Click the "+ Add your first card" button.
Select an existing resource (by clicking on the "By URL" tab and pasting in the URL) OR create a new item (see instructions below).
Select the "New" tab.
You will now see different types of resources that you can add to your Lesson Plan.
1. Audio
  1. Select Audio.
  2. Add a title.
  3. Click on "Select File" and select your file. You can upload mp3 files.
  4. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  5. Click on "Save."
2. Document
  1. Select "Document."
  2. Add a title.
  3. Click on "Select File" and select your file. You can upload pdf, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, xls, and xlsx files.
  4. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  5. Click on "Save."
3. Geogebra (using a Geogebra item created on geogebra.org)
  1. Select "Geogebra."
  2. Add a title.
  3. Enter in the Geogebra URL or material ID.
  4. Check/uncheck the "Show Geogebra toolbar" checkbox.
  5. Check/uncheck the "Scale the contents of this material to fit the display area" checkbox.
  6. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  7. Click on "Save."
4. Image
  1. Select "Image."
  2. Add a title.
  3. Click on "Select File" and select your file. You can upload jpg, JPG, jpeg, .png, and gif files.
  4. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  5. Click on "Save."
5. Link (or embedded URL/code such as from YouTube)
  1. Select "Link."
  2. Add a title.
  3. Add the link title.
  4. Enter the URL: Only external content can be a link resource. If you need to link to IL Classroom content, use the appropriate IL Classroom content type.
  5. Once a URL is added, you can choose to view it as a link or an embed. To embed content properly, the site needs to allow embeds and you must use the proper embed URL or code.
  6. For embedding YouTube videos, go to "Share" and click on "Embed." Copy the code into the URL field to embed the video.
  7. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  8. Click on "Save."
6. Slide
  1. Select "Slide."
  2. Add a title.
  3. You can drag and drop text boxes, images, tables, and dialog (speech bubbles) into the editor.
    1. Text
      1. Click on "Text" and drag it onto your canvas.
      2. Click on "Edit" and enter your text. You will notice a toolbar is displayed that will let you format your text.
    2. Image
      1. Click on "Image" and drag it onto your canvas.
      2. Click on "Edit" and select the image you would like to upload.
      3. Your image will now be displayed on your slide. Click on the image and you will see options for vertical or horizontal alignment.
    3. Table
      1. Click on "Table" and drag it onto your canvas.
      2. You will see a table displayed with a "Create" button underneath. Click on the table to select how many rows and columns you would like.
      3. Click on "Create."
    4. Dialogue
      1. Click on "Dialogue" and drag it onto your canvas.
      2. Click on"Edit" to enter your text.
      3. You also can change the shape of the bubble, direction of the tail, and vertical or horizontal alignment.
  4. By default, you are previewing the slide in normal mode. Click on "Reading order" to see what your slide will look like a mobile device.
    1. Move content blocks to reflect the intended reading order on mobile devices.
  5. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  6. Click on "Save."
7. Page
  1. Select "Rich Text."
  2. Add a title.
  3. Add a page title (used to find the resource in our search results).
  4. Fill in the editor with your content and use the toolbar to format your text.
  5. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  6. Click on "Save."
8. Question
  1. For help adding questions to your Lesson Plan, please go to the "H ow to Author Items" guide.
9. Rich Text
  1. Select "Rich Text."
  2. Add a title.
  3. Fill in the editor with your content and use the toolbar to format your text.
  4. On the right side, enter in your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes
  5. Click on "Save."
10. Section Heading
  1. Select "Section Heading."
  2. Add a title (used as the heading text for the Lesson Plan card).
  3. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  4. Click on "Save."
11. Video
  1. Select "Video."
  2. Add a title.
  3. Click on "Select File" and select your file. You can upload mp4, m4a, avi, mpg, wmv, mov, and m4v files.
  4. On the right side, enter your teaching notes. This is only visible to users with the teacher role and above. Students will not see the teaching notes.
  5. Click on "Save."
  6. It may take up to 5 minutes for your video to process.
12. Add Voiceover: When adding any of the cards above, you have the ability to add a voiceover audio file. This voiceover can be used to supplement the text or image that is displayed on the Lesson Plan card.
13. Assignment Card: When adding any of the various cards above, you have the ability to make the card an assignment card. When a teacher assigns this lesson to a student, the student will see a split view of the Lesson Plan. The Lesson Plan cards (i.e., assignment card option unchecked) will be on the left side of the screen and the assignment cards (i.e., assignment card option checked) will be on the right side of the screen.
Adding Additional Materials to your Lesson Plan:
1. Navigate to the "Additional Materials" tab.
2. Click on "Add item."
3. You will see a list of content types you can add.
4. Add a title.
5. Select the type of content you would like to add and follow the on-screen instructions.
6. If you would like to add content that already exists on the site, click the "By URL" tab and paste in the IL Classroom URL.
Adding a Lesson Plan description in the "About this lesson" tab (this description will be displayed on the search results page:"
1. Navigate to the "About this lesson" tab.
2. Click on "Edit Description."
3. Enter your Lesson Plan description and click on "Save changes."
Publishing your Lesson Plan:
1. Click on the visibility drop-down menu at the top of the page.
2. Select "Draft" to keep the Lesson Plan in draft mode. Non-author users will not be able to view this Lesson Plan if it is set to draft.
3. Select "Publish" to make this Lesson Plan live and visible to all users on the Site.
4. Select "Archive" to unpublish the Lesson Plan. The Lesson Plan can still be shared by sharing the URL but it will not be visible in search.

Creating, Editing, Publishing, and Archiving Lesson Plans