New Releases by Douglas Fisher

Your Hands-On Guide to Thriving as a Substitute Every day, substitute teachers walk into unfamiliar classrooms, often with little preparation time and high expectations to maintain a productive learning environment. This highly illustrated guide recognizes that substitute teachers are critical to student success and deserve practical tools that help them succeed, not just survive. From preparing before the bell rings to leading engaging lessons and managing those final moments of class, this book covers everything substitute teachers need to ensure learning continuity and make a real difference in students′ lives. Welcome to Substitute Teaching! provides a comprehensive toolkit designed specifically for guest educators, featuring: Visual learning aids and infographics that enhance understanding and can be used as classroom strategies Videos showcasing successful substitute teachers sharing practical tips and classroom demonstrations Essential checklists and templates that reduce cognitive load and increase daily success Question-based organization addressing the most common concerns new substitute teachers face This resource ensures consistent, engaging learning experiences that keep students on track—no matter who’s in the classroom.

Meet microlearning, a powerful instructional approach with roots in online learning that''s making the jump to K–12 classrooms. Think of microlearning as modernized direct instruction—a systematic yet flexible way to present content via connected small bursts that build to complex understandings. Less about "shorter teaching sessions" than about smarter teaching, microlearning aligns with how the brain makes meaning and resonates with today''s digital-native learners. It''s a new tool for structured teaching that will help them stay focused, support long-term retention, and guide them "micro" step by step toward mastery of essential standards. In this book for practitioners, instructional coach Tyler Gilbert and bestselling authors and educators Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey introduce microlearning''s "brief yet deep" approach and explain why it is so effective. The short, focused chapters mimic the microlearning experience; each features real-world examples, guided reflection, and a self-assessment. You''ll learn how to • Identify focused goals for microlearning sessions and divide complex content into the smaller servings that students can more easily process and teachers can more easily manage. • Design and implement various kinds of microlearning sessions—from teacher-driven and text-based options to technology-enhanced ones that incorporate scenarios, gamification, and simulations. • Gather and use feedback from microlearning sessions to improve student performance and refine your instructional design. At a time when teachers and students are feeling overloaded and disengaged, Microlearning in the K–12 Classroom''s practical guidance can support breakthrough understanding for both you and them.

Build and sustain the mindsets and systems that make teacher clarity work. Learning depends on clarity—a shared understanding among teachers, leaders, and students of what is being learned, why it matters, and how success will be recognized, all aligned with the learning experiences and assessment tasks. While many schools want to embrace teacher clarity, progress often stalls without clear guidance for school and district leaders. This book provides the essential framework for leaders to build, sustain, and embed a culture of clarity that transforms teaching and learning across the entire system. Developed for principals, instructional coaches, and district leaders, this practical guide will help you lead and implement teacher clarity, ensuring it is a foundational element of your school′s or district’s culture and not just a temporary initiative. Designed for reading alongside teachers’ use of the bestselling The Teacher Clarity Playbook, this book provides leaders with the tools to support teachers on their journey and ensure the work succeeds and endures. Features include: Planning Your Pitch: Ready-to-use talking points to help leaders communicate key ideas clearly and persuasively The Thinking Leader: Reflective questions to deepen self-awareness and provoke thoughtful leadership discussions A Leader′s Perspective: Real-life stories and insights from experienced educational leaders Leadership Checklist: Actionable steps to guide leaders in implementing new ideas effectively within their own contexts By modeling, protecting, and sustaining clarity, leaders can create the conditions for teachers to collaborate, reflect, and grow together, ensuring every student has a clear vision of success.

Lead lasting change for your entire learning community School leadership requires more than good intentions—it demands consequential actions that produce positive and meaningful outcomes for students, teachers, and the whole school community. Consequential Leadership is a practical, illustrated guide for busy educational leaders that will help you move beyond compliance to meaningful transformation—efficiently and effectively. Drawing from extensive research and real-world experience, the authors present five essential leadership imperatives that combine theoretical insights with actionable strategies, all delivered alongside engaging illustrations that make complex concepts accessible and memorable. The book explores crucial areas that define effective educational leadership: Five leadership imperatives that include courage and accountability, motivation and collective purpose, evidence-based decision making, professional learning design, and performance conversations Practical tools and assessments like self-evaluation rubrics, reflection prompts, and a personalized leadership journey map Real-world applications that bridge research and practice, helping you to implement strategies that drive student achievement and teacher effectiveness A visual framework that presents leadership concepts through illustrations, charts, and diagrams designed to enhance understanding and retention Embracing consequential leadership principles will allow you to develop the skills and competencies to create learning environments where students grow academically and personally, teachers thrive professionally, and school communities flourish through collective purpose and shared accountability.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant concept in education. It′s a present-day force reshaping how students learn, and teachers teach. But in the rapidly evolving world of AI, educators need more than just quick fixes or flashy tools. With the guidance of expert educators Salman Khan, Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, James Marshall, and Meghan Hargrave, Teaching Students to Use AI Ethically & Responsibly will prepare you not only how to teach with AI-but how to teach for a world transformed by it. Grounded in the latest research and enriched by years of classroom experience, this book takes you from understanding what AI is and how it operates, to helping students become confident, ethical thinkers in an AI-powered world. Organized into three sections, it covers how to teach AI′s foundational concepts, how to develop student inquiry and critical thinking, and how to teach student AI usage through authentic, curiosity-driven learning quests. It includes: Clear definitions, classroom examples, and teacher/student practices for each of the 30 core topics across AI theory, skills, and application Step-by-step guides for nine unique AI-powered learning quests, each designed to drive curiosity, collaboration, and deep understanding Practical strategies for addressing ethical considerations, bias, privacy, and responsible use of AI in learning environments Skill progressions for different grade bands, including skills to master, prompt-crafting tips, and online examples to help both educators and students integrate and evaluate AI tools with confidence Whether you′re new to AI or already exploring its integration, this comprehensive resource sheds light on hidden aspects of AI, equips you to foster essential student skills, and provides actionable strategies for hands-on collaboration with AI in your daily teaching practice.

50+ Instructional Strategies for Developing Independent Learners Discover over 50 strategies to meet your students where they are and help them succeed. Every teacher faces a recurring question in the classroom: What strategy will help this student learn right now? With hundreds of potential strategies available, the challenge lies in choosing the right approach at the right time. Instructional Strategies to Move Learning Forward does exactly that, equipping educators with thoughtfully curated instructional strategies designed to advance learning for all students. Grounded in the Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) framework, this book empowers you to select and implement purposeful strategies that address your students′ specific needs at a specific moment in their learning while ensuring long-term success. This content-rich guide provides practical tools and insights that emphasize why, when, and how instructional strategies can move learning forward, with: Research-informed rationale for why each strategy works and how each supports meaningful learning Detailed step-by-step guidance for implementation, ensuring every strategy can be immediately applied in your classroom Adaptability across contexts: Strategies designed for use across grades, content areas, and student needs—including multilingual learners and those requiring differentiated support Connections for each strategy to the GRR framework for cohesive lesson planning and consistent results This resource is not about collecting tools; it’s about reflection, intentionality, and impact. Whether you’re a new teacher seeking strategies to build your toolkit or an experienced educator refining your craft, this book will help you make informed instructional decisions that lead to powerful learning opportunities. Learn how to foster clarity, connection, and critical thinking in your students while building confident and independent learners.

50 Strategies for Activating the Full Potential of Your PLC+ Team Are you maximizing the impact of your professional learning communities? 50 Strategies for Activating Your PLC+ equips educators with the tools and actions needed to foster highly effective PLC+ teams. Successful PLCs are built on a foundation of strong collaboration, unified purpose, trust, and effective communication. The 50+ strategies in this essential guide address the challenges and possibilities within teacher teams by focusing on the role of activators, group members who work to ensure that all members of the PLC+ contribute to meaningful, solution-driven progress. Grounded in experience and practical guidance, this resource is designed to make every step of your PLC+ experience impactful. With strategies organized into eight comprehensive sections, the authors provide the frameworks necessary to create an engaged, productive learning culture with: Eight categories of strategies aligned with the five guiding PLC+ questions to support targeted and actionable leadership A practical cross-reference table connecting the strategies to content with additional context and insights to deepen understanding Tools for developing activator skills that enhance facilitation, decision-making, and solution-oriented collaboration within your PLC+ teams Concrete protocols and frameworks for addressing team dynamics, meeting structures, and continuous improvement From establishing goals to reviewing results, you′ll find purposeful actions that drive positive outcomes for educators and students alike. Take the next step in your PLC+ leadership to shape the future of learning in your school.

Lay the foundation for inclusive, impactful classrooms where every student thrives Every student deserves an education that is meaningful, memorable, and built for them. When we design learning with intentional, universal support, the impact extends beyond individual students—it transforms entire classrooms. In Every Child Deserves a Special Education, the authors introduce five powerful mindframes that reshape the way we think about teaching, learning, and inclusion. These mindframes spark a cycle of reflection and growth, shifting not just what we do, but how we see our students, our classrooms, and our role as educators. Inside, you’ll find: Five essential educator mindframes—helping you plan for both diverse learners and the diversity within each learner Stories and examples that bring these mindframes to life through real classroom experiences Reflection tools to help you examine and refine your own beliefs and practices True inclusion starts with how we think, not just what we do. Every Child Deserves a Special Education will help you build the mindset every classroom needs for all students to thrive.

Drive collaboration and improve student learning with PLC+ Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have long been celebrated as a powerful tool for driving collaboration and improving student outcomes. But what if there was a way to take your PLC work to the next level? Your Introduction to PLC+: Building Collaborative Teams That Drive Student Success introduces the next-generation PLC model that prioritizes collective efficacy and actionable strategies by focusing on five essential questions: Where are we going? Where are we now? How do we move learning forward? What did we learn today? Who benefited and who did not? PLC+ emphasizes identifying and applying evidence-based instruction that values the background of every student, ensuring access and opportunities for all. Team members begin by identifying a common challenge. Then, the clear PLC+ framework, practical tools, and research-based strategies ensure that team efforts directly improve teaching practices and student outcomes. This playbook includes: Protocols and tools that promote data-driven decision-making and actionable plans. Engaging features like "Two Truths and a Lie," self-assessment tools, and implementation-ready scenarios. Practical strategies to measure the real-time impact of collaborative efforts. An interactive design with ample space to reflect on your learning and outline steps to build collective efficacy. Transform your professional learning community today. Whether you′re a teacher or school leader, Your Introduction to PLC+ equips you with the knowledge and skills to collaborate effectively and lead with clarity and confidence. Together, you’ll create effective and impactful learning environments that ensure every student thrives.

A professional development assessment tool to elevate learning and instruction in every classroom This unique, hands-on flipbook is designed as a classroom observation tool that redefines RIGOR, with a focus on five key elements, or indicators, that form a framework to promote a rigorous, scaffolded learning environment. Explore the five indicators to identify teacher strengths and areas for growth, and to set goals: Relationships Instruction Goals Organization Relevance Developed for teachers, teams, instructional coaches, and school leaders, RIGOR Unveiled provides a wealth of support and knowledge for classroom observation and reflection, including: Tabbed sections that describe each of the five indicators to help focus discussion and evaluations Rubrics for evaluation including ratings, evidence, and "My Next Steps" 100+ video spotlights defining key concepts 25 classroom videos showing each of the indicators in action 25 videos of coaches discussing what they observed in each of the classroom videos Sturdy flipbook format for individual and team use and easy writing on the go Spot It Happening feature to calibrate observations as they happen Together your teaching teams can improve the learning outcomes for students by committing to continuous improvement in their teaching practice. With this book in hand, you’ll have everything you need to make it happen.

Recharge Adolescent Literacy: Strategies to Foster Joyful and Proficient Readers There are many adolescent readers who, for a variety of reasons, find it difficult to connect with written words and have fallen behind on their foundational reading skills. Thankfully, it’s never too late to give these necessary skills a boost and help students find joy in reading and learning. Armed with equity, empathy, evidence-based research, and practical application, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers provides classroom practices teachers can use with the whole class or with small groups to integrate reading support seamlessly with grade-level content learning. Bestselling authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, along with Sarah Ortega, Kierstan Barbee, and Aida Allen-Rotell, creatively organize the book around a metaphor: adolescent literacy is a battery—when all the parts are connected, working together, and fully charged—literacy can thrive. Throughout the book, the following features will guide your learning: Plug Into the Research – an overview of the evidence-based research supporting each section of the literacy model Power Up Classroom Practice – connecting the dots on the research, classroom practice and human aspects of learning Voices from the Field – classroom examples of application and strategies from other secondary educators Take Charge – key takeaways and reflection questions Tips on building and organizing your classroom library to incorporate tools, technology, and media available to maximize lesson effectiveness Dozens of videos to model time-efficient strategies and key concepts By focusing on research, classroom practices, and the human aspects of learning, this book is an essential tool to recharge reading practices for adolescent readers and help educators increase foundational reading skills in the classroom.

Engage, Empower, Educate: Unleash the Potential of Multilingual Learners What′s your "why" for being a teacher? Unlike other professionals, teachers often have strong reasons for why they teach and a clear sense of purpose. Acknowledging and understanding this purpose helps educators to not just do what they do but do it well. This illustrated guide was designed for all classroom teachers to emphasize the unique challenges and opportunities that arise in multilingual learner education. Using Simon Sinek′s Golden Circle theory to understand and elevate that sense of purpose, the book is organized into three parts: the why, the how, and the what of teaching multilingual learners. You will learn The benefits and goals of a multilingual education How to design learning experiences for multilingual learners and how to respond when students are not learning Culturally inclusive pedagogy and how it positively supports the identities of your students How to foster oral language skills, build vocabulary, and increase students’ word knowledge How to engage families and caregivers and create a sense of belonging in your classroom And so much more! With a clear understanding of the research-based tools, techniques, and instructional strategies described and illustrated in the book, a solid sense of purpose, and a dash of grace for you and your multilingual learners, you will be well on your way to creating productive and positive learning opportunities that meet the best interests of all students, families, educators, and the community.

Let evidence and integrity guide your grading practice If you want to ask a polarizing question in education, ask someone their thoughts on grading. Few topics have elicited more interest or opinions, even though grading practices have remained relatively unchanged for years. But opinions are not evidence. The time has come to get it right with a fresh approach grounded in research and the principles of integrity. Grading With Integrity introduces a measured approach to grading reform based on honesty, transparency, accuracy, and equity with recommendations backed by clear and trustworthy evidence. Addressing the many "whys’’ involved, this thoughtfully organized book addresses central questions related to grading and reporting student learning, covering: An historical overview of grading and reporting practices A discussion of standards-based and competency-based grading Recommendations for reporting non academic learning goals separately from academic achievement, to accurately reflect students′ performance Suggestions for reporting growth and improvement, using specific assessments and other reporting tools An infallible argument for grading with integrity This book is a must-read for K-12 classroom teachers and administrators who are looking to implement better and more defensible grading and reporting policies and practices. Let evidence and integrity be your guide to enhancing students’ best interests and learning success.

Fuel student-driven success and enhance learning with better assessment What if there was a better way to collect and interpret assessment data that could strengthen the link between teaching and learning? Student Assessment: Better Evidence, Better Decisions, Better Learning is the innovative guide to show you how it′s done and done right. This unique book offers a new assessment model focused on decision-driven data collection and provides an arsenal of tools for collecting better evidence to increase student learning. You will learn: the importance of assessment in the teaching and learning process what a decision-driven data collection assessment model looks like and how it differs from a more traditional data-driven decision-making model how to effectively establish learning intentions and success criteria within assessments to actively engage students in their own learning how to implement an array of assessment tools that yield better evidence and improve decision-making how to address the challenge of ensuring authenticity in students′ responses when AI-generated content is becoming more common With this guide in hand, you′ll be ready for a better approach to assessment—armed with practical tools and strategies to ensure students can analyze, synthesize, adapt, critique, and most importantly, take charge of their own learning.

Your Guide to Engaging and Effective Math Instruction With the latest research on what works best in teaching and learning, The Mathematics Playbook is your comprehensive guide to enhancing mathematics teaching and learning. With a focus on fostering equity and maximizing student learning, the authors provide practical modules that integrate the latest research on effective teaching practices, and answer four critical questions: How do we foster, nurture, and sustain mathematics learning? How do we ensure all learners have equity of access and opportunity? What are the non-negotiables in a high-quality mathematics task? How do we know if learners really "get it"? Through real-life examples and an emphasis on self-assessment and reflection, this playbook empowers you to create engaging and impactful learning experiences in mathematics.

Concepts, conversation, collaboration—vocabulary instruction is so much more than lists of words. More is more when it comes to students’ vocabulary knowledge, and in The Vocabulary Playbook, educators in K-12 get ideas for transforming all children into curious, capable word learners. The key? Put away the word-list mindset, and embrace active modeling, peer work, and independent practice. Five modules offer direct instruction and effective routines that show how to: Select and teach only the most high-utility, transferable words that are ripe for discussion Use direct instruction to model word-solving in each content area Teach morphology in ways that invite students to apply understandings in reading, writing, talk, and listening Turn academic word-learning into a relevant experience with peer collaboration activities Create a culture of word consciousness by emphasizing concepts, modeling curiosity, and offering "low-risk" routines that make it okay to not yet know Intentional vocabulary instruction is critical in every grade, and in every content area. With The Vocabulary Playbook, your approach is now tactical, transparent, and fun. Whether you are an administrator executing a school-wide plan or a teacher eager for practical strategies, this is the book that will help students build academic success—word by word.

Provide the perfect structure and support to develop student independence. Effective scaffolding leads to learner autonomy—but too many educators have been airlifting students to right answers, perpetuating a generation who don’t know how to learn. Yes, we know the sweet spot for learning involves giving our students the right blend of productive failure and productive success, but how to do it is cloaked in misconceptions. How Scaffolding Works unveils the essential moves and methods. Ten interactive modules help every K-12 educator structure support in new ways, including knowing how to: Gradually release responsibility to students through intentional and purposeful scaffolding Design lessons and experiences that attend to the affective, metacognitive, and cognitive aspects of learning Collect data before, during, and after learning, so we can place, move, and take away scaffolds with greater intention Promote independence with front-end scaffolds, distributed scaffolds, back-end scaffolds, peer scaffolds, and fading scaffolds Use a blend of demonstration, modeling, coaching, explaining, questioning and choice Promote purposeful practice—in which learners knows where they’re going and how to get there Perhaps we rush in to rescue learners because the world seems fraught; we want to help our students reach the safety of academic success. Our intentions are good, but it’s time to step back, gradually and purposefully, and let them pilot their own learning.

The comprehensive guide you can trust for evidence-based reading practices It′s settled science: developing skilled readers can enhance students’ lives. That’s why renowned educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Diane Lapp wrote this resource with the urgency of a code blue in an ER—because too many children, for many reasons, struggle with learning to become strong readers. Designed to be a one-stop shop for best practices, Teaching Reading is concise, encyclopedic, and essential. Thirteen interactive modules provide easy to read ideas to support you teaching every child to read very well. You will learn how to: Focus on two critical aspects of reading—word recognition and language comprehension. Select the best activities to support students in grades K-6 to learn letters and sound relationships. Provide developing readers with the most effective oral, written, and reading experiences. Recharge your confidence and craft with uplifting new research findings from neuroscience, cognitive science, and child development. Clear up confusions about phonics progressions, reading fluency, morphology, text selection, grammar, and more. Develop background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension instruction. Be up to date on how to help students attain deeper levels of comprehension by applying Theory of Mind and other cutting-edge ideas. Reading is a thrilling but complex process. It involves a heady mix of skills, schema, self-concept, and social dimensions. To give all students the chance to reap its rewards, we need a go-big kind of resource. This is it.

Feedback keeps learning moving forward. Picture water pouring into a crystal goblet. That’s how clear and dynamic feedback must be. You can achieve that "perfect swirl" of giving, receiving, and integrating feedback with this remarkable book, which is organized into 16 modules for self-study or PLCs. Major concepts include: Defining Feedback: learn the most useful types of feedback, why to align them with transparent criteria, how to gather evidence. 4 C’s of Feedback: offer it with care, credibility, clarity, and clear communication Gathering Evidence for Feedback: use a balance of verbal, written, and kinesthetic responses; peer collaboration, checks-for-understanding, technology, and more.

Stop apathy in its tracks with the 5 C’s of engagement Disengagement, disenchantment, distress—the three "D’s" of many post-pandemic schools. If we are to find our way back from this brink, every student, teacher, and leader must relearn how to lean in. It’s time to focus, know one another, and stop chasing so many initiatives. It’s time to shake things up so learners want to participate. From faculty meetings to student conferences, casual greetings to grading, you can learn to use practices that most powerfully reflect the Five C’s of Engagement: Connections — feeling known, valued, and tethered to others Conditions — being able to learn in a stable environment in which expectations are high Challenge — engaging in an endeavor knowing your "high jumps" in terms of intellectual and creative risks will be supported Control — the privilege of learning with a balance between ownership and support Collaboration — deepening one’s knowledge and identity as a learner by being skillful at relationship-building Our students are looking to us as the grownups in the room to model what it looks like to belong, believe, and balance high expectations with compassionate support. With Confronting the Crisis of Engagement in hand, you have the guide to make that happen.

Now more than ever, schools need to be places where openness and can-do are baked into every hallway hello and every meeting. This vision-setting starts at the top, and with a combination of strategic thinking and inspiring relationship-building. With Leader Credibility, learn how to attain or amplify the qualities that all school leaders keep in motion each day. Discover efficient, persuasive ways to communicate and mentor growth by being: Trustworthy Competent Dynamic Immediate Forward thinking

Utilize restorative practices to create a safe, accepting, and equitable school climate where learning can flourish. When students have unfinished learning, educators create opportunities for students to learn. Unfortunately, this role seems to end when it comes to behavior. How can we turn behavior into a teachable moment? The Restorative Practices Playbook details a set of practices designed to teach prosocial behaviors based on strong relationships and a commitment to the well-being of others. Implementing restorative practices establishes a positive academic and social-emotional learning environment while building students’ capacity to self-regulate, make decisions, and self-govern—the very skills students need to achieve. In this eye-opening, essential playbook, renowned educators Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey support educators with the reflection prompts, tools, examples, and strategies needed to create restorative practices around several key concepts: A restorative school culture, grounded in respect, that builds agency and identity, establishes teacher credibility, sets high expectations, and fosters positive relationships Restorative conversations that equip adults and students with the capacity to resolve problems, make decisions, and arrive at solutions in ways that are satisfactory and growth-producing Restorative circles that promote academic learning through dialogue, build consensus in decision making, and help participants reach resolution through healing Formal restorative conferences that foster guided dialogue between victim(s) and offender(s) and include plans for re-entry into the school community By becoming adept in the skillful use of restorative practices, educators will foster equitable discipline that reduces exclusion and creates a school community driven by relationships and respect.

Now in its 3rd edition, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching is the definitive guide to the gradual release of responsibility—an instructional framework any teacher can use to help students to be more successful and self-directed learners. To gradually release responsibility is to equip students with what they need to master content and develop new competencies. On a day-to-day basis, it means delivering lessons intentionally structured to incorporate four interrelated phases: * Focused Instruction ("I do it") that sets students up for cognitive apprenticeship by establishing lesson purpose, modeling strategies and skills, and sharing information and insight. * Guided Instruction ("We do it together") that incorporates targeted prompts, cues, and questions to scaffold understanding. * Collaborative Learning ("You do it together") that allows students to consolidate and extend understanding through accountable group tasks built on discussion and cooperative problem solving. * Independent Learning ("You do it alone") that provides students opportunities to practice and apply the skills and knowledge they''ve acquired to create authentic products and ask new questions. Authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey detail the components of each phase, sharing proven strategies and real-life examples. You''ll find a variety of useful tips for classroom implementation, along with new guidance on teacher credibility, social-emotional learning, and embedding assessment throughout all four phases. No matter what grade level or subject you teach, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching is an essential resource for improving your practice and empowering your students.

Arm students with the confidence they need to pursue ambitious goals—together. Collective student efficacy— students’ beliefs that by working with other people, they will learn more—can be a powerful accelerator of student learning and a precursor to future employment success. Harnessing twenty-five years of VISIBLE LEARNING® research, Collective Student Efficacy: Developing Independent and Inter-Dependent Learners illuminates the power of collective efficacy and identifies the many ways teachers can activate collective efficacy with their students. More than cooperative and collaborative learning, collective efficacy requires the refinement of both individual and collective tasks that build on each other over time. This innovative book details how knowledge, skills, and dispositions entangle to create collective and individual beliefs, and leads educators to mobilize collective efficacy in the classroom. It includes: The vital components and evidence-based success criteria necessary for students′ collective efficacy The "I" and "We" skills that need to be developed to ensure students have the skills and confidence to contribute to group success The nature of learning design, lesson planning, and classroom structures that ensure opportunities for all students to engage in collective efficacy The necessity for constructive alignment between learning intentions, tasks, success criteria, and assessments "Learning from a Distance" actions to facilitate building skills in remote learning environments The time is now to prepare students to meet the demands of the future. Through collective student efficacy, students will learn to become actionable agents of learning and change.

Build students’ confidence and competence with tutoring strategies that spark meaningful, accelerated learning. Tutoring is much more than telling students information. Effective tutoring begins with the strong and caring relationship a tutor establishes with a learner to build trust, fuel motivation, and drive critical learning. How Tutoring Works distills the complexity of strategic moves effective tutors make to build students’ confidence and competence. Harnessing decades of Visible Learning® research, this easy to read, eye-opening guide details the six essential components of any effective tutoring intervention—establishing a relationship and credibility, addressing student confidence and challenges, setting shared goals, helping a student learn how to learn, teaching and learning content, and establishing a habit of deliberate practice. Indispensable for any educator who intervenes with students, this rich resource includes: Examples of impactful tutoring conversations, including what to say and what not to say when building a relationship with a learner. Specific approaches to use when establishing credibility, addressing challenges to learning, leveraging the relevance of knowledge, setting goals, and ensuring practice. Learning strategies, with effect size, for teaching and learning content, including specific strategies for improving reading, writing, and mathematics. Tips and tools for helping students develop powerful cognitive, metacognitive, and affective study skills. Resources and advice for establishing an effective and transformational tutoring program. Done well, tutoring can repair a student’s damaged relationship to learning, address unrealized potential, and alter the course of a young person’s life. A strong and nurturing relationship between tutor and learner is key.

For more than a year now, we educators have been tested and tested again. We’ve been stretched, we’ve been pulled, we’ve been put through the wringer. But now it’s time to "rebound." It’s time to bounce back, come back better, and benefit from the many lessons learned to reignite engagement, accelerate learning, and move forward with fresh optimism and better systems for schooling. Enter Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, Dominique Smith, and John Hattie, whose Distance Learning Playbooks have supported more than a half million educators across pandemic teaching and who are here now to advise you on this next, absolutely critical leg of our ongoing journey. Complete with tools and strategies, prompts and exercises, Rebound: A Playbook for Rebuilding Agency, Accelerating Learning Recovery, and Rethinking Schools will help you: Address the collective traumas we have experienced during the pandemic and rebuild our sense of agency and self, so that we can attribute student success to both teachers’ and students’ efforts Evaluate what we have learned about remote teaching and learning to determine what to carry forward and what to leave behind Shift the narrative from learning loss to "learning leaps" and implement instructional and assessment practices that ensure our students reclaim lost knowledge, build skills, develop agency, and accelerate gains Redefine classrooms, learning experiences, the ways schools operate, and the very idea of schooling itself "The greatest travesty that can arise for schools after 2020/21," Doug, Nancy, Dominique, and John write, "is to rush back to the old normal, and learn nothing, or little, about what worked well. That’s why this book has focused on rebounding, and taking the opportunity to create an even better schooling system, one that serves even more students, and focuses more on what matters most." "Let′s agree not to reduce the impact that our expectations have on students′ learning. What if we talk about learning leaps instead of learning loss? What if we identify where students are in their learning and identify critical content that they must learn now to accelerate their performance in the future? And what if we raise our expectations for students rather than lower them?" —Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Dominique Smith, and John Hattie

Let’s make the "next normal" a "better normal" If there ever was a time for our heroic school leadership to persevere, it’s now. Because now, well over one year since the pandemic stretched the resilience and reserves of our school systems, it’s time to "rebound." It’s time to leverage this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot teaching and learning as we know it so that we magnify the effective practices from the past while leveraging the so many recent lessons learned. This is where Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, Dominique Smith, and John Hattie, coauthors of The Distance Learning Playbook series, are ideally equipped to serve as your collaborators. Inside Leading the Rebound: 20+ Must-Dos to Restart Teaching and Learning you’ll find immediate actions, mindsets, and approaches to take if we’re to reimagine and improve our schools and school systems. Step by step, you’ll discover explicit guidance on how to: 1. Take care of yourself 2. Take stock and find the path 3. Rebuild teacher agency 4. Rebuild collective teacher efficacy 5. Foreground social and emotional learning 6. Change the learning loss narrative 7. Guide teacher clarity 8. Ensure instructional excellence 9. Use assessments for a range of purposes 10. Design and implement interventions 11. Win back parent-teacher relationships 12. Establish restorative practices 13. Avoid stealing the conflict 14. Enhance teacher-student and student-student interactions 15. Develop early warning systems for attendance, behavior, and course completion 16. Confront cognitive challenges to learning 17. Ensure equitable and restorative grading 18. Enhance PLCs 19. Provide empathetic feedback 20. Host honest performance conversations 21. Maintain your social presence 22. Future-proof teachers and students What’s more Leading the Rebound is backed up with all kinds of resources--including VISIBLE LEARNING® research, sample planning tools, and other essential tips and strategies--to provide you with a start-to-finish roadmap for navigating this absolutely critical next leg in our journey toward a "better normal."

What a year! Twelve months and counting since COVID expanded, stretched, and blurred the boundaries of teaching and learning, at least one thing has remained constant: our commitment as educators to move learning forward. It’s just the context that keeps changing—why Doug Fisher, Nancy Frey, John Almarode, and Aleigha Henderson-Rosser have created a follow-up to The Distance Learning Playbook, their all-new Quick Guide to Simultaneous, Hybrid, and Blended Learning. First, to be clear: simultaneous learning must not be an additive, meaning we combine two entirely different approaches and double our workload. That’s unsustainable! Instead, we must extract, integrate, and implement what works best from both distance learning and face-to-face learning environments. Then and only then—Doug, Nancy, John, and Aleigha insist—can we maximize the learning opportunities for all of our students. To that end, The Quick Guide to Simultaneous, Hybrid, and Blended Learning describes how to: Have clarity about the most important learning outcomes for our students. This will help us decide what is best done asynchronously and what is best done with our "Roomies" and "Zoomies." Capitalize on the potential of asynchronous learning and use that valuable time to preview and review. This way we can draw on evidence from these tasks to help us decide where to go next in our teaching and our students’ learning. Utilize synchronous learning for collaborative learning and scaffolding of content, skills, and essential understandings. In doing so, we can collect additional evidence of students’ learning so that we provide feedback that moves learning forward. Establish norms for combining synchronous and face-to-face environments in simultaneous learning. Importantly, we have to set up the environment for our Roomies and Zoomies to learn together. Develop learning experiences and tasks that maximize learner engagement for all learners in all settings. Focus on acceleration and learning recovery. In other words, no more deficit thinking! Our students are where they are and there are specific things that we can do to ensure their learning. Implement the guide’s many resources, strategies, and templates. "None of us chose to be in a situation where some learners are physically in our classrooms, while others attend virtually and remotely," write Doug, Nancy, John, and Aleigha. "However, what we hope to convey is that we’ve got this! While the context is different, the principles behind clarity, planning, high-yield strategies and interventions, student learning, and assessment hold steady." This is where The Quick Guide to Simultaneous, Hybrid, and Blended Learning will prove indispensable on this next leg of our journey.

Provide students a clear view of what success looks like for any process, task, or product. What does success look like for your students? How will they know if they have learned? This essential component of teaching and learning can be difficult to articulate but is vital to achievement for both teachers and students. The Success Criteria Playbook catapults teachers beyond learning intentions to define clearly what success looks like for every student—whether face-to-face or in a remote learning environment. Designed to be used collaboratively in grade-level, subject area teams—or even on your own—the step-by-step playbook expands teacher understanding of how success criteria can be utilized to maximize student learning and better engage learners in monitoring and evaluating their own progress. Each module is designed to support the creation and immediate implementation of high-quality, high impact success criteria and includes: • Templates that allow for guided and independent study for teachers. • Extensive STEM-focused examples from across the K-12 STEM curriculum to guide teacher learning and practice. • Examples of success criteria applied across learning domains and grades, including high school content, skills, practices, dispositions, and understandings. Ensure equity of access to learning and opportunity for all students by designing and employing high-quality, high-impact success criteria that connect learners to a shared understanding of what success looks like for any given learning intention.

Student learning communities (SLCs) are more than just a different way of doing group work. Like the professional learning communities they resemble, SLCs provide students with a structured way to solve problems, share insight, and help one another continually develop new skills and expertise. With the right planning and support, dynamic collaborative learning can thrive everywhere. In this book, educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Almarode explain how to create and sustain student learning communities by - Designing group experiences and tasks that encourage dialogue; - Fostering the relational conditions that advance academic, social, and emotional development; - Providing explicit instruction on goal setting and opportunities to practice progress monitoring; - Using thoughtful teaming practices to build cognitive, metacognitive, and emotional regulation skills; - Teaching students to seek, give, and receive feedback that amplifies their own and others'' learning; and - Developing the specific leadership skills and strategies that promote individual and group success. Examples from face-to-face and virtual K–12 classrooms help to illustrate what SLCs are, and teacher voices testify to what they can achieve. No more hoping the group work you''re assigning will be good enough—or that collaboration will be its own reward. No more crossing your fingers for productive outcomes or struggling to keep order, assess individual student contributions, and ensure fairness. Student Learning Communities shows you how to equip your students with what they need to learn in a way that is truly collective, makes them smarter together than they would be alone, creates a more positive classroom culture, and enables continuous academic and social-emotional growth.