[Don McDonald]

Thanks for the link to Craiyon. I’m not sure if I missed it in one of the modules, but it does appear very accessible to the younger age groups.

[Don McDonald]

Lesson Plan: “My Family Tree” for 2nd Class
Subject: History, SPHE (Myself and my Family)
Topic: Family Trees
Lesson Duration: 45 minutes
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
• Identify members of their immediate and extended family.
• Understand the concept of a “family tree” as a way to show family relationships.
• Begin to construct a simple family tree.
• Understand how a digital tool, specifically AI, can help with a creative project.
________________________________________
Part 1: Introduction (10 minutes)
Materials:
• A pre-made, simple example of a family tree
• A book about different kinds of families
Activity:
1. Engage: Begin by asking the children about their families. “Who is in your family? Do you have brothers, sisters, or cousins? Who are your grandparents?” Explain that families are all different and special.
2. Introduce the concept: Show the students the pre-made family tree example. Explain that it’s a special kind of “tree” that shows who is in a family. Start at the bottom with a picture of a child and move up, explaining the relationship of parents, then grandparents. Use simple language like, “This is my mum, and this is her mum, my granny.”
3. Relate to their lives: Ask the children to think about a few people in their own family that they’d like to put on their tree. Emphasise that it’s okay if their family tree looks different from the example.

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Part 2: Creative AI Activity (25 minutes)
Materials:
• Individual pupil access to an iPAd and their school Seesaw accounts
• Prelaoded link to Whisk AI image generator by Google (https://labs.google/fx/tools/whisk)
Activity:
1. Introduce the AI tool: Explain that today they’ll use a “smart computer helper” to make their family trees. Tell them the computer helper, an AI, can draw pictures of people based on what they type. Explain that they’ll be telling the AI who to draw and then putting the drawings on their family tree on a Seesaw template that has been already shared.
2. Teacher Demonstration: Show the class how to use the AI tool.
o Prompting: Type in a simple prompt like, “Draw a cartoon boy with brown hair and a blue jumper.” Show the children the generated image.
o Guided Prompting: Now, demonstrate a family member prompt: “Draw a cartoon grandma with grey hair and glasses.” Explain that they can change the description to match their own family members.
o Important note on privacy: Remind the students to only use general descriptions and not to use real names or personal details. The goal is to get a cartoon image that looks like their family member, not a photograph.
3. Individual Work:
o Have the students open the Seesaw task that they have been assigned.
o They will then open Whisk to create images for their family tree (e.g., a picture for their granny, a picture for their mum, and a picture of themselves).
o They can download the images to the Camera Roll and upload them onto the Seesaw template. Each image should be labelled with a name in Seesaw and connected with line tools to form their tree.
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Part 3: Sharing and Wrap-Up (10 minutes)
Activity:
1. Share their creations: Invite all students to submit their completed (or nearly completed) family trees with the class and review a selection with the class.
2. Discuss the process: Ask questions about the AI tool. “Was it fun to use the smart computer helper? Was it easy to make the pictures?” This helps them reflect on the process and the role of technology.
3. Lesson reflection: Recap the lesson by reinforcing that every family is unique and special. Remind them that a family tree is a way to celebrate and remember the people we love.

 

Now having gone through all the content of the modules in this course, I am glad to report that I leave the course with the genuine intention of using some of what I’ve being introduced to.
There a number of aspects of my teaching that I would envisage AI becoming a never before used tool to improve on what I do with my class and in my role as a member of our school leadership team.
Planning and Lesson Preparation
Tools such as Gemini ( as we use Google accounts) are new to me since beginning the course. Even ChatGPT hadn’t presented as a tool for work purposes, prior to this. Now having had considerable opportunity through the course to explore these AI tools in more depth, it’s very obvious how beneficial they can be in helping create lesson plans across the curriculum. Undoubtedly there is a new for very careful and considered prompting and refinement to produce something that is of sufficient quality, but the time saving aspect is just profound. I look forward to dedicating the additional time to discovering supporting content that will serve to really engage and excite my class, rather than having to settle on something because time has gone against me.
Differentiation
In spite of being a teacher of many years, I constantly reflect that this is an area I don’t do well enough in, usually with time being the limiting factor. I am very keen to see if Diff It for Teachers can free me up to spend a greater proportion of my time assisting more pupils across the range of attainments, rather than finding myself spending the majority of my time with those that struggle the most. Perhaps if the independent activities were differentiated across a greater spectrum of attainment, my lower attaiing pupils might enjoy more independent progress and success at times I am not directly supporting them.
School Leadership
Having being introduced to the suite of teacher tools available in Magic School in the Admin category, as well a variety of others, I can certainly see myself accessing resources such as these and similar when it comes to finding ways to use my time for administrative tasks more efficiently.

[Don McDonald]

Using more competent pupils in the class as advisors to others  absolutely makes sense and it also engages these pupils more fully or possibly even pupils from older classes with experience of Scratch is another avenue that could be explored.

[Don McDonald]

The application I will focus on is the use of Scratch on a set of classroom iPADs with a 2nd class group who wouldn’t have any prior familiarity with the application.
The focus area I would choose is the use of Scratch to create simple character animations based on content from our class novel, The Twits. They would have opportunities to create characters to represent Mr and Mrs Twit in the various predicaments they find themselves in and direct speech relevant to the particular scene from the novel.
I would begin by opening a simple, pre-made Scratch project. It could be something like a character walking across the screen and I would explain to the children that with this app they will also be able to create and programme characters.
I would explain that Scratch is a fun and easy way to give instructions to characters on the computer using colourful blocks that are joined together in order for them to move.
I’d show them what these blocks look like and explain that they are blocks of code that make everything happen.
In a first lessons, I’d have them follow a prepared path of instructions that I’d have already created, just to help them become familiar with a few of the categories of blocks such as ‘Motion’, ‘Looks’, ‘Sounds’ and ‘Events’.
In follow up lessons I’d have them choose a specific scene and then create a character and have them animate it with some speech. I’d have them create a brief plan on paper first so they have something to guide them. At this stage they’ll hopefully have become familiar with other additional features such as changing the backgrounds and enhancing the animations.
I’d like them to take away from this opportunity, that through this use of AI it they that have made everything happen, that they are the computer programmers /content creators, which is of course hugely removed from their typical experience of primarily consuming content created by others.

[Don McDonald]

AI Tool # 1 – Microsoft Co Pilot Image Creator – powered by DALL E3
AI Tool # 2 – Diff It For Teachers
AI Tool # 1 – Microsoft Co Pilot Image Creator – powered by DALL E3
I really enjoyed the use of this application in the way it was applied. The lesson situation is something we are all familiar with, a shared class novel. However, the avenue into encouraging children’s engagement in descriptive writing was so clever. The opportunity for them to experience a real time graphical result of their initial prompt and edited prompts is brilliant. Then to conversely turn the activity around and have them create the possible prompts for an image already generated is really engaging. The motivation for producing creative writing at a greater depth has terrific potential.
AI Tool # 2 – Diff It For Teachers
I feel that this tool is one of the first examples of AI where I feel the much professed tagline as being a teacher time saving tool can really bear fruit. Effective differentiation for a time poor teacher is a real struggle, especially when resource preparation is required. I rely too heavily on teacher 1:1 or small group intervention to support with content I’ve prepared for the class as a whole, most often with my lower attainment pupils resulting in pupils at other attainment levels not receiving sufficient attention from me. I feel this tool will allow me to create quality differentiated content, across the same subject theme and allow me to have much more average contact time with my pupils across my class.

 

 

 

[Don McDonald]

I agree with what you picked up on image generation at the start of the module, which had so much quality content. I can really envisage this working successfully.

[Don McDonald]

I wouldn’t yet be a position of feeling that AI can “ transform” my teaching and the learning experiences of my pupils. That is quite a strong statement of change where it to take place. The major barrier being access to individual devices for pupils. All of the personalised learning programmes, such as Mathia X, Squirrel AI and Century AI of course could possibly provide avenues to “transform” my current practice but it just isn’t a viable route in a school where 50 iPADs are used by 600 pupils across the year.

In terms of what I could take from the AI tools featured, the standout for me would be Immersive Reader. Although our school version of word on the staff laptops doesn’t have Immersive Reader available, through exploration I have discovered that I can publish a Google doc to the web and then open it in Microsoft Edge which does have Immersive Reader functionality. I’m considering it useful for a pupil struggling to read but more than able to process content delivered audibly and fully participate in learning similar to their peers. My classroom laptop would be available at various parts of the day to allow for this opportunity.

[Don McDonald]

Hi Darragh, Immersive Reader is my stand out take away too from this module.

An option for a school lacking a sufficient number of IT resources for regular student access would be to provide a student access on the teacher’s laptop when it isn’t required or to extend a screen to the IWB, whilst a pupil reads with the assistance of Immersive Reader.

[Don McDonald]

AI tools will undoubtedly impact future teaching, learning, and assessment, especially when it becomes the norm in Irish primary schools for all pupils to have access to a 1:1 device. They will move beyond simple tasks like automated assessment, freeing up and enhnacing teacher planning and preparation time to allow exploration of more engaging lesson content. AI-powered platforms can offer adaptive learning paths tailored to individual student needs, providing real-time feedback and targeted support, similar to those featured in the Khan Academy Ted Talk.
For students, this means more customised and engaging learning experience. However, it also shifts the focus of learning from simply digesting information from texts to developing deeper critical thinking skills. Assessment will evolve to measure higher-order skills, such as how students use AI as a tool for problem-solving and creativity. The future classroom will be become a collaborative space where human and artificial intelligence work together to enhance educational outcomes. In order for this to be successful though, further Department of Education directed professional development will be necessary, once the instant access to technology for all pupils becomes the norm.

 

[Don McDonald]

Laura,

You suggest that a teacher’s time can be saved  by using AI in the drafting emails. I have yet to try this but I do hope that it is a realistic and effective possibility of AI. Emails have become such a strain on available preparation time, especially for teachers with additional responsibilities in schools.

 

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