Leading the Rebound

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." 
 

Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed English teacher and administrator in California. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, leadership, and curriculum design, as well as books such as The Teacher Clarity Playbook (2nd ed.), Your Introduction to PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Teacher Credibility, Instructional Strategies to Move Learning Forward: 50+ Tools That Support Gradual Release of Responsibility, and Welcome to Teaching! Nancy Frey is a professor in educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California. She is a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Her published titles include 50 Strategies for Activating Your PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning, Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers, and RIGOR Unveiled: A Video-Enhanced Flipbook to Promote Teacher Expertise in Relationship Building, Instruction, Goals, Organization, and Relevance.  Dr. Dominique Smith is an award-winning educator, author, and school leader who has dedicated two decades to transforming schools into inclusive, safe, and empowering spaces for students and educators alike. He currently serves as Principal at Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego, California. Dr. Smith earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California. His dual expertise in education and social work uniquely positions him to bridge the gap between academic success, emotional safety, and equitable school culture. A passionate advocate for belonging, restorative practices, and leadership development, Dr. Smith has co-authored several influential books, including Belonging in School: Creating a Place Where Kids Want to Learn and Teachers Want to Stay, Better Than Carrots or Sticks: Restorative Practices for Positive Classroom Management, Building Equity: Policies and Practices to Empower All Learners, Leader Credibility, How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders, and The Restorative Practices Playbook. In recognition of his commitment to fostering safe and supportive school environments, Dr. Smith received the National School Safety Award from the School Safety Advocacy Council. His TED Talk on building authentic relationships between students and teachers has inspired educators across the country to reimagine connection as the cornerstone of effective teaching and learning. Through his leadership, writing, and speaking, Dr. Smith continues to champion the belief that when students feel seen, heard, and valued, they are empowered to thrive — both academically and personally. His work challenges schools to move beyond compliance and discipline toward cultures of belonging, accountability, and restorative growth.   John Hattie, PhD, is an award-winning education researcher and best-selling author with nearly thirty years of experience examining what works best in student learning and achievement. His research, better known as Visible Learning, is a culmination of nearly thirty years synthesizing more than 2,100 meta-analyses comprising more than one hundred thousand studies involving over 300 million students around the world. He has presented and keynoted in over three hundred international conferences and has received numerous recognitions for his contributions to education. His notable publications include Visible Learning, Visible Learning for Teachers, Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn; Visible Learning for Mathematics, Grades K-12; and 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning.