How to Find Supplementary Teaching Materials Using AI and Text

You’ve just found a great reading passage for your lesson. It fits the topic perfectly, it’s at the right level, and your students will enjoy it. But now comes the tricky part: finding extra materials to go with it. You open a dozen tabs, scroll through countless websites, and still can’t find a worksheet that fits. The video links are outdated, the quizzes are off-topic, and your prep time is disappearing fast.

What do you do? Even if you turn to ChatGPT, how do you approach this research?

You’ll find the answer in this tutorial. You’ll learn how to guide AI tools to search smarter, faster, and with your teaching goals in mind. Whether you need worksheets, presentation slides, or video suggestions, you’ll see what kind of prompts can get you better results. You’ll also discover a teaching-focused AI tool that can help you save hours on detailed prompting.

Scope of today’s tutorial

Say we have some Grade 6 science class notes on the concept of chemical reaction. Instead of creating supplementary materials from scratch, we want to take a look at a few examples first. So the goal here is to discover relevant materials based on these notes.

Your requirements will definitely be different, but the same strategy will still apply. So no worries.

How to find supplementary teaching materials with Monsha

1. Head over to Monsha and log into your account. In case you’re not registered, you can sign up for free in less than a minute.

2. Once you're in, you’ll see a bunch of options to create resources. Lesson plans, quiz questions, presentations, for instance. For now, click on Supplementary Materials.

Quick note. This tool is free to use until July, so it’s a great time to explore and see how it fits into your workflow. There are other tools too, which you might want to check out later.

3. Next, you’ll see an option to assign your resource to a course, unit, or lesson. If you’re building your curriculum with Monsha, this is a helpful way to stay organized. But we’re going to skip that part.

4. Here’s where the magic happens. Monsha lets you pull in content from all sorts of sources, be it links, uploaded files, and even curriculum expectations. You can mix and match to get exactly what you need.

For today’s tutorial, we’ll just select “Any text or excerpt” and paste our class notes.

5. The next screen helps you fine-tune your requirements. You’ll be able to set the grade level, pick a language, and choose how many materials you want.

Here’s what we’ve gone with:

Grade: Grade 6

Language: English

Number of materials: 10

That’s all we need to get started. But if you want to, you can also add extra details. For example, you can ask for a specific type of material, like worksheets or reading passages.

6. Once you’re ready, just click Generate. In a few seconds, you’ll have a fresh set of supplementary materials ready to use!

How Monsha helps you make your supplementary materials more relevant

There are plenty of online tools out there that can give you a list of classroom materials. But those lists are likely to miss the mark due to lack of context. They might not match your students’ needs or fit your curriculum goals. That’s where Monsha really stands out. You can set the context exactly how you want and make sure everything lines up with the rest of your teaching resources. Let’s look at how that works for supplementary materials.

Quickly customize your list: Whether you want to expand your list by including more articles, videos, downloadable PDFs, slide decks, textbooks, or ebooks, you can rebuild your list the way you like. No need to do it manually. Just use the Quick Actions feature. It figures out what you need based on your selection.

Edit your list with a click: In case you got something on the list that doesn’t fit your class, delete it without any hassle.

Copy your list: You can come back to your generated list anytime in Monsha, but if you want to keep a copy elsewhere, just hit copy and paste it wherever you want. Here’s how it looks when pasted into a Google Doc.

Easy export options: You can download your list as an MS Word or PDF file. If needed, send it straight to Google Docs, Canva, or Google Classroom.

Create more resources based on the list: With Monsha, you’re not just stuck with a list of supplementary materials. You can turn that list into other resources, such as worksheets or presentation slides, right from the same screen.

Searching and finding supplementary materials with AI chatbots

Before you search for internet-based supplementary materials using general-purpose AI tools and some written content, it's important to start with a clear objective. This is what lays the foundation for a teaching-focused prompting strategy.

Think about what you want your students to learn or practice. For example, if your text is about chemical reactions, do you want students to review key terms, watch a related experiment, or complete a comprehension worksheet? Your goal will guide the kind of materials you should ask for, whether it's videos, games, printable activities, or quizzes.

Next, always consider your students’ grade level and language needs. A Grade 6 student learning in English will need very different materials than a Grade 10 student or an English language learner. For instance, if the excerpt is complex, you might want materials with visuals or simplified explanations. Be sure to mention the grade and language clearly when asking an AI chatbot, so it finds age-appropriate and accessible content that matches your students' level.

Also, keep your subject and topic in mind and, if possible, tie your request to your curriculum standards. For example, if your curriculum requires students to identify the cause and effect in science texts, ask the AI chatbot to find resources that support that exact skill. You can even mention how you plan to use the material, whether it’s for classwork, group activity, or homework.

Last but not least, if you know how you’ll format or share the materials (like slides, handouts, or links), include that too. This helps AI chatbots give you resources that fit smoothly into your teaching workflow.

Here are a few prompt examples to help you search for internet-based supplementary materials based on a specific text or excerpt. They will guide you to include key instructional elements mentioned above. 

Three quick notes.

First, while you can use these examples with any general-purpose AI chatbots, Perplexity may give you better results.

Second, we’re intentionally excluding the excerpts.

Third, feel free to explore more prompt examples from our ready-to-use AI prompt collection.

Prompt template to search for supplementary materials based on a text

I have a text/excerpt intended for [Grade Level] students and written in [Language]. Based on this text, search for [Number] supplementary materials available online.

The materials should include [Types of Materials, e.g., interactive activities, printable worksheets, videos, reading passages, or online quizzes], and they must support or extend understanding of the content.

Please describe each material briefly, include the link, and explain how it connects to the original text. Format the results in a table with columns: Title/Resource, Type, Link, How It Supports the Text.

Use this text for the task:

"[Insert text/excerpt here]"

Prompt example 1: Appropriate for Grade 4 English classes

Based on the following story excerpt, find 3 online worksheets or games that help Grade 4 students practice reading comprehension. The resources should be in English and free to use. Include a short explanation for each link.

Text:

"......"

Prompt example 2: Appropriate for Grade 7 Social Studies classes

I have a classroom text about the Nile River’s importance in Ancient Egypt, intended for Grade 7 students. Suggest 5 online materials (videos, maps, short articles, or quizzes) that can help extend or reinforce student understanding. List the title, link, type of resource, and how it connects to the topic.

Use the following text:

"......"

Prompt example 3: Appropriate for Grade 5 Math classes

Based on a story text involving cooking and measurements, find 3 interactive math resources for Grade 5 students related to fractions in recipes. Use English-language websites. Present results in a table showing name, link, type, and teaching connection.

Use the following story text:

"......"

Reusability of the process still matters

Once you figure out what prompts get you better supplementary teaching materials the process becomes much easier and faster. However, you still need to tweak your prompts for different groups of students and classes. That back-and-forth can be tedious, especially when you’re trying to fit it into a busy teaching day. On the other hand, you don’t experience this challenge with a teaching-focused tool since it keeps the entire process repeatable, regardless of your requirements. If you’re looking for such a solution, give Monsha a try.