"We didn't forget how to be teachers. It's the same passion, engagement, and relationships — you already know how to do that. What we have to learn is a few tech tools, so that we can accomplish the teaching moves that we want, but we did not forget how to teach ... Human beings know how to develop relationships, and sometimes they develop from a distance." Listen as I talk with Doug Fisher (of Fisher & Frey) about the most important ideas from their new book with John Hattie called "The Distance Learning Playbook: K-12 Teaching For Engagement and Impact in Any Setting." The book is based on the classroom experiences of a diverse group of more than 70 teachers this past spring. I ask Doug to sum up their most important takeaways, the things that surprised him, and the best practical ideas that came out of these teachers' experiences. We talk extensively about the best ways to get kids to show up to distance learning and complete their work, as well. Doug shares specific examples, and says, "When you move to higher levels of engagement — where kids drive the learning, where they set their goals, they monitor their progress, they reflect on what they've been learning — that's when we see them show up and participate." If you need to hear a positive outlook and some inspiration about distance/hybrid learning right now, I think you'll really enjoy this conversation: "I did not sign up to be this distance teacher. But right now our kids need us. We're still a school. We still have a job to do. Together, we will get through this pandemic and we will be better, as a result, when we come back." Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.

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