[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Karen,

Thank you for this post and your reflections on using the SETT framework as a planning tool. The sample child you have included in your SETT template is certainly reflective of a ‘realistic’ child, as it is a very common profile. You have also alluded to how each child will have different strengths and priority needs within each letter of the acronym. Some plans may only involve interventions in  1 or 2 areas, e.g. modifications to the classroom environment.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Ger,

Thank you for your post. From reading it, it is just great to see how a combination of assistive tools can allow a child with writing difficulties to engage so much with the process. This ensures that they are maintaining pace with their peers and engaged in the same drafting and editing – often a child’s difficulties with handwriting can impeded their ability across the curriculum and stifle their ability to develop their creative side. Your combination of dictation and grammar tools can provide such curriculum access to this specific child.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for this post – I am in full agreement with you in terms of feedback being actionable. In addition to this, I feel it being timely is right up there in terms of performance. In truth, lots of our feedback can probably be very general, focus too much on the positives and be difficult for a child to alter future work based on this. A great suggestion is to lay out clear success criteria beforehand through a rubric – indeed, asking a child to grade their own work or a peer’s work based on this could further develop their concept of feedback.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your post – certainly something I would have found also. People often talk about the impact of school closures on children’s reading levels – while true, I feel the impact on writing went under the radar and was more profound and extreme in many ways. Your ideas around creating stories around a stimulus image is something I have tried – in a pre-AI time, Pobble 365 and Once Upon a Picture were a great repository for these.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Emer,

Thank you for your post here and for outlining your own experience of this in your school. While the pupil population of refugees might be small, the efforts you make to ensure all pupils are welcomed regardless of background would transcend all members of the pupil population. I think that ideas like a multi-cultural week would provide a safe and welcoming environment to help migrant children settle into the school, whilst also celebrating their background and heritage.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Fiona,

Thank you for your post here. It is clear that the specific child you have chosen is one that you know very well. Understanding the child’s difficulties, such as that of fatigue when handwriting is so important when planning for the learning. Being able to find an alternative that allows them to engage in the activity, whilst maintaining focus and engagement can have benefits for this learning (And subsequent learning) as regulation levels may be optimal.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Sorcha,

Thanks for sharing this overview with us – I have also used Epic! and find it to be a really good literacy resource. It has links with the Accelerated Reader levels, meaning texts can be selected at an appropriate level – multiple texts are available on the same topics/themes which may be assigned to different groups of pupils also in the class. The collection of non-fiction books is also a particular strength, as I find these hard to source for class libraries.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for your post here and for outlining how you might use the resource in the classroom. I find this approach extremely engaging and worthwhile for the children to take part in. So often, considering what life may be like for others is something which is hard to grasp, so an activity that asks us to act ‘in their shoes’ could be brilliant. It’s incredible to think that our gender, nationality, race and so many other factors have such an impact on the type of opportunities that are presented to us in life.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for this post. It provides such a clear and succinct description of some of the many benefits which AI tools can bring into the classroom. These benefits are for both teachers and pupils – I find your description of using AI to provide differentiated learning opportunities particularly useful. Being able to pitch learning at various different levels in the classroom is hugely challenging, but AI tools make this task far more achievable.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Sabrina,

Thank you for this post and for sharing your reflections with us. I think you have raised a really good point around the intersection of AI use and the responsible and ethical use of it in our classrooms. It is such a rapidly evolving area, and policy is struggling to maintain the pace – as educators, its so important that we are given opportunities to interrogate our use and be given specific guidance on certain aspects to ensure it is being used in an age-appropriate manner,

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Diarmuid,

Thanks for this post. I agree that Google Slides can be a really effective way to share stories and facts with children around different topics. I like the idea of embedded videos, links, images, etc. that direct children to specific areas (selected by you), as this ensures children are consuming reliable information that is appropriate to both their age and stage.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Sandra,

Thank you for your post here and for giving us all some very important tips when using AI. You have clearly been able to incorporate AI suggestions with your own content knowledge to select the bits that you feel are relevant. Knowing that some of the suggestions are veering away from the curriculum or factual information on a particular period is crucial. So much content available online is not accurate, and this is a good lesson for all adults/children around being selective with the information gathered and making informed decisions with it.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Caroline,

You have raised a great point here around subscriptions. Almost all models have some free features, but many of the most beneficial aspects are premium features that require a monthly or annual payment. Schools and teachers need to be so careful about selecting what platforms they wish to use, what these platforms specifically have to offer and how our practice can be influenced by them. Often, companies will market some shiny features, but digging beneath the bonnet might reveal that they can only be used in very limited scenarios and won’t represent good value for money.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Cathal,

Thank you for this post here. I particularly like how you have attempted to incorporate active assessment modes into it, which allows both you and the class teacher to be reactive to how the children have grasped the presented content. The idea of an ‘exit ticket’ can be transformative when used to inform where we go next. Without that aspect however, it is simply another task that we need to prepare for and takes up another few precious minutes without being able to extract some value at the other side.

[Eoghan O’Neill]

Hi Orla,

Thank you for this post, particularly around outlining how Immersive Reader can enable children to engage with comprehension activities at an appropriate level. Often, a child might be considered to be struggling with comprehension, when decoding/fluency might actually be the root of the problem. Such tools can enable children to progress in other areas of literacy without having one deficiency preventing them from accessing other aspects of provision.

[Author]

Posts