The Instructional Playbook: The Missing Link for Translating Research into Practice

I was hooked for the book by the title. Imagine a playbook that can serve as an everyday guide for teachers and instructional coaches. Think about the intensity and passion for a big sports game, and imagine if that same level of excitement, care, and dedication was brought to every school day, every class.The Instructional Playbook by Jim Knight, Ann Hoffman, Michelle Harris, and Sharon Thomas presents the rationale and philosophy for using playbooks for school leaders, instructional coaches, and teachers. An instructional playbook is a “lean and clean” guide to various important elements in schools, such as instruction, content planning, assessments, and school culture. Think of it as a manual for high-impact strategies that are foundational for a school’s success and values.As recommended in this book, the instructional playbook has 3 main components: a table of contents that lists all of the strategies, one-pagers for each strategy, and checklists for each strategy.I definitely liked the concept of the instructional playbook. Teaching is an art but also a science; there are core components in teaching and instruction that can be studied and learned.The book emphasizes many times that the instructional playbook should not be used as a rigid, static directive from the top down; rather, it should be a living, collaborative document that is the subject of frequent reflection and refinement.The book inspired me to think about the core strategies I would emphasize in my own instructional playbook and how collaborating with others on a playbook would be an interesting and fruitful experience.My one critique is that the book did feel a bit repetitive at times. Also, I was totally on board with the concept but would have liked more concrete examples of complete instructional playbooks. I understand the rationale of not including a complete playbook to encourage teachers and instructional coaches to work on their own personalized one, but I still would have liked to see a complete one. There were excerpts from five different playbooks at the end, which were helpful, but the book mentioned that there was a complete playbook in Jim Knight’s previous book The Impact Cycle, so I probably want to read that book as well. From researching online, I did find a model instructional playbook, which I will check out more now that I have finished the book.Overall, I recommend the book to teachers and instructional coaches interested in creating or utilizing instructional playbooks in their schools. This book presents the reasoning and process in creating the playbooks and why they are beneficial to students, teachers, and school leaders. The book also has a section on recommended books for further reading and study.Teaching should be viewed as a craft, and a living, flexible instructional playbook can be a useful tool for teachers in improving and refining their craft. Teaching should also ideally be infused with the excitement, focus, and joy of a crucial game.