of Practice
School of Practice, the first podcast from the team at Edutopia, brings you ready-to-use strategies to improve your teaching today. Join us for 15-minute episodes filled with smart, pedagogy-shifting advice—backed by research and test-driven by teachers just like you.
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