Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I think teacher training and using croke park hours to give teachers professional training will be vital. I cannot believe how many AI tools there are available and even the AI tool that is on Twinkl is brilliant!!
1. Introduction (5 mins)
Warm-up Activity
• Use an interactive AI phonics app (e.g., Endless Alphabet, Starfall, or ABCmouse) where children can hear the sounds of the letters.
o These apps allow kids to engage with characters or animated visuals related to the letters, making it fun and interactive. Start by reviewing the target sounds: s, a, t, p, and i.
2. Differentiated Phonics Activities (15 mins)
Activity 1: Sound Recognition Game (5 mins)
• Tool: AI-powered speech recognition (e.g., Google Assistant, Siri, or an AI-enabled phonics game).
• Instructions:
o Ask the students to speak the letters and their sounds into the AI device.
o If the students pronounce the sound correctly, the tool responds with a positive reinforcement message, such as “Great job!” If needed, the tool provides the correct sound.
o This activity helps with pronunciation and auditory discrimination.
Activity 2: Letter Formation and Tracing (5 mins)
• Tool: AI-powered drawing or writing tool (e.g., Osmo’s Creative Kit, or an interactive whiteboard with AI recognition).
• Instructions:
o Have students trace the letters s, a, t, p, and i using the AI tools that can recognize their strokes.
o As students trace each letter, the tool can provide feedback on whether their formation is correct. For example, “You’ve made a perfect p!”
o This can be done using touch screens or smart boards.
Activity 3: Blending Sounds (5 mins)
• Tool: Phonics AI game with blending practice (e.g., Teach Your Monster to Read or Reading Eggs).
• Instructions:
o Students will hear different letter sounds and have to “blend” them to make simple words like “sat”, “pat”, and “pit”.
o The AI will give students immediate feedback, rewarding them with points or animations for correct answers.
o Use the game’s visual or auditory cues to support the differentiation:
For struggling learners: Slow down the pace and allow them to focus on just two or three sounds.
For more advanced students: Introduce additional letters or challenge them with more complex blending.3. Interactive Group Activity (5 mins)
Interactive Group Phonics Game
• Tool: AI-powered virtual classroom tools (e.g., Classroom Cloud or Kahoot for phonics quizzes).
• Instructions:
o Use a group-based, AI-supported tool to ask questions related to the sounds and letters they’ve learned.
o Example question: “Which word starts with t?”
a) cat
b) top
c) bat
o Students will respond using the interactive quiz tool, and the AI system will immediately correct answers.
o Differentiate by adjusting the complexity of the questions for different ability levels.4. Listening and Phoneme Awareness (5 mins)
AI Audio Tool for Phoneme Awareness
• Tool: AI-powered voice recognition app (e.g., Phonics Genius or Reading Rocket).
• Instructions:
o Play audio recordings of words with clear enunciation of each phoneme (sound).
o Ask students to identify the first sound they hear in each word (e.g., “What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word ‘sun’?”).
o Provide feedback using the AI tool, ensuring that even students struggling with phoneme recognition can participate at their own pace.For me and working in a special school I think I would start with something like scratch, I really like that there is a junior scratch and that it would be possible to use it on the ipads. I think this would be a great opportunity to do in a class setting and doing it as part of station teaching perhaps.
It looks appealing for visual learners and I think it would be a highly motivating AI tool.
I also think the teachable machine is a great one too as it caters for all levels of learning. It is interactive, fun and caters for all needs esp for those who cannot write due to there fine motor abilities. It is a multisensory approach which I think is so beneficial and inclusive for all children. From looking at the app it looks like there is many settings like the pose, audio or image project. I think the kids I have would love the pose project. I am excited to get started with some of these tools in SeptemberI think scratch is one that would benefit a special class most at the moment until we become more familiar with AI and learn how to use it across the school.
This is a good point about the policies that are in place with regards to AI in schools, most schools probably have a digital learning plan but the use of AI is something that needs to be considered. GDPR is also a big factor and I think staff need to be highly trained to make it all above board.
I really liked the idea of speaker coach in this modeule and would find it amazing in my school which caters for children with special needs whose speech can be very difficult to understand at times but speaker coach would give them the confidence and independence to learn and assess their own learning.
Diffit was the other one that really stood out for me and one I would not only use in a classroom setting but I could also see myself using it with my own kids! It is great you can generate a couple of the same text for different levels using the same input which will save teachers so much time.For the second part of the question I think is Gamma to generate power points on different topics and to be able to make it motivating for the children based on their individual interests will make such a difference. There is so much to choose from and when you figure out how to use correctly I think it will make it so much easier for teachers. I really liked the look of magic school too and the social stories
I agree Diffit stood out for me as a tool for differentiation when the needs of our learners are so vast and different. I like to see that it supports all learners including EAl which is so important now more than ever
I work in a special school and there was a few things that really stood out for me in module 2. The immersive reader app is one and I think this will benefit my class so much next year. The app looks very appealing for children who respond to digital learning tools.
I also am amazed to see there is a Minecraft educational app. Again I think for children who have additional needs and who may have a special interest in something like mine craft this would be a fantastic educational tool. Only downside I can see is trying to get children to come away from app like this and move on to another task.A challenge would be GDPR and guidelines around using AI in schools but I was very interested and glad to see the ethical considerations including guidelines, GDPR compliance which is vital, code of practice, teaching council standards and also the digital strategy which all schools should be familiar with.
I think staff training and understanding will be a massive challenge as well as the cost of it all.I work in a special school and there was a few things that really stood out for me in module 2. The immersive reader app is one and I think this will benefit my class so much next year. The app looks very appealing for children who respond to digital learning tools.
I also am amazed to see there is a Minecraft educational app. Again I think for children who have additional needs and who may have a special interest in something like mine craft this would be a fantastic educational tool. Only downside I can see is trying to get children to come away from app like this and move on to another task.A challenge would be GDPR and guidelines around using AI in schools but I was very interested and glad to see the ethical considerations including guidelines, GDPR compliance which is vital, code of practice, teaching council standards and also the digital strategy which all schools should be familiar with.
I think staff training and understanding will be a massive challenge aswell as the cost of it all.I think the immersive reader will be a game changer for my class in a special school for those who really stuggle with reading. The digital aspect is so appealing so I am excited to use with my class and it will be a great assessment tool.
I work in a special school and I think the benefits for staff and children using AI will be very beneficial. Accessibility SupportAI can assist students with disabilities through tools like text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and visual aids.
Using copilot to make lessons more personal to each child in such an accessible way is amazing. I think using the image generator to make visuals and lessons personal to each child will really benefit children with special needs who are highly motivated by technology.
It is also so beneficial to be able to type or speak to chatGTP about a topic that might be of interest and highly motivating to a child with special needs, it would give them the power to look up what they are interested in but will also give the teachers the opportunity to look up topics easily and plan lessons around what is motivating for children with additional needs.Looking at the GENERATIVE AI IN EDUCATION is fascinating and I cannot believe how much there is to use in the classroom for teaching, learning and assessment
I agree I think staff training is vital to ensure all staff can be as informed and educated as possible. My school has started using AI for recording minutes of staff meetings etc and I think it has been great.
We have also been using copilot to generate images and logos for our fundraisers etc.
I think coming from a special school where the children have a diagnoses of autism and mild/moderate GLD the idea behind the Microsoft lens is fantastic. I wasn’t aware of it until I began this course and after doing some research and playing around with it myself I really think it is something I could use in my classroom. Children with Autism tend to find it difficult to focus and narrow down their thoughts but using Microsoft lens allows you to control what they are seeing and indeed what they are focusing on so they won’t get distracted by what ordinarily would be on a page or reader. I could make it personal to the child and zoom in and draw attention to what I would like them to focus on. Personal books of themselves or what they are interested would be ideal focus I think.
Part 2:
I only read something the other day on the teaching council website about cosan and how they are trying to promote even futhur learning for teacher esp. in the areas of digital learning and ICT. I really feel as teachers we have to move with the times and up skill as we go, we are very lucky to have so many CPD opportunities in this country and I personally felt like I needed a lot of work in the area of digital learning and ICT. That is why I am taking part in this course and also took part in a workshop run by the NCCA which meant lots of online zoom workshops and 2 day courses where we got to meet other schools and talk about our experiences and what we needed to develop etc. It was so beneficial and I feel like ill be returning to work so much more prepared in September. CPD is vital to all teachers for the development of all children we teach.
For this assignment I am thinking of my class which consists of 6 pupils with ASD and mild/moderate GLD in a special school.
Star fall is something we use on a daily basis as part of circle time. We use it for doing the calendar daily which includes day, date and month and we can mark out any special days coming up. Star fall is also fantastic for phonics, the letter games and songs are fantastic and for the more advanced kids it also has a learn how to read section. We also use it for learning our numbers and colours.
Top marks is amazing for topic work in particular and I always find it great as you can filter it for the age of the children.
see-saw actually has a huge amount of resources in the see saw library and in the teacher made library which are all free to access. Our school development plan focus was greatly on developing our digital learning portfolio and assessment and see saw has greatly helped us in this area.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xhACDrUEffxESWmUMGff7dJsJ5TDyruYdFCKP5eM6hc/edit?usp=sharing
I hope the link works I am not used to using google docs so it took me a while to figure it out. I found the SETT model very realistic and very appropriate coming from a teacher in a special school for children with Autism and mild/moderate GLD. I think it is very child centred approach where the student is at the centre of it and the environment, task and tools are vital aspects to the development of the child on a whole. From reading other comments etc I am seeing another post about the use of proloque2go for non verbal child. To be honest before covid this would have been the only form of digital learning we would have used for communication but from the past few modules and reading other comments there is so much more to be explored. We have been using see-saw since covid but I am also hearing lots about google classroom and it seems to follow the SETT so well too.
