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 > Lesson Planner tab that's located at the top of each unit, click here to learn more about the unit Lesson Planner.

My Atlas > My Lessons, click here to learn more about My Lessons.

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 creator of the lesson is the lesson owner and has full control to edit, view, copy, and delete their lesson.
Teachers collaborating on the same course can view lesson details and copy lessons added by other teachers of the course, but cannot edit or delete lessons they do not own. (If a lesson owner specifically adds other teachers as co-editors, they can then edit the lesson, but still not delete).
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 roll forward with units into the new year, but an archived copy will be part of the archived units.
When a lesson owner leaves Atlas, their lessons can be:
- Copied by the course collaborators. The copies can be edited.
- Deleted by 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 > Lesson Planner tab > Add New Lesson:

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 (in EDIT mode), via Actions > 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 the lesson co-editors. 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 co-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

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.

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.
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. Click here to learn more about adding collaborators to your lessons.

Lesson Settings

The 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 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 muenu. 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).

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 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:
1. - 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.
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:
1. - 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.
Click X icon at the top right corner of the panel to leave.

Click here to learn more about Comments, and Private Comments.

Show Unit Side-by-side the Lesson Planner

From Lesson Planner:

Click Show Unit button.
View the unit in VIEW MODE, you can't edit the unit's info.
To close the unit view, click the X icon, or click the Show Unit icon again.

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 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

Google Classroom Video

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:
1. 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)
2. 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 8 Personal Lesson Planner Templates. Atlas provides an option for school leadership to add up to 8 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 8 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.

Lesson Development

Lesson Permissions

Add a New Lesson

Develop a Lesson