Shared document. Real-time collaboration on a class-wide artefact.
Interactive Amplify (IA)
Annotated debugging screencast
The teacher shares a screencast of a programmer debugging a real bug (about 10 minutes). Each student annotates a shared Doc with timestamped notes on what the programmer did at each step and what they could have done differently. The class compares notes and pulls out the three most useful strategies.
Tools: Google Docs
Database normalisation tradeoff analysis
The teacher posts an unnormalised database schema in a shared class Doc. Each student annotates one normalisation step they would apply (1NF, 2NF, 3NF, BCNF) with reasoning about the tradeoff in performance and complexity. The class plenary draws out where students propose different sequences.
Tools: Google Docs
Class annotation of stage directions on a script
The teacher posts a single page from a play script in a shared class Doc. Each student adds suggesting-mode comments on what they would do as a director for one specific stage direction or beat. The class scrolls comments and the teacher draws out where directorial choices diverge most sharply.
Tools: Google Docs
Climate persuasive paragraphs with structured peer review
Each student writes a 150-word persuasive paragraph on a climate change action they want their school to take, in their own page of a shared class Doc. After 25 minutes, three named peers comment on each paragraph using a fixed prompt frame: one rhetorical strength, one rhetorical weakness, one suggested rewrite. Students revise their paragraph in the final 15 minutes based on the three comments.
Tools: Google Docs
Pairs annotate a persuasive speech for rhetorical devices
Each student receives a copy of a famous persuasive speech (one of Greta Thunberg at the UN 2019, Malala at the UN 2013, JFK 1961 inaugural). Their copy lives in a shared Google Doc. Using the suggesting-mode comment tool, each student highlights three rhetorical devices (e.g. tricolon, anaphora, contrast) and writes a one-line note explaining the effect on the listener. The class scrolls a master view of all three speeches; the teacher calls out two strong annotations.
Tools: Google Docs
Lady Macbeth across two scenes, annotated
Each student receives the texts of Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 5 Scene 1 of Macbeth in a shared Google Doc, one document per student. Using suggesting-mode comments, each student highlights three lines per scene that show Lady Macbeth's psychological arc, with a one-line note on what each line reveals. The class scrolls a master view in plenary; the teacher pulls out the cleanest before-and-after pairs and asks the contributing students to defend.
Tools: Google Docs
Live polling on a poem with class debate
The class reads a poem together (e.g. Carol Ann Duffy's Education for Leisure or Jackie Kay's Old Tongue). After the read, the teacher posts a Mentimeter poll with three competing readings of the central theme. Each student commits to one. The class sees the live spread, then in pairs writes a 30-second defence of their choice. The teacher calls three pairs from each side to argue; the class re-polls at the end to see who shifted.
Tools: Mentimeter, Google Docs
Stanza-by-stanza poetry close reading
The teacher allocates one stanza of a long poem (e.g. The Waste Land) per student. Each student writes a 200-word close reading of their assigned stanza in their own page of a shared class Doc. The class scrolls the full annotated poem in plenary; the teacher pulls together themes that recur across stanzas and students whose readings illuminate adjacent stanzas.
Tools: Google Docs
Editorial comparison of published criticism
The teacher posts three published critical essays on the same text in a shared class Doc, each on its own page. Students read all three, then add suggesting-mode comments on lines they find most or least convincing, with reasoning. The class plenary scrolls comments, the teacher highlights critical disagreements between students and lines that drew the most attention.
Tools: Google Docs
Critical globalisation case-study annotation
The teacher posts a globalisation case-study text in a shared class Doc. Students add suggesting-mode comments on lines they find most or least convincing, with reasoning. The class plenary scrolls comments, drawing out where critical thinking converges and diverges.
Tools: Google Docs
Interactive timeline of the Industrial Revolution
Each pair takes one decade between 1760 and 1840 and adds three events to a shared timeline (Padlet, Sutori, or a shared Google Doc with a date column). The class scrolls the resulting full timeline together; the teacher calls on three pairs to defend why their events mattered for the trajectory of industrialisation.
Tools: Sutori, Padlet, Google Docs
Synoptic essay-plan peer feedback
Each student posts a 300-word essay plan for a synoptic A-Level question on their own page of a shared class Doc. Three named peers comment per plan, focusing on the strongest argument and the most arguable thesis. Students then revise based on three sets of feedback.
Tools: Google Docs
Target-language short answers in shared Doc
The teacher posts ten target-language questions in a shared class Doc. Each student writes their answer to each question on their own line. The teacher highlights live as students submit, calling out common error patterns and asking two students to revise their answers based on the feedback.
Tools: Google Docs
Interactive Transform (IT)
Cross-cultural source analysis with partner school
A class is paired with a partner-school class in another country (e.g. UK class paired with a German class for a topic on WWII; UK class paired with a US class for a topic on the Cold War). Both classes annotate the same primary source on a shared Doc, with each student tagging their nationality. The classes then debate where their national perspectives diverge.
Tools: Google Docs, Microsoft Teams
Cross-cultural ethical dialogue with peer school
A UK A-Level RE class is paired with a peer school in a country with a different majority religion (e.g. India, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican). Both classes annotate the same ethical scenario on a shared Doc, each student tagging their religious tradition. The classes then video-call to debate where their traditions converge and diverge on the scenario.
Tools: Google Docs, Microsoft Teams
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and key stage. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.