School of Practice

Did you know that drawing can be a learning superpower—even for students who claim they’re not good at it? 

Research shows that when kids attentively sketch something they’re learning about, they tap into the visual, kinesthetic, and linguistic parts of their brains. This generates rich connections across the brain’s neural network and encodes learning more deeply compared to passive learning tasks like reading or listening to a lecture. 

We revisit our 2025 conversation with science educator Selim Tlili to uncover how drawing to learn works across grade levels and subjects. Plus, he’s got special tips for engaging even the most reluctant sketch artists.

Related resources:

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How Sketching Supports Learning in Science 

Using Drawing as a Powerful Learning Tool 

The Science of Drawing and Memory 

Research: The Surprisingly Powerful Influence of Drawing on Memory 

5 Popular Education Beliefs That Aren’t Backed by Research 

Sketching for Science

Everyone makes mistakes—including teachers.

While educators are quick to reframe student mistakes through a growth mindset lens, they’re less forgiving when it comes to their own slipups. But teacher errors often follow familiar patterns and can be a source of exceptional personal and professional growth.

In this episode of School of Practice, ELA teacher and instructional specialist Miriam Plotinsky digs into the most common teacher mistakes and identifies key strategies for quick, effective resets that get learning back on track. We’ll also hear from a few classroom teachers about their own missteps, and examine the research about how students benefit when teachers address their own mistakes head-on.

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6 Common Teacher Mistakes—And How To Avoid Them

Teachers’ Intellectual Humility Benefits Adolescents’ Interest and Learning

PEW: How K-12 Teachers Manage Their Workload

A Simple Way to Self-Monitor for Bias

5 Steps to Leveraging Background Knowledge in Lessons 

Using Formative Assessment to Measure Student Progress

How to Engage Students the Moment They Enter the Classroom

29 High-Impact Formative Assessment Strategies

How to Avoid Rushing—a Pitfall for Even the Most Experienced 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.

Last year, Nick published a viral Instagram post in which he pledged to go back to basics in his teaching, back to “more paper, more writing, more eye contact, more conversations.” In this episode, Nick tells us how he turned the clock back, what he thinks his students have gained from less tech time, and why he’s not giving up on classroom tech completely.

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Should Laptops Really Go the Way of Cell Phones?

Tech-Free January

What Happened When Our School Went Tech-Free for the Day?

7 Tech Routines for Balanced Usage

Before there’s curriculum or calendars or lesson plans, there’s the classroom space itself, stripped of last year’s posters and anchor charts. Where should teachers begin? We’ve got the answers.

In this back-to-school episode, editors Youki Terada and Steve Merrill review over 30 high-quality studies on classroom design and boil them down to five big takeaways, from how to use wall decoration to maximize student attention to why potted plants can alter student perceptions of the classroom—and the teacher, too!

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The Science of Classroom Design

Flexible Classrooms: Research Is Scarce but Promising

Designing the Ideal Classroom Space

The Impact of Classroom Design on Pupils’ Learning: Final Results of a Holistic, Multi-level Analysis 

The Sweet Spot for Classroom Decorations

Telling the Story of Learning In Displays of Student Work

Making the Most of Your Classroom Walls

How do you lay the foundation for real community in your classroom? Teachers know (and the research supports this) that when kids feel safe and connected in school, they’re better equipped to focus on learning. The start of a new school year is a crucial time for this type of work – and it goes beyond icebreakers. 

In this episode of School of Practice, we’ll hear from three educators who’ve developed powerful activities for building robust classroom cultures, including a strategy for co-creating classroom norms, an exercise that gets students discovering what they have in common, and a memorable 60-second trust-building activity. Together, these activities go beyond typical icebreakers – and set the stage for a classroom where students feel they belong.

Related resources:

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Building Classroom Community Through Daily Dedications (video)

A Daily Ritual That Builds Trust and Community Among Students

Establishing Connections in a New Classroom Community (video)

Fostering Belonging With Classroom Norms (video)

Research: Impact of School-Based Interventions for Building School Belonging in Adolescence: a Systematic Review

Research: Teacher–Student Relationships and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Second-Order Meta-Analytic Review.

Not Light, but Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom

Child’s Play in Action

WMPG’s Blunt Youth Radio