A tutoring session notes template, filled in so you can see how it reads

Before the lesson: a short plan on the same board

Searches for a "tutoring lesson plan template" want the opposite end of the lesson from a session note. The note records what happened. A plan decides what will happen, and it only needs to fit on the board you will teach from. The Stanford National Student Support Accelerator's example session structure (nssa.stanford.edu, read November 2, 2026) gives a pattern most plans follow, from a warm-up to a short check at the end:

Put the plan at the top of the student's board before the lesson, write the objective in one sentence, and fill in the last line only as the lesson ends. Then the plan and the note are the same board: the plan is above, the note is below, and next week's plan starts from the "next task" you wrote.

1. 1Open last week's note and read the next task.
2. 2Write today's objective at the top of the board, in one sentence the student could say back.
3. 3Choose one worked example and two or three practice problems. Put them on the board or paste a photo of the worksheet.
4. 4Write the closing question that checks the objective.
5. 5After the lesson, fill in the five fields below and leave the plan where it is.

This is a plan for one student, not a lesson-plan generator and not a curriculum. Instaboard has no AI that writes lessons and no lesson library, so the content comes from you. For setting up the call, the pen and the worksheet, see online tutoring setup and how to teach math online.

The five things worth writing down

Tutoring guides that publish session-note templates agree on a short list. SubSchool's guide (July 2026) says a useful note answers five questions, and practice.org's tutor blog builds its notes around six, starting with the intended outcome. Our template keeps the five:

What a filled note looks like

Here is the note on the board above, written out. Sam is invented: a grade 6 reading student working on the main idea of a passage.

Two habits make this useful. The mistake line names the idea ("picked a detail"), not a verdict ("weak at reading"). The evidence line says how much help was needed, so next week you can see whether it dropped.

The note for a parent

A parent note is not the full note. SubSchool's guide suggests a brief update on the focus, what the learner showed and the next step, in plain words and without a list of errors. Three sentences do it:

1. 1The focus: what you practised.
2. 2The evidence: what the student showed, with a number if you have one.
3. 3The next step: what happens next lesson.

You can paste those sentences into a message, or send the board link and let the parent read the note there. Anyone with the link can view the board without an account.

What to leave out of a note

• Labels such as "lazy" or "bad at reading". They give you no next step and can shape how you teach the student later.
• A minute-by-minute diary. Write what changes the next lesson.
• Private details. Use a first name only. Free boards are opened by a link, and anyone who has the link can view; invite-only boards are on Pro.

SubSchool's guide also tells tutors to collect only notes that serve teaching or a real business need and to handle student information carefully. How long you keep notes and what you may store depends on your country, school or agency, so check those rules yourself.

Use the board as your notes in five steps

1. 1Open the notes board above and make it yours.
2. 2Rename it for one student and replace Sam's note with a real one after your lesson. Use a first name only.
3. 3Add each lesson as a new dated note below the last one, so the history stays in one place.
4. 4Copy the parent note into a message, or send the board link.
5. 5Open the same board at the next lesson and start from the next task you wrote.

If you already teach on a board, put the notes on the lesson board itself so the lesson and its note live together. A tutoring whiteboard guide and how to teach math online show how a lesson board is laid out. Once a month, a parent usually wants more than one lesson's note: see our tutoring progress report template for the monthly version.

Track what's covered across lessons

A session note records one lesson. Tutors also ask a second question: how do I remember what we have covered over months? When a tutor asked this on r/iTalki in July 2026, the replies showed several habits, and none was the same. These are individual tutors' and students' practices, not a standard.

• One document per student. One tutor keeps a Google Doc per student with notes, feedback, homework and a plan for next class, and starts a new one at about 100 pages. They say students rarely open it, but it is valuable when they do.
• A private notebook. Another tutor keeps a private OneNote with a couple of lines after each lesson: what they did, what the student struggled with, what is next. It is not shared.
• A new tab per lesson. One student described a tutor who uses a Google Doc with a tab for each lesson and a sub-tab for homework, which the student looks back at.
• A tracker plus a labelled whiteboard. One tutor keeps a class tracker spreadsheet and an ongoing whiteboard with each lesson labelled.

The same need showed up on r/Preply in July 2026, where a tutor asked for a private "plan for next lesson" field. Replies named spreadsheets, Google Docs or Sheets, Notion, Airtable and paper notebooks. One reply said the platform has a private notes section for tutors; another said the notes section inside the classroom was no use to them. We have not checked what either platform offers today.

On Instaboard, the last habit in the list is the one that fits. Keep one ongoing board per student and add a labelled block for each lesson:

1. 1Label each block with the date and the topic, for example "Nov 2: main idea".
2. 2Put the five fields inside the block, and the next task last.
3. 3Add the next lesson to the right or below, so the board reads like a timeline of lessons.
4. 4Before the lesson, read only the last block. Read earlier ones when you want to see a repeated mistake.
5. 5Write the next task before the call ends, while the student is still there. One tutor in the r/iTalki thread posts a short "next time" hook in the lesson chat, such as "next time: asking for directions".

What a board does not do: you cannot search across students or across old lessons, there is no spreadsheet view or chart, and after many lessons the board is long to scroll. A free account has 5 boards, so one board per student suits a handful of students. Some tutors on those threads use a spreadsheet for the cross-student view and keep the lesson detail somewhere else; that is a sensible split.

When another format is the better choice

• You have many students and want to search or sort across them. A spreadsheet or tutoring log is better than one board per student. Instaboard's free plan has 5 boards.
• You want reports sent automatically. Tutoring management software such as Tutorbase describes templates and automated report delivery for tutoring centers. Instaboard sends nothing for you.
• You keep notes only for yourself. A plain document or a phone note is quicker to write.
• A school or funder requires a specific form or records system. Use theirs.

Instaboard fits when you already teach on a board, you have a handful of students, and you want one link with the lesson, the note and the next task.

What Instaboard doesn't do for notes

• No progress tracking. It won't chart scores or compare lessons. The note is manual.
• No reminders, scheduling or automatic parent emails.
• No recording of the lesson, and no AI summaries.
• Free covers 5 boards. One board per student fits five students; each imported PDF uses one of the five. Cards and lists count toward 150 items across your account, while pen strokes don't. Pro lifts the limits.
• Students and parents sign in only to write. Anyone with the link can view; writing needs a free sign-in.
• Free boards are shared by link. Invite-only boards are on Pro.

Questions