The Instructional Coach’s Toolkit

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.

Summer Series - Episode 5 - Video in Coaching

Video is one of the most underutilized tools in instructional coaching—and one of the most powerful. In this episode, we’ll explore how to incorporate video into your coaching practice to deepen teacher reflection, sharpen feedback, and accelerate skill development. You’ll hear practical tips for making video feel safe, useful, and routine—not a special event or evaluation tool. We’ll also align video use with Leverage Leadership and Get Better Faster strategies for building deliberate practice cycles. Whether you’re new to using video or looking to refine your approach, this episode will help you leverage it as a key driver of teacher growth.

Summer Series - Episode 4 - Precise Practice

In this episode, we explore one of the most powerful but often underused levers in instructional coaching: Precise Practice. Great teaching habits don’t just happen—they’re built through intentional, focused practice with clear feedback. You’ll learn how to design coaching sessions where teachers rehearse specific moves, refine their technique, and build automaticity. We’ll connect this to key practices from Get Better Faster and Leverage Leadership, and show how Precise Practice accelerates growth far beyond what feedback conversations alone can achieve. Whether you're working with new or veteran teachers, this approach helps every teacher move from understanding to execution.

Summer Series - Episode 3 - Narrow the Focus

Trying to fix everything at once? Don’t. This episode dives into why effective coaches prioritize one skill at a time to create clarity and momentum. You’ll hear how to identify the highest-leverage move for each teacher, based on observation trends, TLAC techniques, and Get Better Faster progressions. Narrowing the focus doesn’t slow growth—it accelerates it by making success achievable. During summer, your job is to define early-year priorities and align your team around them. One skill, one step forward—that’s how real growth begins.

Summer Series - Episode 2- Feedback First

Observation means nothing without follow-up—and in this episode, we focus on the core of high-impact coaching: targeted, actionable feedback. Using the “See It, Name It, Do It” structure from Get Better Faster, we break down how to make feedback stick. You’ll learn how to keep feedback short but focused, and how to incorporate quick practice into debriefs. We also highlight how to prep your feedback system in Perform before school starts. Great feedback isn’t long or formal—it’s clear, specific, and practiced. Start setting that tone now.

Summer Series - Episode 1 - Weekly Instructional Visit

This episode kicks off the series with the single most important habit of effective coaching: weekly observation and feedback. Drawing from Leverage Leadership and Get Better Faster, we explain why short, consistent coaching cycles drive more growth than occasional deep dives. You’ll hear how to structure this rhythm at BASIS using Perform, and why consistency—not complexity—is the key. With students still out, your summer move is to prepare the system: protect time, align your team, and set expectations. A strong coaching year starts before the first bell rings. Let’s build the habit now.

Joy Factor

This episode explores Joy Factor, a TLAC technique that brings energy, fun, and emotional connection into the classroom—without sacrificing rigor. You’ll learn how moments of delight, from games and storytelling to rituals and celebration, can boost engagement and strengthen culture. Joy isn’t a break from the work—it’s what makes the work sustainable for students and teachers alike. We’ll look at practical ways to add purpose-driven joy to instruction, plus how to coach others to do the same. Whether you’re aiming to re-energize your classroom or support stronger culture across your team, Joy Factor offers small moves that make a big impact. Because when students feel good about learning, they do more of it.

Make Expectations Visible

This episode highlights the power of Make Expectations Visible, a TLAC technique that helps students succeed by showing—not just telling—what to do. From visual models to exemplars and marked cues, you’ll learn how to bring clarity to directions, tasks, and routines. When students can see what success looks like, they’re more likely to meet it on the first try. Simple adjustments lead to stronger execution and fewer corrections.

Delivery Moves

In this episode, we focus on Delivery Moves—the subtle but powerful choices teachers make in how they present academic content. Whether it’s pacing, tone, gestures, or facial expressions, these moves help students stay engaged, process key ideas, and retain what matters. You’ll learn how small shifts in delivery can transform clarity and presence in the classroom without requiring performance or personality changes. We’ll explore what the technique looks like in practice, why it works, and how to build it into your planning and reflection. Whether you're teaching or coaching instruction, Delivery Moves are a high-leverage way to increase impact without adding time. Let’s sharpen how we say what we teach—so every idea lands with power.