Reviewed, classroom-ready AI prompt templates

Analogy bank for a hard concept

Three analogies with their breaking points, to choose deliberately.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Verify each mapping is faithful; plan to state the breaking point to students when the analogy retires.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Omits the breaking points — they are the safety feature; demand them

Closure routines beyond the exit ticket

Three closure options producing readable evidence in five minutes.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Pick one; the strong/weak descriptors become your quick marking guide.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Vague strong/weak descriptors — demand observable ones

Cross-subject connection segment

A ten-minute segment linking today's topic to another subject authentically.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Verify the other-subject content at its own textbook level.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Forced links — respect the 'flag if weak' instruction

Double-period / block lesson plan

A longer block with an energy reset in the middle.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Verify facts and terminology against the prescribed textbook; check timings sum to your period; confirm materials exist in your room.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Second arc becomes a lecture — insist it is application, not more explanation

First lesson of the year (norms + diagnostic)

Opening period that sets routines and quietly surfaces prior knowledge.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Check the diagnostic items map one-per-topic so your tally is meaningful.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Diagnostic feels like a test — the 'game' framing must survive in the actual items

Five-minute spiral recap of older material

Daily spaced review: three quick items from past chapters to open any lesson.

Template

Class {{CLASS}} {{SUBJECT}}. A 5-minute opening recap of three items: one from last lesson, one from {{WEEKS_AGO}} weeks ago ({{OLDER_TOPIC}}), one from earlier in the year ({{OLDEST_TOPIC}}). Oral or slate-based, no printing. Include the expected answers. Items must be recall-or-one-step — this is retrieval, not a test.

Review: Verify the answers; keep it genuinely under five minutes.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Items too hard for a warm-up — recall-or-one-step is the bar

Guided practice set with fading support

Four to six items that fade from fully-scaffolded to independent.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Solve every item yourself before trusting the key; check each item maps to a taught outcome; run the six-defect audit (ambiguity, keys, difficulty honesty, context bias, distractors, curriculum match).

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Fading too fast — check the middle items genuinely carry one hint

Homework set that extends (not repeats) the lesson

Short homework that practises today's skill plus one connection question.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Solve every item yourself before trusting the key; check each item maps to a taught outcome; run the six-defect audit (ambiguity, keys, difficulty honesty, context bias, distractors, curriculum match).

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Creeps past 20 minutes — count minutes per item

Lab/practical session plan with safety steps

A practical period with stations, safety notes and a results table.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Procedure must match the prescribed manual exactly — verify against it; check apparatus counts against your lab stock.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Invents apparatus your lab lacks · Procedure drifts from the prescribed manual — verify line by line

Lesson hooks (three options)

Three different openings for the same lesson, to choose by class mood.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Verify facts and terminology against the prescribed textbook; check timings sum to your period; confirm materials exist in your room.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Hooks that answer the lesson question — the no-conclusion rule matters

Lesson plan with built-in support and stretch

One plan whose activity phase carries a support scaffold and an extension.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Verify facts and terminology against the prescribed textbook; check timings sum to your period; confirm materials exist in your room.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Stretch becomes 'more of the same' — check it deepens

Revision lesson with retrieval practice

A pre-exam revision period built on retrieval, not re-teaching.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Solve every item yourself before trusting the key; check each item maps to a taught outcome; run the six-defect audit (ambiguity, keys, difficulty honesty, context bias, distractors, curriculum match).

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Quiz skews to one chapter — demand an even mix

Story-based lesson for younger classes

A concept smuggled into a story, with the concept essential to the plot.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Read aloud once; check the concept truly drives the plot and the questions bridge to it.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Concept becomes decoration — the 'story fails without it' test catches this

Substitution-period standalone lesson

A zero-preparation, self-contained period for a class you don't normally teach.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Read the instructions aloud once before class; check the tiers genuinely differ.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Activity secretly requires subject knowledge — check you could run it cold

Teacher notes layer for an existing plan

Add timing warnings, questioning prompts and pitfalls to a plan you already have.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Your plan stays authoritative — accept notes selectively.

Privacy: Paste only your own plan content. Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Rewrites the plan instead of annotating — restate 'without changing the plan'

Unit overview map (multi-lesson arc)

Plan a whole chapter as a sequence of connected periods before detailing any one.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Verify facts and terminology against the prescribed textbook; check timings sum to your period; confirm materials exist in your room.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Packs too much into early periods — check the load is even

Worked-example modelling script (think-aloud)

A board-ready worked example with the thinking said aloud at every step.

The full template and filled example are available with a premium plan.

Review: Verify facts and terminology against the prescribed textbook; check timings sum to your period; confirm materials exist in your room.

Privacy: Never include student names, identifiable marks, health, family or community details. Describe situations and needs, never children.

Known failure modes: Script explains WHAT, not WHY — demand the 'because' sentence per step