Creating Your First Lesson

Your First Lesson: A Complete Walkthrough

This lesson guides you through creating one complete lesson, step by step. Use this process for every lesson you create.

Step 1: Choose and Engage (30-45 minutes)

Pick Your Reading

For your first lesson, choose:

• A reading you know well
• Something foundational (early in your curriculum)
• A text that clearly connects to your central question

Don't start with the hardest or most obscure reading. Build confidence first.

Engage With the Text

Even if you've read this before, spend 20-30 minutes re-engaging:

As you read, note:

• What are the 3-5 most important ideas?
• What surprised you (or would surprise a newcomer)?
• Where might someone get confused?
• What vocabulary does this text establish?
• How does this connect to other readings in your curriculum?

Write these notes down. They become your lesson content.

Step 2: Write Your Content (45-60 minutes)

Open your CMS and create the lesson. For each field:

Title and Basics

Field	How to Fill It
Title	The reading's common name or your descriptive title
Slug	Lowercase, hyphenated version (e.g., social-construction-reality)
Cluster	Select from dropdown
Order	Position within cluster
Description	One sentence: what will learners understand after this?

Key Concepts

From your notes, select 3-5 concepts. For each:

Name: A short phrase identifying the concept

• "The Attention Economy"
• "Institutional Facts"
• "The Medium Is the Message"

Explanation (write 2-4 paragraphs):

1. What does this concept mean?
2. Why does it matter for understanding the reading?
3. How will you recognize it in the text?
4. (Optional) How does it connect to other concepts or readings?

Example structure:

[Concept name] refers to [definition].

[Author] introduces this idea to explain [purpose].
In the text, you'll see this when [specific example].

This concept matters because [significance].
Understanding it helps you see [broader implication].

Assignment

Instructions: Tell learners what to read and how to approach it.

Example:

Read chapters 1-2 of *The Social Construction of Reality*
(approximately 60 pages, 90 minutes).

Pay particular attention to the three-step process of
externalization, objectivation, and internalization.
Mark passages where the authors give concrete examples—
these illustrate abstract concepts.

If the philosophical language feels dense, slow down.
This isn't meant to be skimmed.

URL: Link to where learners can access the reading

• Check Internet Archive first
• Verify the link works

Reading Title: Full citation

• "Berger, P. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. Anchor Books."

Body Content

Write 2-4 paragraphs introducing the lesson. Structure:

Paragraph 1: Why this matters

Published in 1966, *The Social Construction of Reality*
fundamentally changed how sociologists think about knowledge.
Its central insight—that "reality" is something humans
create together—underpins everything else in this curriculum.

Paragraph 2: Context

Berger and Luckmann were responding to a problem: how do
shared beliefs become so solid they feel like facts?
Their answer draws on phenomenology (Schutz) and
sociology of knowledge (Mannheim) to explain the process.

Paragraph 3: What to expect

The text is theoretical and sometimes dense, but the
examples are clarifying. The authors use everyday
situations—how children learn "the way things are,"
how institutions outlive their creators—to illustrate
abstract points.

Knowledge Check

Write 2-4 questions. Good questions:

• Require having done the reading
• Test understanding, not recall
• Connect to curriculum themes

Example:

Question: "How does 'objectivation' make human-created
patterns feel like external facts?"

Hint: "Think about what happens when 'this is how we
do it' becomes 'this is how it's done.'"

Additional Resources

Add 2-4 links for learners who want more:

• Related readings
• Video explanations
• Background material
• Applications of the ideas

For each, write a brief description of what it adds.

Step 3: Review and Publish (15 minutes)

Self-Review Checklist

Before publishing, verify:

• All required fields are filled
• Reading link works
• No obvious typos in visible content
• Key concepts are actually in the reading
• Description accurately reflects the lesson

Preview

1. Save the lesson in the CMS
2. Wait 1-2 minutes for deployment
3. Visit your site and navigate to the lesson
4. Read through the page as a learner would
5. Click the assignment link to verify access

Publish

If everything looks acceptable, you're done. The lesson is live.

Acceptable means "good enough to learn from," not "perfect." You can improve it later.

Step 4: Repeat

You've now created one complete lesson. The process for lesson #2 is identical:

1. Choose a reading
2. Engage with it (notes on concepts, confusions, connections)
3. Fill in CMS fields
4. Review and publish

Each lesson gets easier. By lesson #5, this will feel routine.

Common First-Lesson Mistakes

Mistake	Problem	Fix
Summarizing the reading	Removes reason to read it	Focus on setup and guidance, not summary
Too many key concepts	Overwhelming, dilutes focus	Stick to 3-5 most important
Generic body content	Doesn't motivate the reading	Be specific about why this text matters
Untested links	Learners can't access reading	Always click the link before publishing
Waiting for perfection	Curriculum never launches	Publish "good enough," improve later

After Your First Lesson

Congratulations—you have a live curriculum with real content.

Now:

1. Create the rest of your first cluster's lessons
2. Move to the second cluster
3. Continue until your curriculum is complete

Each lesson teaches you something about your own curriculum design process. Trust the iteration.