The Playbook

Growing up in with my family, Saturdays were always devoted to Alabama football. When I entered high school, I joined the danceline/colorguard and had my Friday nights taken up by football as well. Movies and T.V. shows that were centered around football were always popular in my household as well. In all those years of watching the game in person and on television, I discovered what I thought to be the key to a great team. It was a dedicated coach with a well adapted play book.

On page 104 of The Impact Cycle, Knight (2018) describes the instructional playbook as "a simple, short publication made up of three parts: (a) a one-page list of high-impact teaching strategies, (b) a one-page description for each of the strategies, and (c) checklists coaches need to use to describe the teaching 
practices contained in the playbook." Just like a playbook in football is essential for everyone to be on the same page and do well, the instructional playbook is imperative for a successful instructional coaching cycle. Before I started my coaching cycle, I decided to make a version of an instructional playbook for the cycle. The playbook helps to outline clear objectives, identify appropriate teaching strategies, and create engaging activities for students. It also serves as a sort of reference guide for the teacher to ensure consistency in instruction. I have always been one to have detailed lesson plans and other guiding materials to keep me on track and help hold me accountable to do what I am trying to accomplish. I determined the playbook to be the tool I could use to accomplish that in my coaching cycle.

Although there is an outline of a typical playbook provided by Knight in his book, it's important to understand the playbook is not a one size fits all and should be adapted by each individual teacher to meet the unique needs of both themselves and their students. For me, the check-lists were the most helpful aspect of the playbook. Because of this, that section of my playbook was the most detailed and the portion that I put the most effort in. Checklists have always been a part of how I organize my thoughts and tasks I need to accomplish so this was like second nature to me. Knight (2018) explains "Checklists make it easier for coaches to clearly describe teaching practices (p.107)." I found this to be true for myself.

    

Hess (2023) discusses how coaches should use their playbook, including checklists by saying "Coaches should use these one-pagers and checklists to precisely describe teaching strategies so that teachers can implement them." Checklists can definitely serve as a valuable tool within the instructional playbook to make sure that important steps and considerations are not overlooked within instruction. 

Jim Knight (2022) sums up what an instructional playbook is intended for in his blog when he says, "In short, instructional playbooks are organizational tools that professional developers use to (1) identify high-impact teaching strategies and (2) explain those strategies to teachers so they and their students can meet powerful goals. Instructional playbooks are essential because too often, teachers don’t have the specific, practical information they need to implement teaching strategies effectively even after reading books or attending professional development sessions. Like all professionals, teachers need ideas to be translated into explicit, actionable knowledge if they are going to implement them."

For more on instructional playbooks, check out the video below:

References

Hess, R. (2023, October 19). What is the role of instructional coaches? (opinion). Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-what-is-the-role-of-instructional-coaches/2023/10

Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful                   improvements in teaching. Corwin.

Knight, J. (2022, March 3). Success factor 6: Instructional Playbook. Instructional Coaching Group. https://www.instructionalcoaching.com/blog/success-factor-6-instructional-playbook#:~:text=In%20short%2C%20instructional%20playbooks%20are,students%20can%20meet%20powerful%20goals.