14 min · Beginner
Workshop: 25 Beginner Prompts
Run a small pack on real work, keep the prompts that return a usable draft, and edit the ones that do not.
Learning objectives
- Practice a prompt pack by running five prompts today and noting what you changed.
- Sort beginner prompts by intent: understand, transform, decide, practice, and plan.
- Adapt one general prompt into a lesson plan a teacher can actually use.
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Why this matters
A list of prompts is useless until you run it on your own work. Five honest attempts will teach you which lines are too vague and which ones you want to keep. The pack in this lesson is a practice set, not a score, and you are allowed to edit every line.
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Concept
A prompt pack is a set of briefs you reuse, not a poster you admire. Run five today in Gemini on a real task, and read the first answer as a draft. Save the ones that worked with only light edits. Edit the ones that did not: name the symptom, change one part, and run them again. Five finished runs teach more than a folder of unused lines. Keep the winners in a notes doc.
Understand prompts ask Gemini to clarify, not to invent. 1. Explain [topic] to a beginner in 120 words, define jargon once, and give one example. 2. List known, unknown, and assumed in this note, in three short lines: [paste]. 3. Turn this paragraph into five plain questions a newcomer would ask: [paste]. 4. Define [term] in one sentence, then show one correct use and one wrong use.
Transform prompts change a text you supply. Decide prompts force a choice. 5. Rewrite this email under 90 words, warm but direct, and keep the ask: [paste]. 6. Cut this draft by 30 percent, keep the request in sentence one, no exclamation marks: [paste]. 7. Turn these notes into a memo with headings Goal, Status, Blocker, and Next step: [paste]. 8. Give three options for [decision], one tradeoff each, a recommendation, and what would change your mind.
Practice prompts drill a skill. Plan prompts turn a goal into dated work. 9. Quiz me on [topic] with five questions, wait for my answer, then explain each miss. 10. Correct this paragraph for clarity, show the edit, and do not change my meaning: [paste]. 11. Build a five-day plan for [goal] with one 30-minute task per day and a done-when line. 12. Draft a 25-minute agenda on [topic] with an owner, a decision, and a time box.
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Real-world example
Prompts 13 to 25, ready to copy
13. Summarize [notes] in 80 words and list three facts to check. 14. Translate this into clear English for [country]: [paste]. 15. Rewrite this at a simpler reading level: [paste]. 16. Compare [A] and [B] in a table: Cost, Time, Risk, Fit. 17. Name the decision, then draft a short yes and a short not-yet. 18. Stress-test [idea] if the budget is halved. 19. Give one worked example of [skill], then a similar exercise. 20. Role-play a skeptical client, one hard question at a time. 21. Drill [skill] with three items and a hint if I miss. 22. Turn [goal] into six steps for this week. 23. Split [project] into first, next, and later. 24. Plan ten study days, forty minutes each, plus one rest day. 25. List five risks in this plan and one check for each.
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Gemini demonstration
A realistic exchange. Open Gemini beside this page and try a version with your own facts.
You
Adapt this beginner prompt for my class: Explain [topic] to a beginner in 120 words, define jargon once, and give one example. I teach 13-year-olds in Nairobi, science, 40 minutes, and the topic is photosynthesis.
Gemini
Adapted prompt: You are a science teacher planning one 40-minute lesson for 13-year-olds in Nairobi. Context: the class already knows that plants need water and light, and the language of instruction is English. Task: draft a lesson plan on photosynthesis. Constraints: define each jargon term once, use one everyday example from a school garden, no lab chemicals, and a reading level fit for age 13. Output: headings Aim, Starter of five minutes, Main activity, Check question, and Exit ticket. Keep the teacher notes under 160 words. The original prompt asked for an explanation. The adaptation keeps that clarity and adds time, place, age, and a shape a teacher can walk into class with. I did not invent a curriculum code.
You
The check is still too open for a real class. Symptom: too vague. Replace only the check question with a three-minute exit ticket. Keep the aim, the starter, the garden example, the age, the city, and the ban on lab chemicals.
Gemini
Revision of only the check, as you asked. Replace the open check question with an exit ticket the student can finish in three minutes on paper. Keep the aim, the five-minute starter, the garden example, the age, the city, and the ban on lab chemicals. Exit ticket: in one sentence, say where the plant gets the carbon, and in a second sentence name one thing the garden example was meant to show. Do not add a new activity. Do not lengthen the teacher notes past 160 words. The rest of the adapted prompt stays word for word. That is a partial revision: the symptom was a check that was too vague for a real class, so only the check changed.
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Prompt breakdown
The prompt
You are a practical coach helping a beginner build a small prompt pack. Context: my role is [ROLE], my country is [COUNTRY], and my language is [LANGUAGE]. Task: write 10 prompts I can run this week. Constraints: group them by understand, transform, decide, practice, and plan. Each prompt must include one task verb, one constraint, and an output shape. Use blanks like [TOPIC] and [PASTE] instead of inventing my private facts. Do not ask me to paste secrets. Output: a numbered list, then a one-line note on how I will test five of them today and edit any that fail.
- The meta-prompt asks for a personal pack instead of another generic list you will not run.
- Role, country, and language are blanks, so the pack fits your work without you pasting a secret.
- Grouping by understand, transform, decide, practice, and plan keeps the set from being twenty lines of the same verb.
- The test note forces five runs today and an edit for any prompt that fails, which is the whole practice loop.
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Common mistakes
Usually
I saved all 25 prompts, so I have finished the practice.
Better
Run five today, note what you changed, and save only the ones that worked.
Usually
Write something good about my lesson.
Better
Draft a 40-minute lesson plan on [topic] for 13-year-olds, with an aim, one example, and an exit ticket.
Usually
Paste my students' private phone numbers into [FACTS] so the plan is personal.
Better
Use the age and the topic only. Leave personal contact details out of the blank.
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Practice exercise
Run five and note the edits
Done when: You have five prompts you actually ran in Gemini, each with a note about what you changed or why you kept it.
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Challenge
Build a five-prompt pack for one job
Choose one real job you have this week, such as a lesson, a status note, or a decision. Pick five prompts from the pack, covering understand, transform, decide, practice, and plan if you can. Replace the blanks with facts you are willing to share, and run all five in Gemini. For each run, write the symptom if it failed, or the sentence you would keep if it worked. Edit at least two prompts and run those again. Save the winners in your notes doc with a title that tells you when to use them. Do not save a prompt you have not run.
Hint: Edit one part only, such as the output shape or the length cap. If you rewrite every word, you will not know what fixed the draft.
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Key takeaways
- Run five prompts today, save the ones that worked, and edit the ones that did not.
- Group the pack by intent: understand, transform, decide, practice, and plan.
- A general explain prompt becomes a lesson plan when you add age, place, time, and an output shape.
- Blanks such as [topic] and [paste] are for shareable facts, never for secrets.
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