Before you start
System requirements
- Microsoft Excel desktop (2019 or Microsoft 365). It won't run in Google Sheets, Excel Online, or on a phone.
- Macros enabled (it's an .xlsm workbook). Windows is strongly preferred.
- No account, login, subscription, or internet connection. No student data leaves the building.
Three things to know
Work top to bottom
Each dropdown builds on the ones above it. An empty dropdown almost always means there's no valid choice yet, change an earlier selection and the options appear.
You're always in control
The builder suggests; you decide. Every section has an override so you can use your own wording, and every document is editable.
Enable content once
Open the workbook; if a yellow security bar appears, click Enable Content once so the on-sheet buttons work.
Read the colors
In the workbook, blue dropdowns are your choices, green fields auto-fill, and orange boxes are where you type.
The big idea: concept-first
The workbook is a concept-first engine. Instead of asking "I teach Hospitality, now what concept fits inside it?", you ask "I am teaching Customer Experience, now how does that look in Hospitality?" Because the concept comes first, the same lesson localizes to any program: change the cluster and the worked example, occupations, and standards all re-fit, without rebuilding the lesson.
One lesson then expresses itself across five workplace roles, so every student works the same skill at the right level of rigor:
The core technical task in the lesson's primary cluster.
Pulls in Marketing & Sales.
Pulls in Digital Technology.
Pulls in Management & Entrepreneurship.
Blends the primary cluster with all three.
What you get from every lesson
The lesson plan
A complete plan built from your choices, aligned to CCTC and Career Ready Practices.
Five role versions
Worker → Owner, each at the right level of rigor, with student handouts for every role.
Absent-student versions
Make-up packets for every role.
A rubric
Scoring tied to the lesson objective.
Three teacher formats
Full, one-page, and three-page plans.
Planning views
A scope-and-sequence view plus a 5-day planner, with built-in scaffolds, UDL supports, and CTSO matches.
Build a lesson, the 9 steps
Start the lesson record
In the lesson administration block at the top, enter or confirm the lesson date, duration, day, week, class/hour/block, and lesson ID. This block defines who the lesson is for, when it happens, and what it is.
Set the delivery mode
Choose synchronous for live, teacher-guided lessons or asynchronous for independent/self-paced work. For asynchronous, add clear directions, digital checks for understanding, and a way to submit work; name the platform (e.g., Canvas) if it's delivered digitally.
Add materials and technology
List the core materials (name, short description/type, and where to find them) and the technology tools, up to six of each; pick a type and the item list filters to match. Use the technology description to say how the tool supports learning, not just its name.
Access & Readiness: enter your class's IEP/504/ELL/Other counts and differentiation notes, the system uses these to suggest supports later so it's not just paperwork.
Record notes, customization, and reflection
- Teacher Notes, planning reminders or delivery considerations.
- Customization Notes, changes you made for student needs or context.
- Reflection Notes, what worked and your next step (fill in after you teach).
Set program and lesson context
Choose your concept and sub-concept first (what students are learning and doing). Connect the department/unit and management function. Then localize: pick the cluster, industry area, pathway, course, and primary occupation. The primary occupation ties the learning to a real career students can picture.
Build the objective
Draft a clear, measurable, student-centered objective, then use the objective-criteria dropdown to complete the success criteria. Check that the objective matches the essential question and the assessment.
Choose the lesson frame (type of day)
Select the lesson frame / type of day, New Learning, Practice, Project, Assessment, Reteach, Review, or Experience-Based. Review its description, model alignment, and the "use this when" guidance. Set the lesson span, sequence position, and which day in the lesson you're on; confirm the day structure with the print summary line. (UDL access is embedded into the flow automatically.)
Set the lesson flow
Choose the flow structure that fits the day, then type or select the case, client brief, scenario, or challenge that frames the work. Review the time distribution, early-finisher pathway, and assessment integration.
Save, check, and export
Glance at the Lesson Quality Check, a built-in checklist that gives a Quality Score and Overall Status, confirming the frame, delivery mode, essential question, objective, and components are complete. When it looks good, save and export: the system produces the teacher plans (full, one-page, three-page), role-based student handouts, absent-student versions, and a rubric, and feeds the scope-and-sequence and 5-day planner.
The 8 lesson components
Bell Work
Activate prior knowledge and set the daily context.
Anticipatory Set
Capture attention, establish relevance, give a reason to care.
I Do
Direct instruction, modeling, demonstration, what students watch and learn from.
Check for Understanding
Monitor and adjust, quick write, turn and talk, polls, a fast check.
We Do
Supported practice with scaffolding, teacher guidance visible.
You Do
Students independently apply the learning through a task, product, or performance.
Closure
Summarize learning, reinforce the objective, gather evidence.
Assessment
Capture evidence, choose the purpose first; the type options filter to match.
Role-based learning & differentiation
Role-based learning lets one lesson support several levels of thinking. Each student works the same concept, but at a different level of complexity, responsibility, and output, the differentiation is built into the lesson, not added afterward.
The role pathway workflow
- Decide whether each pathway row will be used with students.
- Choose the student role for each active row.
- Select the cross-cutting purpose and pathway structure.
- Set the Bloom/DOK level with the dropdown, then choose the matching verb.
- Review the generated task prompt, final task, resource, and student-choice fields.
In-lesson support
Respond to readiness in real time: teacher moves (prompts, models, examples, choices, constraints, assigned roles), grouping (independent, partners, small groups, team roles), scaffolds (visual supports, graphic organizers, templates, step-by-step guides), and quick adjustments (fewer choices, simpler tasks, fewer variables). These suggestions adapt to the Access & Readiness counts you entered earlier.
Extension Learning: an enrichment variation for students who finish early or are ready to go deeper or broader.
Cross-cutting clusters
To deepen the entrepreneurial or marketing lens, turn on the Consultant/Analyst and Owner roles. For a pure technical-skills day, keep it to the Worker role.
Standards & CTSO alignment
Standards
- Primary Standard, the main standard driving the lesson, with code and description.
- Supporting Standards, up to five additional standards (cluster-filtered) that reinforce broader or cross-disciplinary skills.
- Custom Standards, six open lines for your local, district, or state framework standards.
- Instructional Alignment, the connection to objective, activities, and assessment. Alignment is filtered to your cluster and baked in, useful for program review and Perkins.
Student organizations & career readiness
The CTSO section connects lessons to real student organizations and career readiness. Supported organizations:
You can always add or replace the suggested events.
Working at scale: bulk import & batch export
Import, step by step
Open the Lesson Import sheet
Click the Lesson Import tab at the bottom of the workbook. (One time: if a yellow security bar appears, click Enable Content so the buttons work.)
Enter your lessons
Each row is one lesson. Only four fields are required, Lesson Title, Concept Area, Essential Question, Learning Objective, everything else is optional. Cells with a small arrow are dropdowns (pick from the list so the value matches exactly). Leave a cell blank if it doesn't apply. Don't rename, reorder, or delete columns, the importer matches by the exact column titles. Hover a column title (small red marker) to see what it means; a row with no Lesson Title is skipped.
Run the import
Click Import Lessons at the top of the sheet and confirm. Each row becomes a saved lesson with its own ID. Need to start over? Clear Entered Lessons empties the sheet; lessons already imported stay saved.
Check the results
A message reports how many lessons were added and their IDs. The Status column shows the result per row, e.g. "Imported as ID 14" or "Skipped, no Lesson Title."
Finish each lesson in the builder
Dependent fields (Sub-Concept, Course, Pathway, Occupation, Standards) are left blank on purpose. On the Lesson Builder sheet, choose a lesson in the picker (cell B4), click Recall, fill in the dependent fields, then Save.
Batch export
Once lessons are saved and complete, batch export produces the full document set for many lessons together, a whole unit or course in a single pass. Every lesson still produces the same outputs as a single export: teacher plans, role handouts, absent-student packets, rubric, and planners.
Quick reference
One-page build order
- Choose the Concept Area (what students learn) and Sub-Concept (what students do).
- Connect to Department / Unit and Management Function.
- Apply the concept to Career Cluster, Industry Area, Pathway, and Course; review the Primary Occupation.
- Build the objective and success criteria.
- Choose Lesson Type, Lesson Flow, and Scenario.
- Build Bell Work through Closure; assign role pathways and assessment.
- Save, print, or recall the lesson as needed.