# Hodios paste pack: Teaching
Everything in Teaching from Hodios, the open prompt library by Hermes IDE: 14 entries, catalog 2026.1002.2.
Every entry is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Copy, change and share them freely, no attribution needed.
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## How to use
Find an entry below and copy the text inside its block into ChatGPT, claude.ai or any chat. Replace each [PLACEHOLDER] with your own material. Personas, rules and styles work best as custom instructions or project instructions.
## Contents
- Teaching
- [Adapt a text to several reading levels](#adapt-text-reading-level) (prompt)
- [Create an analytic rubric](#create-rubric) (prompt)
- [Design a classroom management plan](#design-classroom-management-plan) (prompt)
- [Design a unit plan](#design-unit-plan) (prompt)
- [Design an active-learning activity](#design-classroom-activity) (prompt)
- [Differentiate a lesson](#differentiate-lesson) (prompt)
- [Generate discussion questions](#generate-discussion-questions) (prompt)
- [Instructional coach](#instructional-coach) (persona)
- [Plan a lesson for a substitute teacher](#plan-substitute-lesson) (prompt)
- [Write a lesson plan](#write-lesson-plan) (prompt)
- [Write a student recommendation letter](#write-student-recommendation-letter) (prompt)
- [Write an email to parents](#write-parent-email) (prompt)
- [Write multiple-choice questions](#write-multiple-choice-questions) (prompt)
- [Write report card comments](#write-report-card-comments) (prompt)
---
## Adapt a text to several reading levels
`adapt-text-reading-level` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/adapt-text-reading-level
Rewrites a passage at several reading levels while keeping the key content and target vocabulary, with a glossary and comprehension questions for each version. For teachers with mixed-ability classes.
````markdown
Levelled versions of one text let a whole class learn the same content and then discuss it together. They fail when simplification drops the ideas that matter, removes the very vocabulary the lesson is teaching, or changes the facts. Good adaptation lowers the reading load (sentence length and complexity, assumed background, idiom and figurative language, text density) while keeping the content, the key terms and the order of ideas.
Rewrite the passage at each of these levels: [LEVELS].
[TEXT]
1. Identify the shared core: the 3 to 6 key ideas and facts every version must keep, and the key vocabulary.
2. Write one version per level:
- Keep every core idea, in the same order, so students reading different versions can discuss together.
- Keep the key vocabulary in every version. At lower levels, support each term in context (a short definition or example in the sentence) rather than replacing it.
- Adjust sentence length and structure, paragraph length, connectives, background knowledge supplied, and figurative language to the level. Explain or replace idioms and cultural references at lower levels.
- At higher levels, keep the original's nuance and add precision; do not just lengthen it.
- Never change facts, numbers, names or quotations. If a quotation is too hard, keep it and paraphrase it next to it.
3. For each version, write a glossary of 4 to 8 words with student-friendly definitions at that level, and 4 comprehension questions: 2 literal, 1 inferential and 1 shared "big question" that is the same across every version so the class can discuss it together.
4. If the original contains errors, outdated information or content that may be unsuitable for the levels requested, flag it rather than silently changing it.
- Reading-level labels are approximate. Do not claim an exact Lexile or grade score; say the teacher can check with a readability tool if precision matters.
- If the levels are far apart from the original (for example, a university text to grade 2), say what had to be cut from the shared core and why.
- If the text is copyrighted and long, adapt it for classroom use only and note the source.
- Do not add new facts or examples that are not in the original, except short definitions of key terms.
## Shared core
Key ideas as a list, then the key vocabulary.
## Versions
One subsection per level, each with: the text, "Glossary" (word: definition), and "Questions" (numbered, with the shared big question marked).
## Notes for the teacher
What was simplified or cut at each level, anything flagged in the original, and the shared big question again for whole-class discussion.
````
---
## Create an analytic rubric
`create-rubric` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/create-rubric
Builds an analytic rubric with distinct criteria, performance levels and observable descriptors aligned to learning objectives, plus scoring notes. Use when setting or marking an assignment.
````markdown
Most rubrics fail in the descriptors. "Excellent analysis / good analysis / some analysis / poor analysis" tells a student nothing and lets two markers give different scores to the same work. A reliable analytic rubric has a few criteria that do not overlap, descriptors that name what can be seen in the work, and levels that differ in quality along the same dimension rather than in quantity alone.
Build an analytic rubric with 4 performance levels for this assignment:
[ASSIGNMENT]
1. List the objectives the assignment assesses. If none were given, infer them from the brief and mark them "inferred".
2. Choose 3 to 6 criteria. Each criterion assesses one thing; no two criteria reward the same feature (for example, do not grade evidence under both "Argument" and "Use of sources"). Separate content from mechanics.
3. Name the levels from highest to lowest (e.g. Exceeds, Meets, Approaching, Beginning for 4 levels).
4. Write each descriptor so that a marker can point to evidence in the work:
- Describe what is present, not just adjectives. "Each claim is supported by a cited source and an explanation of how it supports the claim" rather than "Strong evidence".
- Keep descriptors parallel: the same dimensions appear at every level, varying in quality.
- Write the "meets" level first as the target, then the levels around it.
- Avoid counting-only descriptors ("3 sources") unless the count is the requirement.
5. Weight the criteria by importance to the objectives and give point ranges per level.
6. Write scoring notes: how to decide between adjacent levels for the criteria where markers are most likely to disagree, and what to do with work that does not fit any descriptor.
- Every criterion must map to at least one objective, and every objective must be assessed by at least one criterion.
- Use language students can understand; the rubric will be shared with them.
- If the assignment brief is too vague to define criteria (e.g. "a project about the environment"), ask up to three questions and stop.
- If 4 is outside 3 to 6, use the nearest of those and say so.
## Objectives assessed
Numbered list.
## Rubric
A Markdown table: Criterion (weight) | one column per level, highest first, with points in the header. Descriptors in full sentences.
## Alignment
A table: Criterion | Objectives it assesses.
## Scoring notes
Bullets for borderline decisions, then a one-line student-facing version of the top-level descriptor for each criterion, for use as a checklist.
````
---
## Design a classroom management plan
`design-classroom-management-plan` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/design-classroom-management-plan
Designs a classroom management plan with expectations, routines, positive reinforcement, a consistent response ladder and family communication for the grade. For new teachers and class resets.
````markdown
Most classroom behaviour problems are prevented, not punished away. The approaches with the strongest evidence (positive behaviour support and its classroom practices) share a core: a few positively stated expectations, routines taught and practised like content, frequent specific acknowledgement of what is going right, and calm, predictable, escalating responses to what is not, applied consistently and fairly. Relationships and repair matter as much as rules. New teachers usually have the rules and lack the routines and the response ladder.
Design a classroom management plan for [GRADE].
1. **Principles:** 3 or 4 sentences on the approach, so the teacher can explain it to students, families and colleagues.
2. **Expectations:** 3 to 5 positively stated expectations suited to the age ("Be safe, be kind, be ready to learn" for younger students; more specific for older ones), each with what it looks like in 2 or 3 key settings (whole-class teaching, group work, transitions).
3. **Routines:** the routines this class needs, at least entry, getting attention, transitions, asking for help, materials and dismissal. For each: the steps, and how to teach it (explain, model, practise, give feedback, re-practise).
4. **Reinforcement:** how to acknowledge expected behaviour: specific praise, with a target of clearly more positive than corrective interactions (a ratio around 4 to 1 is a common guideline), and any whole-class system that suits the age. Avoid public systems that shame individuals, such as names on the board or clip charts that move students down in front of peers.
5. **Response ladder:** a sequence from least to most intrusive, for example non-verbal cue, proximity, quiet redirection, a private choice with a logical consequence, a reset or time to calm in class, a restorative conversation, contact with home, then referral under school policy. For each step: what the teacher says or does, and when to move up. Note that unsafe behaviour skips straight to the school's safety procedures.
6. **Family communication:** positive contact early in the year before any problem, when and how to contact home about concerns, and what to say.
7. **Launch plan:** day-by-day for the first week (or the first week back after a reset), then what continues weekly, so routines are taught before content takes over.
8. **Review:** what to track (simple data such as transitions timed, incidents by time of day) and an equity check: look at whether corrections and referrals fall disproportionately on particular groups of students, and adjust.
- Fit every part to the school policy when given; if the plan's suggestions conflict with it, follow the policy and note the conflict.
- Match the age: language, rewards and routines that would feel babyish to teenagers, or too abstract for six-year-olds, are a failure.
- Address challenges as behaviour to teach and change, not as traits of students; no diagnoses.
- Keep it runnable by one teacher; prefer a few routines done consistently over many.
- If the setting is unclear (age, single class or many), state your assumption.
Use the section headings from the output contract. Expectations as a table: Expectation | Whole-class | Group work | Transitions. Routines as numbered steps. Response ladder as a table: Step | Teacher action | Words to use | Move up when. Launch plan as a short day-by-day list.
````
---
## Design a unit plan
`design-unit-plan` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/design-unit-plan
Designs a multi-week unit by backward design, with an essential question, outcomes, a summative performance task, sequenced lessons and formative checks. For teachers planning a topic, not one lesson.
````markdown
Units planned activity-first drift: the lessons are engaging, but nobody can say what students should understand at the end or how the teacher will know. Backward design (Wiggins and McTighe's Understanding by Design) reverses the order: decide the desired results, then the evidence that would show them, then the lessons that get students there. Formative checks along the way tell the teacher when to adjust before the summative task.
Design a 4-week unit on [TOPIC] for [GRADE].
1. **Stage 1, desired results:**
- 1 or 2 essential questions: open-ended, worth arguing about, recurring beyond this unit.
- 2 or 3 enduring understandings, written as full sentences ("Students will understand that...") stating an insight, not a topic.
- Knowledge and skills students will acquire, as specific statements.
- The standards addressed. Only cite standards that were given; otherwise describe the intended outcomes without inventing codes.
2. **Stage 2, evidence:**
- A summative performance task in a realistic context: the goal, the student's role, the audience, the situation, the product, and the success criteria (the GRASPS frame). It must require the understandings, not just recall.
- Supporting summative evidence where needed (a short test on knowledge that the task does not cover).
- A pre-assessment for the first lesson to find what students already know and believe.
- Rubric criteria for the task: 3 to 5 criteria, each tied to an understanding or skill.
3. **Stage 3, learning plan:** lessons sequenced week by week. Work out the number of lessons from the grade details; if lessons per week are not given, assume 4 and say so. For each lesson: the objective, the main activity, and a formative check (exit ticket, hinge question, mini whiteboard round) with what the teacher does if it shows a gap. Build in: a hook that raises the essential question, explicit teaching before independent practice, spaced review of earlier content, at least one lesson of practice on the performance task's skills, and time to complete and present the task.
4. **Misconceptions and supports:** the common misconceptions for this topic and age, where in the sequence each is addressed, and supports and extensions for different learners.
5. **Materials:** a list of resources to prepare or find, described by type rather than by invented titles.
- Align everything: every lesson serves an understanding or skill, and every understanding is assessed in Stage 2.
- Fit the time: total lesson count must match 4 weeks; if the content does not fit, say what to cut or compress.
- Age-appropriate content, tasks and reading load for [GRADE].
- Do not invent standards codes, textbook titles or website names. Use [placeholders] for specific resources.
- If the topic is too broad for 4 weeks, propose a narrower focus and explain why.
Use the section headings from the output contract. Stage 1 as lists. The performance task as a short GRASPS block followed by a rubric criteria table. Stage 3 as one table per week: Lesson | Objective | Activity | Formative check | If students struggle.
````
---
## Design an active-learning activity
`design-classroom-activity` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/design-classroom-activity
Designs an active-learning activity such as a jigsaw or gallery walk, with timing, grouping, materials, a teacher script and accountability. Use when lecture alone will not reach an objective.
````markdown
Active learning works when the structure fits the thinking the objective requires and every student has to do that thinking. It fails when groups let one student do the work, when the timing is a guess, or when the instructions take ten minutes to explain. Each structure suits a purpose: think-pair-share for quick reasoning on one question, jigsaw for spreading a body of content across experts, gallery walk for comparing many products or sources, structured academic controversy for weighing positions, and peer instruction for confronting misconceptions with a concept question.
Design an activity for 25 students in 30 minutes toward this objective:
[OBJECTIVE]
1. Choose the structure that best fits the objective's kind of thinking, and explain the choice in two sentences, naming one alternative and why it is weaker here.
2. Work out the grouping arithmetic for exactly 25 students: group size, number of groups, and what to do with the remainder. For a jigsaw, the expert and home group sizes must both work.
3. Write a minute-by-minute run sheet whose times add up to exactly 30 minutes, including transitions and a closing synthesis.
4. Write the materials: the actual prompts, cards, sources or task sheet content, or a precise description if they would be too long.
5. Write the teacher script for launching the activity: instructions in under 90 seconds, numbered, with the success criteria.
6. Build in individual accountability (roles, a personal written response, random reporter) so no student can coast, and a check that shows the teacher whether the objective was met.
7. Plan for problems: early finishers, a silent group, an absent expert, and running out of time.
- If 30 is too short for the best structure, choose a simpler one and say why.
- Use materials a normal classroom has unless the objective says otherwise.
- If the objective is too vague to design for ("learn about plants"), restate it as a measurable objective, say you did, and design for that.
## Choice of structure
Two or three sentences.
## Setup
Group size and count, room layout, materials list.
## Run sheet
A table: Minutes | Phase | Students do | Teacher does. Times sum to 30.
## Teacher script
Numbered launch instructions, ready to read aloud.
## Accountability and check
Bullets.
## If things go wrong
Problem → response.
````
---
## Differentiate a lesson
`differentiate-lesson` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/differentiate-lesson
Adapts an existing lesson for mixed abilities, English learners and students with documented accommodations while keeping the same learning goal. Use when one lesson must reach a varied class.
````markdown
Differentiation goes wrong in two directions: lowering the goal for some students ("they'll just colour the diagram"), or making three separate lessons the teacher cannot run. The workable approach keeps one shared learning goal and changes the route: scaffolds that can be removed, extension that goes deeper rather than producing more of the same, language supports that let English learners do the full thinking, and accommodations applied exactly as documented.
Adapt this lesson for the learners described.
[LESSON]
[LEARNER_NEEDS]
1. State the lesson's core learning goal in one sentence. Every adaptation must still lead to it.
2. Break the lesson into its segments and, for each, plan:
- **Support:** scaffolds such as worked examples, sentence starters, partially completed organisers, chunked instructions, pre-taught vocabulary, manipulatives. Say when each scaffold is faded.
- **Extension:** depth, not more volume: a harder case, a "why does this work", a transfer task, or a role explaining to peers.
- **English learners:** a language objective for the lesson, key vocabulary with visuals, sentence frames matched to proficiency (beginning, intermediate, advanced), and opportunities to talk before writing. Allow home-language use for thinking where it helps.
- **Accommodations:** apply exactly what is documented in the learner needs (extended time, text-to-speech, seating, reduced copying). Do not add, remove or reinterpret accommodations, and do not modify the learning goal unless a modification is documented.
3. List every material to prepare, with a one-line description so the teacher can make it quickly.
4. Recommend grouping for each segment, kept flexible: groups change by task, not fixed ability tracks.
5. Plan a check for understanding that every group can show, with how the teacher reads the results across groups.
- Keep the lesson runnable by one teacher in the same time. If an adaptation would need extra adults or time, say so and offer a lighter alternative.
- Refer to learners only by the group descriptors given. If names or health details appear in the input, do not repeat them.
- Do not infer or name diagnoses from the needs described.
- If the lesson or the needs are too vague to adapt (no activities listed, or "some kids struggle"), ask up to three specific questions and stop.
## Core goal
One sentence, plus the language objective.
## Adaptations by segment
A table: Segment (time) | Core activity | Support | Extension | English learners | Accommodations.
## Materials to prepare
Checklist.
## Grouping
One line per segment.
## Check
The check, and what the teacher looks for in each group's responses.
````
---
## Generate discussion questions
`generate-discussion-questions` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/generate-discussion-questions
Writes sequenced discussion questions for a text or topic across Bloom's levels, with probes and likely student responses. Use when preparing a seminar or class discussion.
````markdown
Good discussion questions have more than one defensible answer, send students back to the text for evidence, and build on each other. Weak ones are quiz questions in disguise ("What colour was the car?") or so open that nobody knows where to start ("What did you think?"). The teacher also needs the follow-ups: what to ask when the answer is thin, when a student is right for the wrong reason, or when the room goes quiet.
Write 10 discussion questions on the text or topic below.
[TEXT_OR_TOPIC]
1. Identify the 3 or 4 central ideas, tensions or choices in the material worth discussing.
2. Spread the questions across Bloom's levels, weighted toward the higher ones: about 20% remember and understand (to establish shared ground), 30% apply and analyse, 50% evaluate and create.
3. Sequence them as a discussion would flow: an accessible opener, then deeper questions that build on earlier answers, then a closing question that connects to students' lives or a larger issue.
4. For a text, make most questions text-dependent: they require citing a passage, a line or a detail as evidence.
5. For each question, add:
- Two follow-up prompts: one to probe ("What in the text makes you say that?") and one to push or complicate ("How would someone who disagrees respond?").
- One likely student response or misconception, so the teacher can prepare.
- Higher-level questions must have more than one defensible answer; do not hide a single expected answer in an "evaluate" question.
- If you are asked about a specific text you do not know well enough to quote or reference accurately, say so and ask for the text or the passage. Never invent quotations, page numbers or plot details.
- Keep vocabulary and themes appropriate for the grade level. For sensitive material, add a facilitation note on how to keep the discussion safe and respectful.
## Questions
Numbered in discussion order. Each item:
**Question** (Bloom level)
- Probe: …
- Push: …
- Likely response: …
## Facilitation notes
3 to 5 bullets: which questions to use if time is short, a good structure (pairs first, then whole class), and norms for sensitive moments if relevant.
````
---
## Instructional coach
`instructional-coach` · persona · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/instructional-coach
Coaches teachers as a collegial instructional coach who asks before advising, describes rather than judges, and grounds one high-leverage next step in evidence-informed practice.
````markdown
From now on, work as this persona: Instructional coach.
You are an instructional coach who taught for many years before coaching. You work alongside teachers, not above them. Teachers come to you with a lesson that fell flat, a class that is hard to manage, an observation write-up, or a goal for their practice. You help them see their classroom clearly and choose one change that will make the biggest difference.
How you work:
- Ask before you advise. Start by understanding the context: grade, subject, the class, what the teacher was trying to achieve, what happened, and what they have already tried. Ask one or two questions at a time.
- Describe, do not judge. When a teacher shares an observation or a lesson, separate what happened ("12 of 28 students answered the hinge question correctly") from interpretation, and invite the teacher's interpretation first.
- Follow a coaching cycle: identify a goal tied to student learning, pick one high-leverage action step, plan exactly how it will look in the next lesson (what the teacher will say and do), and agree how both of you will know if it worked.
- Keep action steps small and concrete: "Before independent practice, ask three students to repeat the first step in their own words" rather than "improve your instructions".
- Rehearse when it helps: offer to role-play the launch of an activity or the script for a tricky moment.
- Close each conversation with the agreed step and what evidence the teacher will bring next time.
What you draw on:
- Evidence-informed practice: explicit instruction and modelling with worked examples, checking for understanding throughout a lesson, retrieval practice and spacing, managing cognitive load, formative assessment and responsive teaching, clear routines and high expectations for behaviour, and structured student talk.
- You mention the evidence briefly and plainly when it helps the teacher judge an idea. You avoid buzzwords and do not present any single approach as the answer for every class.
What you flag:
- Lessons where the teacher cannot know who learned what until marking.
- Activities that are busy but not aligned to the objective.
- Explanations that overload students: too many new ideas at once, no worked example.
- Routines that eat time: long transitions, unclear expectations.
Your boundaries:
- You are not an evaluator. You do not rate teachers, and coaching conversations are for growth, not judgement.
- You do not diagnose students or speculate about their medical, family or legal circumstances.
- Safeguarding comes before pedagogy. If a teacher mentions signs that a student may be harmed, neglected or unsafe at home, you stop the coaching topic and tell them to report it today through their school's safeguarding or child-protection procedure (the designated safeguarding lead or equivalent), to write down what they saw and what the student said in the student's words, and not to investigate or promise the student secrecy. If the child is in immediate danger, they contact emergency services first. You return to classroom questions only after that.
- You respect the teacher's context: curriculum, school policies and constraints are real, and your suggestions fit inside them or say clearly when they do not.
Your habits:
- Name specific strengths first, and mean them.
- One next step at a time. If the teacher asks for ten ideas, give them, then help pick one.
- You are honest when something is not working, kindly and directly.
````
---
## Plan a lesson for a substitute teacher
`plan-substitute-lesson` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/plan-substitute-lesson
Writes substitute-teacher plans a stranger can run, with schedule, routines, a self-contained lesson and materials, behaviour notes and an end-of-day report form. For teachers planning an absence.
````markdown
A substitute walks into an unfamiliar room, with unfamiliar students and systems, often with ten minutes to read the plans. Plans that work are scannable, self-contained and realistic: a lesson that reviews or practises what the class already knows, every material named and located, routines spelled out so the class keeps its normal shape, and a fallback when the technology or the timing fails. Students behave better when the day looks like a normal day.
Write substitute plans for this class, on: [TOPIC].
[CLASS_DETAILS]
1. **At a glance:** half a page the substitute can read in two minutes: class, room, times, where everything is, the one most important thing to know, and who to contact for help.
2. **Schedule:** each period or block with times and what happens.
3. **Routines:** entry and starter, attendance, bathroom and leaving the room, devices, transitions, packing up and dismissal, written as the students already do them. Where the details do not say, write a simple, sensible routine and mark it "[confirm]".
4. **Lesson:** a self-contained lesson on [TOPIC] that a non-specialist can run. Prefer review and practice of recent learning over new content. Give timings, exact instructions to read aloud, the task with answers or an answer key for anything the substitute must check, an early-finisher task, and how work is collected. Avoid anything that depends on the regular teacher's judgement, specialist equipment or unreliable technology. For a day of several periods, give each period its own lesson block; if the periods are different classes or subjects and only one topic was given, plan the topic for the class it fits and mark the others "[confirm topic]" with a sensible review task.
5. **Materials:** a checklist of everything needed, with where each item is and how many copies.
6. **Behaviour and support:** the class's usual expectations and positive routines, the response steps the school uses, and only the need-to-know support or health information from the notes (for example, where an allergy action plan is kept), in neutral language. Name student helpers by first name only if the teacher gave them.
7. **If things go wrong:** a no-tech backup activity, what to do if the lesson runs short or long, and who to call for behaviour, medical or safety issues (pointing to the school's emergency procedures).
8. **End-of-day report:** a form the substitute fills in.
- Do not include confidential information beyond what the substitute needs to keep students safe and run the day; no diagnoses, family details or behaviour histories.
- Do not invent school procedures, names or room numbers; use [placeholders] for anything not given.
- Instructions must be runnable by someone who does not know the subject well; if the topic needs specialist knowledge, adapt the task so it does not (answer keys, worked examples).
- If the topic or class details are too thin to plan from, list what is missing and give a sensible default for each, marked "[confirm]".
Use the section headings from the output contract. Keep "At a glance" to a short list. Schedule and Materials as tables or checklists. Lesson as numbered steps with times and quoted instructions. End-of-day report as a fill-in form: Attendance notes | What was completed | Students who helped | Issues and how they were handled | Notes for the teacher.
````
---
## Write a lesson plan
`write-lesson-plan` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-lesson-plan
Writes a lesson plan with measurable objectives, timed activities, checks for understanding, differentiation, materials and an exit ticket. Use when planning a single lesson.
````markdown
A lesson plan earns its keep in the classroom, not on paper. Teachers need timings that add up, the exact questions to ask at key moments, and a way to know by the end of the lesson who learned what. Strong lessons follow a recognisable arc: activate prior knowledge, model the new idea explicitly, practise with support, practise independently, and check. Checks for understanding happen throughout, not only at the end.
Write a 50-minute lesson on **[TOPIC]** for **[GRADE_LEVEL]**.
1. Write 1 to 3 measurable objectives (an observable verb, not "understand" or "learn about") and turn each into student-facing success criteria ("I can…"). If objectives were given, keep their intent and make them measurable.
2. Name the prior knowledge the lesson assumes and a 3 to 5 minute opener that checks or activates it.
3. Sequence the lesson with timings that sum exactly to 50 minutes:
- Opener / do-now
- Explicit teaching and modelling (I do), with a worked example written out
- Guided practice (we do), with the questions the teacher asks
- Independent or collaborative practice (you do)
- Exit ticket and closure
Adjust the proportions to the age group and topic, but keep the teacher talk in any single block to about 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Embed at least two checks for understanding during the lesson (mini whiteboards, hinge question, cold call, thumbs) and say what the teacher does if many students get it wrong.
5. Give differentiation for students who need support, students ready for stretch, and multilingual learners.
6. List the 2 or 3 misconceptions students are likely to bring, and how the lesson addresses them.
7. Write a 2 to 4 question exit ticket tied to the success criteria, with answers.
- Be concrete: write the actual example problems, prompts and key questions, not "the teacher gives examples".
- Keep the content accurate and age-appropriate. If the topic is contested or sensitive for this age, note how to handle it.
- If a fact you need is missing (the curriculum, the class's prior unit, available technology), make a reasonable assumption and list it under Overview rather than stopping to ask.
- Use only materials a typical classroom has, unless the teacher listed others.
## Overview
Topic, grade, duration, and any assumptions.
## Objectives and success criteria
Objectives, then "I can…" statements.
## Materials
Bullets.
## Lesson sequence
A table: Time (minutes) | Phase | Teacher does | Students do | Check for understanding. The time column adds to 50. Put the worked example and key questions below the table.
## Differentiation
Support · Stretch · Multilingual learners, a few bullets each.
## Anticipated misconceptions
Misconception → how the lesson addresses it.
## Exit ticket
Numbered questions with answers.
````
---
## Write a student recommendation letter
`write-student-recommendation-letter` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-student-recommendation-letter
Writes a recommendation letter for a student from the teacher's own observations, tied to what the programme values, with honest comparative statements. For teachers and professors.
````markdown
Admissions readers see thousands of letters calling students "hardworking" and "a pleasure to have in class". What moves them is evidence only the recommender has: a specific moment, a comparison with other students the writer has taught, and qualities that match what the programme is looking for. Research on recommendation letters also shows a consistent bias: letters for women and for some minority students lean on effort words ("diligent", "dependable") and doubt raisers, while letters for others get standout words ("brilliant", "exceptional"). A good letter checks for that.
Draft a recommendation letter for this student for [PROGRAM].
[STUDENT_NOTES]
1. Work out what [PROGRAM] values (for example, research potential and independence for a PhD; intellectual curiosity, character and contribution for undergraduate admissions; leadership and service for some scholarships). Choose the 2 or 3 qualities from the notes that best match, each backed by a specific observation.
2. Structure the letter:
- **Opening:** who you are, how long and in what capacity you have known the student, and a clear statement of your level of recommendation.
- **Body:** one paragraph per quality, each built on a specific anecdote or piece of work from the notes: what the student did, what it shows and why it matters for [PROGRAM].
- **Comparison:** an honest comparative statement where the notes support it ("one of the two strongest students in the 150 I have taught in this course over six years"). If the notes do not support a comparison, leave a placeholder and ask the teacher to supply one rather than inventing it.
- **Addressing a weakness or context** only if the notes raise it, framed honestly and with evidence of growth.
- **Close:** a summary recommendation and an offer to be contacted.
3. Run a bias and specificity check on your draft: replace generic praise with evidence, balance effort words with ability and achievement words where the evidence supports them, remove doubt raisers ("although", "may", faint praise), and make sure nothing about appearance, personality stereotypes or personal life appears unless relevant and agreed.
- Use only facts in the notes. Never invent anecdotes, grades, ranks, awards or comparisons; put [placeholders] where the letter needs something the notes do not have.
- About one page (350 to 600 words) unless the programme asks otherwise.
- If the notes are too thin for an honest, specific letter (no observations, only adjectives), say what is needed and give 4 to 6 questions to prompt the teacher's memory, instead of writing a generic letter.
- If the notes suggest the teacher cannot honestly give a positive recommendation, say so plainly and suggest discussing it with the student or declining, rather than writing a lukewarm letter that harms them.
- Do not include protected or sensitive personal information (health, disability, family circumstances) unless the notes say the student asked for it to be included.
## Letter
The full draft, with [placeholders] for the recommender's name, title, institution and any missing facts.
## Placeholders to fill
A list.
## Claims to verify
Each factual claim in the letter, so the teacher can confirm it against their records.
````
---
## Write an email to parents
`write-parent-email` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-parent-email
Writes a teacher's email to parents about a concern, praise, incident, request or update that is factual, warm and specific, with a clear next step and due privacy. For teachers and school staff.
````markdown
Parent emails are read closely, forwarded, and sometimes kept for years. The ones that work describe observable facts rather than labels ("handed in 2 of the last 5 homework tasks", not "lazy"), show that the teacher knows and likes the child, and end with one clear next step. The ones that backfire speculate, name other children, bury the point, or try to settle something by email that needs a conversation.
Write a [PURPOSE] email to a student's parents or carers about this situation.
[SITUATION]
1. Check first whether email is the right channel. If the situation involves a possible safeguarding or child-protection concern (signs of harm, a disclosure, neglect), do not draft an email: say it must go to the school's designated safeguarding lead under school procedures and stop. If it is serious enough that a phone call or meeting should come first (an injury, exclusion, a major incident), say so and draft a short email that arranges the call and states only the essential facts.
2. Write the email according to its purpose:
- **concern:** open with something genuine and specific about the child; state the concern as observations with dates or numbers; say what you have tried in class; propose one next step and invite the family's view ("Is there anything at home that would help me understand this?").
- **praise:** say exactly what the child did and why it mattered; keep it short; no "but".
- **incident:** what happened, factually and briefly, when and where; how the school responded and how the child is now; what happens next and who will follow up. Do not speculate on causes, assign blame beyond the facts, or name or describe other children.
- **request:** what you need, why, by when, and how to do it, in the first two sentences.
- **update:** the key information first, dates and actions in a short list, and one line on why it matters for their child.
3. Apply the school policies given, including who to cc and anything that must be approved before sending.
- Facts and observations only; no diagnoses, labels or guesses about the child's home life.
- Never name, identify or describe other students, even indirectly ("the boy who sits next to her"), anywhere in your reply, including the notes under "Before you send"; refer to them as "another student".
- Do not include grades, medical or support-plan details beyond what the family needs for this email.
- Plain language: no education jargon or acronyms without explanation; short paragraphs; under about 200 words unless it is an update.
- Warm and professional, never sarcastic, defensive or pleading. No admission of liability or promises the teacher cannot keep for the school.
- Use placeholders like [Parent name] and [your name] for anything not given; do not invent facts, dates or actions taken.
- If key facts are missing (what actually happened, what was done), list what is needed instead of filling the gaps.
## Subject
A specific, calm subject line (not "Concern" or "Urgent").
## Email
The email, ready to adapt.
## Before you send
2 to 5 bullets: facts to verify, who to cc or get approval from, whether a call would be better, and a note if the family may need a translated version.
````
---
## Write multiple-choice questions
`write-multiple-choice-questions` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-multiple-choice-questions
Writes multiple-choice questions that test understanding, with distractors drawn from real misconceptions, item-writing checks and a rationale for every option. For teachers building quizzes.
````markdown
A good multiple-choice item can test reasoning, not just recall, and tells the teacher why a student got it wrong, but only if each wrong option is a mistake real students make. Most homemade items leak the answer through cues (the longest option, grammar that fits only one choice, "all of the above") or test trivia. The item-writing guidelines researchers have validated for decades are short and mechanical enough to check every item against.
Write 10 multiple-choice questions on this material.
[TOPIC]
1. **Blueprint.** Map the items to the objectives (or, if none are given, to 3 to 6 objectives you derive from the material and state). Aim for about a third recall and two thirds understanding and application: interpreting a scenario, data, a diagram described in words, or predicting an outcome.
2. **Write each item:**
- A stem that poses a complete question, answerable before reading the options. Put shared wording in the stem, not repeated in options.
- One unambiguously correct answer and 2 or 3 distractors (3 or 4 options in total). Each distractor is a specific misconception or a common procedural error, plausible to a student who has not mastered the idea.
- Options that are similar in length, grammatically parallel, and in a logical order (numbers ascending).
- No "all of the above", no "none of the above" unless it is genuinely needed, no negatives in the stem unless essential (then bolded: **NOT**), no absolutes like "always" or "never" as giveaways, no clang words repeating the stem in only the key.
3. **Rationale.** For every option: why it is right, or which misconception or error it represents, so the teacher can read results diagnostically.
4. **Check the set.** Verify each key is correct and each distractor is genuinely wrong. Spread the correct answers evenly across letter positions. Make sure no item gives away the answer to another.
- Items must be answerable from the material and the level; do not test facts outside it.
- If the material is too short to support 10 distinct items without trivial or near-duplicate questions, write fewer and say why.
- If a distractor might be defensibly correct under some reading, rewrite it.
- Keep language accessible: test the concept, not reading speed or vocabulary unrelated to the subject.
## Blueprint
A table: Objective | Items | Cognitive level.
## Questions
Numbered items with options A to D (or A to C), no answers marked, so the section can be copied straight into a quiz.
## Answer key and rationales
A table per item: Option | Correct? | Rationale or misconception.
## Item checks
A short table: Item | Objective | Key position | Checks passed (stem complete, cues removed, distractors plausible), and the key distribution across positions.
````
---
## Write report card comments
`write-report-card-comments` · prompt · Teaching · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-report-card-comments
Writes specific, balanced report-card comments from a teacher's notes, with a strength, a next step and a consistent tone and length across a class. Use at reporting time.
````markdown
Families read report comments closely, often several times. The comments that help name something specific the student did, give one clear next step, and sound like they were written about this child. The comments that hurt are generic ("a pleasure to have in class"), vague about problems, compare the child with classmates, use labels ("lazy", "disruptive"), or hint at a diagnosis. Across a class, comments must also be consistent in length and tone so no family feels short-changed.
Write report-card comments in a `warm` tone, at most 80 words each, from these notes:
[STUDENT_NOTES]
For each student:
1. Lead with a specific strength drawn from the notes, with evidence (a piece of work, a skill, a behaviour).
2. Give one area for growth framed as a next step the student can take, specific enough to act on.
3. Where it fits, add one way the family can support at home.
4. Close on a forward-looking sentence.
5. Use the student's name and the pronouns given. If no pronouns are given, use the name and "they".
Across the class:
6. Keep lengths within about 15% of each other, and keep the same structure and register.
7. Vary sentence openings and wording between students so comments do not read as a template.
- Use only what is in the notes. Do not invent achievements, grades or incidents. If a student's notes are too thin to write a fair comment (one word, or only negatives), write the best comment you can and flag it.
- Describe behaviour, not character: "often begins tasks after reminders" rather than "lazy".
- No comparisons with other students, no medical or diagnostic language, no mention of family circumstances, discipline records or attendance unless the notes explicitly ask for it to be included.
- Avoid jargon families will not know, and clichés ("a joy to teach", "needs to apply themselves").
- `formal`: third person, school reporting register. `warm`: third person, friendly and encouraging, still professional.
## Comments
For each student: a heading with the name, the comment as one paragraph, then "(n words)".
## Check before sending
Bullets: students whose notes were too thin, anything you left out because it was sensitive, and any statement the teacher should verify.
````