Workflows · 7 min read
AI in Google Docs for teachers: run lesson planning, marking and KOs without leaving the doc
Most UK teachers plan and mark in Google Docs. Here is how a purpose-built Chrome extension lets you run pedagogy-first AI modules inside Docs — lesson plans, knowledge organisers, marking, feedback — without copy-paste, and without leaking pupil data to a general chatbot.
Most UK teachers do 80% of their planning, resourcing and marking inside Google Docs. Yet the standard AI workflow is still: leave Docs, open ChatGPT, paste the prompt, copy the output, paste back, reformat. That is friction, not productivity.
The Teachers.guide Chrome extension collapses that loop. It runs pedagogy-first AI modules from a side panel next to your Google Doc, lets you insert output straight into the document, and keeps every generation inside your school’s ring-fenced workspace — no free-form chatbot in the middle.
This guide covers what the extension does, when it is the right tool, and how to use it without leaking pupil data.
1. What the extension actually does
- Side panel next to any web page or Google Doc. Open the extension, pick a Teachers.guide module (lesson plan, knowledge organiser, marking helper, feedback bank, KO, worksheet, etc.), fill the fields, generate.
- One-click insert into Google Docs. When you connect Google Docs once (via OAuth), the extension can insert output straight into the doc you are working in — no copy-paste, no reformatting.
- Runs against selected text. Highlight a paragraph on any web page (a news article, a curriculum document, a pupil essay) and send just that text to a module.
- Uses your school credit pool. On a school account, extension use is credited against the shared school pool, and SLT can see extension activity like any other module use.
2. What the extension does NOT do
- It does not read your page in the background — nothing is captured unless you click Run.
- It does not have a general chatbot — only pedagogy-first modules with structured inputs.
- It does not touch your Google Docs unless you explicitly connect and then explicitly insert.
- It does not store selected text on your device beyond the current session.
Full details are in the Extension Privacy Policy.
3. Four teacher workflows the extension makes trivial
3.1 Lesson planning inside a shared department doc
Department shared docs are where UK curriculum planning actually happens. Instead of opening a separate tab, you generate the lesson-plan skeleton in the side panel using the department’s uploaded scheme of work, then insert the draft into the doc for a colleague to edit.
3.2 Knowledge organisers from selected source text
Highlight the exam-board specification for a topic, right-click, run the Knowledge Organiser module. A structured KO comes back — core knowledge, key vocabulary, model answers — ready to insert into the department’s KO doc.
3.3 Marking commentary on pupil work
Paste a pupil paragraph, run the Marking module against the department’s rubric (loaded once, reused everywhere), and insert the feedback where you want it. The teacher still edits — the extension never publishes to pupils on its own.
3.4 Adapting resources for SEND
Highlight a worksheet extract, run the SEND scaffolding module (dual-coded, sentence-starter, chunked). Insert the adapted version alongside the original in the same doc.
4. Data safety when you work in Docs
The rule is the same as everywhere else on Teachers.guide: do not paste identifiable pupil information into any AI tool, unless your school has signed the DPA and enabled Real Names for the specific SEND modules that permit it. Use “Pupil A” or initials in every other module.
The extension inherits your school’s ring-fencing automatically. Anything you generate on a school account goes into the school workspace, not into a general model’s training data.
5. Setup, once, for the whole school
- SLT enables the extension for the school on the extension page.
- Each teacher installs the Chrome extension and pairs it with their Teachers.guide account (a single-click sign-in).
- Optional: connect Google Docs the first time you want to insert into a doc; disconnect at any time.
- Choose the modules SLT wants exposed inside the extension.
Where Teachers.guide fits
The extension is a delivery surface for Teachers.guide’s pedagogy-first modules — the same modules, the same ring-fencing, the same SLT oversight, delivered where teachers already work. Install it from the extension page, or read why schools join.
Related reading: School Educational Intelligence · AI for lesson planning · Creating a School AI Policy