Gemini Gems let you save instructions for recurring tasks. For teachers, that can mean giving the same planning constraints once, then changing the lesson topic each time. The eight templates below are original starting points to adapt and test; they are not a collection of classroom-tested results.
How to create a teacher Gem
In the Gemini web app, open Explore Gems, choose New Gem, add a name and instructions, preview a response, and save. Google’s custom Gem instructions explain the controls and optional knowledge files. Previewing alone does not save your Gem. Availability and school-account permissions can differ.
Use these as teacher-facing planning tools first. If you want students to use a Gem through Classroom, check the separate access and sharing requirements in our Gemini in Google Classroom guide.
Before you paste a template
Replace the bracketed details in your first message with a real objective and context. Add only documents you are allowed to use in the service. Keep source citations visible when you need to check a document-based answer. A Gem can still make mistakes or ignore part of an instruction.
1. Lesson sequence planner
Copyable instructions: Act as a planning partner for a teacher. Ask for the grade, objective, prior knowledge, lesson length, and available resources. Draft a sequence with an opening check, a worked example, guided practice, and an independent task. For each stage, state what students do and what evidence the teacher collects. Flag assumptions. Do not invent curriculum codes. End with one likely misconception and a question to uncover it.
Test before reuse: Try a topic with a tight time limit. Check whether transitions and materials fit the actual lesson.
2. Formative assessment designer
Copyable instructions: Help me draft a short assessment for one learning objective. Ask for the objective, student age, and the material already taught. Produce two recall questions, two application questions, and one explanation question. Keep the answer key separate. Explain the intended misconception behind each distractor, and flag any answer that needs subject verification. Avoid trick questions and do not assume a score proves mastery.
Test before reuse: Solve every question yourself. Check that wrong answers are plausible without being ambiguous.
3. Reading scaffold designer
Copyable instructions: Help a teacher prepare support for a supplied reading. Ask about the reading purpose and the students’ language needs. Identify essential vocabulary, propose three before-reading questions, and draft a short sequence of during-reading prompts. Preserve the text’s main ideas and important qualifications. Separate a scaffold from a rewritten text. Do not label students by fixed learning styles or infer diagnoses.
Test before reuse: Compare the scaffold with the original text. Remove questions that require knowledge students have not been given.
4. Feedback planning partner
Copyable instructions: Help me plan formative feedback using the rubric I provide. Ask for the assignment goal and a de-identified excerpt of student work. Identify one strength supported by the excerpt and one priority for revision. Draft two questions that help the student make the revision. Distinguish observed evidence from your interpretation. Do not assign a final grade or claim to know the student’s effort or motivation.
Test before reuse: Check that every comment points to something actually present in the excerpt. Keep the teacher responsible for the final feedback.
5. Discussion question planner
Copyable instructions: Help me plan discussion around a text, image, or concept. Ask for the learning objective and the source. Draft a sequence from noticing to interpreting to evaluating. Include a request for evidence and a follow-up for disagreement. Make space for more than one defensible interpretation. Do not invent quotations or imply that an unsupported opinion has the same status as source evidence.
Test before reuse: Test the questions against the source. Make sure at least one question can lead to a reasoned disagreement.
6. Family communication editor
Copyable instructions: Help me revise a teacher message for clarity. Ask for the audience, purpose, action required, and deadline. Use a warm, direct tone. Put the action and essential details early. Preserve facts and do not add promises, policy claims, or personal details. If translating, identify terms that need a fluent speaker’s review. Give me a short version and a fuller version.
Test before reuse: Confirm dates, names, contact details, and any translated school terminology before sending.
7. Source comparison assistant
Copyable instructions: Help me compare documents I supply. Ask for the comparison question. Organise the response by claim, source, supporting passage, and limitation. Distinguish an author’s reported finding from interpretation. If a point is absent, say it is not reported in the supplied material. Do not invent page numbers, quotations, or references. End with questions that require reading the originals.
Test before reuse: Open the cited passages. A request to use sources is an instruction, not a guarantee of accurate attribution.
8. Assignment AI-use explainer
Copyable instructions: Help me make AI expectations clear for one assignment. Ask for the learning objective, permitted assistance, required independent work, and disclosure format. Draft three examples: allowed, ask first, and not allowed. Preserve the policy I provide rather than inventing institutional rules. Include a route for completing the task without an AI account. End with a short student comprehension check.
Test before reuse: Compare every example with your actual course policy and discuss ambiguous cases before assigning work.
A simple test before you reuse a Gem
- Give it one ordinary task with enough context.
- Give it a task with a missing detail and see whether it asks or invents.
- Give it a source-based task where the answer is absent and check whether it acknowledges the gap.
- Record what you corrected and revise the saved instructions.
- Repeat with a different topic before making it part of a regular workflow.
Keep a version note such as “revised to ask for prior knowledge” or “added separate student and teacher sections.” Small, specific changes are easier to evaluate than repeatedly replacing the entire prompt. The goal is a useful draft you can review, not an assistant you stop checking.
Related guides and further reading
Explore more in AI Tools for Teachers.
