You have two readings for next week’s lesson. You need to decide what students should take away from them and which questions will help them think about the material.
Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM, lets you ask questions about materials you add. Its answers can include references to the supporting passages. That gives you a place to check the answer before turning it into lesson notes or questions for students.
For a first try, keep the task small: compare two readings, check one useful answer, and use it to prepare a discussion.
Start with the readings you plan to teach
Choose materials you have read and have permission to upload. For school work, use an account and tool your school has approved. Leave student work and private school records out of this first attempt; you only need the lesson materials. Google’s privacy information explains how its handling of feedback differs between personal and school accounts.
On a computer, open a notebook and choose Add sources. Google supports documents, PDFs, pasted text, and webpage links, among other formats. Give the readings recognizable titles so you can refer to them in a question. Google’s instructions for adding sources explain the available options.
Open each imported reading to check that the material you need is there. An ordinary webpage link imports the page’s text, not its embedded pictures or videos. If students need a diagram, inspect that separately rather than assuming the tool has seen it.
Give it a specific planning question
Instead of asking for a complete lesson, start with the comparison you want students to make. With your two readings selected, try:
Using only these two readings, what do they have in common, and what is different? Show me the passages that support your answer. Point out anything the readings do not tell us.
Here is a short example of the kind of material you might compare. Both readings below are fictional and were written for this article.
Reading A: Plants by the classroom window. A seventh-grade class grew bean seedlings in four containers beside a window. Each Friday, students measured the seedlings and added the results to a shared table. They used their notes to discuss changes over several weeks.
Reading B: An outdoor growing project. Another class grew bean seedlings outdoors. After heavy rain left standing water in the containers, the teacher moved them to a covered area. Students measured the seedlings each Friday, although they missed one measurement when an assembly changed the schedule.
For these readings, the lesson could ask students to separate what the accounts describe from what they leave unanswered. The location and interruptions offer something to discuss. Neither reading gives enough information to compare plant growth or student achievement.
Does the reading actually say that?
Before using a point from the answer, open its reference. Google calls these references citations. In the web chat, selecting a citation takes you to the supporting passage. Read the surrounding sentences too, especially when an answer makes a broad claim from a small example.
Consider this deliberately flawed practice summary, written for this article rather than taken from a Gemini Notebook response:
School gardens improve science scores and work equally well indoors and outdoors.
Neither reading reports science scores. They also do not compare the success of the two growing locations. Even a reference pointing to one of these readings would not support that summary.
A note you could use would be: “Both classes measured bean seedlings over time. The outdoor account also describes weather and scheduling problems.” That stays within what the readings tell us.
For very short sources, Google says the tool may reference the whole document instead of a particular passage. In that case, read the short source yourself. If you cannot find support for a statement, leave it out of your lesson notes or look for better evidence.
Turn the comparison into questions for students
Once you have checked the main points, try a follow-up request:
Suggest two discussion questions that students can answer using these readings. Include a possible answer and show where the readings support it.
Check the questions and possible answers together. A question such as “Why do gardens improve test scores?” assumes something neither reading establishes. You would need different material to teach that lesson.
For our fictional readings, you could ask: “Which interruptions affected the outdoor project, and how did the class respond?” Students can identify the rain, the move to a covered area, and the missed measurement.
A second question might be: “Can we tell which location produced more plant growth? Explain what information is missing.” Students would need to notice that the accounts provide no height measurements or starting sizes. That gives you a specific piece of reasoning to listen for during discussion.
Keep the questions that fit your learning goal, adjust the wording for your class, and discard the rest. Add a brief answer note with the relevant passage so you can check it again when teaching.
This preparation does not require students to use the tool. You can give them the readings on paper and lead the discussion yourself. For a separate source-checking activity, the Free Library includes Check This AI Answer, with a fictional source, a simulated AI summary, and a teacher key. It is a direct download with no signup or student AI account required.
Try this with one pair of readings before using it for a whole unit. After checking and editing the suggestions, decide whether the tool helped you prepare useful questions or simply gave you more text to sort through.
About the examples: This is a proposed planning approach, not a report of a live Gemini Notebook test. The fictional passages and practice answers were created to illustrate the checks. Google’s product instructions were checked September 30, 2026. The linked Library activity has not yet been classroom tested.
