A practical starting point for teachers learning to think with their own content
These days, I encourage educators to build their own second brain , a personal knowledge management system grounded in open-source tools , your own local AI models , and content you truly own. That’s the long-term vision I recommend: one that gives you more control, more transparency, and more alignment with your values.
But everyone has to start somewhere. And if you’re new to the idea of using AI to think with your own work, I recommend beginning with something familiar: Google Keep, Google Drive, and NotebookLM.
These tools are what I currently use to introduce the “second brain” concept in my teacher education courses and professional development workshops. They offer a powerful way to experience how AI can help you reflect, organize, and connect ideas, especially if you’re working on a long-term project like a curriculum unit or research inquiry.
Why One Space Matters: The Foundation for RAG
If you want AI to be a meaningful assistant, you need to give it something to work with. This is where Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) comes in. The process of having an AI model retrieve and reason with your own content.
But for RAG to work, your materials need to be organized and accessible in one place. That’s why a central learning archive, a single notebook, folder, or system, is key. Whether you’re using open-source tools or the Google ecosystem, the idea is the same: pull your content together, then teach your AI to think with it.
🌿 Google Keep: My Learning Garden
Google Keep is where I capture fast thoughts. The kind that might otherwise slip away. It’s perfect for saving article quotes, workshop insights, quick sketches, or spontaneous reflections.
I treat it like a garden for ideas. Some notes bloom into something more. Others sit quietly until a pattern starts to emerge. It’s fast, searchable, and mobile-friendly, making it ideal for on-the-go reflection.
📂 Google Drive: My Digital Archive
Once an idea starts to grow, I move it into Google Drive. Drive becomes the workspace and archive for more developed thinking:
- Weekly reflections
- Project drafts
- Slide decks
- PDF readings
- Student feedback notes
Drive gives me structure. I organize folders by course or initiative, which helps me track how my thinking evolves over time and across contexts.
🤖 NotebookLM: My AI-Powered Thinking Partner
NotebookLM is where everything comes together.
It’s not just another notebook; it’s an AI-powered research assistant that can work with your materials to help you think more deeply. Once you upload your docs, Keep notes, videos, or PDFs, you can start asking questions that help you analyze, connect, and reflect.
Here’s how I’ve used it in the CSPD Week 2025 workshop:
1. Set Up Your Notebook
Create a notebook titled:
CSPD Week 2025 – Integrating AI
This is your central hub for the workshop and your wicked problem unit plan. Add reflections, project drafts, readings, and videos here.
2. Upload Your First Sources
I started by uploading:
- A Google Doc reflection from the week
- A Keep note exported into Docs
- A reading summary
- A YouTube video
- A PDF article
3. Start Talking to Your Notes
Once uploaded, I began asking questions like:
- “What are the main themes in this reflection?”
- “What connections might I draw between this idea and my content area?”
- “What’s something I should explore more deeply?”
NotebookLM didn’t just summarize, it offered insightful synthesis. It helped surface ideas I hadn’t fully articulated yet, and connected dots I might’ve missed.
Why This Process Matters
Too often, we treat AI as a search engine or a shortcut, a tool for answers instead of understanding. But in reality, AI has the potential to be something much more powerful: a thinking partner.
By building a second brain, even starting with tools like Keep, Drive, and NotebookLM, you’re taking the first steps toward augmented thinking. You’re creating a system where your past learning fuels your present questions, and where you can revisit and remix your own ideas over time.
What’s Next?
As you grow into this process, you might decide to move beyond Google’s ecosystem. Eventually, I recommend shifting to open-source platforms and local LLMs , where you have more ownership and control. But the practices you develop now, capturing, organizing, questioning, and reflecting, are what matter most.
So start small:
- Use Keep to catch your sparks.
- Use Drive to give them space to grow.
- Use NotebookLM to start a conversation with your content.
And in time, you’ll find that your second brain doesn’t just help you remember more — it helps you think better.
✏️ Try it now: Set up a notebook in NotebookLM, upload a doc or note that matters to you, and ask a question you’ve never asked before. Let your thinking surprise you.