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Using google forms for this would allow the students to be more honest in their responses which would strengthen the data you collect. I like how you suggested a question that asks the students to consider their own confidence with speaking Gaeilge as opposed to questions that would centre around if they merely liked learning Gaeilge in school or not. I think the answers you would get back from the students would be really valuable for future planning.
I have chosen the focus of student wellbeing in school to review through SSE. I would use Google forms to gather evidence from my class about their feelings towards coming to school and how they manage challenges in their academic and social life. I would use scale-point statements for students to disagree or agree with. I would also ensure I include an area in the form for the children to identify which strategies the school has in place to support student wellbeing that are working, as well as giving the students an opportunity to offer their own suggestions on what we could do to further support this.
Gathering this qualitative data and sharing it with my peers would allow us as a staff to consider what is working for our students and what are some possible improvements we could make based on the students’ suggestions This would work as a starting point for our school wellbeing week also.
I like how you left out the timeline activity. That would probably be an activity you would’ve thought of on your own. The other suggestions seemed really useful. Using the gem to give you ideas for a novel study would help break away from the common activities of comprehension quizzes/chapter reviews etc. The newspaper activity would help keep the children interested and also support recount and report writing alongside the narrative of the novel.
I chose to use the Story Book gem to assist with an SPHE lesson on bullying for 3rd class. I asked Gemini to create a social story with the intention of outlining the three main types of bullying: verbal, physical and emotional bullying. The story book output that I got was really well crafted and looked very impressive at first glance. I read through it and noticed that the language was quite complex for 3rd class children and also took into consideration that I have children with EAL in my class also.
I asked Gemini to adapt it for children who do not have English as their first language and for those who may require less mature vocabulary. I ensured that I didn’t include any specific pupil names or needs and kept the adaptations very general. Although the updated output was more suitable, I felt the story and pictures were not very diverse. I think when I said the story was for an Irish primary school, it created a story that had very stereotypical Irish names and themes. It would not be time efficient to adapt this story and I would perhaps be better off researching stories in different SPHE programs to use with my class. I would use the images and idea of a ‘toolkit of power’ to deal with bullying that the output suggested. I would use this to support teaching the topic as opposed to reading it with the class.
I do like the feature though and could see it being useful for more lighter topics in SPHE like healthy eating or promoting teamwork. I would still need to read through the stories and take parts out that were not relevant or appropriate for my own class. I would use this gem again but I would input more prompts for key messages and events I want the story to contain.
I like the idea of the word bank as it helps children who feel unconfident with using/spelling topic specific vocab. I think some children find tasks like this challenging because they find it hard to retain new vocabularythat they don’t see everyday. Having the word bank will be helpful for those student and you could also reuse that for future activities too.
Google workspace would be great for organising student ideas for presentations. If I wanted 5th class children to demonstrate their understanding of key moments that defined World War 2 after learning about it in previous lessons, Google Slides would be a great tool to help all students on their way. I could create a template slide (posted to Google Classroom) that gives children 3-4 text boxes to identify and explain their chosen events. Limited text boxes ensure that pupils’ would not be overwhelmed with choice. This slide would also include suggestions and sentence starters in each text box to support those who are finding the task challenging. Pupils with an extensive knowledge on the topic can omit these starters and lead with their own ideas if they wish. An additional slide that has links to appropriate websites and previous learning may also be helpful.
Following this activity, I could share a Google Form that asks the children to assess their understanding of the topic and the accessibility of the task. This form would have questions such as (e.g. how did you find creating your presentation? tick which of these options were important events during World War 2, any suggestions on how you could be more supported in learning this topic etc.)
I would use this form alongside the presentation that the children produced to see what aspects of this topic may need revision to challenge misconceptions, which aspects they enjoyed and were the most popular choices when it came to choosing their key events, and consider their suggestions for support in future history modules.
I really like the idea of using a forms quiz to assess the pupils’ understanding of the other presentations. This would be helpful to the teacher to see which presentations were effective in getting their information across. The quizzes that elicited the most correct responses would suggest that their presentation kept the rest of the class effectively engaged. It would also break up the presentations for those who find it difficult to focus for longer periods of time. If they know they are going to have a quiz after each presentation that would be something for them to look forward to as well as give them a bit of a brain break while also keeping them engaged in the content. I would definitely use this idea with my class.
I have chosen the topic of Data for 3rd class. Following introducing the topic and teacher-led examples, the pupils’ individual activity would be to choose a question/topic and collect data from their peers in response to that question.
I would use pupil-facing slides to guide the pupils and outline the process of collecting data using concise instructions (choosing a question, creating options table, tally marks, collating data). This would also allow students to identify the steps they need to take for the independent portion of the lesson and offer clarity for the lesson activity. This task supports the SSE/reflection process. For instance, if pupils were able to follow the learning sequence without further clarification from the teacher, it would suggest that the task enabled students to be more independent in their learning. One adjustment I would make to the slides would be to include a visual/infographic to summarise the process for the students who are visual learners.
To collate their results, I would share a google sheet through google classroom where a simple template is available for the pupils. I would ask them to outline the options they gave their peers when collecting their data, recording the amount of votes each option got. They could also use the chart tool to explore the different chart types they could select to display their data. This would support the students in considering the next logical step for this topic i.e. recording data in different ways.
I like how you used Gemini for assistance with a Gaeilge lesson. I would have assumed that it would struggle to give suggestions that would be comparable to that of an Irish teacher, but clearly that’s not true. The adaptations that Gemini suggested with the desk mat is also an interesting touch. I can see why you opted to omit the additional phrase. I can imagine when it comes to languages, you would have to be more vigilant with the suggested vocabulary to ensure that it is suitable for primary level. In reality, the phrase it suggested (‘closing your eyes honestly’), wouldn’t really have added anything of benefit to the activity or in expanding the pupils’ vocabulary in a useful way.
I used Gemini to suggest persuasive writing lesson starters for 5th class. I liked the suggestion to challenge the children to ‘Sell Me This Rubbish’. The task would involve the class (in pairs) trying to persuade the teacher and their peers that a chosen piece of rubbish is the new ‘must have’ product. One adaptation I would have to make around the suggestion is the overall timing. I didn’t feel that the suggestion took into account the length of time it would take to describe the task to the class, allow for student planning of their responses and then to actually deliver their pitches. I would likely need to make this a core lesson activity and perhaps use it to focus on 1 or 2 persuasive techniques that I want the students to include in their pitch. One boundary would be to ensure I don’t include any behavioural concerns that I have regarding my pupils and delivering this lesson activity.