Day 6 of 20 · AI for Teachers
Your First AI-Planned Week
⏱ 5 min
📊 Beginner
Over the past five days, you've learned the individual skills: generating lesson plans, differentiating resources, and creating starter activities and plenaries. Today we put it all together.
This is the lesson where you see how the full system works end-to-end. You'll take next week's topics and, in one 30-minute sitting, generate everything you need: lesson plans, differentiated worksheets, starter activities, plenaries, and homework tasks.
This is the Sunday afternoon session that replaces three hours of planning. And once you've done it once, you'll never go back.
The 30-minute Sunday session
Here's the workflow. It has five steps, and they go in order. Each step builds on the last. Set a timer if you like — most teachers finish in 25 to 30 minutes.
Step 1 — Gather your topics (2 minutes). Open your medium-term plan, curriculum overview, or scheme of work. Write down the topic for each lesson next week. You already know what you're teaching. This step is just getting it in front of you.
Step 2 — Generate lesson plans (5 minutes). Open ChatGPT. Use the weekly lesson plan prompt from Day 3. One prompt, five lesson plans. Review for accuracy and adjust timing or activities as needed.
Step 3 — Differentiate key resources (8 minutes). Identify which lessons need differentiated worksheets (usually 2-3 per week). Use the differentiation prompt from Day 4 to generate foundation, core, and extension versions. Add EAL or SEND adaptations where needed.
Step 4 — Create starters and plenaries (5 minutes). Use the bank approach from Day 5. One prompt: "Give me a starter and plenary for each of these five lessons: [list topics]." Specify variety in the activity types.
Step 5 — Generate homework tasks (5 minutes). One prompt: "Create a homework task for each of these topics: [list topics]. Each task should take about 20-30 minutes. Differentiate where necessary."
Step 6 — Review and personalise (5-10 minutes). Read through everything. Adjust for your specific students. Swap activities you know won't work. Add your own ideas where they're better. Save or print.
Total time: 25 to 35 minutes. Total output: a full week of teaching, planned and resourced.
Knowledge Check
In the 30-minute Sunday planning session, which step takes the most time?
A
Differentiating key resources — about 8 minutes for 2-3 worksheets at three levels
B
Generating lesson plans — it takes a long time to prompt AI
C
Gathering topics — finding the scheme of work takes ages
D
Reviewing and personalising — the entire output needs rewriting
Differentiation takes the most time because you're generating multiple versions of resources and may need to add specific adaptations for EAL or SEND students. But even this step takes only about 8 minutes with AI — compared to the hour or more it would take manually. The review step might take slightly longer if you're thorough, but the bulk of the creative work is already done.
The complete workflow in action
Let's walk through a real example. Imagine you're a Year 5 primary teacher in England, and next week you're covering:
- Monday Maths: Multiplying decimals
- Tuesday English: Writing persuasive letters
- Wednesday Science: Earth and space — the solar system
- Thursday Maths: Dividing decimals
- Friday English: Editing and improving persuasive writing
Here's exactly how the 30-minute session would look.
I'm a Year 5 teacher in England. Plan my week:
Monday Maths (60 mins): Multiplying decimals
Tuesday English (60 mins): Writing persuasive letters
Wednesday Science (60 mins): Earth and space — the solar system
Thursday Maths (60 mins): Dividing decimals
Friday English (60 mins): Editing and improving persuasive writing
For each lesson, give me: learning objectives aligned to the National Curriculum, a starter (5 mins), main teaching (15 mins), differentiated tasks at foundation/core/extension (30 mins), and plenary (10 mins). Vary the starter and plenary types across the week.
**MONDAY — Multiplying Decimals (Maths)**
Objective: Multiply numbers with up to 2 decimal places by whole numbers (NC: Number — multiplication and division).
Starter: True or false? "0.3 x 4 = 1.2" / "0.25 x 3 = 0.65" / "1.5 x 6 = 9.0" — mini whiteboards.
Main teaching: Model column multiplication with decimals. Emphasise place value. Show how to estimate first (e.g., 2.4 x 3 is roughly 2 x 3 = 6).
Tasks:
- Foundation: 6 single-decimal x whole number problems with place value grids provided. Worked example at the top.
- Core: 10 problems including 2 decimal places x whole numbers. Includes 2 word problems.
- Extension: Multi-step problems — "A book costs £3.75. How much do 8 books cost? If you pay with £40, what's the change?"
Plenary: Exit ticket — solve 2.6 x 5 and explain your method in one sentence.
**TUESDAY — Writing Persuasive Letters (English)**
Objective: Write a formal persuasive letter using rhetorical devices (NC: Writing — composition).
Starter: Ranking challenge — rank these persuasive techniques from most to least effective: rhetorical question, statistic, emotive language, expert opinion, repetition. Discuss in pairs.
Main teaching: Model a persuasive letter (e.g., writing to the headteacher about longer break times). Identify structural features and persuasive techniques.
Tasks:
- Foundation: Write a persuasive letter using a provided structure frame and word bank. Sentence starters for each paragraph.
- Core: Write a persuasive letter including at least 3 persuasive techniques. Use the structure taught but write independently.
- Extension: Write a persuasive letter on a topic of choice. Include a counter-argument and rebuttal. Self-assess against success criteria.
Plenary: Peer swap — read a partner's opening paragraph. Give one specific piece of praise.
**WEDNESDAY — The Solar System (Science)**
Objective: Describe the movement of the Earth and other planets relative to the Sun (NC: Earth and space).
Starter: Odd one out — Sun, Mars, Moon, Jupiter. Which is the odd one out and why? (Multiple valid answers.)
Main teaching: The 8 planets in order. Demonstrate scale — distances and sizes. Key facts: orbit, rotation, day/year length on different planets.
Tasks:
- Foundation: Label a solar system diagram. Match planets to key facts using a reference card.
- Core: Create a fact file for 3 planets. Compare their orbit times and distances from the Sun.
- Extension: "If you were planning a mission to Mars, what 5 things would you need to consider based on what you know about the planet?" Research-style task.
Plenary: 3-2-1 — 3 facts you learned, 2 planets you found interesting, 1 question you still have.
**THURSDAY — Dividing Decimals (Maths)**
Objective: Divide numbers with up to 2 decimal places by whole numbers (NC: Number — multiplication and division).
Starter: Retrieval quiz — 5 quick questions on Monday's decimal multiplication (spaced retrieval practice).
Main teaching: Link division to multiplication. Model bus stop method with decimals. Emphasise: "Does my answer make sense?"
Tasks:
- Foundation: 6 single-decimal ÷ whole number with place value grids and worked example.
- Core: 10 problems including 2 decimal places. Includes 2 money-based word problems.
- Extension: Multi-step division and multiplication combined. "A 2.4m piece of ribbon is cut into 6 equal pieces. Each piece is then cut in half. How long is each final piece?"
Plenary: Explain it to a younger student — "How would you explain dividing decimals to a Year 3 child?"
**FRIDAY — Editing Persuasive Writing (English)**
Objective: Evaluate and edit own writing for effectiveness, grammar, and punctuation (NC: Writing — composition).
Starter: What's wrong with this? — display a short persuasive paragraph with 5 errors (spelling, punctuation, weak vocabulary, missing technique, structure). Students find and correct.
Main teaching: Model editing process. Show how to upgrade vocabulary, add missing persuasive techniques, and improve sentence variety.
Tasks:
- Foundation: Edit own Tuesday letter using a guided checklist (tick-based). Teacher highlights 3 areas to improve.
- Core: Edit own letter using success criteria. Make at least 5 specific improvements. Annotate changes.
- Extension: Edit own letter AND write a second draft incorporating peer feedback from Tuesday's plenary. Compare first and final draft.
Plenary: Gallery walk — final letters displayed. Silent gallery walk with sticky note feedback: "One thing that persuaded me."
↻ Replay conversation
What you just saw
That single prompt generated a complete week of teaching. Five lesson plans, each with differentiated tasks, varied starters and plenaries, and curriculum-aligned objectives. The teacher could read through this, make adjustments based on their knowledge of the class, and be done in 30 minutes.
Compare this to the old way: sitting down with a blank document, a curriculum overview, and a cup of cold tea, spending three hours building each lesson from scratch.
The content quality isn't worse. In many cases, the AI-generated plans include activities and approaches the teacher might not have thought of — the odd-one-out starter, the "explain to a younger student" plenary, the multi-step extension problems. AI doesn't just save time. It often expands what you'd include.
Adding homework tasks
Once you have your lesson plans, homework is one more prompt:
"Based on this week's lessons (multiplying decimals, persuasive letters, the solar system, dividing decimals, editing writing), create a homework task for each topic. Each should take 20-30 minutes. Differentiate the maths homework into two levels. Make the English homework creative rather than worksheet-based."
You'll get five homework tasks in about 60 seconds. Review them, adjust difficulty, and you're done.
For subjects where homework is set weekly rather than daily, you can prompt: "Create a single homework task that covers this week's maths learning — both multiplying and dividing decimals. Include a challenge section for students who want to push themselves."
Knowledge Check
What's the most effective order for the 30-minute planning session?
A
Generate everything in one giant prompt to save time
B
Topics first, then lesson plans, then differentiation, then starters and plenaries, then homework — each step builds on the previous one
C
Plan Monday's lesson in full detail first, then repeat for each day
D
Start with homework because it's quickest, then work backwards
The sequential approach works because each step provides context for the next. Lesson plans inform which resources need differentiating. The topics inform the starters and plenaries. One giant prompt would produce lower quality output because the AI can't give enough detail to everything at once. The step-by-step approach takes the same total time but produces significantly better results.
Tips from teachers who do this every week
Teachers who've adopted this workflow share a few common insights:
Do it at the same time each week. Whether it's Sunday evening, Saturday morning, or Monday at 6am — consistency makes it a habit rather than a chore. Most teachers find Sunday afternoon works best.
Have your curriculum documents open. Keep your medium-term plan, scheme of work, or specification visible. The AI handles the lesson design; you handle the curriculum direction.
Don't aim for perfection in the first pass. The AI draft is your starting point, not your final version. Get everything generated first, then review. Editing five AI-generated plans is much faster than perfecting each one before moving to the next.
Save your prompts. After a few weeks, you'll have a set of prompts that work perfectly for your subjects and year groups. Save them in a document so you can reuse them every week. Your prompts get better over time as you refine the wording.
Share the workload. If you work in a department or year group team, one person can generate the base plans and share them. Each teacher then personalises for their own class. What took the team 15 hours now takes 2.
Knowledge Check
A department of 4 teachers all teach the same Year 8 topic this week. What's the most efficient approach?
A
They should plan collaboratively in a meeting without AI to ensure quality
B
Each teacher generates their own plans separately — it's quick enough
C
They should use the same AI-generated plans without any personalisation
D
One teacher generates the base lesson plans and resources with AI, then shares them for each teacher to personalise for their own class
Sharing AI-generated base plans across a department multiplies the time savings. One teacher spends 30 minutes generating plans, and the other three spend 10 minutes each personalising for their classes. The team saves a combined 10+ hours compared to individual planning from scratch. Personalisation is still essential — each teacher knows their own students.
The complete workflow. Thirty minutes, six steps, one full week of teaching planned and resourced.
📚
Day 6 Complete
"Three hours of Sunday planning, compressed into thirty minutes. The work is just as good — but you get your weekend back."
Tomorrow — Day 7
Your Teaching Foundation
Tomorrow we'll recap Week 1 and make sure your AI-powered planning system is locked in before we tackle marking and reports.