Watch: Lesson Planner
Lessons feature in Atlas is an optional feature, if enabled, you can start developing lessons either via:
- My Atlas > My Courses > select a course > select a unit > Show Lesson button > Unit Lessons List, click here to learn more about the unit Lesson Planner.
Or
- My Atlas > My Lessons, click here to learn more about My Lessons.
To enable this feature for your Atlas site, please contact us at support@onatlas.com.
Lesson Permissions
Once a lesson has been added, faculty will have different privileges to view, edit, copy, delete the lesson depending on their role:
- The lesson editor has full control to edit, view, copy, and delete the lesson.
- Teachers collaborating on the same course can view lesson details and copy lessons added by other teachers of the course, but cannot edit lessons they're not assigned to. However, they can delete lessons created by their colleagues especially if the lessons are not needed anymore.
- Users with Special Editing Privileges (usually administrators) are treated as course collaborators (as above). If you’re a system admin who regularly reviews lesson details, click here to add Special Editing Privileges for yourself.
- Other users (including system administrators) who are not collaborators on the course will only see the lesson titles. Details of the lesson (including the lesson description, attachments and aligned standards) will not be visible.
PLEASE NOTE: We can enable a feature where ALL lessons are viewable by ALL users. A school leadership team member should email us at support@onatlas.com. Keep in mind that it would enable a universal copy feature for lessons. Meaning, all users can copy any lesson they view to their own courses.
- Lesson data is not included in Atlas Reports, such as Standards Analysis, Assessment, or Scope & Sequence reports.
- Lessons will become part of your school's Curriculum Archive at the end of the year. Lessons will move forward with units into the new year, but an archived copy will be part of the archived units.
- When a lesson editor leaves Atlas, their lessons can be:
- Copied by the course collaborators. The copies can be edited.
- Deleted by the other lesson editors, if none, then the course collaborators. View the lesson, and go to Actions > Move to Recycle Bin.
Add a New Lesson
From My Atlas > My Courses > select a course > select a unit > Show Lessons > Unit Lesson List > Add New Lesson:
Or
From My Atlas > My Lessons > Add New Lesson:
- Required: Enter a Lesson Title.
- Required: Select a course.
- Optional: Select a unit. You can later assign your lesson to a unit when you're developing the lesson via Actions > Edit Lesson Settings. Learn more about it in "Assign a no-unit lesson to a unit" section on this page.
- Optional: Enter the Duration of the lesson by choosing the date you will begin teaching it and finish it. This can be adjusted at any time when you're developing the lesson (in EDIT mode).
- Optional: Select more lesson editor. If none selected, you'll be the only user who can edit this lesson. This can be adjusted at any time, read more about adding editors in "Add Collaborator(s) to a Lesson" section on this page.
Click Save and you'll be directed back to the page you started from. Click on the title of the new lesson to start developing your lesson.
Develop a Lesson
1. Align your lesson to the standards by clicking Choose Standards. You can select from Unit Targeted Standards. Or you can align to standards not targeted in this unit under Additional Standards.
2. Enter the Lesson Details. This box has the same functionality as any free text box category in your Unit Planner. You can use lesson templates in this box, learn more about it in "Manage Lesson Templates" section on this page.
This category enables you to input or paste your curriculum data in a written format. Categories such as Essential Questions, Enduring Understandings, Skills, etc. Each text box has various rich text editing and formatting capabilities you can use to organize your text.
The available formatting options in each free text box category:
1. Text color: Change the color of the text to emphasize or differentiate content.
2. Text background: Highlight text with a background color for emphasis.
3. Bold: Make text bold to highlight key information or titles.
4. Italic: Italicize text to emphasize certain words or phrases.
5. Underline: Add an underline to text for additional emphasis or to denote links.
6. Strikethrough: Draw a line through text to indicate deletion or correction.
7. Insert horizontal line: Add a horizontal line to separate sections of text.
8. Subscript: Position text slightly below the baseline, often used for chemical formulas or mathematical notations.
9. Superscript: Position text slightly above the baseline, often used for exponents or ordinal indicators.
10. Ordered list: Create a numbered list for items that need a specific sequence.
11. Unordered list: Create a bulleted list for items that do not require a specific order.
12. Align left: Align text to the left margin for a standard look.
13. Align center: Center-align text for headings or emphasis.
14. Align right: Align text to the right margin for stylistic purposes.
15. Increase indent: Indent text to the right, often used for quotations or nested lists.
16. Decrease indent: Reduce the indentation of text to the left.
17. Insert table: Add a table to organize data in rows and columns.
18. Insert link: Add a hyperlink to text for quick access to web pages or documents.
19. Insert image: Embed an image within the text to enhance the content visually.
20. Insert video: Embed a video within the text to provide multimedia content.
21. Insert a math equation - MathType: Add complex mathematical equations using MathType. To learn more about building math equations using this tool, click here.
22. Insert a chemistry formula - ChemType: Add chemical formulas using ChemType. To learn more about building chemistry formulas using this tool, click here.
23. Text direction: Change the direction of text for languages written from right to left.
24. Reset style: Remove all formatting from selected text to revert to the default style.
25. Undo: Reverse the most recent change you made to the text.
26. Redo: Reapply the most recent change you made to the text
Ground Rules for successful usage of the rich text editor:
- When copying and pasting from other text editors, use Ctrl+Shift+V (on Windows), or Command+Shift+V (on Mac), to paste without formatting, then format directly in the rich text editor in Atlas.
- Don’t copy images directly into the rich text editor; instead, use the image insertion tool within the tool.
- To undo an action:
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Using Keyboard Shortcuts
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On a PC
- Press Ctrl + Z to undo the last action.
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On a Mac
- Press Cmd (⌘) + Z to undo the last action.
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On a PC
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Using the Mouse
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On a PC:
- Right-click on the area where you want to undo the action.
- Select Undo from the context menu that appears.
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On a Mac:
- Right-click (or Control-click) on the area where you want to undo the action.
- Select Undo from the context menu that appears.
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On a PC:
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Using Keyboard Shortcuts
3. Add Assessments: You can Add New Assessment (in Orange) or Link Unit Assessment (in Blue) to this section. Learn more about it in "Assessments" section on this page.
4. Add an attachment to this lesson by clicking Attachments link below Lesson Details and following the steps to add the file type you want to add.
Atlas will automatically save the work you enter here, but you can also manually save by clicking the Save button at the top of the page.
Collaborative teams can't develop the same lesson at the same time. Once a collaborator edits a lesson, the lesson is locked until they leave the lesson, or after 12 minutes of no activity. Learn more about adding collaborators to your lessons in "Edit Lesson Settings" section on this page.
Application
🔽Assessments
In the Assessments section, teachers can
- Link unit assessments at the lesson level
- Copy and edit unit assessments within lessons
- Create lesson-specific assessments
- Choose from lesson OR unit-specific standards based on the level of assessment being created
Lesson Assessments
Click Add New Assessment to start creating lessons assessments:
You can continue creating this assessment as a "Lesson Assessment" or switch to a "Unit Assessment" and link it directly to this lesson.
1. Add the Assessment Name.
2. Select the Assessment Type, if enabled. The options are customizable and can be modified by Atlas Admins. Click here to learn more about managing the list as an Atlas System Admin.
3. Select an Assessment Method from your school’s approved list. The options are customizable and can be modified by Atlas Admins. Click here to learn more about managing the list as an Atlas System Admin.
4. Select any additional methods you use in the Additional Assessment Methods, if applicable.
5. Add description about your assessment in the Description box.
6. In the right section, check the box(s) to align your assessment to the standards you've targeted in the unit planner, or lessons planner, if applicable.
You may find that your Assessment also targets cross-curricular standards, such as in the case of technology integration. These standards may not be intended targets in your unit, but may be important to identify. Align to these standards in the Additional Standards tab.
7. Click Save to return to your lesson planner.
Lesson Assessments will show up (in orange) at the left side of the section:
- Click the edit icon to edit the lesson-specific assessment.
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Unit Assessments
Click Link Unit Assessment to begin linking the unit's assessments. Select the assessments you want to link to this lesson, then click Save.
Linked Unit Assessments will show up (in blue) at the right side of the section:
🔽Using AI in Lesson Planning
Step 1: Accessing AI Functionality
To utilize the AI functionality, navigate to any lesson where you intend to create content, then click on the AI magic wand icon next to the Details box to open the AI pop-menu.
On the AI pop-menu, you will find a form that allows you to customize the information you want to send to Atlas AI. Feel free to modify any field titles to ensure they accurately reflect the content you intend to generate.
Below the customized fields, you will encounter a list of standards targeted in your lesson:
- Review the standards and un-check any that are used solely as supporting standards, ensuring they are not directly included in your lesson details. Up to 10 Standards are allowed.
- Continue scrolling down to find a section where you can include Additional Information for Atlas AI. For example, you can specify that the content should be written in a student-friendly language and limited to 50 words.
- Once you've customized the AI form to your preferences, click on the "Submit" button. The AI will require some time to process and generate the content based on your inputs.
After the AI has generated the content, you will have the option to review it.
- If satisfied, click the blue "Add to Lesson Description and close window" to include the results in your lesson details box and close the window.
- If further adjustments are needed, write your instructions in the "Type your message ..." field, then click the arrow icon to regenerate the results.
- Alternatively, click the "Start Over" button to return to the AI pop-menu and modify your standards selection or customize the fields.
🔽Show Unit Side-by-side the Lesson Planner
From Lesson Planner:
- Click Show Unit button.
- You can view and edit both the unit and lesson information from this view.
- To exit the side-by-side view, click the side-by-side icon.
You can set-up the unit side by side lesson as your default view in all your units and lessons by clicking on the Actions menu of any unit, then selecting "Set Default Unit View".
Then pick "Unit/Lesson Side-by-side" option on that pop-up menu.
🔽Edit Lesson Settings
The Edit Lesson settings page allows you to update the course or unit your lesson is assigned to, and add lesson collaborators. To navigate here:
- From the lesson you would like to edit, select the Actions drop-down menu
- Select Edit Lesson Settings
To add change the Course or Unit your lesson is assigned to:
- Use the Course drop-down menu to select which course this lesson is assigned to.
- Use the Unit drop-down menu to select which unit this lesson is assigned to.
Only courses you are assigned to as a teacher or curriculum developer will appear in the Course drop-down menu. Only units from the course your lesson is assigned to will appear in the Unit drop-down menu.
To add a lesson collaborator:
- In the Lesson Editor(s) field, type in the first few letters of the collaborator's first or last name. Select the title that pops-up.
- Click Save.
Collaborative teams can't develop the same lesson at the same time. Once a collaborator edits a lesson, the lesson is locked until they leave the lesson, or after 12 minutes of no activity.
Best Practice:
Email your collaborator(s) the lesson path (Course Title, Unit Title, and Lesson Title). Atlas won't notify the new editor(s).
🔽View Only Link for Lesson Plans
Atlas now allows teachers to create dynamic, view-only links for lesson plans, similar to how Google Docs can be shared publicly. This feature lets educators share lesson plans with individuals outside of Atlas, such as students, parents, or community members, offering a streamlined way to access lesson content without requiring an Atlas login.
Key Features:
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Dynamic Links: Once a view-only link is generated, it automatically reflects any updates made to the lesson plan, or attachments. You do not need to reshare the link each time you make changes to the lesson content.
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Public Access: Users do not need an Atlas password to access the lesson via the view-only link. However, it’s important to note that while the link is public, the lesson plans are not indexed by search engines like Google, ensuring that they remain private and are only accessible by individuals with the link.
While viewing any lesson in Atlas, click the Actions menu then select Create a View-Only Link option.
The system will offer the option to enable publishing the attachments in this lesson as well. To make the attachments in this lesson accessible to everyone, check the box next to Allow viewers to see attachments.
When you click Create a new link will be created and placed under the Actions menu. You'll then see a pop-up with the following choices:
- Copy Link: to share it with users outside of Atlas.
- Delete the Link: to stop sharing the link with any users who have access to the link.
- Show attachments: to adjust the attachments visiblity preferences.
The link icon will stay visible in your lesson until you stop sharing it. You can click the icon to change your sharing settings at any time.
🔽Print to PDF
You can export your lessons into PDF by:
- Click the Actions drop-down menu, select Print to PDF.
- Print pop-up will show up, make sure that "Adobe PDF" is selected in the Destination field.
- Click Print.
🔽Submit a lesson for review from the lesson planner
In the VIEW mode of the lesson:
- Click the Actions drop-down menu, select Submit for Review.
- Type in the first few letters of the editor's name, and select the name from the list.
- Click Submit to submit your lesson for review. A Pending Review icon will show up at the top section of the lesson.
🔽Assign a no-unit lesson to a unit
You can create lessons without assigning them to a specific unit. Once you have your unit ready, you can associate your lesson with a unit by doing the followings:
In the EDIT mode of the lessons planner:
- Click the Actions menu, then select Edit Lesson Settings.
- Select a unit in the Unit field, then click Save.
🔽Leave a Comment (visible to all users)
When viewing a map, unit, lesson, or saved report, click the speech bubble in the upper-right corner to access the comments panel. The default tab is Comments (visible to all users).
- Write your comment in the box, size limit is 1000 characters.
- Click Add an Attachment to add resources (Website Link, File Attachment) to your comment.
- Click Post to share your comment, Or Discard to cancel it.
- Comment actions:
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- Click the Close to replies link to prevent replies to your comment. You can later click the Open for replies if you want to allow replies and threaded conversations.
- Click the PENCIL icon to edit your comment.
- Click the X icon to delete your comment.
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- Click X icon at the top right corner of the panel to leave.
🔽Leave a Private Comment
Private Comments are only visible to the comment's author, and the users selected in the recipients list.
When viewing a map, a unit, a lesson, or a saved report, click the speech bubble icon at the top bar to access the comments panel. The default tab is Comments (visible to all users).
- Click the Private Comments tab.
- Select who can see your comment by clicking the To: drop-down list. If you leave the list blank, the comment will be recorded as a "Note-to-self".
- Write your comment in the box, size limit is 1000 characters.
- Click Add an Attachment to add resources (Website Link, File Attachment) to your comment.
- Click Post to share your comment, Or Discard to cancel it.
- Comment actions:
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- Click the Close to replies link to prevent replies to your comment. You can later click the Open for replies if you want to allow replies and threaded conversations.
- Click the PENCIL icon to edit your comment.
- Click the X icon to delete your comment.
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- Click X icon at the top right corner of the panel to leave.
Click here to learn more about Comments, and Private Comments.
🔽Copy Lessons
You can copy your lessons, and lessons created by Curriculum Developers and Teachers assigned to your courses by doing the following:
From Lesson Planner:
- Under the My Lessons list, click on any lesson you would like to copy.
- Select the Copy Lessons option in the Actions drop-down menu.
- In the Copy From section, the desired lesson will be checked off, and you can select more lessons to copy from this unit. You can copy your lessons, and lessons created by Curriculum Developers and Teachers assigned to the same course.
- In the Copy To section, select the desired course. You can copy lessons to your courses only.
- Once a course is selected, all its units will show up. You can select multiple units to receive a copy of the checked-off lesson(s).
- Click Copy to initiate the process.
🔽Add Collaborator(s) to A Lesson
The lesson creator can add another collaborator (s) to edit their lesson.
From Lesson Planner:
- Under the My Lessons list, click on any lesson that you would like to add collaborator(s) to it.
- Select the Edit Lesson Settings option in the Actions drop-down menu.
- In the Lesson Editor(s) field, type in the first few letters of the collaborator's first or last name. Select the title that pops-up.
- Click Save.
Collaborative teams can't develop the same lesson at the same time. Once a collaborator edits a lesson, the lesson is locked until they leave the lesson, or after 12 minutes of no activity.
Best Practice:
Email your collaborator(s) the lesson path (Course Title, Unit Title, and Lesson Title). Atlas won't notify the new editor(s).
🔽Google Classroom Integration
Users can post their Lesson Plans from Atlas into classes they're teaching in Google Classroom.
Best Practice:
- Post lesson agendas, topics, and objectives to your Google Classroom so students or parents can review. This practice helps promote intentional learning.
- Organize your stream in Google Classroom by Topics (which you would title as Units). This makes lessons easy to post to the unit they pertain to.
From your Lesson Plan in VIEW mode:
- Click the Actions menu and select Share to Google Classroom.
- This will take you to your Google Classroom account or ask you to log in to Google Classroom.
- Once logged in, select one of the classes you're teaching.
- Select an Action:
- If your classes were created before the Aug 2018 Google Classroom update, you will have three actions: Create assignment, Ask a question, and Make an announcement. (Old G Classroom Version)
- If your classes were created after the Aug 2018 Google Classroom update, you will have four actions: Create assignment, Ask a question, Make an announcement, and Create materials. (New G Classroom Version)
All Actions will let you link your lesson to a "Topic" in Google Classroom, EXCEPT, for the Make an announcement action in the NEW version.
Resources attached to your lesson don’t carry over from your lesson in Atlas to Google Classroom. While resources linked within the Lesson Details will carry over and are visible to students.
How to add resources:
- Resources visible to course collaborators, but hidden from students: Click Add an Attachment button in the Lesson Details for anything that you use as a reference or resource to yourself.
- Resources visible to both course collaborators and students: Use the Link, Image or Video option in the Lesson Details toolbar for anything that you use as a reference or resource to students.
Lesson Plans are LIVE in Google Classroom, keep updating your lessons in Atlas, and the updated version will be reflected instantly in Google Classroom. You don't have to re-attach!
🔽Manage Lesson Templates
The Manage Templates section in the Lesson Planner lets you add, edit, and delete templates you would like to use for your lessons regularly as you build your lesson library. Click the Manage Templates button within any Lesson Plan to utilize this functionality.
Users can create up to 20 Personal Lesson Planner Templates. Atlas provides an option for school leadership to add up to 12 Admin Level Lesson Planners. If you have admin privileges in Atlas, learn here how to add Admin Level Lesson Planner Template.
🔽Add a New Lesson Plan Template
From Lesson Plan > Manage Templates:
1. Click the Add New Template button.
2. Enter your template title in the Template Title Required box.
3. Enter template structure in the Lesson Template Here box using functionality such as bold text, bulleting, text color, etc. Click here to learn more about text editing and formatting capabilities
4. Click Save, and your lesson template will populate beneath the Add New Template button (and Admin created templates if your school has any) in the saved template list.
You can add up to 20 personal lesson planner templates.
🔽Insert a Lesson Plan Template
From Lesson Plan > Manage Templates:
- Click any template title from the list beneath the Add New Template button.
- Click the Insert button. The template will show up in the body of your Lesson Details.
🔽Edit a Lesson Plan Template
From Lesson Plan > Manage Templates:
- Click the pencil icon next to any template title from the list beneath the Add New Template button.
- Edit the lesson title or text that appears to the right of the list.
- Click Save to save changes.
Admin created templates can't be edited by users. Admin created templates have a school icon. If you have admin privileges in Atlas, learn here how to add Admin Level Lesson Planner Template.
🔽Delete a Lesson Plan Template
From Lesson Plan > Manage Templates:
- Click the template title, then the X icon next to it from the list beneath the Add New Template button.
- Click Confirm to delete the lesson template.
Due to cloud storage considerations that might affect your Atlas performance, we reserve the right to delete anything older than 2 years in the Recycle Bin.
Admin created templates can't be deleted by users. Admin created templates have a school icon. If you have admin privileges in Atlas, learn here how to add Admin Level Lesson Planner Template.
🔽Delete a lesson
From Lesson Planner:
- Click the Actions drop-down menu, and select Move to Recycle Bin.
- A pop-up box will ask you to confirm the deletion, click OK to place the unit in the Recycle Bin.
To restore a deleted lesson, click the Recycle Bin button in your Lesson Planner list tab.
1. Due to cloud storage considerations that might affect your Atlas performance, we reserve the right to delete anything older than 2 years in the Recycle Bin.
2. In collaborative lessons, only the creator can delete the lesson. When the creator deletes a lesson, a copy is NOT saved for the collaborators of that lesson. Only collaborators that are assigned to the course as Curriculum Developers, or as Teachers, or have Special Editing Privileges, can restore lessons from the lessons Recycle Bin.