that talks backWriting Coach
The real writing process, the way it looks on test day: a passage, a prompt, and a blank box. You choose the text, the parts of the process Helga helps with, and what a finished essay has to have before a student can submit.
1
Grade band
2
Text & prompt
3
What Helga helps with
4
Assign
1. Grade band
Sets the wording students see and the rubric term for the main idea.
2. Text and prompt
Pick from the library, or bring your own passage and prompt.
Pick from the WRITE it! libraryReal passages with a prompt already attached. Filtered to the grade band you chose in Step 1.
Using from the library. Its prompt travels with the assignment.
or bring your own
3. What Helga helps with
Each part is independent. Prompt analysis and read to write run before the box; the rest happen inside it.
Before the boxThe same library activities, unchanged. They run first, in this order, and each must be completed before the next unlocks.
In the boxHelga is only on the page when at least one of these is on.
Requirements before SubmitPrefilled from the grade band. Students see these as a checklist that updates as they type; Submit is held until they are met.
Students may ask Helga questions
The question button: answered on the device from the rubric rules, no tokens spent.
AI reads of the student's writing. The same text is never sent twice and there is a minute between reads.
4. Assign
Save a draft to finish later, or assign now and share the code.
About HelgaThe questions she answers for free, and what a read costs
Helga reads the way the state's scorer will. She never writes for the student.
| Student asks | Helga checks, on the device |
|---|---|
| I don’t know what to write next | The first requirement still missing, and what that paragraph’s job is. |
| Is my main idea on the prompt? | The first paragraph against the prompt’s key words: green, on track, drifting, or off-prompt (a 0). |
| Do I have enough evidence? | A quoted run, or six words in a row that also appear in the passage, in each body paragraph. |
| Am I about to get a zero? | TEA condition codes: blank, under nine words, refusal, repeated or copied text, off-prompt. |
| How do I end this? | The two jobs of a conclusion, in the grade band’s own term for the main idea. |
| Which paragraph is my strongest? (revising) | Quote, sentence count and prompt key words per paragraph. A measurement, not praise. |
| Where is my evidence weakest? (revising) | The body paragraph with no quote, or the thinnest explanation after one. |
| Am I still on the prompt? (revising) | The whole essay against the prompt, and any paragraph that never uses a key word. |
| Read one sentence aloud with me (editing) | The longest sentence in the box, the one most likely to be a run-on. |
| Check my capitals and end marks (editing) | Lowercase sentence starts, a lone “i”, paragraphs with no end mark, sentences over 40 words, doubled words. |
Read my writing is the only thing that spends tokens. While drafting, only the paragraph the student is in travels. While revising or editing, the whole essay travels, capped. Six reads per student unless you change it, one a minute, and the same text is never sent twice.
The read uses a small, fast model with a short capped reply and a cached instruction set. A whole class working a full period costs cents, not dollars.
Every read is logged with the essay. Open a submission and the Coaching tab shows what Helga told each student.
Essays auto-save as students type and sync to their session, so a student can pick up tomorrow with the resume code from any device.