School Leadership 2.0
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Uplifting Move in the Classroom #4 - “Who can I brag to about how well you’re doing?”
Marcus Luther
The Broken Copier - October 3, 2025
So here we go: four different strategies I use from time to time, and especially during heavier times, to try and uplift students in the classroom:
“Who can I brag to about how well you’re doing?”
I’m a big fan of the quick, positive note home to student families whenever possible as a teacher—especially at the beginning of the school year, too, when you are trying to pull every lever you can to build a foundation of rapport within your classroom. (And yes, this was a lever-pulling week in our classroom, without question!)
However, like the previous move, by making a slight tweak this becomes a double-affirmation: [1] you get to have the conversation where you tell the student that you want to brag on them to someone else and [2] you get to follow through by bragging on the student in the direction they choose.
Their coach. Another teacher. A sibling at the school. A different family member. The principal. A club advisor. Maybe even a classmate. (Really: it happens!)
You ask them, they tell you, then you pick up the phone and call. Just like that!
Why I love this move? Along with the double-win in framing it as a question, you also walk away with a bit more of an understanding of who the student values enough to have that brag sent in their direction.
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