AI Math Coach Prompt Reference Guide
For ELL Teachers & Co-Teaching Partnerships | Grades K–8
What is AI Math Coach? AI Math Coach is your on-demand math education partner — available anytime you need support planning lessons, supporting multilingual learners, or co-planning with a classroom teacher. This guide gives you ready-to-use prompts for ELL instruction and co-teaching. Just copy, paste, and customize!
📋 How to Use This Guide
- ELL Teachers: Use the purple section for prompts tailored to co-teaching and small group math support for multilingual learners.
- Co-Teaching Together: The yellow section contains prompts for any educator supporting ELL students in math — great for co-planning meetings!
- Replace anything in [brackets] with your specific grade, concept, or student context.
- The more detail you share with AI Math Coach, the more targeted your coaching will be!
In the Classroom (Co-Teaching)
Prompt 1 — Supporting Access During Whole Class
"I'm co-teaching a [grade] math lesson on [concept]. How can I support my ELL students' access to the task without simplifying the math?"
Ask for visual, linguistic, and structural supports that keep students in the grade-level work.
Prompt 2 — Co-Planning with the Classroom Teacher
"My co-teacher is planning a lesson on [concept] for [grade]. What role can I play during the Launch and Main Lesson to support multilingual learners?"
Great for planning meetings — helps define your role clearly before the lesson.
Small Group Instruction
Prompt 3 — Planning a Small Group Session
"I'm meeting with a small group of [grade] ELL students who are working on [concept]. Can you suggest an activity that builds conceptual understanding with low language demand?"
Mention students' language proficiency levels (e.g., emerging, developing) for more targeted suggestions.
Prompt 4 — Concrete & Visual Supports
"What concrete tools, visuals, or representations would help [grade] ELL students make sense of [concept] in a small group setting?"
Ask for tools students can manipulate themselves — hands-on exploration reduces language barriers.
Supporting Math Language & Discourse
Prompt 5 — Building Math Vocabulary
"What are the key math vocabulary words for [grade] students learning [concept], and how can I help ELL students develop this language through doing math — not just memorizing definitions?"
Ask for sentence frames or word walls that connect language to visual models.
Prompt 6 — Facilitating Student Talk
"How can I help my [grade] ELL students share their mathematical thinking during group work or whole class discussion, even when they're still developing English?"
Ask for multimodal options — gestures, drawings, and home language use are all valid math communication.
Analyzing Student Thinking
Prompt 7 — Understanding What Students Know
"A [grade] ELL student solved [concept] problem this way: [describe work]. What does this tell me about their mathematical understanding, separate from their language skills?"
This helps you distinguish between a math gap and a language gap — two very different instructional needs.
Prompt 8 — Planning Next Steps
"My [grade] ELL students understand [concept] when using models, but struggle to explain it in writing. What's a good next instructional step?"
Ask for tasks that bridge visual/concrete understanding to language production gradually.
Finding Resources
Prompt 9 — Language-Accessible Materials
"Can you find or create a [grade] math activity on [concept] that is accessible for ELL students — with visual supports, minimal text, and multiple ways to show thinking?"
Mention if you need it in Spanish or another language and AI Math Coach will let you know what's available.
Prompt 10 — Sentence Frames & Scaffolds
"Can you create sentence frames for [grade] ELL students to use when explaining their thinking about [concept]? I want frames that support math reasoning, not just fill-in-the-blank answers."
Ask for frames at different language levels (emerging, developing, expanding) for a differentiated set.
These prompts work for any educator supporting multilingual learners in math — use them individually or bring them to a co-planning conversation.
Co-Planning Together
Prompt 1 — Designing an Inclusive Lesson
"We're co-teaching a [grade] lesson on [concept]. Can you help us design a Main Lesson task that gives all students — including ELL students — meaningful access to the math?"
Share both teachers' goals and AI Math Coach will help you find a task that serves everyone.
Prompt 2 — Defining Roles in the Lesson
"We have a classroom teacher and an ELL teacher co-teaching [grade] math. Can you suggest how we might divide roles during the Launch, Main Lesson, and Closure to best support multilingual learners?"
Useful for new co-teaching partnerships — helps establish a shared vision before the lesson.
Looking at Student Work Together
Prompt 3 — Collaborative Analysis
"We're looking at student work from a [grade] lesson on [concept]. Several ELL students showed understanding through drawings but not in writing. What does this tell us and what should we try next?"
Bring actual student work samples to the conversation for the most specific coaching.
Prompt 4 — Identifying Strengths First
"Here's what our [grade] ELL students did on [concept]: [describe]. Can you help us identify what they understand mathematically before we focus on what they still need?"
Starting with strengths leads to more asset-based instructional decisions for all learners.