In the rapidly evolving landscape of educational technology, Nearpod is proud to debut our much-anticipated AI Create Lesson Generator tool! This powerful AI-driven feature represents a significant leap forward in how educators can create, customize, and deliver interactive lessons that truly engage students while aligning precisely with teaching objectives.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Renaissance’s AI Vision Becomes Reality

As part of the Renaissance family, Nearpod’s new AI Lesson Generator exemplifies our commitment to thoughtful AI implementation in education. Renaissance has consistently advocated that artificial intelligence should enhance—not replace—the critical human elements of teaching and learning. This philosophy guides our approach to educational technology development, ensuring that our AI tools amplify teacher expertise rather than attempting to substitute for it. 

Effective AI integration in classrooms depends on balancing automation with educator judgment. Renaissance has consistently emphasized that technology works best when it handles time-consuming tasks while educators focus on the human connections and personalized guidance that only they can provide. Nearpod’s Lesson Generator embodies this principle perfectly. 

While there are lots of AI products out there, most are simple repackagings of tools that are free to access. With some practice, any educator can use these zero-cost products as an AI lesson plan generator. All it takes is a clever prompt! But when it comes to turning that lesson plan into a full lesson that promotes active learning and includes engaging activities, Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator can’t be beat.

Introducing: Nearpod’s Lesson Generator

Our new Lesson Generator doesn’t just provide outlines or suggestions—it creates dynamic and interactive Nearpod lessons tailored to your specific teaching needs. Built on a deep understanding of classroom dynamics and pedagogical best practices, this tool makes from-scratch lesson creation a thing of the past: Teachers now spend a few minutes collaborating with our technology to create an engaging lesson that can be quickly refined and personalized for students. This approach reflects Renaissance’s broader vision for AI in education: tools that respect educator expertise while maximizing their impact.

Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator delivers fully interactive learning experiences complete with our signature formative assessments—all aligned to best practices that accelerate learning for all students. All customers with a school or district license have access to this exciting feature!

How Nearpod’s AI lesson generator was made

Behind Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator lies a revolutionary development approach—one where Master Teachers and Expert Curriculum Designers didn’t just consult but actively led the engineering efforts, working side by side with our talented engineering team. Rather than having an engineering team start from scratch, Nearpod started by asking education experts, “What makes a good lesson?” This collaborative methodology brought together pedagogical expertise with technical innovation, united by Renaissance’s commitment to accelerate learning and Nearpod’s fundamental belief that teaching is the most important job in the world. 

What makes our AI special is its deep understanding of how teachers think and plan. Our engineers—while experts in their technical domains—eagerly immersed themselves in specialized educational terminology such as ‘Lexile levels’ and ‘Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.’ Their intellectual curiosity and adaptability shone through as they rapidly worked to integrate these concepts into their framework alongside their educator colleagues. 

This immersion in educational methodology ensured that the AI was built on the principles of backwards design—starting with clear learning objectives, developing assessments, then creating engaging lesson components, and determining essential vocabulary. The system thoughtfully chunks information to optimize cognitive load and maintain student engagement throughout the learning experience. Most importantly, we coded Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles directly into the AI’s architecture, rigorously testing to ensure the generator consistently favors active learning strategies over passive content delivery. The result is an AI assistant that thinks like your most experienced teaching colleague and embodies the expertise of our curriculum designers, incorporating their deep pedagogical knowledge and instructional wisdom into every lesson it creates.

5 Tips for using Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator in the classroom

1. Time-Saving Lesson Creation for New Units

Each year, new initiatives are introduced into teaching and learning with the promise of improving learning outcomes, but not every initiative comes with adequate resources for instruction. When districts adopt new standards, textbooks, or curricular approaches, teachers often find themselves scrambling to create materials that align with these changes. Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator helps bridge this gap. 

Instead of spending weekends and evenings developing lessons from scratch, educators can leverage our AI tool to rapidly generate standards-aligned, interactive content. A middle school science teacher implementing Texas TEKS can simply input the specific standards and receive a Nearpod lesson with rich content and embedded formative assessments—all designed to support the depth, rigor, and scaffolding that quality instruction demands. From there, teachers can refine, customize, and/or add to the lesson as they see fit, right in the Lesson Generator.  

The AI Lesson Generator also proves especially valuable for educators teaching specialized or niche subject areas that may be underrepresented in the Nearpod Library. Whether you’re teaching Advanced Placement Computer Science, Drivers’ Education, or Early Childhood Development, the tool adapts to meet your unique curricular needs. Simply specify your specialized topic along with any relevant standards or learning objectives, and Nearpod generates a foundation that incorporates subject-appropriate vocabulary, concepts, and activities. With Nearpod’s AI Create, even the most specialized subjects receive instructional support, reducing the isolation many specialty teachers feel when searching for teaching resources. 

The time saved isn’t just about teacher convenience—it’s about educational quality. When educators aren’t exhausted from having to create materials from scratch, they can focus their energy on the high-impact aspects of teaching: building relationships with students, providing targeted feedback, and making in-the-moment instructional decisions that no AI could ever replace.

2. Breaking down larger concepts into chunks

Sometimes those big curriculum topics and standards can feel like trying to cross an ocean in one giant leap! But our AI Lesson Generator is like having your very own bridge builder who knows exactly how to place stepping stones across that expanse of learning.  

The magic happens automatically! Our lesson generator doesn’t just dump information onto slides—it thoughtfully organizes content into engaging, digestible chunks that keep students saying “I get it!” instead of “I’m lost.” Each main learning objective gets broken down into smaller sections of learning with active learning experiences along the way. 

Imagine teaching the water cycle without overwhelming your third graders. The AI Lesson Generator creates natural pauses after introducing evaporation—complete with a quick Draw It activity—before moving into condensation with an open-ended question exercise. By the time students reach the final Time to Climb assessment, they’ve built understanding piece by piece, with misconceptions addressed beforehand. 

This chunking isn’t just easier on student brains—it’s a teacher’s best friend! You’ll spot exactly when students need reteaching and can provide just-in-time support. No more waiting until the end-of-unit test to discover that half your class thought photosynthesis was a type of dinosaur! With perfectly portioned content and strategically placed formative assessment, learning stays on track and students remain engaged.

3. Differentiation

Every 10th grade biology teacher knows how to teach 10th-grade biology. It seems obvious! But in a multi-level classroom, that same teacher also needs to adapt their language complexity, instructional pacing, and conceptual approach to meet diverse student needs. Preparing lessons with these nuanced adjustments for every student is an overwhelming challenge without practical support. 

Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator transforms this challenge by allowing teachers to quickly create lessons tailored to different grade levels. By specifying a grade level in your prompt or using the drop-down menu, the tool automatically adjusts language complexity, sentence structure, instructional timing, and the balance between concrete and abstract concepts appropriate for that level. 

This capability is particularly valuable when working with students who need additional support with prerequisite concepts or those who are ready for more advanced content. Rather than spending hours researching and creating materials for different grade levels, teachers can quickly generate lessons that address the specific standards and concepts needed for their diverse learners. This means more time focusing on implementation and less time struggling with content creation across multiple grade bands.

4. Extra practice

Every teacher knows the challenge: while most students have mastered a concept and are ready to move on, a handful need additional support. Traditionally, creating these supplemental materials has been yet another task on a teacher’s overflowing to-do list. Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator transforms this challenge into an opportunity for targeted instruction. 

Research confirms that individualized skills practice is essential for skills acquisition. Show students receiving just 10-15 minutes of targeted practice demonstrate significantly higher retention and application abilities. The AI Lesson Generator makes implementing this research-backed approach much quicker, allowing teachers to quickly create customized practice aligned with each student’s needs. 

Lessons generated with Nearpod’s AI will always feature built-in engagement and assessment tools that allow teachers to monitor understanding in real time. Students interact with dynamic content, receive immediate feedback, and demonstrate mastery through various response types, while maintaining engagement during what could otherwise be frustrating remediation. 

This ease of creation ensures teachers can use intervention time in the most effective way possible, helping struggling students catch up without requiring extensive additional planning. And the time saved means teachers can focus on what matters most: observing student thinking and providing targeted feedback.

5. Celebrate Local History and your Community

While the Nearpod library is vast and growing daily, even our extensive collection can’t cover every unique local and state initiative requiring teaching about your specific community. The Nearpod library offers rich lessons on issues affecting each US state, but you won’t find individual lessons on the distinctive history of your town or small city waiting on our digital shelves. Use the Lesson Generator and bring your local history to life! 

Whether you’re teaching about the cultural traditions of the Passamaquoddy tribe in Maine, exploring the storied history of the Texas Rangers, or highlighting your own town’s pioneering spirit, the Nearpod Lesson Generator transforms these local connections into engaging, interactive learning experiences. Imagine your students’ excitement when they see familiar landmarks mentioned in a Time to Climb activity or participate in a Collaborate Board where they can share family stories connected to local history! 

Local context is a powerful way to bring learning to life. When students see themselves and their communities reflected in their lessons, engagement soars and learning deepens. With just a few clicks, you can create standards-aligned lessons that honor your community’s unique heritage while incorporating all the interactive elements that make Nearpod the go-to engagement platform that teachers love. From state-specific celebrations to hometown heroes, your locally inspired content can now receive the Nearpod treatment it deserves—complete with formative assessments, active learning experiences, and collaborative activities that turn local pride into lasting learning.

Start using AI Create today!

Nearpod’s AI Lesson Generator represents the perfect partnership between teacher expertise and technological innovation. Built with educators, for educators, it understands that engagement isn’t just a buzzword on your evaluation form—it’s an everyday teaching necessity! 

By handling the time-consuming aspects of lesson creation, our tool frees teachers from preparing supplemental materials while maintaining pedagogical excellence. Every AI-generated lesson incorporates best practices like chunking, formative assessment, and UDL principles—because good teaching shouldn’t require sacrificing your mental health or time with family. 

Nearpod’s Lesson Generator is changing the game for educators everywhere while staying true to our commitment to responsible AI implementation in education. It doesn’t replace teachers but amplifies their impact by transforming hours of preparation into minutes of refinement.  

The future of education isn’t choosing between human teaching and technology—it’s leveraging both to create experiences that truly transform learning. Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing: more time connecting with students and less time wrestling with your printer at 7 AM before the morning bell rings.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.