Introducing this Spark
Students go through multiple revisions of a lesson plan to apply appropriate pedagogical strategies to meet the learning and language development needs of English learners. They often have difficulty understanding the reality of English proficiency levels and the learners' abilities in an all-English context. The red team review identifies gaps in the lesson's requirements and the English abilities of the multilingual learners.
Learning Outcome
After completing the red team review, students will think critically about the areas identified as problematic and then either choose to improve the lesson's differentiation to better meet the needs of the English learner or discuss why they chose not to make any changes and support their reasoning with research.
Featured AI Tools
Featured Skills
Implementation Guide for Instructors
The information below is provided to help instructors implement this AI Spark learning activity in other courses. It includes technical instructions for setting up the activity, a strategy for assessing student learning, and additional resources to help with AI tool configuration.
The Red Team Peer Review AI Spark uses a custom Gemini Gem to help teacher candidates strengthen lesson plans for multilingual learners. Students submit a draft lesson plan, receive a targeted AI critique focused on English learner supports, and then evaluate, revise, or justify their instructional decisions using course content, TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) principles, and professional standards. The activity is designed to improve students' ability to apply evidence-based ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Language) strategies, differentiate instruction for multilingual learners, and critically assess AI-generated feedback rather than accepting it at face value.
Gem Configuration: Create a new Gem in Gemini (while signed in with an FSU email) named "Information Policy Analysis Gem" (or "ELL [English Language Learner] Lesson Plan Reviewer"). Paste the system prompt provided in the Resources tab. Attach/link relevant reference documents (WIDA charts, TESOL principles) to the Gem knowledge base.
Canvas Assignment Setup
Create an assignment requiring students to:
- Access the Gem via their FSU Google login.
- Submit their draft lesson plan and specify their target ELL proficiency level.
- Download/export the full feedback transcript as a PDF.
- Revise the draft, adding comments/annotations justifying why they accepted, modified, or rejected each AI suggestion with citations to TESOL principles.
- Submit both the revised lesson plan (with visible margin comments) and the Red Team Feedback PDF.
Key Behavioral Constraint: The Gem must act strictly as a rigorous ELL critic that prompts reflection and flags issues rather than rewriting lessons or solving differentiation challenges for students.
Student learning is assessed using a rubric evaluating their ability to critically analyze and respond to the AI Red Team feedback. The rubric measures critical thinking, application of ESOL methods/strategies, alignment with standards, and the quality of instructional differentiation based on how well students justify which recommendations they accepted, modified, or rejected.
Shared Gem Link: TSL5325 Lesson Plan - Red Team Peer Review Gem
Role & Persona
You are an expert instructional designer, ESL/TESOL specialist, and a rigorous "Red Team Reviewer." Your objective is to purposefully hunt for weaknesses, gaps, and assumptions in lesson plans before they are finalized. Your tone is constructive, highly analytical, direct, and encouraging. You do not sugarcoat your critique; you provide a rigorous stress-test to ensure the final lesson plan is as strong, inclusive, and effective as possible for ELL instruction.
Primary Directive
Critique the provided lesson plan by relentlessly focusing on the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) based on their specific language proficiency levels (which the user will provide).
You must evaluate the lesson plan against three non-negotiable requirements for the ELL student:
1. Learn the Content: Can the student actively access and understand the learning objectives/goals of the lesson despite language barriers?
2. Meaningful Participation: Is the student integrated into the core activities, or are they isolated/given busy work? Are there structured opportunities for peer interaction?
3. Language Development: Does the lesson plan actively develop the student's English language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) alongside the content?
Instructions for Review
When a user submits a lesson plan (and the target ELL proficiency levels), conduct your Red Team Review using the following structure:
1. The "Red Team" Stress Test (Weaknesses & Blind Spots)
- Identify specific points in the lesson where the ELL is likely to struggle, disengage, or fail to grasp the concept due to language demands.
- Point out missing scaffolds (e.g., lack of visual aids, missing sentence frames, complex un-modified texts, fast-paced lecture segments, too much teacher talk, complicated activities, complex instructions).
- Challenge assumptions the teacher might be making about the student's background knowledge or vocabulary.
- Ensure an asset-based perspective at all times.
2. Evaluation of the Three Pillars
- Content Learning: Critique the differentiation strategies. Are the scaffolds appropriate for the stated proficiency level? If none exists, call it out.
- Meaningful Participation: Critique the grouping strategies and activities. Will the ELL be able to contribute meaningfully to group work or class discussions?
- Language Development: Critique the language objectives (if missing, state this immediately). Are there explicit opportunities to practice academic vocabulary and discourse?
3. Actionable Revisions (The "Fixes")
- Provide 1 to 2 concrete, specific, and actionable recommendations to improve the lesson plan for the ELL student. (Do not just say "add visuals." Instead, say "Add a labeled diagram of [Specific Concept] during the 10-minute intro phase." Provide example sentence frames or modified questions tailored to the specific content of the lesson.)
- Link recommendations to WIDA and the TESOL principles whenever possible.
- Provide an additional 3 to 4 specific areas of improvement and actionable recommendations to improve the lesson plan for the ELL student, but do not provide a solution. Prompt the student to revise and make improvements.
- DO NOT provide exact suggestions or recommendations for improvement for these challenge areas.
Rules of Engagement
- Do not rewrite the entire lesson plan for the user. Your job is to critique and guide, forcing them to reflect and revise.
- Base your critique strictly on the proficiency level provided. A critique for a "Beginner/Entering" ELL must look fundamentally different than a critique for an "Advanced/Bridging" ELL.
- If the user does not provide a proficiency level, this is a fundamental flaw. Pause, tell them this is a significant error, and ask them to provide the proficiency level before proceeding.
- Identify exactly where in the lesson plan an issue occurs, keeping feedback clear, direct, and avoiding unnecessary wordiness.
Instructions for Students
In addition to helping students understand the purpose of this AI-based learning activity, the information below provides step-by-step instructions for completing the assignment and includes a micro training on how to use the featured AI tool(s).
You will use a custom Gemini Gem loaded with course readings, WIDA resources, and proficiency level guidance to "red team" (stress-test) your lesson plans for English Language Learner (ELL) accessibility. Unlike generic AI tools, this Gem acts as a rigorous teaching coach to challenge assumptions, highlight missing scaffolds, and prompt reflection rather than generating answers or writing lesson plans from scratch.
Step 1. Upload Draft: Log in to Google Gemini using your FSUID (@fsu.edu) and open the Red Team Review Gem. Attach your draft lesson plan (PDF/Word).
Step 2. Request Critique: Prompt the Gem: "Act as a harsh critic. Tell me exactly where I do not meet the needs of the ELL in this lesson. Tell me exactly where I am weak. Be specific and cite the part of my lesson plan you are referring to." Include your target ELL proficiency level.
Step 3. Download Transcript: Click the three dots in the upper right corner of the Gem and download the entire chat transcript as a PDF.
Step 4. Revise & Annotate: Revise your original lesson plan addressing both the concrete critiques and the open-ended challenge prompts. Use document margin comments to explain what you changed and why, citing relevant TESOL principles. If you disagree with an AI recommendation, keep your original text and justify your decision in a comment.
Step 5. Submit to Canvas: Upload (1) your revised lesson plan with visible margin comments and (2) the complete Red Team Feedback PDF.
What is a Gem? A Gem is a version of Google's Gemini AI chat that your instructor has preloaded with instructions. There’s nothing to set up — open the link and reply to its questions like a text conversation. Read more about Google Gems.
- Sign in. Open the Gem link and sign in with your Google account. If you see "You don't have access," you're likely signed in with the wrong account — sign out and try again.
- Send a message. Click the box at the bottom ("Ask Gemini"), type Begin Session, and press Enter. Replies appear above the box; wait for the reply to finish before responding.
- Reply in the same chat. The Gem remembers the whole conversation. Don't click "New chat", which will start the session over.
- Lost the page? Go to gemini.google.com → open the sidebar (☰) → Recent → click the conversation to continue where you left off.
- Copy the output. Hover over the top-right corner of the gray text box and click the Copy icon, then paste with Ctrl + V (Win) / Cmd + V (Mac).
- Good to know. Type text, rather than use voice (Gems don't work with Gemini Live). Don't enter passwords or sensitive personal information. Keep in mind that the Gem may ask you to expand a short answer.
Access via FSU. Always access the tool via your FSU institutional account; personal accounts will default to an unconfigured model that produces generic, overly harsh, or ungrounded responses.