
Show Notes
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.
Related resources:
Learn more about this episode
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
More from School of Practice
It started with a student writing a joke on a sticky note: “I hope we have no tests this year.”
Have you ever had a lesson get derailed by a power struggle with a student? Or is there a student in your class who you got off on the wrong foot with, and you’re not sure of the best way to repair the relationship?
Did you know that drawing can be a learning superpower—even for students who claim they’re not good at it?
Everyone makes mistakes—including teachers.
Like a lot of other educators, Nicholas Ferroni is trying to find his way back to a time before technology was the default classroom mode. He thinks he was a better teacher back then—and kids acted more like kids.