Teach AI your voice and materials
Upload your slides, plans and writing. Get outputs that sound like you — not a generic AI.
Upload your world
When Claude or Gemini only knows what it was trained on, it gives generic answers. When you upload your materials, it learns your curriculum — and everything it produces is grounded in what you actually teach.
- Student names, photos, or identifying details of any kind
- Staff names, email addresses, or contact information
- Parent or guardian names, phone numbers, or home addresses
- Medical information, SEND assessments, or safeguarding notes
- Individual EHC plans or named support plans
- Disciplinary records or pastoral correspondence naming individuals
What to do instead: Replace names with generic labels such as "Student A" or "a Year 10 student" before uploading. Use anonymised examples for marked work.
What to upload, and why each thing matters
Different file types teach the AI different things. The following describes what each contributes to its understanding of your teaching.
Transcripts and caption files — your spoken voice in text
Your lesson plans and slides show what you intended to teach. A transcript of you actually teaching shows how you explain things — the analogies you reach for mid-flow, the way you break down a difficult concept, the phrases you use when a student looks uncertain. That spoken register is often warmer, more natural, and more distinctively yours than anything you write formally.
Adding transcripts to your project gives the AI access to something no other file type provides: the voice you use in the room.
Where to get transcripts
Before you upload a transcript
Auto-generated transcripts are messy. A quick clean-up makes them significantly more useful to the AI.
- Remove speaker labels and timestamps. Delete lines like 00:04:21 Teacher: — they add noise without adding meaning.
- Remove student names. Replace any named student references with "a student" or "Student A". This is a data protection requirement, not optional.
- Fix obvious transcription errors. Auto-transcription gets subject vocabulary wrong — "photosynthesis" becomes "photo synthesis", "quadratic" becomes "quadratic". A quick scan fixes the worst ones.
- Add a short header. Add one line at the top: This is a transcript of me explaining [topic] to [year group]. It gives the AI context without requiring it to infer the purpose.
How to create a Project in Claude and upload your files
The following steps get your content into a Claude Project so it is available in every conversation you start inside it.
- Open claude.ai (opens in new tab) and sign in to your account.
- In the left sidebar, find Projects and select New project.
- Give it a meaningful name — for example Year 9 Science or GCSE English Teaching.
- Select Add content and upload your files. Start with your most-used slides and two or three lesson plans.
- Add a project instruction — this is covered in full in phase three of this guide.
- Every new chat you start inside this project will automatically have access to all your uploaded files.
Setting up in Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot
The steps on this page are written for Claude Projects, which has the most developed file upload and project instruction system. If you use a different tool, here is the equivalent for each.
Gemini — Gems
Gemini uses Gems as its equivalent to Claude Projects. A Gem is a saved AI persona with custom instructions and, on Gemini Advanced, the ability to connect to Google Drive files.
- Go to gemini.google.com (opens in new tab) and sign in.
- In the left sidebar, select Gem manager → New Gem.
- Give it a name and paste your project instruction into the Instructions field.
- To connect files, use Google Drive integration — store your teaching files in a dedicated Drive folder and connect it to the Gem. Gemini Advanced is required for Drive integration.
- Save the Gem. It appears in your sidebar and retains your instructions across every conversation you start within it.
Note: Gemini's file upload within a Gem is less direct than Claude Projects. The strongest workflow is to store materials in Google Drive and reference them in your instruction: "My teaching materials are in my Google Drive folder called Teaching Resources. Use them as your primary source."
ChatGPT — Custom instructions or custom GPTs
ChatGPT offers two routes. Custom instructions (free and Plus) apply to every conversation. Custom GPTs (Plus and above) are closer to Claude Projects — a named workspace with instructions and uploaded files.
- Custom instructions: Go to your profile → Settings → Personalisation → Custom instructions. Paste your voice description and key preferences in the second box ("How would you like ChatGPT to respond?").
- Custom GPT: Select Explore GPTs → Create. In the Configure tab, paste your full project instruction into Instructions and upload your files under Knowledge.
- Name your GPT clearly — for example Year 10 Science Teaching — and set it to Only me for privacy.
- Uploaded knowledge files are available in every conversation within that GPT, equivalent to Claude's project files.
Microsoft Copilot
Copilot's setup depends on whether you are using the consumer version or Microsoft 365 Copilot through your school's tenant.
- Consumer Copilot (copilot.microsoft.com): There is no persistent project system. Paste your voice description and project instruction at the start of each conversation, or save it as a document you copy from each time.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (school account): Copilot has access to files you have stored in SharePoint or OneDrive. Reference them directly: "Using the lesson plan I saved in my OneDrive Teaching folder, write..."
- For the most consistent results with Copilot, create a Word document containing your full project instruction and save it to OneDrive. At the start of each session, share the file with Copilot using @mention or by uploading it directly to the conversation.
Teach your voice
Your teaching voice is the combination of how you explain things, how warm or formal you are, which analogies you reach for, and what you care about. Without it, the AI defaults to a generic tone that sounds like no particular teacher at all.
Upload examples of your own writing
The most powerful thing you can do is show, not just tell. Upload real examples of your writing from different contexts — the AI will read the patterns and learn them.
Ask the AI to identify your voice from your documents
Once you have uploaded some of your writing, paste the following prompt inside your project. The AI will read your documents and describe the patterns it notices, then give you a voice description paragraph you can reuse.
Or build your voice description here
Fill in the four questions below. When you select the generate button, this tool creates a voice description paragraph you can copy straight into your project instructions.
Build your project instruction
A project instruction is a set of standing rules the AI reads before every conversation. Think of it as the briefing you would give a very capable teaching assistant on their first day — covering your subject, your students, your style, and your non-negotiables.
The five parts of a strong teaching instruction
A well-built project instruction covers the following five areas. One to three sentences per area is enough.
- Who you are and what you teach. Subject, year group, exam board if relevant.
- Your students. Age range, typical prior knowledge, any key context about the group.
- Your voice. The paragraph you built or asked the AI to write for you in phase two.
- Your content. Tell the AI to use your uploaded materials as its primary source — not generic knowledge.
- Your rules. Format preferences, things to avoid, how formal outputs should be.
A ready-made template to edit
Copy the template below into your project's instruction box. Replace every section in square brackets with your own details. Delete any parts that do not apply to you.
A complete worked example — what a real project instruction looks like
The template earlier gives you the structure. This shows it filled in — a complete, realistic project instruction from a secondary school History teacher. Read it to see how the five parts fit together, then use it as a reference when building your own.
This example is 370 words — a good length. Short enough for the AI to hold in context reliably, detailed enough to shape every output meaningfully. Your instruction does not need to be longer than this.
A content-anchor phrase for individual messages
For any conversation where you want the AI to stay especially close to your materials, add this short phrase at the start of your message. It tells the AI your uploaded documents are the boundary, not just the starting point.
Use it daily
The following example prompts show how to phrase requests so the AI uses your materials and your voice. Each uses a pattern you can adapt for your own subject and context.
Creating new materials from your existing content
Writing a parent communication in your voice
Differentiating your own content
Generating feedback comments from your rubric
Building retrieval questions directly from your slides
When it does not sound like you — troubleshooting
The most common response after a teacher's first attempt is: "it's close, but it doesn't quite sound like me." That is a normal starting point, not a sign something has gone wrong. Here is how to diagnose the gap and fix it.
It sounds too formal or corporate
The AI defaults to a professional register when it is uncertain. Fix: upload more informal writing — emails to colleagues, typed-up teaching notes, verbal explanations. Add to your project instruction: "My natural teaching style is warm and conversational. Avoid formal corporate language."
It sounds too generic — like it could be for any teacher
Your voice description is probably too vague, or you have not uploaded enough of your own writing. Fix: add specific phrases you use to your instruction. "I use phrases like: 'let's unpack this', 'connect this back to', 'what's the bigger picture here?' Use these naturally, not in every sentence."
It ignores my uploaded materials and uses generic content
The content-anchor phrase is missing or the instruction is not strong enough. Fix: add this to your project instruction: "Always draw on my uploaded materials as your primary source. Do not introduce content, examples, or vocabulary I have not used unless I explicitly ask you to go beyond my materials." Also use the content-anchor phrase at the start of individual messages.
It keeps producing bullet points when I want prose
AI tools default to bullet lists because they look organised. Fix: add explicitly to your instruction: "Write in sentences and paragraphs unless I ask for a list. Do not use bullet points by default." You may need to repeat this preference in individual messages until the project instruction reinforces it reliably.
It produces content at the wrong level for my students
The student context in your instruction is probably too vague. Fix: be specific about year group, prior knowledge, and reading level. "My Year 9 mixed ability class reads at broadly age-appropriate level. Avoid overly technical vocabulary unless it is subject-specific and I have used it in my materials." If you teach multiple year groups, specify which you are asking about in each prompt.
The outputs were good at first but have drifted over time
Projects need maintenance. Fix: review your project instruction each term. Remove outdated files. Add new units. If you have changed how you teach something, upload the new version and remove the old. A stale project with contradictory materials gives the AI mixed signals.
Your setup checklist
Work through each item and tick it off as you complete it. By the time you reach the end, your project is fully set up and ready to use every day.
Setup checklist
- Created a project with a clear name for your subject or year group
- Uploaded your slides and lesson plans — at least five documents, with all personal data removed
- Uploaded examples of your writing — anonymised, with all student names, parent names, and contact details removed
- Built your voice description using the builder in phase two, or asked the AI to write one from your documents
- Added your project instruction including the data protection rule
- Checked every uploaded file for personally identifiable information and removed or anonymised it
- Tested with a real task — asked the AI to write something using your materials and checked the result
- Refined at least one output and noted what to add to your project instruction
- Planned what to upload next — next unit, more writing examples, your current assessment rubrics
What to do next
Once you are comfortable with one project, the following ideas help you get more from this setup.