The Instructional Coach’s Toolkit

Coach "Do Now": BASIS.Ed TLaC Top 5

This episode explores the powerful role of the Do Now in launching focused, effective lessons from the moment students walk in. Listeners will learn what makes a Do Now strong — and what common missteps can undermine its impact. With a clear breakdown of four key design features, the episode offers practical strategies for both refining Do Nows and coaching others to do the same. Whether you're planning your next lesson or supporting a colleague, you'll walk away with concrete moves to improve classroom starts. Includes a downloadable guide and checklist to support immediate application.

Coach "Radar & Be Seen Looking": BASIS.Ed TLaC Top 5

This episode highlights Radar and Be Seen Looking, two foundational techniques that help teachers maintain strong awareness and presence in the classroom. Listeners will explore how these habits support culture, behavior, and academic focus by keeping students accountable — even before a redirection is needed. The episode breaks down what these techniques look like in action and how to implement or coach them with intention. Whether you're building your own scanning habits or supporting a teacher in tightening their presence, you’ll find clear moves and common pitfalls to consider. Includes a downloadable guide and practice tips to apply right away.

Coach "Routine Building": BASIS.Ed TLaC Top 5

This episode focuses on the essential work of building effective classroom routines that support smooth, efficient learning. Listeners will learn how clear, consistent systems reduce distractions, increase student independence, and create the conditions for strong instruction. The episode explores how to design and teach routines intentionally — whether launching new ones or tightening existing ones. It also offers practical coaching strategies for helping teachers identify and reinforce high-leverage routines. A great listen for any educator looking to strengthen classroom systems. Includes a downloadable guide and planning tool.

Coach "What To Do": BASIS.Ed TLaC Top 5

This episode explores the What To Do technique — a simple but powerful way to give clear, actionable directions that students can follow the first time. Listeners will unpack the three key elements of effective directions and how to avoid common traps like vague language or stacked requests. Whether you're a teacher looking to sharpen your delivery or a coach supporting clarity in classroom management, this episode offers practical tools to strengthen follow-through and reduce misbehavior. Learn how to give directions that actually work. Includes a one-page guide and planning prompts.

Coach "Exit Ticket": BASIS.Ed Top 5

In this episode, we take a closer look at Exit Tickets—a powerful but often underused technique for checking student understanding at the end of a lesson. We explore what makes an Exit Ticket effective, how to design prompts that give you usable insight, and how to use student responses to shape your next steps. You’ll hear practical examples, common pitfalls, and quick ways to strengthen your daily closure routines. Whether you’re looking to tighten your classroom practice or support others in doing so, this episode will help you make Exit Tickets a strategic part of your instructional toolkit.

Summer Series - Episode 10 - Coaching Culture Starts with You

In the final episode of the series, we zoom out to focus on culture. If coaching is going to stick across your school, it has to be modeled visibly by leaders—starting with the Instructional Improvement Team. You’ll hear practical ways to model feedback-seeking, practice publicly, and celebrate coaching engagement and growth. The mindset you model will shape how your teachers experience coaching. Great coaching isn’t just what we do—it’s how we lead.

Summer Series - Episode 8 - Accelerating New Teachers with Get Better Faster

New teachers need more than support—they need coaching that accelerates skill development. In this episode, we explore how to use Get Better Faster to structure high-impact coaching for new staff. We break down the skill progressions to prioritize, how to plan weekly coaching cycles with live practice, and how to message coaching clearly to new teachers. Building strong classroom foundations quickly helps new teachers—and their students—succeed. This episode gives you a roadmap to make it happen.

Summer Series - Episode 8 - Data Driven; People Focused

How do you use data to sharpen coaching—without losing the human side of the work? This episode explores how to balance observation data, student learning evidence, and relational trust to drive strong, supportive coaching conversations. We look at how to bring student work and clear data into feedback, while maintaining a culture where teachers feel valued and empowered to grow. Coaching should feel rigorous, purposeful, and relational—all at once. Learn how to strike that balance.

Summer Series - Episode 7 — Build Your Coaching Playbook

In this episode, we step back and focus on building a Coaching Playbook to guide your campus-wide coaching system. You’ll learn how to structure coaching across your Instructional Improvement Team, assign coaching roles, and align on Trimester 1 priorities. We also discuss how to track coaching progress using Perform and team-based reflection. A clear, shared Playbook helps ensure every teacher gets consistent, focused coaching support. Effective coaching starts with design—not chance.

Summer Series - Episode 6 - Keep the End in Mind

Effective coaching starts with a clear vision of what great instruction looks and sounds like. In this episode, we focus on how to help teachers start with the end in mind—by defining precise instructional goals and anchoring coaching conversations to them. You’ll learn how to align coaching moves to student outcomes, prioritize clarity over quantity, and build a shared understanding of excellence across your team. We’ll connect this to practices from Leverage Leadership and Teach Like a Champion to show how starting with the end makes coaching more targeted and transformational. When teachers and coaches share a clear vision, every feedback cycle becomes more focused and more impactful.