A lesson is an instructional guide to teaching specific concepts and skills aligned with the broader unit objectives. For example, in a unit titled “Unit 1: Personal Narratives,” you might have a lesson called “Lesson 5: Author’s Purpose” that explores the author’s intent or reason in writing a text.
Note: When you open a lesson from the course hub or from a unit that is open in preview mode, the lesson opens in preview mode, so that you can see the lesson in the context of the course in which it resides.
Lessons List
The Lessons screen allows you to quickly access lessons by searching and filtering the list. By default, the list displays all of the lessons that you have access to, including your own lessons, those shared directly with you by other users, and those that are available to all users in the district.
You can also create or import new lessons from this screen. Keep in mind that any lesson or lesson created from Lessons is not automatically linked to any other curriculum components. If you want to link the new lesson to another curriculum component, such as an existing course or unit, you can do so manually from the Relationships panel of the existing curriculum component.
# | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | New | Opens a drop-down menu to create a new lesson using any of the following options:
|
2 | Subject | Filters the list to show lessons that are tagged with the selected subject(s). |
3 | Grade Level | Filters the list to show lessons that are tagged with the selected grade level(s). |
4 | Access Level | Filters the list to show either private lessons or district-wide lessons. |
5 | Search by Title | Filters the list to show lessons with titles that contain the search criteria that you entered in the field. |
6 | Reset Filters | Clears all filters. |
7 | List | Displays all of the lessons that you have access to, according to the applied filters. Columns include:
|
Hub
When you select a lesson, it opens the lesson’s Editor or primary file. The table below provides more information about the screen.
.png)
# | Field | Description |
|---|---|---|
1 | More Actions | Opens a drop-down menu that contains the following options:
|
2 | Share Settings | Opens a window where you can view and edit current permissions, share with more users, or remove access for users who no longer need it. |
3 | Copy link in Course | Copies the URL of the lesson preview to your clipboard, allowing you to share the link to the component in context of its parent course.
|
4 | Open in new tab | Opens the component as a new tab, allowing you to view the component in full screen rather than in preview.
|
5 | Close | Closes the preview.
|
6 | Editor / Attachment Viewer | When you select the Editor, you can edit a curriculum component document using the word processor’s text formatting options. When you select an imported file, the file appears in the Attachment Viewer. |
7 | View | Opens a drop-down menu where you can select the following views:
Select the Star icon to mark a file as the primary file. The primary file opens as the default when a user accesses the curriculum component. The Editor option exists by default and cannot be removed. |
8 | Relationships | Lists the standards, strategies, resources, and files that are linked to the curriculum component. Select the Add icon to link a new item. When you hover over an item in the list, the Unlink icon appears, allowing you to remove it if it was added accidentally or is no longer needed. The Info section of the Relationships panel displays the grade level and subject of the component, based on linked standards. |
Editor
The Editor is Beacon’s built-in word processor. You can use this handy tool to create documents such as templates, course syllabi, unit outlines, lessons, activities, and so on. To learn how to use features in the Editor, see Using the Editor.
.png)
Attachment Viewer
The Attachment Viewer shows any document you have uploaded as an attachment to the course. Select the file name from the View drop-down to open it in the left panel. The fields and controls available in the viewer depend on the file type. For an explanation of common icons, see Common Icons in Beacon.
.png)