How do I use the Lesson Planning Tool?

The Lesson Planning Tool was designed to help you select the lessons that will teach skills and support desired healthy behavior outcomes for your specific population.

Step 1: Select the grade level you are teaching

Step 2: Enter the number of lessons or class periods you have available for teaching health.

Step 3: Select the content area(s) you wish the health lessons to address. These content areas are based on the CDC’s Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT). Selecting a content area will give you all of the lessons that cover that health topic.

Step 4: Select specific skills covered in the content area(s) that you want to teach. This will ensure that the specific lessons that teach these skills will be included in the Lesson Plan, regardless of which healthy behavior outcomes (HBOs) you select.

Step 5: Select the HBOs defined by the HECAT that you wish to achieve. Then only the lessons that teach key concepts related to the selected HBOs will be included in the plan. (Note: Some HBOs are very broad, such as, “Avoid experimentation with alcohol and other drugs,” and will select more lessons than narrower, more specific HBOs, such as, “Avoid riding in a motor vehicle with a driver who is under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.” Choosing broader coverage HBOs will result in a lengthier Lesson Plan.)

Review your customized Lesson Plan. The list of lessons will identify both the HECAT HBOs and the NHES skills addressed by each lesson. You can then choose the lessons you want to save under My Lesson Plan.

• If you have additional time for teaching health, you can go back and select additional skills and/or HBOs to bring up additional lessons that can be added to the plan.
• If the generated Lesson Plan contains more lessons than you have time for teaching, try the following strategies:
  • If possible, add more time for teaching.
  • Review the lesson Overviews to determine which you can eliminate. Click on the grey More Details button under each lesson to read the Overview.
  • Restart the tool and eliminate a content area, if you have selected more than one.
  • Restart the tool and reduce the number of skills or HBOs you select.