The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You have about ten minutes with families at back-to-school night and want a clear talk and a one-page handout built from your own policies.
- {{students}}
- {{talk_minutes}}
- {{about}}
- {{policies}}
- {{common_questions}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Plan my talk for back-to-school night, for the families of {{students}}, and a one-page handout to give them. Families move from room to room and have about {{talk_minutes}} minutes with me, so the talk should cover what they most need to know to support their child this year, and the handout should hold the details they will look up later. About me and the class: {{about}} My policies and plans for the year (what we will study, grading, homework, late work, how I communicate and how quickly I reply, supplies, routines families should know about): """ {{policies}} """ What families usually ask me, if I know: {{common_questions}} Produce: 1. The talk, written as a script I can say, with a time mark at the start of each part, adding up to {{talk_minutes}} minutes: - Welcome and who I am, briefly. - What students will learn this year, as four to six big ideas or projects, not a list of chapters. - How grading and homework work, in plain words. - How to reach me, and when I reply. - How families can help at home, with two things that take little time and need no subject knowledge. - Time for questions, with a line for moving a question about one child to a separate conversation. 2. The handout, one page: the same points as short sections with headings, plus my contact details and key dates as given. 3. Answers to the likely questions, one or two sentences each. Speak to families as partners, in a warm, plain tone. Avoid school jargon, such as "standards-based grading" or "formative assessment", unless you explain it in the same sentence, and keep in mind that some families will be listening in their second language. Do not promise anything my policies do not say, such as reply times or extra credit, and do not discuss any individual student. If a topic families will expect, such as grading, is missing from my policies, write [ADD: topic] in the script and the handout instead of making up a policy.
Variables
- {{students}}
- Whose families attend, for example "my 4th grade class" or "students in my 10th grade chemistry sections".
- {{talk_minutes}}
- How long you have with each group of families, for example 10.
- {{about}}
- A line or two about you and the class that you are happy to share.
- {{policies}}
- Your plans and policies for the year: content, grading, homework, late work, communication, supplies, routines.
- {{common_questions}}
- Questions families have asked in past years. Write "not sure" if you do not know.
Why it works
- Length. Time marks that add up to your slot keep the talk to what matters most, and the handout holds the details families will look up later.
- What to avoid. No promises beyond your policies and no talk about individual students, with a ready line for moving those questions to a separate conversation.
- If unsure. A topic families will expect but your policies do not cover is marked [ADD] instead of being invented on the spot.