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How to Use AI to Generate Lesson Plans

Lesson planning is one of the most time-consuming parts of teaching, and one of the areas where AI delivers the most immediate value for educators. Teachers use AI to generate complete lesson plans from a topic and grade level, create varied activities for different learning styles, design assessments that test genuine understanding, differentiate content for different ability levels, and produce discussion questions that spark real engagement. What used to take hours can now take minutes, freeing teachers to spend more time on the human parts of their job that actually require them.

5 Best Prompts for Generating Lesson Plans to Ask Claude or ChatGPT

Copy any prompt below and paste it directly into your AI of choice.

  1. Prompt 01 · Full lesson plan

    "I need a lesson plan for [subject] on the topic of [topic] for [grade level]. The lesson is [X] minutes long. Learning objectives: [what students should be able to do]. Can you create a complete plan with: an opening hook, direct instruction, a student activity, a check for understanding, and a closing summary?"

    Best for: a complete, ready-to-use lesson plan from a topic and objective.

  2. Prompt 02 · Varied activities for different learners

    "I am teaching [topic] to [grade level]. Can you suggest 5 different activities for this topic catering to different learning styles: one visual, one auditory, one kinesthetic, one collaborative, and one for independent work -- each taking roughly [X] minutes?"

    Best for: building a toolkit of varied activities rather than relying on the same format.

  3. Prompt 03 · Design a discussion

    "I am teaching [topic] to [grade level]. Can you generate 10 discussion questions that range from basic comprehension to higher-order thinking -- questions requiring students to analyze, evaluate, or apply the content, not just recall it?"

    Best for: sparking genuine class discussion.

  4. Prompt 04 · Differentiate for ability levels

    "I am teaching [topic] to a mixed-ability class. Can you take this core content: [describe] and create three versions -- below grade level, at grade level, and extension -- adjusting complexity while keeping the same learning objective?"

    Best for: serving the full range of students without three separate plans.

  5. Prompt 05 · Create an assessment

    "I have just taught a unit on [topic] to [grade level]. Can you create a short assessment with a mix of question types: multiple choice, short answer, and one open-ended question requiring application or analysis -- testing genuine understanding, not just recall?"

    Best for: assessments that tell you whether students understood, not just memorized.