Strengthening Communication and Feedback Mechanisms through Google Skills

kmcneil — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 18:32:47 GMT

Making fidelity checks more about support and less about surveillance.

In a September 8 Education Week column, Bridget Farr, who later led an elementary school through a state-mandated turnaround, describes how her team made classroom visits feel like support instead of surveillance. Her core lesson: check what matters. She remembers feedback that "came at me like popcorn," and she learned to limit hers to one or two high-impact areas tied to the school's professional learning.

➡️ What helps you keep walkthrough feedback focused on the one or two things that matter most, especially in a packed week?

This Week's Resource: Skills in the Gemini app (what's replacing Gems)

https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2026/09/skills-gemini-app-workspace.html

Help page: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/17094296

Skills are saved instructions (your format, tone, and guardrails) that you call up in any Gemini chat by typing "/". Unlike Gems, they work inside your regular chat, and you can use more than one at a time. Google announced on September 30 that skills will eventually replace Gems.

Before you start: Google's education guide says skills begin rolling out to school accounts on October 13, with the rollout finishing by mid-November. For now, the help page says skills only work with personal accounts. Wait for the rollout to reach your school account (see the privacy note below). Your district also has to have the Gemini app turned on for staff. Your existing Gems keep working until at least June 1, 2027.

Sign in at gemini.google.com with your school account.
In the sidebar, click Settings, then Skills.
Click "Create with Gemini" or "Create manually."
Give it a hyphenated name (walkthrough-feedback) and a description that starts with "Use when..."
In the instructions, spell out the format, say what NOT to do, and tell Gemini to ask you for missing details instead of guessing.
Click Create. In any chat, type / and pick the skill.

Example: Turn Farr's idea into a skill with instructions like this: "Our focus areas are student discourse and checks for understanding. Turn my walkthrough notes into a note to the teacher: one specific strength tied to a focus area, one next step, and one open question. Keep it under 120 words and warm. No ratings. Don't add anything I didn't observe." After a visit, paste your notes, then edit the draft before sending. The feedback is still yours. The skill just keeps it focused.

A privacy note: Walkthrough notes are personnel records, not student records, so FERPA doesn't cover them. Your state's personnel-records law, your bargaining agreement, and public-records law may, so check with your district and consider leaving teacher names out. Always use your school account.

According to Google, data a personal account shares with Gemini Apps falls under consumer terms and may be used for model training (https://support.google.com/docs/answer/14615114). On a school account, Gemini is a core service under the Workspace for Education Terms (https://workspace.google.com/terms/education_terms/). Under those terms, Google acts as a FERPA School Official, and your chats aren't human-reviewed or used for training. That supports compliance. Your district's AI policy still determines it.

Once skills reach your account, try building one, then share your instructions in the comments.

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Strengthening Communication and Feedback Mechanisms through Google Skills