Miss Chalkboard

Reads

my week notes, next week's dates, last week's newsletter

Runs on

an assistant inside my email

Ask first
- Who receives the newsletter and how is it sent? (default: the person emails it to the school office, who send it to parents)
- What goes in it every week? (default: what we did, next week's dates, one reminder, a sign-off)
- How long? (default under 150 words)
- Where are the week's notes? (default: the person keeps a short note each day in an email to themselves titled "week notes")
- Does the person have last week's newsletter to copy the tone from? If not, write plainly and ask for one sentence they would say to parents.

Needs
- the week's notes, in any form: a running email, a note, or three sentences the person types on Friday.
- next week's dates, from the week plan or the term calendar. Often missing: ask "anything for next week I should mention?" before drafting.
- last week's newsletter, for voice. If there is none, keep it plain.
- chat-only version: on Friday the person types "newsletter" plus three things that happened; the assistant returns the draft in the chat and the person pastes it into an email themselves.
- if the assistant reads the person's email: say "It reads only emails titled 'week notes' and your own sent newsletters. It does not read anything from parents."

Build
1. Read: on Friday (or when asked), take the week's notes and next week's dates.
2. Decide: pick two things from the week that a parent could ask their child about (keep: "we built string telephones"; drop: "we did assessment"). Add next week's dates in date order, one line each. Add one reminder at most. Never name a child or a member of staff other than the sender. If a note mentions a child by name, leave the child out.
3. Deliver: write the draft into the person's email drafts, addressed to nobody. If the assistant cannot create drafts, return the text in the chat for the person to paste. The person reads, edits and sends it; nothing goes out on its own.
4. Remember: the sent newsletter from the previous week is the reference for the next one.
5. Cost: one model call a week.

Check
- Give the assistant three made-up notes and two made-up dates and ask for the draft. It must contain both dates, no child's name, and be under 150 words.
- On a week with no notes, the draft says "nothing recorded this week" in the chat instead of inventing events. The first real run is confirmed when a draft appears in drafts on Friday.

In my version
- An email assistant in my school webmail writes the draft from a "week notes" email I add to each day.
- Sent to the school office on Friday by 3pm, who forward it to families.

Reads

the weekly staff bulletin email

Runs on

an assistant inside my email

Ask first
- Which email is the bulletin: its usual sender or subject line? (default: the one titled "staff bulletin" that arrives on Monday)
- Which year group or class is the person's? (default: ask)
- What counts as worth listing? (default: anything with a time, a deadline, a room change, or the person's class named)
- Does the bulletin arrive as an email today? If it is a printed sheet or a notice board, the person photographs it and pastes the text into the chat on Monday.

Needs
- the weekly bulletin, as text. Bulletins often hide dates in prose and attachments; if an item has an attachment, list the attachment by name as "see attachment" rather than guessing.
- the person's class or year group, so items can be sorted into "for you" and "not for you".
- chat-only version: the person pastes the bulletin into the chat on Monday and asks "what is on for Year 4 this week?"
- if the assistant reads the person's email: say "It reads only the weekly bulletin email. It does not read, reply to or move anything else."

Build
1. Read: when the Monday bulletin arrives (or when the person pastes it), take its full text.
2. Decide: pull out every item with a day, a time, a deadline, a room or a year group. Sort into "for you" (names the person's year group, or applies to all staff) and "not for you" (names another year group only). Order "for you" by day. Keep: "Thu 5pm reading ages to the office"; drop: "thank you to everyone who helped at the fair". Cap at 8 lines; if more, keep the dated ones and say "and 3 undated notices".
3. Deliver: a short list at the top of the email as a summary, or in the chat if the assistant cannot write into email. Nothing is sent to anyone.
4. Remember: nothing between weeks; each bulletin stands alone.
5. Cost: one model call a week.

Check
- Paste a made-up bulletin with one item for the person's year group, one for another year group and one for all staff. The list must show two under "for you" and one under "not for you".
- A bulletin with no dated items returns "nothing dated this week". The first real run is confirmed when the summary shows on Monday's email.

In my version
- The email assistant in my school webmail summarises the Monday "staff bulletin" email; I read it on my phone at the gate.
- Year 4, one class.

Reads

our list of go-to meals, what I said was in the freezer, last week's plan

Runs on

an assistant on a schedule

Ask first
- How many dinners a week? (default 5, Monday to Friday)
- Which meals does the household like? (default: ask for 10 to 15, one line each)
- Any rules? (default: no meal twice in a fortnight, one meat-free night)
- When should the plan arrive? (default Saturday 9am)
- Does the person have a meals list today? If not, build it from the first conversation: ask what they ate last week and keep the ones they liked.

Needs
- a list of meals the household eats, as text.
- what is in the freezer or cupboard, if the person wants it used up. Usually missing: ask "anything to use up?" each week and plan around the answer.
- chat-only version: this is chat-only already. If the assistant cannot run on a schedule, the person says "meal plan" on Saturday.
- nothing to connect.

Build
1. Read: on the scheduled run, take the meals list, last week's plan, and anything the person said to use up.
2. Decide: pick the number of dinners asked for from the list, none that appeared last week, at least one meat-free. Put the use-up items in the first two days. Then write one shopping list that combines ingredients across the week, with no quantities beyond a count (keep: "4 potatoes"; drop: "approximately 800g of potatoes").
3. Deliver: one message in the chat with the plan on the first lines and the shopping list after. If the person replies "swap Tuesday", replace only that day and resend the list.
4. Remember: last week's plan is the previous message in the thread.
5. Cost: one or two model calls a week.

Check
- Give a 12-meal list and a last-week plan of five meals, and ask for a plan. None of the five may repeat, and the shopping list must mention every main ingredient.
- The first real run is confirmed when the Saturday message appears unasked.

In my version
- A chat assistant with a scheduled task; the meals list lives in the task instructions.
- Saturday 9am, five dinners, two children who will eat anything with pasta.

Reads

a list of family birthdays

Runs on

not built yet

Ask first
- Whose birthdays? (default: ask for the list with dates, no years needed)
- How far ahead? (default 14 days)
- What should the nudge include? (default: name, date, and what was given last year if known)
- Does the person have the list today? If not, the first run is the person typing the names and dates in.

Needs
- a list of people and birthdays, as text, kept in the assistant's saved instructions.
- what was given last year, often missing: ask after each birthday "what did you give?" and store the answer.
- chat-only version: this is chat-only. If no scheduled runs, the person asks "birthdays?" on Sunday.
- nothing to connect.

Build
1. Read: once a week, take the birthday list and today's date.
2. Decide: list every birthday within the next 14 days that was not mentioned last week. A birthday counts once: if it was in last week's message, leave it out this week.
3. Deliver: one message in the chat, or nothing if there is none.
4. Remember: the previous message is the record of what has been mentioned.
5. Cost: one model call a week.

Check
- Set the list to include a birthday 10 days away and one 20 days away. Only the 10-day one must appear. Run again a week later with the same list: the 10-day one is now within 3 days and must not appear again.
- A quiet week sends nothing.

In my version
- Not built. Plan is a weekly scheduled task in my chat assistant.

Reads

my marking rubric, my notes on each piece, the learning objective

Runs on

a chat assistant

Ask first
- What does a good comment look like for this person? (default: one praise, one next step, one question, under 50 words)
- Which rubric or success criteria? (default: the person pastes it once at the start of a session)
- How are pieces referred to? (default: numbered "piece 1, piece 2", never a child's name)
- Does the person have a rubric today? If not, build one from the learning objective: three things the work should show.

Needs
- the rubric or success criteria, as text.
- the person's notes on each piece: two or three observations ("three adverbials, commas right, second paragraph has none"). Notes are often terse; if a note has no observation the assistant asks for one rather than inventing.
- two or three past comments the person wrote, for voice. If none, keep it plain.
- chat-only version: this is the whole routine. Nothing to connect.

Build
1. Read: the rubric and voice samples at the start, then each piece's notes as the person pastes them.
2. Decide: for each piece, one sentence of praise tied to a rubric line the note shows was met, one next step tied to a line not yet met, one question the child can act on. Keep: "you used three adverbials and the commas are right"; drop: "great work!". Under 50 words. If the note names a child, leave the name out of the comment.
3. Deliver: the comment in the chat, labelled with the piece number. The person copies it into the book. Nothing leaves the chat.
4. Remember: within one session the rubric and voice stay; the next session starts with pasting them again or using a saved project.
5. Cost: one model call per piece, about 30 a week in term time.

Check
- Paste a three-line rubric and a note that meets two lines and misses one. The comment must praise one met line and set the missed line as the next step, under 50 words, with no name.
- A note with nothing in it gets a question back, not a comment.

In my version
- A chat assistant with a saved project holding the term's success criteria and six of my past comments.
- Year 4 writing and maths; about 30 pieces a night, twice a week.

Reads

the learning objective, one example question, the year group

Runs on

a chat assistant

Ask first
- What year group or age? (default: ask)
- How many questions per version? (default 6)
- What does "support" mean for this class? (default: smaller numbers, a worked example first, a scaffold like a bar model or sentence starter)
- What does "challenge" mean? (default: the same skill inside a word problem with two steps)
- Does the person have an example question today? If not, ask for the objective only and write the first question for them to approve.

Needs
- the learning objective, as one sentence.
- one example question at the level the class is working at.
- chat-only version: this is the whole routine. Nothing to connect.

Build
1. Read: the objective, the example question and the year group.
2. Decide: write three sets. Support: same skill, smaller numbers, a worked example at the top, and a scaffold on every question. Core: the example question's level, six questions rising in difficulty. Challenge: the same skill inside two-step word problems, no scaffold. Every question must use the same skill as the objective (keep: "3/4 of 20"; drop: "20 divided by 4"). Include the answers at the end of each set.
3. Deliver: the three sets in the chat with headings. The person pastes them into a document and prints.
4. Remember: nothing between runs.
5. Cost: one model call per worksheet.

Check
- Give the objective "find fractions of amounts" and the example "3/4 of 20". The three sets must all be fractions-of-amounts questions, with support numbers smaller than core and challenge questions worded as problems. Answers must be correct: check two by hand.

In my version
- A chat assistant; I paste into a word processor and print on three colours.
- Year 4 maths and grammar, about twice a week.