65 AI Prompts for Lesson Planning

Feeling like your lessons are stuck in a teaching rut? With the help of your favorite AI assistant (ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Microsoft CoPilot) and some easy-to-use AI prompts you can embrace a whole new level of lesson planning power!

Whether you need help crafting clear explanations and examples, generating assessment questions, tailoring differentiated instruction ideas, or developing comprehensive rubrics, we’ve got you covered. This curated list offers the most practical and effective prompts that’ll save you time and stretch your thinking. Get ready to take your lesson plans from ‘blah’ to ‘brilliant’ with the help of a few clever prompts!

Create Lesson Plans

Slash your lesson planning time and unlock a world of creative possibilities with AI! Use these prompts to generate comprehensive plans in minutes, then pick and choose the elements that best fit your classroom and students.

• Design a unit outline: “Develop a 5 day unit plan outline for teaching students about ancient civilizations including Aztec, Roman, Greek, Chinese and Mayan.”
• Design a detailed unit plan: “Generate a week-long unit plan for teaching point of view in a Reading class for 4th grade. Include daily objectives, key activities, and formative assessments.”
• Design an entire lesson: “Create a 1 hour lesson plan for introducing the water cycle suitable for 4th graders, that addresses the following objectives [insert objectives] and includes these activities [insert activity parameters, like group work, guided practice activity, independent work, etc].
• Generate teaching ideas: “What are 10 ideas for teaching the engineering design process to 6th graders?”
• Create collaborative learning activity ideas: “Give me 5 learning activities for 9th graders to learn about human geography.” —> View AI Output
• Create a script for your lesson: “I want to teach the concept of sentence fluency to my 3rd graders. What can I say to introduce the lesson?”
• Generate an age-appropriate explanation: “Explain a lunar eclipse for an 8 year old.”
• Hook students with an interesting lesson introduction: “Give me 5 fun ways to introduce a lesson on surface tension as a property of water.”
• Create a game: “Develop the rules for a children’s game that combines rolling dice and collecting coins to equal 1 dollar.”

Design Materials

Quickly generate a wide array of engaging educational materials to supplement your instruction and captivate your students’ interest. From eye-catching visuals to illustrative examples, AI can help you craft resources that reinforce key concepts and save you valuable time.

• Author short decodable reading passages: “Write a 5 sentence (decodable) paragraph containing R-controlled vowels ar, er, ur and or.”
• Create long form reading passages: “Write a 500 word fictional passage using ‘the hero’s journey’ story arc.”
• Write interactive stories: “Design a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ story about the American gold rush.”
• Craft sentences using specific vocabulary: “Give me 3 sentences using the word ‘atmosphere.”
• Extract keywords from a text: “Give me 5 key words from the following piece of text [paste text] and provide definitions for all of them.”
• Create a list of words using any criteria: “Give me a list of adverbs.”
• Create lists of people, places, things: “List 15 diverse inventors that would be good for a 9th grade research project.”
• Develop directions: “Write step-by-step directions for creating project reminders in Google Calendar.”
• Develop a slide show presentation: “Give me a 5 slide presentation about the effects of climate change on agriculture.”
• Generate descriptions of historical events and biographies: “Summarize the life of Anne Frank in 50 words or less.”
• Design a set of flashcards: “Give me 10 flashcards for key vocabulary in [insert book title or concept]. Include definitions, synonyms, example/nonexamples and sentences suitable for [grade level].”
• Create summary: Summarize this material [paste text or insert description of the material].
• Generate discussion questions: “Craft 5 discussion questions for a classroom debate on power and corruption as demonstrated in Animal Farm by George Orwell. Aim for questions that encourage critical thinking for [grade level].”
• Create step-by-step explanations: “Provide a step-by-step explanation of how to solve basic trigonometric equations involving cosecant in Math for [grade level] students. Include 2-3 worked examples.”
• Generate developmentally appropriate explanations: “Explain the process of photosynthesis in terms suitable for 7th grade students. Include an analogy or real-world example to help clarify the concept.”
• Break down concepts into teachable parts: “Explain the literary structure of Drama for 5th grade English language arts students. Provide key components, explanations, and 2-3 examples of each component.” —> View AI Output
• Generate cheat sheets: “Provide the following for The Scarlet Letter: 1. A detailed timeline of the story. 2. Character descriptions and motivations. 3. Major themes within the story.”

Build Assessments

Whether you need multiple choice questions, short answer prompts, or creative assessments, AI can be your go-to resource for crafting evaluations that align with your learning objectives and challenge your students’ critical thinking skills.

• Gather assessment ideas: “Generate a list of 10 formative assessment ideas related to still life drawing for 11th grade visual arts students.”
• Generate a multiple-choice quiz: “Give me 10 multiple-choice questions on the characters and plot of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini suitable for 11th graders.”
• Generate a fill-in-the-blank quiz: “Create a fill-in-the-blank quiz on famous lines from [Author]’s works suitable for [grade level]. Provide a word bank and answer key”
• Generate a true/false quiz: “Design a 10-question true/false quiz on the American Revolution for 9th grade students. Include an answer key with brief explanations for each question.”
• Generate innovative assessments with scenario based questions and even questions targeting specific levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: “Design an innovative assessment on [topic] that covers the following objectives/standards [insert objectives/standards]. Provide questions at each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy and include 2 scenario-based questions. Give me some key “look fors” for each response.”
• Design multilayered, authentic assessments: “Create 3 authentic summative assessments for a 9th grade English class completing an author study on Maya Angelou. The assessments should measure their understanding of Angelou’s history, what impacted her work, and the common themes in her writing. The assessments should emphasize real-world application, complex tasks, and varied response formats.” —> View AI Output
• Create a bank of exit tickets: “Create 5 exit ticket ideas I can use in my 4th grade math class after a geometry lesson on identifying, labeling, and measuring angles. Keep the exit ticket activities/questions very brief.”

Differentiate Instruction Ideas

Effortlessly generate differentiated activities, assignments, and learning pathways that cater to diverse learning needs, abilities, and interests.

• Differentiate for varying student needs: “Brainstorm 4 ways to adapt a 3rd grade physical education lesson on basketball for students with physical disabilities, ensuring inclusivity and participation for all.”
• Develop enrichment activities: “Develop a set of enrichment activities related to patterns in scatter plot graphs for 8th graders. Include real-world applications, extension tasks, and cross-curricular links to subjects like Biology, Social Studies or Computer Science.”
• Create learning scaffolds: “Suggest 2 ways to scaffold the identification of text themes for English language learners at the ‘developing’ level in a 5th grade ELA class.”
• Generate tiered assignments: “Give me 3 tiered assignments on solving division word problems for a 4th grade class, with varying levels of complexity and support for students at different skill levels.” —> View AI Output
• Develop tiered independent practice problems: “Give me easier versions and harder versions of the following math problems [paste in math problems].”
• Design tiered lab assignments: “Generate 3 options for a 10th grade chemistry lab on chemical reactions, with varying levels of complexity to accommodate students with different prior knowledge.”
• Generate differentiated writing prompts: “Offer 5 creative writing prompts for a 2nd grade class, each with different levels of scaffolding to support students with diverse writing abilities.”
• Create a choice board: “Create a choice board with 6 activities for a 8th grade ELA class studying a novel, each activity utilizing a different tech tool from this list [include a list of familiar tech tools].”
• Develop differentiated materials: “Give me 3 differentiated reading passages about the American Civil War for a 6th grade social studies class, with options for struggling readers, grade-level readers, and advanced readers.”
• Create assignment options for different learning strengths: “Suggest 2 alternative assignments for a 9th grade geometry project on geometric proofs, one for students who excel in visual-spatial reasoning and one for students who prefer logical-mathematical reasoning.”
• Design project options: “Provide 3 options for a culminating project for a 12th grade history class on World War II, allowing students to choose a format that aligns with their interests and strengths (e.g., research paper, documentary film, museum exhibit).”
• Generate tiered vocabulary lists: “Make three lists of 20 vocabulary words for The Giver. One set should be on a 4th grade level, one set should be on a 5th grade level, and one set should be on a 6th grade level.”
• Generate common misconceptions on a topic: “Identify 5 common misconceptions that 7th-grade students may have about the process of photosynthesis, including inaccurate ideas about the roles of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.”

Develop Rubrics

Ensure consistent and objective assessment of student work by leveraging AI to quickly create detailed rubrics that clearly outline expectations and criteria for success.

• Design a rubric with a given point total: “Develop a 5-point rubric for assessing 10th grade students’ research papers on the impact of urbanization on cultural traditions, including categories for thesis statement, evidence and analysis, organization, style and mechanics, and formatting.”
• Develop an essay rubric: “Create a rubric for a 5th grade social studies essay on the American Revolution, focusing on historical accuracy, clarity of writing, and use of evidence.”
• Generate a presentation rubric: “Design a rubric for a 9th grade biology presentation on cell structure and function, with criteria for accuracy of content, clarity of delivery, and organization of slides.” —> View AI Output
• Create a science lab rubric: “Generate a rubric for a 7th grade science lab report on plant growth, assessing thoroughness of data collection, appropriate analysis of results, and well-supported conclusion.”
• Design a group project rubric: “Generate a rubric for a 12th grade English group project on a Shakespeare play, evaluating the effectiveness of collaboration, individual contribution of each member, and overall quality of the final product.”
• Develop an informational report rubric: “Create a rubric for a 3rd grade informational report on an ancient civilization, assessing research quality, accuracy of information, organization of ideas, writing clarity, and use of visuals.”
• Generate a debate/argumentation rubric: “Design a rubric for a 10th grade debate on climate change, evaluating the quality of argumentation, depth of research, and effectiveness of presentation skills.”
• Create a rubric to assess art skills: “Generate a rubric for a 6th grade art project on self-portraits, assessing creativity of expression, use of artistic techniques, and thoughtful use of materials.”
• Design a math rubric: “Craft a rubric for a 2nd grade performance task in math, focusing on demonstration of understanding of addition and subtraction, and application of math concepts to real-world problems.”

Provide Feedback and Grading Assistance

These feedback prompts will help you efficiently provide targeted, actionable feedback to students while streamlining your grading process and saving valuable time. *Remember to never include any personally identifiable student information in your prompts to protect student privacy.

• Generate feedback: “Provide specific feedback for a 5th grade student’s science essay on climate change, focusing on clarity, accuracy, and use of evidence.”
• Identify strengths and weaknesses: “Analyze a 5th grade student’s narrative essay about their summer vacation, noting areas of strong descriptive writing and identifying any inconsistencies or areas where details could be expanded.”
• Suggest improvements: “Offer suggestions for improving the organization and flow of a 8th-grade student’s persuasive essay on the benefits of recycling. [insert student work]” —> View AI Output
• Grade short-answer questions: “Grade a set of short-answer questions on the American Revolution for a 7th grade social studies class, providing explanations for each correct answer. [insert student work].”
• Assess writing mechanics: “Evaluate a 6th grade student’s narrative writing for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, offering suggestions for improvement. [insert student work].”
• Analyze student performance: “Compare the performance of a 9th grade English class on a vocabulary quiz with their previous performance, identifying trends and areas for further instruction.  [insert student quiz data, not including personal information].”
• Customize feedback prompts: “Suggest 5 specific feedback prompts for a 4th-grade teacher to use when assessing student presentations on their favorite animal.”
• Summarize student progress: “Summarize a 11th grade student’s progress in Algebra over the past semester, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and areas for continued growth.  [insert data on student work, not including personal information].”
• Gather strategies for addressing errors: “Suggest 3 strategies for addressing common errors and misconceptions in 5th grade students’ work on identifying cause and effect in historical events.”

With these 65 AI prompts in your teaching toolkit, you’re well on your way to becoming a lesson-planning wizard. Use these prompts as a starting point, adapt them to your specific needs, and always inject your own creativity and expertise into the process. Download these prompts as a PDF to reference for later or to share with a friend!

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