Sample AI Coaching Report
This sample illustrates the structure and level of feedback provided by our AI coaching system.
Sample Lesson
Coaching Report
Report ID: sample
Teacher
Sample Teacher
Subject
Sample Subject · Grade Sample Grade
Lesson
Sample Lesson
Date
2/15/2026
Duration
30
Executive Summary
This observation captured the launch of a new unit on ecosystems, which was exceptionally well-structured and clear. The lesson's strength lies in its thoughtful planning, evident in the clear articulation of learning goals (00:05:55) and the design of a scaffolded, hands-on task using organism cards (D1.2). You expertly connected the new topic to a wide range of prior learning, providing students with a strong conceptual anchor (00:03:05). The learning environment was positive and managed with calm redirections (D2.3). Key areas for growth include intentionally embedding more opportunities for student-to-student discourse during direct instruction (D3.1) and incorporating more frequent, formative checks for understanding to gather real-time data on student comprehension before they begin independent work (D1.3).
Rubric Evaluation Summary
Planning & Objectives
Clarity of Learning Goals
3 / 4
Clarity of Learning Goals33/4
Evidence: "today you are going to be doing two things two important goals here today number one you're going to be familiarizing yourself with this ecosystem..."; "you are going to be creating a food chain which you've done before... You're going to use that food chain to make a food web."; "We're going to be completing part A, part B, and part C."
Planning & Objectives
Design of Learning Tasks & Materials
3 / 4
Design of Learning Tasks & Materials33/4
Evidence: "on your bench you will find an envelope... inside that envelope there are organism cards..."; "I put it on a card is so that you can move them around actually lay them out into a food chain and then use the actual cards to add it in to make the food web kind of do the rough draft of that... before you try to draw that food web in your packet"
Planning & Objectives
Assessment & Checks for Understanding
2 / 4
Assessment & Checks for Understanding22/4
Evidence: "Questions right now?"; "Are we good to go?"
Learning Environment & Culture
Respectful, Inclusive Culture
3 / 4
Respectful, Inclusive Culture33/4
Evidence: The teacher engages in a lighthearted but firm exchange with a student about being tardy, maintaining a positive tone (00:00:38 - 00:01:04).; "a lot of times when we look at ecology, we tend to leave out the people. This one, we did not."
Learning Environment & Culture
Routines & Transitions
3 / 4
Routines & Transitions33/4
Evidence: "Okay, would you please go ahead and put your phones and earpads and earbuds away while I get our attendance squared away here."; "All right. I, ooh, all of the phones should be put away and the headphones off..."; "Will you please bring your packet and something to write with?... And let's head back and talk a little bit about materials."
Learning Environment & Culture
Behavior Expectations & Support
3 / 4
Behavior Expectations & Support33/4
Evidence: "all of the phones should be put away and the headphones off and earbuds out let's go..."; "Is that his phone?"; The exchange with Gio about being tardy was handled calmly and without escalating the situation.
Instruction & Assessment
Questioning & Discussion
2 / 4
Questioning & Discussion22/4
Evidence: "How does that energy and matter influence? What kinds of organisms are living there? Like who's there? How many of those are there?" (Posed to the class, but answered by the teacher).; The only questions asked of students were procedural or for behavior management ("Did I mark you tardy?", "Questions right now?").
Instruction & Assessment
Feedback & Academic Language
3 / 4
Feedback & Academic Language33/4
Evidence: "We looked at cellular respiration and photosynthesis so we've done the whole gamut of how energy is getting trapped in matter..."; "still energy and matter but from a very very different vantage point..."; Teacher uses terms like macromolecules, ecosystem, populations, ecologist, food chains, food webs, and organisms throughout the introduction.
Instruction & Assessment
Student Engagement & Ownership
2 / 4
Student Engagement & Ownership22/4
Evidence: The teacher does the vast majority of the talking for the first 12 minutes of the lesson.; The instruction to put phones away is given at 00:00:01 and has to be repeated more forcefully at 00:01:20, suggesting some students were not engaged with the initial direction.
Professionalism & Responsiveness
Responsiveness to Learners
3 / 4
Responsiveness to Learners33/4
Evidence: "we've spent a lot of time looking at energy and matter we started out by looking a little bit at ecosystem... looking at things like food chains and food webs..."; "the purpose for those cards... is so that you can move them around actually lay them out... before you try to draw that food web in your packet"
Professionalism & Responsiveness
Communication with Families & Team
Not Observed / 4
Communication with Families & TeamNot Observed
Professionalism & Responsiveness
Reflective Practice
Not Observed / 4
Reflective PracticeNot Observed
Key Strengths
The lesson launch was characterized by strong instructional clarity, thoughtful scaffolding, and a positive classroom environment. You did an excellent job setting students up for a successful and engaging work period.
- •Connecting new content to prior learning. You skillfully wove together concepts from previous units (energy, matter, macromolecules, Gorongosa) to frame the new topic on ecosystems, helping students see the bigger picture.Instruction & AssessmentResponsiveness to LearnersEvidence: "we've spent a lot of time looking at energy and matter... today we're going to bring it back around and we're going to be broadening out and looking at ecosystems."
- •Clearly articulating lesson goals. You explicitly stated the two main objectives for the day, ensuring students understood the purpose of the lesson and what they were expected to accomplish.Planning & ObjectivesClarity of Learning GoalsEvidence: "today you are going to be doing two things two important goals here today number one you're going to be familiarizing yourself with this ecosystem... number two... you are going to be creating a food chain..."
- •Designing a well-scaffolded task. The use of organism cards as a manipulative to 'draft' the food web is a fantastic strategy that lowers the stakes for students and encourages them to organize their thinking before creating a final product.Planning & ObjectivesDesign of Learning Tasks & MaterialsEvidence: "I put it on a card is so that you can move them around... do the rough draft of that sort that out on your bench top with the cards before you try to draw that food web in your packet"
- •Modeling rich academic language. You consistently used precise, domain-specific vocabulary (e.g., macromolecules, cellular respiration, trophic levels, ecologist), creating a rigorous academic environment.Instruction & AssessmentFeedback & Academic LanguageEvidence: "we looked at cellular respiration and photosynthesis so we've done the whole gamut of how energy is getting trapped in matter..."
- •Providing clear and logical directions. The instructions for both the packet work (Parts A, B, C) and the use of the materials were broken down into manageable steps, setting students up for success.Learning Environment & CultureRoutines & TransitionsEvidence: "We're going to be completing part A, part B, and part C. So we need to get all the way through part C."
- •Maintaining a calm and respectful classroom culture. Your tone was consistently positive, and you managed minor behavioral issues with calm, brief redirections that did not disrupt the flow of instruction.Learning Environment & CultureRespectful, Inclusive CultureEvidence: The entire exchange with Gio about tardiness was handled with a calm and slightly humorous tone, de-escalating any potential conflict.
Areas for Growth
To elevate this already strong practice, we can focus on strategies that increase active student participation during direct instruction and provide you with more real-time data on student understanding.
- •Incorporate more opportunities for structured student talk. The direct instruction portion was teacher-centered. Building in brief, structured partner talks can increase engagement and allow students to process information.Instruction & AssessmentQuestioning & DiscussionEvidence: The first 12 minutes of the lesson consisted of a teacher monologue with no structured opportunities for students to discuss the concepts being introduced.
- •Embed quick, formative checks for understanding. Before releasing students to a complex task, gathering data on their grasp of foundational concepts can help you identify and address misconceptions proactively.Planning & ObjectivesAssessment & Checks for UnderstandingEvidence: The only check before releasing students was, "Questions right now? Are we good to go?", which primarily checks for procedural clarity, not content knowledge.
- •Develop non-verbal cues for routine expectations. While expectations were clear, the need to verbally repeat the instruction about phones suggests a non-verbal reminder could be more efficient and less disruptive.Learning Environment & CultureBehavior Expectations & SupportEvidence: The instruction to put phones away was given at 00:00:01 and needed to be repeated at 00:01:20.
Recommendations
Based on the observation, here are a few high-leverage strategies to consider for upcoming lessons. We can discuss these further and decide on a focus for our next cycle.
WHAT: Integrate 'Turn and Talk' prompts into direct instruction.
HIGHWHAT
Integrate 'Turn and Talk' prompts into direct instruction.
HOW
- After reviewing prior knowledge (e.g., around 00:03:51), pause and say, 'Turn to your partner and share one thing you remember about food webs.'
- Pose one of your framing questions directly to students for a 30-second partner discussion before you share the answer.
- Provide a clear prompt and a specific time limit to keep the talk focused and brief.
Instruction & AssessmentQuestioning & Discussion
WHAT: Use 'Show Me' checks for understanding before independent work.
HIGHWHAT
Use 'Show Me' checks for understanding before independent work.
HOW
- Before releasing students to the card sort, ask: 'On your whiteboard/scrap paper, draw an arrow showing the direction of energy flow between a rabbit and a fox.'
- Have all students hold up their response simultaneously. This gives you a quick, class-wide snapshot of understanding.
- Address any common errors with the whole group before they begin the main task.
Planning & ObjectivesAssessment & Checks for Understanding
WHAT: Make daily learning goals visual and interactive.
MEDIUMWHAT
Make daily learning goals visual and interactive.
HOW
- Write the two goals you stated at 00:05:55 on the board in student-friendly 'I can...' statements.
- At the end of the lesson, have students do a quick self-assessment against the goals, perhaps with a sticky note or a show of hands.
Planning & ObjectivesClarity of Learning Goals
WHAT: Establish a 'Do Now' routine to maximize learning time at the start of class.
MEDIUMWHAT
Establish a 'Do Now' routine to maximize learning time at the start of class.
HOW
- Project a short warm-up question or task on the board for students to begin immediately upon entering.
- This engages students right away and frees you up to take attendance and handle administrative tasks without losing instructional momentum.
- The warm-up could be a review question about the previous day's lesson or a prediction about the new topic.
Learning Environment & CultureRoutines & Transitions
Action Plan (Next Week)
| Focus | Action | When | Measure of Success | Evidence (timestamps) | Rubric Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Questioning & Discussion | During the introduction of the next lesson, I will pause my direct instruction at least twice to have students engage in a structured 'Turn and Talk' with a partner about a key concept or question. | During our next scheduled observation. | All students will be observed turning to a partner and engaging in on-topic conversation. I will be able to successfully cold-call a pair to share their discussion with the class. | Timestamps from the next observation transcript showing student-to-student discourse. | D3.1 |
Lesson Timeline Highlights
Teacher begins class with a clear direction for students to put away electronics.
Learning Environment & CultureRoutines & Transitions
Teacher calmly and respectfully addresses a student about being potentially tardy.
Learning Environment & CultureBehavior Expectations & Support
Teacher reinforces the expectation for all phones and headphones to be put away.
Learning Environment & CultureBehavior Expectations & Support
The formal lesson begins by framing the new topic, 'Topic 5,' and signaling a shift in focus.
Planning & ObjectivesClarity of Learning Goals
Teacher masterfully connects the new unit on ecosystems to a wide range of prior learning, including energy, matter, macromolecules, and photosynthesis.
Professionalism & ResponsivenessResponsiveness to Learners
The two primary learning goals for the day are explicitly stated for students.
Planning & ObjectivesClarity of Learning Goals
Teacher provides clear, sequential directions for the packet activity (Parts A, B, and C).
Learning Environment & CultureRoutines & Transitions
Teacher introduces the hands-on materials (organism cards) and explains their contents.
Planning & ObjectivesDesign of Learning Tasks & Materials
Teacher makes a specific point to include humans in the ecosystem, making the content more relevant.
Learning Environment & CultureRespectful, Inclusive Culture
The scaffolding purpose of the cards is explained: to create a 'rough draft' before drawing.
Planning & ObjectivesDesign of Learning Tasks & Materials
Teacher performs a final check for procedural questions before releasing students to work.
Planning & ObjectivesAssessment & Checks for Understanding
Transcript Highlights
The following quotes from the transcript highlight key instructional moves and provide anchors for our coaching conversation.
- •"we are here in topic five going to be shifting gears quite a lot we've spent a lot of time looking at energy and matter... today we're going to bring it back around and we're going to be broadening out and looking at ecosystems." (00:02:56) — This is a textbook example of effective framing, helping students situate new learning within their existing knowledge base.Professionalism & ResponsivenessResponsiveness to Learners
- •"today you are going to be doing two things two important goals here today number one you're going to be familiarizing yourself with this ecosystem... you are going to be creating a food chain..." (00:05:55) — This statement provides excellent clarity on the lesson's purpose and outcomes.Planning & ObjectivesClarity of Learning Goals
- •"everything today is basically review... We're just applying it to a new situation. So can you take what you learned and apply it to a new situation?" (00:07:38) — This explicitly frames the cognitive task for students as application, setting a clear expectation for the type of thinking required.Instruction & AssessmentStudent Engagement & Ownership
- •"I'm hopeful that you won't have homework. If we're on it, I think you will be good and you won't have homework tonight." (00:08:14) — This is a great motivational and time-management statement that encourages students to use their class time effectively.Learning Environment & CultureRoutines & Transitions
- •"a lot of times when we look at ecology, we tend to leave out the people. This one, we did not." (00:11:20) — This is a powerful and inclusive move, connecting the scientific concept directly to students' lived reality and challenging a common omission in the subject.Learning Environment & CultureRespectful, Inclusive Culture
- •"...the purpose for those cards... is so that you can move them around... do the rough draft of that sort that out on your bench top with the cards before you try to draw that food web in your packet" (00:11:54) — This quote perfectly illustrates a key scaffolding move, explaining the 'why' behind the materials to help students use them strategically.Planning & ObjectivesDesign of Learning Tasks & Materials
- •"Make sure you get your arrows on your food web going in the right direction." (00:12:23) — This is a critical piece of instruction. It also represents a perfect opportunity for a quick check for understanding before students begin.Planning & ObjectivesAssessment & Checks for Understanding
- •"Questions right now? Are we good to go?" (00:12:27) — This is a common and useful way to check for procedural clarity. Our work could focus on adding a parallel check for content understanding at this same point in the lesson.Instruction & AssessmentQuestioning & Discussion
Content Standards Evaluation
Standards Evaluated: Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Overall Alignment: STRONG
Content Strengths
- ✓The lesson is explicitly framed around the core scientific work of an ecologist: using models of energy flow to make predictions about populations (00:04:41-00:04:49).
- ✓The content is grounded in an authentic case study of a real-world marine ecosystem (Pacific Northwest), using real organisms, which enhances relevance and engagement (00:05:40-00:05:50, 00:10:12-00:10:25).
- ✓The teacher effectively scaffolds learning by connecting the new topic to a wide range of prior concepts, including macromolecules, cellular respiration, and a previous ecosystem study, building a coherent narrative about energy flow across biological scales (00:03:05-00:03:55).
- ✓The lesson is explicitly designed for students to practice transferring knowledge, applying concepts of food webs learned in a terrestrial context (Gorongosa) to a new aquatic context (00:07:45-00:07:55).
- ✓The ecosystem model is made more complex and realistic by the intentional inclusion of humans, prompting students to consider human impact within the food web (00:11:14-00:11:28).
Standards Alignment
MS-LS2-3
Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
The central activity of the lesson requires students to create a food chain and then a food web, which are models representing the flow of energy in the Pacific Northwest ecosystem (00:06:43-00:06:58). The teacher reinforces a key content concept for this standard by reminding students to ensure the arrows in their food web point in the correct direction to show energy flow (00:12:23-00:12:26).
Recommendations:
- Explicitly include decomposers and abiotic factors in the model to fully address the standard's emphasis on both living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.
SEP: Developing and Using Models
Science and Engineering Practice: Develop and use a model to describe phenomena.
The lesson is structured around students developing a model to represent feeding relationships. The teacher provides organism cards as tools for students to physically construct a draft of their food web model on their desks before creating a final drawing in their packets (00:11:54-00:12:18).
CCC: Energy and Matter
Crosscutting Concept: The transfer of energy can be tracked as energy flows through a natural system.
The teacher explicitly frames the entire unit around the concepts of energy and matter. They connect past learning on a molecular scale (cellular respiration, macromolecules) to the current focus on a large, ecosystem scale (00:03:45-00:04:11). The stated goal is to understand how energy and matter influence populations (00:04:19-00:04:27).
MS-LS2-2
Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
The teacher explicitly tasks students with applying concepts learned from a previous terrestrial ecosystem case study (Gorongosa National Park) to a new aquatic ecosystem (Pacific Northwest). The packet introduction reinforces this by asking, "Do we see the same trends in aquatic ecosystems or are there differences?" (00:08:28-00:08:42).
HS-LS2-4
Use mathematical representations to support claims for the cycling of matter and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem.
The lesson provides the necessary qualitative foundation for this standard. While no math is used today, the teacher introduces concepts that require quantitative analysis, such as energy pyramids (00:03:18) and predicting population sizes ("How many of those are there?") (00:04:27-00:04:32), suggesting this foundational lesson will lead to later mathematical modeling.
Recommendations:
- In a future lesson, introduce the 10% rule for energy transfer and have students use it to construct an energy pyramid based on the food web they create today.
MS-LS2-1
Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
The lesson sets the stage for this standard by framing the unit around the question of how changes in energy and matter lead to changes in populations (00:04:34-00:04:41). The organism cards serve as the initial data set. Today's activity focuses on establishing the baseline relationships, which is a prerequisite for analyzing the effects of changes in resource availability.
Content Recommendations
Differentiate Between Energy Flow and Matter Cycling
MEDIUMWHAT
Introduce the role of decomposers in matter cycling.
The lesson consistently pairs the terms "energy and matter" (e.g., 00:04:09-00:04:11). To build a more precise understanding, the content should explicitly differentiate between the one-way flow of energy and the cyclical nature of matter. The current activity models energy flow but does not yet address matter cycling.
HOW
- Include organism cards for decomposers (e.g., bacteria, fungi) and instruct students to consider where they fit in the ecosystem.
- During the introduction, briefly explain the distinction: "Energy flows from the sun and is eventually lost as heat, but matter is recycled. Think about what happens to an organism's body when it dies without being eaten."
- Add an analysis question to the packet, such as: "What is missing from this food web? How is the matter from a dead organism returned to the ecosystem?"
Integrate Abiotic Factors
MEDIUMWHAT
Incorporate key abiotic factors of the marine ecosystem into the lesson content.
The lesson content focuses exclusively on biotic interactions (feeding relationships). Key ecosystem standards (e.g., MS-LS2-3) require students to model the interaction between both living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
HOW
- Add information to the organism cards about abiotic requirements or tolerances (e.g., water temperature, salinity, sunlight needs for producers).
- When introducing the Pacific Northwest ecosystem (00:05:40-00:05:45), ask students to brainstorm nonliving factors that might be important there.
- Include a question in the analysis section (Part C) asking students to identify one abiotic factor and explain how it could affect a specific organism in their food web.
Introduce Trophic Level Terminology
LOWWHAT
Define and require the use of trophic level vocabulary.
The packet introduction mentions "tropic levels" (00:08:42), but the teacher does not define or use specific vocabulary like 'producer,' 'primary consumer,' or 'herbivore' in the verbal instructions. Formally introducing this terminology would provide students with the precise language to describe the roles they are identifying.
HOW
- During the activity setup (around 00:06:43), briefly define producer, primary consumer, and secondary consumer.
- Add a task to the packet requiring students to label at least one of each trophic level on their final food web diagram.
- Modify an analysis question to use the new vocabulary, such as, "Identify all the producers in this ecosystem. What is their primary source of energy?"