Plan a Lesson With AI in 15 Minutes

For Teachers · للمعلمين · 6-minute read

AI can give you a first draft of a lesson in seconds. The skill is turning that draft into a lesson that fits your students. This 15-minute routine keeps you in charge of the thinking and lets AI do the typing.

Minutes 0–3 · Decide what the lesson is for

Before you open any AI tool, write three things on paper:

• One learning objective students should achieve by the end of the lesson.
• Your class in one sentence: grade, level, lesson length. No names or personal details.
• How you will know they learned it: a short task, exit ticket or question.

Minutes 3–6 · Write a clear prompt

Vague prompts give generic lessons. Give the AI a role, the context, the task and the format you want. Copy and adapt this example:

You are an experienced secondary English teacher.
Plan a 45-minute lesson for Grade 11 (B1 level).
Objective: students can use the present perfect continuous to talk about recent activities.
Include: a 5-minute warm-up, clear explanation with 3 examples,
guided practice, a short speaking task and a 3-question exit ticket.
Add one support activity and one challenge activity.
Use simple, classroom-ready language. Present it as a table with timings.

Minutes 6–10 · Review it like a teacher

AI output is a draft, not a finished lesson. Check four things:

• Accuracy: are the grammar rules, examples and answers correct?
• Level: is the language right for your students, not too easy or too hard?
• Fit: does it match your curriculum, textbook unit and school context?
• Time: can it really be done in your lesson time?

If something is wrong, don’t start again. Ask for a specific change: “Make the examples about school life in Qatar” or “Shorten the explanation to 5 minutes.”

Minutes 10–13 · Differentiate and check learning

• Support: sentence starters, a word bank or a worked example.
• Core: the main task for most students.
• Challenge: a more open task, such as writing their own examples.
• Formative assessment: decide when you will check understanding during the lesson, not only at the end.

Minutes 13–15 · Finalise and save your prompt

Put the final plan in your own format and save the prompt that worked. Next time, change only the objective and level, and your planning gets faster every week.

Free download

Want a ready-made structure? Download our free AI Lesson-Planning Prompt Template, or ask about training for your department.