The Distance Learning Playbook
By: Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie 
Book reviewed by: Liesl Blackwell
Book Synopsis:
The February book of the month is The Distance Learning Playbook: Teaching for Engagement & Impact in Any Setting Grades K-12. This Playbook is designed to walk educators through the identification of how best practices look in face-to-face learning as well as in virtual/distance learning. The central themes driving the work are:
Teacher clarity and feedback is used to fuel students’ ability to become their own teachers (they are assessment-capable learners).
Methods for measuring the impact of teaching are used to understand each student’s progress and achievement, with adjustments to teaching made accordingly.
Investment in collaboration with adults and relationships with students is continuous.
The playbook is broken into modules:
Take Care of Yourself
The First days of School
Teacher-Student Relationships from a Distance
Teacher Credibility at a Distance
Teacher Clarity at a Distance
Engaging Tasks
Planning Instructional Units for Distance Learning
Feedback, Assessment, and Grading
Learning, Distance or Otherwise
The modules are designed to move educators through a process that begins and ends with the standards, from analysis through assessment. The ultimate goal is to aid teachers in building a habit of mind for how it is that we systematically and efficiently analyze standards, build curriculum, teach, and assess, and to do it regularly for our instruction.
Why I Recommend This Book:
Educators are working in unprecedented ways in 2020. Never could it have been predicted that virtual instruction would become the new normal. This book provides teachers with a framework that can be used to plan for effective and impactful learning for students in online environments.