Give written feedback to a teacher after a classroom observation

Context

A school principal, assistant principal, or instructional leader who has just completed an informal classroom observation and needs to write structured, formative written feedback for the teacher they visited. Applies to any subject and grade level, as part of the school's regular instructional coaching practice — not a formal summative teacher evaluation.

Originally written for Chilean classrooms. References to the "Evaluación Docente" (Chile's national teacher evaluation system), "UTP" (instructional leadership team), "PIE" (special education integration program), and "RUT" (national ID number) apply specifically to the Chilean system. Adapt role names and evaluation frameworks to your local context.

Paste first

Before opening the model, have ready:

• Your observation notes as you took them during the visit (they don't need to be organized)
• Subject, grade level, and date of the visit
• The pedagogical focus of the visit, if you agreed on one with the teacher beforehand
• What stood out to you positively and what concerned you most
• Any prior professional commitment the teacher made related to their practice

Privacy rule: Do not paste identifiable student data (names, national ID numbers, special education records, individual grades). If your notes include them, replace them with general descriptions ("three students in the back row," "a student with attention difficulties") before copying to the model.

Act as an instructional coach with experience supporting teachers in K-12 schools. I'm going to share my notes from an informal classroom observation, and I need your help writing structured, formative written feedback for the teacher.

This is a routine instructional coaching visit — it is not part of any formal summative teacher evaluation process. The tone should be that of a colleague with a leadership role, not an evaluator writing a performance report.

**Visit details:**
- Teacher: {{teacher's name, initials, or descriptor — e.g., "Ms. García" or "language arts teacher, 8 years of experience"}}
- Subject: {{subject}}
- Grade level: {{grade level — e.g., "5th grade" or "10th grade"}}
- Date: {{date of the visit}}
- Duration observed: {{minutes observed}}
- Agreed-upon focus with the teacher (if any): {{describe the focus, or write "no prior focus agreed upon"}}

**My observation notes (no identifiable student data):**
{{paste your notes as you took them — they can be unorganized, in bullet points, in prose, in any format}}

**What I need:**

1. An opening paragraph (3-4 sentences) that acknowledges the concrete strengths I observed — not generic compliments, but specific behaviors I saw in that lesson.
2. A development paragraph (4-5 sentences) that identifies the most important pedagogical area to strengthen, explaining why it matters for student learning and what impact it has on students.
3. A concrete, actionable suggestion: something the teacher can try in their next class, without needing additional training or new resources.
4. A closing paragraph (2-3 sentences) that proposes a next coaching step (a follow-up conversation, another observation visit, or a joint planning session).

The final text should be 250 to 350 words, written in second person, and sound like a professional conversation — not a bureaucratic report.

**Important:** If anything in my notes is ambiguous or could be interpreted in different ways, point it out before drafting and ask me how I'd like to address it.

Expected output

Real example (trimmed):

Strengths observed
Your classroom climate is one of your clearest strengths: the rapport you
have with the class was evident from the opening and held throughout the
lesson. The board sequence — activation, read-aloud, silent reading, pair
work — followed a logical thread that gave the 40 minutes a steady rhythm.

Area to strengthen
The questions you used during reading focused mainly on literal recall. There
was a valuable moment when a student asked why the character acted the way
they did — exactly the zone where deep comprehension happens — and it went
unexplored.

Suggestion for the next lesson
Before the reading, prepare one interpretive question ("Why do you think…?")
and announce it at the start so students read with that purpose in mind. You
don't need to change your plan — just add that question and reserve 5 minutes
at the end to discuss it together.

Next step
I'd suggest we meet the week of June 16 to look at how your reading
comprehension lessons could incorporate questions at different levels. Half an
hour together and we can map out a full sequence.

Watch out for

• The model doesn't know your teacher or your school's context. Before sending the feedback, verify that every claim it makes corresponds exactly to what you observed — if you don't recognize something as your own, delete it or rewrite it by hand.
• Avoid pasting students' full names or special education plan references in your notes. If your notes include them, replace them with functional descriptions before copying to the model.
• This prompt produces a draft for informal, formative coaching. Do not use it as input for summative performance reviews or any formal evaluation process.

Suggested iteration

If the draft is too generic, ask: "The strengths paragraph doesn't mention anything specific from the lesson. Rewrite it using only these two concrete observations: [describe the behaviors you saw]." If you want a shorter version to send as a message rather than a document, ask: "Summarize this in four short paragraphs, 150 words maximum, to send as a chat message."