You can hear it, can’t you? That low classroom hum, the one halfway between focus and chaos. 

This week, we’re tuning the frequency. First up: a science-backed soundtrack app that claims it can help your class (and your caffeine-starved brain) actually focus. 

Then we’ll jump from noise to numbers, where Harvard’s grading curve has officially flatlined. When everyone’s an A student, is anyone actually?

Here’s how you’re about to become an even better teacher in the next 6 minutes:

• Tech Tool: Music to their ears 🎵

• Brainy Bit: Groceries aren’t the only things inflating 📈

🚀 Noteworthy News

👉️ Inspiring: How one school beat the national reading slump and kept students on grade level.

👉️ Eye-opening: Just 1.9% of conversations on ChatGPT are about relationships.

👉️ Time-sensitive: The yearly clock reset is here—but critics say it’s a mistake.

🔉But first, a word from today’s sponsor for teachers who always dreamt of publishing their own book 👇️ 

Will A Book Grow Your Business?

No one buys a beach house from book sales—they buy it from what the book makes possible.

Author.Inc helps founders turn ideas into world-class books that build revenue, reputation, and reach.

Book a free 15-minute ROI call to see if your book is a go—or a smart wait.

Schedule Your Book ROI Assessment.

And now back to making you an even better teacher 👇️ 

TECH TOOL

Calm the Chaos

Focus is hard. For students, for teachers, for anyone with a phone within arm’s reach. 

This week’s Tech Tool promises to fix that, not with whale sounds or lo-fi beats, but with music designed by actual neuroscientists to help your brain focus, relax, or even fall asleep faster.

The Solution: Brain.Fm

Brain.fm uses AI to generate music that syncs with your brain’s natural rhythms, helping students stay locked in without even realizing it. 

Unlike a random YouTube playlist that might suddenly drop a dubstep remix mid-essay, Brain.fm’s tracks are scientifically tuned to keep attention steady.

For students (especially those with ADHD or sensory sensitivities) it can make quiet work time more tolerable and less overwhelming. 

Teachers can use it too: during grading marathons, calm-down periods, or those after-school moments where your brain refuses to switch from chaos to calm.

It’s $9.99/month (students get 20% off with additional discounts for Black Friday), which feels steep, but its structure beats DIY playlists. You could mimic it with Spotify or YouTube, sure, but expect ads, distractions, and zero consistency.

Is This For YOUR Classroom?

If your students thrive with structure and sensory regulation, absolutely. 

For others, it may take practice to build the habit. It’s not a one-size-fits-all fix - think of it as a tool to reduce noise, not erase it.

Strategies That Work:

1. Focus Blocks: Play Brain.fm during independent or silent work time.

2. Calm Corners: Create a sensory-safe spot with focus music for short breaks.

3. Teacher Nights: Trade Netflix for Brain.fm while tackling your marking pile to reduce your own dopamine overload.

Brain.fm won’t fix distraction forever, but it might just make focus feel possible again - for you and your students. 

Sometimes silence needs a soundtrack.

Brainy Bit

When Everyone’s an A+ Student

When Harvard starts worrying that grades don’t mean much anymore, it’s time for the rest of us to listen.

TLDR: A new internal report found that more than 60% of Harvard grades are now A’s, and the median GPA for the Class of 2025 is 3.83 - up from 3.64 a decade ago. 

The Study: Harvard Grading Report

The Harvard Office of  Undergraduate Education unleashed their findings in a 25-page report sent to faculty and students that analyzed years of coursework, grade distributions, and student study time. 

They found grades kept rising, workloads stayed flat, and instructors—under pressure from culture, evaluations, and time—graded more leniently.

Students weren’t slacking off, but standards quietly shifted. The report warns that grades no longer distinguish strong work from average, eroding the signal that grades are meant to send to employers, grad schools, and yes—teachers down the line.

The Results:

Harvard’s A grades have surged from under 40% in 2008 to over 60% today, while average study time stayed flat at around six hours a week.

The report warns that grade compression makes it harder to reward excellence or flag struggling students. Many professors admitted they grade softly to avoid backlash or meet expectations.

Students didn’t suddenly get smarter; the standards quietly slipped.

In YOUR Classroom:

If Harvard can’t trust its grades to reflect mastery, how confident are we that ours do in our own classroom?

Here’s how this study might improve your grading approach this week:

Strategies That Work:

• Audit your assessments: Are they still challenging, or just comfortable? When’s the last time you changed them?

• Grade growth, not charm: Praise improvement and process, not compliance.

• Talk about grades honestly: A “B” isn’t failure - it’s feedback.

Grades of course aren’t everything, but they are something. 

If we stop letting them mean less, students might start learning more.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

We would LOVE to hear from you!

Reply to this email, or send us a message on Instagram! We’re here to walk with you in these crazy times!

Part of what makes The PEN Weekly community so special is the fact that our readers are teachers from around the world! We’re not going to lie, we think that’s pretty darn cool!

We’ll see you again on Monday 🍎

Share this newsletter!

Do you know someone who would appreciate reading the PEN? Share this newsletter with them! Our goal is to reach as many teachers as possible, and to build a community of teachers supporting teachers.