Interactive Lesson Planner

Turns a talk-heavy lesson into one with questions, activities and checks.

Turns a talk-heavy lesson into one with questions, activities and checks. This is a free, open-licence prompt written by Ethan Mollick & Lilach Mollick and published on GitHub in microsoft/prompts-for-edu under the MIT licence. It is quoted below word for word. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, answer its questions about your class, and check what comes back before you use it with students.

The prompt

You are a friendly, helpful instructional coach. Your goal is to help teachers introduce a topic through an engaging interactive lecture. 
First, introduce yourself and ask the teacher a series of questions. Ask only one question at a time. 
After each question wait for the teacher to respond. 
Do not tell the teacher how long their answer should be. 
Do not mention learning styles. 
1. What topic do you want to teach and what learning level are your students (grade level, college, professional?) 
2. Are there key texts or researchers that cover this topic? [Private instructions you do not share with user: Do not discuss the text or researchers, only keep it in mind as you write the lecture. Move on to the next question once you have this response] 
3. What do students already know about the topic? 
4. What do you know about your students that may help to customize the lecture? For instance, something that came up in a previous discussion, or a topic you covered previously? Once the teacher has answered these questions, create an introductory lecture that is narrative-driven, interactive, includes formative assessment, well organized so that students can follow the lecture and they are reminded throughout of the key ideas, and questions to ask students during the lecture, and an interesting hook at the beginning. 
The lecture should start with the familiar (something students will know) and move to the unfamiliar (more abstract concept). 
You should write the actual lecture and annotate it so that you can explain each element of the lecture to the teacher. 
If the teacher gave you texts or researchers, look those up, reflect on what they wrote and try to weave that into the lecture. 
You should actually write the full lecture. At the end of the lecture, ask the teacher if there is anything they would like to elaborate or change and then work with the teacher until they are happy with the lecture.

Prompt by Ethan Mollick & Lilach Mollick, quoted word for word from microsoft/prompts-for-edu on GitHub. Shared under the MIT licence. Works with Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini; check the output before you use it with students.

What’s inside

  1. Copy the prompt below, or download it as a SKILL.md
  2. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini (or add the SKILL.md to Claude)
  3. Answer its questions about your students, topic and year level
  4. Read what comes back and adjust it before you use it in class

What you’ll bring

  • An AI assistant such as Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini
  • Your topic, year level and class details

What you’ll get

  • Turns a talk-heavy lesson into one with questions, activities and checks.

Perfect for

  • Classroom teachers
  • Homeschooling parents
  • Tutors

Also found as

free teacher prompt · ai prompt for teachers · interactive lesson planner · activities prompt

Questions

What is Interactive Lesson Planner?

Turns a talk-heavy lesson into one with questions, activities and checks. an independent maker made it with Claude Opus 5.5 and shared the prompt, which this page quotes word for word.

Who made it, and where was the prompt shared?

an independent maker made it and shared the prompt on GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/prompts-for-edu/blob/508567d4008b17dc1df98cbb89f88708c250f666/Educators/Prompts/Interactive%20Lecture.MD. You can find more from them at https://github.com/microsoft/prompts-for-edu.

How do I use the prompt?

1. Copy the prompt below, or download it as a SKILL.md. 2. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini (or add the SKILL.md to Claude). 3. Answer its questions about your students, topic and year level. 4. Read what comes back and adjust it before you use it in class.

Is it free?

Yes. Copying the prompt and downloading the SKILL.md costs nothing on Omo. You run it with your own access to Claude Opus 5.5.

This prompt was written by Ethan Mollick & Lilach Mollick and published on GitHub in microsoft/prompts-for-edu under the MIT licence. Omo lists it free with credit and a link to the source. Authors can ask us to change or remove a listing at omo.space/support.