Lesson Builder
Create interactive lessons from scratch or with AI assistance. Add slides, configure widgets, preview student view, and publish to your classes.
What is the Lesson Builder?
The Lesson Builder is your tool for creating custom slide-based lessons. You can build from scratch with the slide editor, or use AI Assist to generate slides from a topic description — then fine-tune everything.
ℹ️ Note
All lessons in the Marketplace were built with these same tools. You can clone any existing lesson and edit it rather than starting from scratch.
Creating a new lesson
Go to My Lessons
Click 'My Lessons' in the Content section of the sidebar, then click '+ Create Lesson' in the top-right corner.
Fill in the setup modal
A settings modal opens first. Enter a Title (required), optional Subtitle, and an emoji Icon. Then set the Curriculum Placement: pick a Course (subject is set automatically from the course), then select a Unit, then a Topic within that unit. You can create a new topic on the spot.
Choose your build method
Start adding slides manually, or click 'AI Assist' in the editor header to generate slides from a topic description. Either way you end up in the same editor to review and customise everything.
Add slides and content
Use the filmstrip at the bottom to add, reorder, and select slides. Add content blocks to each slide using Cmd+K to open the block picker.
Publish when ready
New lessons start as Draft. Toggle the Draft button in the editor header to Published when you are ready for students to see it.
💡 Pro Tip
You can reopen the settings modal at any time by clicking the emoji icon or the pencil icon next to the lesson title in the editor header.
AI-assisted slide generation
Click AI Assist in the editor header to open the AI generation panel:
Describe a topic
Type a topic description and let AI generate a complete slide — hook, content, activities, and summary.
Choose slide type
Tell AI which type of slide to generate (content, activity, hook, etc.) for more targeted output.
Review before adding
Preview the generated slide before it is added to your lesson. Edit anything immediately after.
Retry or adjust
Not happy with the output? Adjust your description and retry — each generation is independent.
💡 Pro Tip
AI generation produces a solid starting point. Plan a few minutes to review and customise — adjust questions, add your own examples, and replace any generic content.
Manual building
Full control from the start — add slides one at a time and build exactly what you want.
Add slide
Click the + button in the filmstrip at the bottom of the editor. Choose the slide type: Intro, Content, Canvas, Video, Activity, Quiz, Game, Hook, Reflection, or Summary.
Reorder slides
Drag slides left or right in the filmstrip to change their order. Students see them in filmstrip order.
Delete slide
Select a slide in the filmstrip and use the delete button that appears, or right-click for options.
Duplicate slide
Right-click a slide in the filmstrip and choose Duplicate (keyboard shortcut: D) to copy it as a starting point.
Editing existing lessons
Edit any lesson you own from My Lessons:
Open My Lessons
Find the lesson in your list. Published lessons have a green Published badge; drafts have a yellow Draft badge.
Click Edit
Opens the lesson in the slide editor. All slides are available to modify.
Make changes — auto-saves
The lesson saves automatically as you work. Watch the save indicator in the header — it shows Saved, Saving, or Unsaved. There is no manual save button.
ℹ️ Note
You can only edit lessons you own (lessons you created, or clones of marketplace content). Cloning creates an independent copy that is fully editable.
Slide editor layout
The editor has three main areas:
Canvas (main area)
Visual preview of the selected slide as students will see it. Click a block on the canvas to select it for editing.
Slide filmstrip (bottom)
All slides in order. Click to select, drag to reorder. Click + to add a new slide. Keyboard shortcut D duplicates the selected slide.
Properties panel (right)
Toggle with the Properties button in the header. Shows Slide properties (background, theme, title) or Block properties for the selected block — widget type, options, correct answers, and more.
Add content blocks to any slide using Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) to open the block picker. For activity slides, choose from over 90 interactive widget types including:
Publishing & visibility
Publish
Toggle the Draft button in the editor header to Published. Students can only see published lessons — drafts are hidden even if the course is active in a class.
How lessons reach students
Lessons are linked to a Course via Lesson Settings (Course → Unit → Topic). Classes that use that course automatically show all published lessons in it. There is no separate "Assign to Class" step.
Private
Default visibility. Only you can see this lesson. Use this while drafting or for personal resources.
Organisation
Visible to all teachers at your school in the Content Library. They can clone and customise their own copy.
Marketplace
Submit for review. Once approved, the lesson is visible to all TeacherAI teachers and can be cloned.
Change visibility
Click the visibility pill (Private / Organisation / Marketplace) on the lesson card in My Lessons to change it at any time.
💡 Pro Tip
Visibility controls who can discover the lesson — it does not affect students in your own classes who are already using it through their course.