Administrators Guide to Writing Observation Feedback Teachers Actually Want to Read

You've just spent 45 minutes in a classroom. Your notebook is full of shorthand, timestamps, and half-finished thoughts. Now comes the part that keeps administrators up at night: turning those raw observation notes into feedback that a teacher will actually read, reflect on, and use to grow.

This guide covers the complete observation-to-feedback workflow — from what to capture during the observation itself, to structuring your write-up, to delivering feedback that feels like coaching rather than surveillance. It's designed for administrators who want their teacher observation feedback to matter, not just exist.

Table of Contents

• During the Observation: What to Actually Write Down
• The 15-Minute Feedback Framework
• Structuring Your Write-Up
• Voice and Tone: Writing Feedback That Feels Like Coaching
• The Longitudinal Piece: Building a Growth Story
• Templates for Different Observation Types
• What If This Whole Process Took 15 Minutes?
• FAQ

During the Observation: What to Actually Write Down

Most administrators try to capture everything during a classroom observation. They script teacher questions, note student behaviors, track transitions, record what's on the board — and end up with three pages of notes that take an hour to sort through later.

Stop trying to capture everything. Start trying to capture what matters.

The Four Things Worth Writing Down

1. Specific quotes (3-5 maximum)

Exact language from the teacher or students is the most powerful evidence you can include in feedback. When a teacher reads their own words reflected back to them, they know you were paying attention.

Write down:

• A question the teacher asked that sparked engagement (or fell flat)
• A student response that revealed understanding or confusion
• Directions the teacher gave during a transition
• A coaching moment between the teacher and an individual student

2. Timestamps for key moments

You don't need a minute-by-minute log. Note the time when:

• The lesson shifts between phases (direct instruction → guided practice → independent work)
• A notable student engagement moment happens
• A management issue arises or is handled well
• The teacher checks for understanding

These timestamps serve two purposes: they help you reconstruct the lesson flow when writing feedback, and they give your feedback credibility ("At 10:15, when you shifted to group work...").

3. One strength you want to highlight

During the observation, identify the single most impactful thing the teacher did well. Not three things — one. The one that, if the teacher knew you noticed, would reinforce their best instincts.

Write a brief note about what you saw, what the teacher did, and how students responded.

4. One growth opportunity you noticed

Similarly, identify the single highest-leverage area for improvement. The one change that would make the biggest difference for students. Not the five things you could mention — the one that matters most right now.

Write what you observed, why it matters, and what an alternative approach might look like.

What NOT to Write During Observations

• Don't try to script every word the teacher says
• Don't evaluate in real-time ("This was good" / "This needs work") — just describe what you see
• Don't write your feedback during the observation — that's for afterward
• Don't get so absorbed in note-taking that you miss what's happening in the room

The goal during the observation is to gather raw material, not to produce a finished product.

The 15-Minute Feedback Framework

Here's the step-by-step process for turning your observation notes into structured feedback quickly. This framework works whether you're writing a formal evaluation or a brief walkthrough summary.

Minutes 0-2: Identify Your Lead

Before you start writing, answer two questions:

1. What is the one most important strength I want this teacher to hear?
2. What is the one most important growth area I want this teacher to work on?

Everything else in your feedback supports these two anchors. If you can't answer these questions in 2 minutes, your observation notes need more focus next time.

Minutes 2-8: Draft the Core

Write three paragraphs:

Paragraph 1 — Context and Strengths: Set the scene briefly (date, class, topic) and lead with your strength observation. Use specific evidence — a quote, a timestamp, a student behavior. Explain why this matters for student learning.

Paragraph 2 — Growth Area: Present your growth observation with evidence. Frame it as an opportunity, not a deficiency. Connect it to a broader teaching skill or goal. Be specific about what you observed and what the impact was on students.

Paragraph 3 — Next Steps: Offer one concrete, actionable recommendation. Include what to try, when to try it, and what support you'll provide. Make the path forward visible and achievable.

Minutes 8-12: Add Connection

This is what separates good feedback from great feedback. Spend a few minutes adding longitudinal context:

• Reference a prior observation or coaching conversation
• Connect the growth area to the teacher's stated professional goals
• Note improvement from a previous visit ("In October, I noticed... Today, I saw...")
• Link the feedback to school-wide instructional priorities

If this is your first observation of this teacher, connect to their self-assessment, their onboarding conversations, or the school's instructional focus areas.

Minutes 12-15: Review and Humanize

Read through your draft once, checking for:

• Specificity: Could this feedback apply to any teacher, or is it clearly about this one? If you could swap in another name and the feedback would still work, it's too generic.
• Tone: Does it sound like a colleague who cares, or an evaluator filling out a form? Read it as if you were the teacher receiving it.
• Balance: Does the growth area feel manageable, or overwhelming? One area with depth beats three areas with surface-level mentions.
• Action: Does the teacher know exactly what to do next? If the forward-looking section is vague, make it specific.

Structuring Your Write-Up

Opening: Context and Positives

Start with a brief orientation — when you visited, what class you observed, what was happening — and immediately move to strengths. Teachers read the opening to calibrate: "Is this going to be helpful or threatening?" Starting with genuine, specific praise answers that question.

Example opening:

"I visited your 3rd period AP Biology class on Tuesday, February 11th. You were leading students through an enzyme kinetics lab, and I was immediately struck by how independently students moved through the lab protocol. They referenced the procedure sheet you'd prepared without needing verbal reminders, which told me your pre-lab instruction was effective and your expectations were clear."

Body: Specific Observations with Growth Framing

The body is where most administrators get stuck — either writing too much (trying to document everything) or too little (staying so vague it's unhelpful). The fix is to pick one growth area and go deep.

Structure for the growth section:

1. What you observed (specific, descriptive, non-judgmental)
2. Why it matters (the connection to student learning)
3. What an alternative approach might look like (concrete, actionable)

Example body:

"During the data analysis portion of the lab, I noticed students working in pairs but rarely discussing their observations with each other. Most pairs divided the work — one student recorded data while the other manipulated variables — without engaging in the scientific discourse that makes lab work meaningful. When you circulated, you asked 'How's it going?' which students answered with 'Good' or 'Fine.'

The opportunity here is in your questioning during circulation. Instead of check-in questions, try targeted prompts that push students to articulate their thinking: 'What pattern are you noticing in your data?' or 'How does this result compare to your hypothesis?' These questions force the kind of scientific reasoning that AP exam free-response questions require."

Closing: Concrete Next Steps and Support

End with something the teacher can do, and something you'll do to support them.

Example closing:

"For your next lab, try preparing 3-4 discussion prompts on a card that you carry as you circulate. Use them consistently with each group so every student gets pushed to think out loud about their data. I'd also suggest having students write a brief 'claim-evidence-reasoning' paragraph at the end of the lab — it builds the scientific writing skills they'll need for the AP exam.

I'd like to stop by during next Thursday's lab to see how the discussion prompts work. I'll just be there as a second set of eyes — no formal observation, just coaching support. Let me know if Thursday works."

Voice and Tone: Writing Feedback That Feels Like Coaching

The difference between feedback that gets filed and feedback that gets used often comes down to voice. Here's how to write like a coach rather than an evaluator:

Use "I" Statements

• Evaluator: "The teacher should implement more formative assessment strategies."
• Coach: "I noticed there weren't formal check-ins during the direct instruction portion. I think adding one or two quick comprehension checks would help you catch misconceptions earlier."

Describe Before You Prescribe

Always share what you observed before suggesting what to change. Teachers resist feedback that jumps straight to "do this differently" without first establishing that you actually saw and understood what happened.

Name the Strength Behind the Struggle

When addressing a growth area, acknowledge the positive instinct behind it. "Your impulse to help struggling students is clearly genuine — I saw you spend extra time with Jamal's group. The adjustment I'd suggest is in how you help: instead of re-explaining the concept, try asking Jamal to explain what he does understand first."

Be Direct, Not Harsh

Don't bury the growth area in so many compliments that the teacher misses it. And don't soften it so much that it loses meaning. Say what you mean clearly, with care.

• Too soft: "You might maybe want to consider perhaps looking at how transitions could potentially be a little smoother."
• Too harsh: "Transitions were chaotic and wasted significant instructional time."
• Just right: "Transitions took 4-5 minutes each, which added up to about 15 minutes of lost instructional time across the period. A clear signal and a timed expectation ('You have 60 seconds to be in your groups with materials ready') would tighten this up significantly."

Write Less, Mean More

A focused 400-word observation that nails one strength and one growth area with specific evidence will change a teacher's practice. A 1,500-word narrative that covers everything won't. When in doubt, cut.

The Longitudinal Piece: Building a Growth Story

The most powerful observation feedback doesn't stand alone — it builds on what came before. When feedback references prior observations, the teacher experiences evaluation as an ongoing development relationship rather than a series of isolated judgments.

What Longitudinal Feedback Sounds Like

"In our September observation, I noted that wait time after questions was an area to develop — you were averaging about 1 second before calling on a student. Today, I counted 4-5 seconds of wait time consistently, and the difference in student participation was striking. Seven different students contributed to the discussion, compared to three in September. This is significant growth.

Building on this success, the next move is to focus on what happens after the student responds. Right now, you tend to evaluate the answer immediately ('Good' or 'Not quite'). Try adding a follow-up: 'Tell me more about that' or 'Who agrees or disagrees with Sarah's point?' This keeps the thinking going rather than closing it down."

The Challenge: Memory

The reason most administrators don't write longitudinal feedback is practical, not philosophical. They believe in it. They just can't remember what they wrote three months ago for each of 40 teachers, pull up the prior evaluation, re-read it, identify patterns, and weave all of that into new feedback — on top of actually writing the current observation.

This is a system problem, not a people problem.

What If This Whole Process Took 15 Minutes?

Everything in this guide — the strategic note-taking, the structured write-up, the longitudinal connections, the coaching tone — is what great feedback looks like. It's also what takes 1-2 hours per observation when you do it manually.

Trellis was built to make this process sustainable. You take your observation notes — typed or audio-recorded — and Trellis transforms them into structured, personalized feedback that follows the exact principles in this guide. It maintains longitudinal teacher profiles automatically, so every observation builds on the last. It aligns feedback to your framework. And it keeps you in control — you review, edit, and approve everything before a teacher sees it.

The administrators using Trellis in pilot programs report spending about 15 minutes per observation write-up instead of 1-2 hours, with feedback quality that actually improves because the system remembers what they can't.

As one pilot administrator put it: "It's like having the coach I always wanted to be but never had time to become."

Try Trellis free →

FAQ

How detailed should my observation notes be?

Focus on quality over quantity. Capture 3-5 specific quotes or moments, timestamps for key transitions, one strength, and one growth area. Notes that are too detailed become a burden to process afterward. Notes that are too sparse don't give you enough material for specific feedback. Aim for one page of focused observations.

How do I handle observation feedback when a teacher is on an improvement plan?

When documentation matters for employment decisions, be especially specific and factual. Describe exactly what you observed without editorializing. Reference the improvement plan goals explicitly and note progress or lack of progress against those specific benchmarks. Have your HR department review feedback before delivery, and always deliver it in person with a witness if required by your district policy.

What's the difference between walkthrough feedback and formal observation feedback?

Walkthroughs are shorter visits (5-15 minutes) and typically warrant shorter feedback — 2-3 sentences highlighting one observation and one suggestion. Formal observations are longer and require more comprehensive write-ups. The same framework (Specific → Connected → Forward-Looking) works for both, scaled to the depth of the visit.

Should I take notes on a laptop or by hand during observations?

Both work. Laptops allow faster capture and easier organization afterward. Handwriting can feel less intrusive to the teacher and students. Some administrators prefer tablets with a stylus as a middle ground. Audio recording (where permitted) eliminates the note-taking dilemma entirely — you stay present in the room and capture everything.

How do I write feedback that aligns with evaluation frameworks without sounding robotic?

Start with what you observed in plain language, then connect it to the framework — not the other way around. Instead of "Domain 3, Component 3b: Developing — The teacher uses a mix of question types but does not consistently employ wait time," write your specific observation first and add the framework reference as context: "Your questioning during the discussion showed strong variety — you moved between factual recall and analytical questions naturally. The area to develop is wait time (connecting to Domain 3b) — adding 3-5 seconds after each question would increase the range of students who participate."