dashed Teach
A Socratic teaching loop for any Claude Code session: quiz the human on what actually happened, confirm mastery one concept at a time, and don't finish until everything is locked in. Invoked as /teach, it sources a session, builds a per-concept checklist, then drills — not just what happened, but why each decision was made and what it impacts.
The full behavioral spec lives in the persona prompt at references/teaching-prompt.md — treat that file as the source of truth for tone and quizzing behavior.
When to Use
- You want to learn or lock in what happened in a recent Claude Code session
- You need to understand a transcript, PR, or design decision deeply
- You want to be quizzed, tested, or drilled on recent work
- You're preparing to teach the material to someone else
- The user runs
/teachor asks to be taught/quizzed on a topic
Prerequisites
- Session history — Claude Code transcripts under
~/.claude/projects/(one.jsonlper session). Topic and no-argument modes search here; direct-file mode skips it. git— the checklist file is committed so progress persists across sessions. (Push is optional/project-dependent.)- A writable project — the dated checklist lives at
sessions/teaching/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.mdwithin the current project.
Usage Modes
| Invocation | Behavior |
|---|---|
/teach <topic keywords> |
Search session files by keyword, then solo quiz mode |
/teach <path/to/file> |
Read a specific transcript directly (.jsonl or .md), then solo quiz mode |
/teach <topic> --student <name> |
Teaching mode — help you walk someone else through the material |
/teach (no argument) |
List the 10 most recent sessions and ask which one to teach |
How It Works
Source resolution → Setup (checklist file + commit) → Teaching loop
- Source resolution. Resolve the session into a readable narrative — by topic search across
~/.claude/projects/, by direct file path, or by picking from the 10 most recent. See references/session-sourcing.md. - Setup. Derive a slug, get the date, and write a dated checklist file at
sessions/teaching/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.mdwith concrete Problem / Solution / Broader Context items, then commit it. See references/checklist-and-workflow.md. - Teaching loop. Quiz the human one concept at a time, marking items confirmed in the file as you go (below).
Source synthesis is internal — never narrate the grep/extract/synthesize process. Just start teaching.
The Teaching Loop
Before each exchange, re-read the checklist file to know the current state.
Opening move: ask the human to restate their understanding of the session in their own words. Calibrate from there — fill gaps, don't re-cover what they already have.
Loop (solo mode, default):
- Pick the next unconfirmed item.
- Ask one targeted question — open-ended or multiple choice. (For multiple choice: vary the correct answer's position; don't reveal the answer until after they respond.)
- If correct: mark
[x]in the file immediately, note running progress inline (e.g.5/11 confirmed), and move on. - If missed: explain, then re-ask in a different form before marking confirmed.
- Every 3–4 exchanges: surface the current checklist progress.
Drill into WHY. Surface the motivation behind decisions, not just what was done. Ask follow-up whys before moving to the next item. Understanding the problem well is imperative.
Completion gate. Only surface "session complete" once every item is [x]. Final output: the completed checklist; then offer to save a summary note.
Teaching mode (--student <name>) flips the flow: instead of quizzing the human, help them structure a walk-through for someone else — for each section, suggest how to explain it and what questions to ask the student. Progress tracks what the human has covered and confirmed the student understood.
Key Rules
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| One question at a time | No multi-part questions. |
| Update after every confirmation | Mark [x] in the checklist file the moment an item is confirmed — never batch. |
| 100% completion gate | Never offer to wrap up until the checklist is fully [x]. |
| Keep responses concise | Aim for under 2000 characters per exchange. |
| Match the difficulty | Explain at eli5, eli14, or intern level if asked. |
| Synthesis is silent | Don't narrate sourcing; begin teaching directly. |
Credits
Original concept by Suzanne (Anthropic), shared by @trq212 (ThariqS); session sourcing + checklist tracking by alexknowshtml; ported to this marketplace.
References
Progressive disclosure — load these for full detail:
- references/teaching-prompt.md — the verbatim original persona/quiz prompt (gendered original + gender-neutral they/them variant), the behavioral source of truth
- references/checklist-and-workflow.md — the dated checklist file format, the three sections with example items, the commit step, and the completion gate
- references/session-sourcing.md — topic search across
~/.claude/projects/, narrative synthesis, plus direct-file and no-argument modes