Lesson Resource Style Guide

Within the Overview content zone, you should include a brief introduction about the upcoming Resource. It’s recommended that it be no longer than a single paragraph of 100 to 150 words.

The accordions in this section are helpful tools for educators looking to quickly scan what the Resource offers and determine if it is the right content for their classroom. Keeping the information within those accordions brief and using tools like bulleted lists are key to maintaining strong scannability of your Resource.

While this zone is required, accordions are not. However we do highly recommend you include the accordions shown in this section. You may highlight images or videos that help introduce the lesson on the page or within accordions in a media viewer (remixable media component). Reach out to the digital team if you have questions about how to use this.

Essential Questions

Essential questions are not answerable within a single lesson. They are meant to stimulate thought and provoke inquiry. Often, they will spark more questions and student discussion, and should be generative. Rather than trying to resolve an essential question by the end of a lesson or class, continue to revisit it as students uncover more depth within a topic. 

Include a short introductory paragraph and brief questions that the lesson will help answer. Include them here in a bulleted list.

• Use a capital letter at the start of the sentence after the bullet
• Do not use periods, but do use question marks at the end of questions

Guiding Questions

Guiding questions are more pointed than essential questions. Typically, they will guide the learners toward a learning objective, requiring some reflection and thought rather than just student recall. They will not be revisited over time and should be answered by the end of the class or lesson. 

Include a brief introductory paragraph of one to two sentences, and those questions here in a bulleted list. 

• Questions should start with a capital letter
• Do not end statements in bullets with a period, but do end questions with a question mark

Learning Objectives

Learning objectives are measurable learning outcomes that are aligned with the unit goals. Assessments, when included in a lesson, should offer the educator insights into how to formally or informally measure student progress toward a learning objective to verify that the objective has been met. 

Learning objectives outline the goals for an educator using this Resource. Keep these actionable and measurable, so educators know where to expect to see an impact in their learners. Include a brief introductory paragraph of one to two sentences, and those objectives in a bulleted list. 

• Remember to capitalize the first letter of the bulleted sentence
• Do not add a period at the end of a bulleted statement, but do use a question mark at the end of questions

In this section, you have an opportunity to speak directly to teachers about the content of your Resource. Often at Facing History, we're writing about incredibly sensitive topics that may be difficult to teach. They may include offensive language that was common at the time, or discuss concepts that will make students uncomfortable. You can use this section to tackle these issues and offer educators guidance. 

You may include a media viewer (remixable media component) in the accordions within this section as well, to highlight images or videos important to the lesson. You can reach out to your digital team via the #digital-support Slack channel to help you with this.

While we have included a longer paragraph of information here for the purpose of training, we recommend you keep this introductory text to no more than 1 to 2 sentences. There is no limit to the number of teaching notes you can include. This zone is optional.

The title of this section can vary based on what template type you are working with. For the Lesson template, you will call this section Lesson Plans. You can view the page divider titles for all template types in the Taxonomy - Page Divider Headers worksheet within the Content & Product Matrix spreadsheet.

The Lesson Plans zone is required. It may include the activities and assessments the educator will use within the lesson. If necessary, you can include a brief introduction of 1 to 2 sentences. 

Use accordions in this section to outline the activities included in the lesson. Images and video can also be included within the accordion itself. Ask your digital team about using a multimedia viewer (remixable media component) for this. You can reach out to them via the #digital-support Slack channel.

Activity 1 What to Include

Within these accordions, include the activities you recommend educators use when teaching the Resource. Within the accordions, you can include instructional content, questions, and links to activity materials. 

You can see an example of this within the  Lesson Plans section of Authoring my Identity. We recommend you include links in the Related Materials section and avoid using inline links where possible. When you do need to use inline links, ensure the hyperlink is no more than 5 words long. 

Activity 2 Presenting Activities

These accordions can be used to briefly introduced additional materials where visitors can find activities, or they can include all of the information needed for an activity here. 

When outlining a full activity, be clear and concise with this instruction. Ensure you are including all important links and resources right here in the accordion, either as inline links or related materials, as seen here. 

Remember that you have the option to use subheadings and lists to help break up content and make the section more scannable. 

Tips and Tricks

Here are some tips on presenting activities:

• Use subheadings to break up longer chunks of content
• Ensure your writing is at an appropriate reading level using the Flesch-Kincaid Calculator
• Use bulleted or numbered lists where appropriate 

An Example

An example of a full activity outline can be seen in Activity 2 within the Lesson Plans section of Authoring My Identity. We encourage you take a look there, or reach out to the digital team to help guide you in presenting this content.  

External Materials

You may also include external materials here as needed. Again, you can include inline links, but we encourage that you use the Related External Materials section for these as well.