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Our SSE for next 2 years will be assessment. Identifying where the student is at and how much progress they have made were highlighted by an inspection as areas that were not coordinated or clear across the school.
In our post‑primary MGLD classrooms, the aim could be to shift assessment from something done to students to something they do. LAOS is clear that good evaluation needs a mix of tracking, student voice, and real observational evidence — and Google Workspace actually helps us here.
Digital portfolios in Sites let students show their work in ways that suit them. Slides and Drive make multi‑modal evidence easy — photos, audio, quick reflections instead of heavy written tasks. Forms and Sheets give us clean, real‑time notes that feed straight into SSE without extra paperwork.
It turns assessment from a static record into something living, visual, and strengths‑based — which is exactly what our learners need.
This is an excellent way to allow students to voice their emotional state in a safe way that helps the staff to be aware and proactively assist when needed. The records maintained in Google workspace can be used for developing whole school actions, SSE focus, parental information and evidence for inspectors aside from the obvious in class benefits. The beauty of Google collaboration here can allow other staff members to use templates or improve and refine them too.
Hi Deirdre,
I’m starting to think they might help SSE, at least in small ways. The pre‑built AI Gems won’t magically fix SSE, but they could take the edge off some of the routine bits — quick evidence capture, tidy summaries, or even simple staff check‑ins. If they lighten the load even a little, that’s worth exploring.
First thought on the pre built gems was that they were not too far removed from the general AI interface. I found that the more I interacted with the Gem it coalesced more and more into straightforward AI but just offered options or a quiz at the end. Weirdly I would answer “dunno” to its quiz questions and would be congratulated with getting the answer correct!
Having used AI extensively to help repair technology in our school I am constantly aware of the tone and how misleading it can be. Confidence flows like a broad river through sometimes ridiculously wrong answers. For example I asked re overtaking in a new electric car and it assured me that 3 seconds of a gap is enough time. I decided not to test that one out live and rejected it!
AI can be a fantastic tool when used correctly and fact checked assiduously. Idea generation (as I see in our forum replies) is always excellent. I asked for an 8 lesson plan for 5th class students to introduce the topic of climate change, considering some students may have EAL and MGLDs, based in an Irish Primary School Context, with an assessment section that is based on UDL.
The lessons were very broad and needed to be adapted and focused. eg
Lesson 6: Climate Heroes Unit 1 – Renewable Energy Powers Up
LI: We are learning how wind, water, and sun help clean our air.
Starter Activity 1 (Tactile/Model): Pinwheel Blow Test – Blowing on mini paper wind turbines to generate mechanical motion.
Starter Activity 2 (Spot the Difference): Clean vs. Smoky Cities – Comparing two vibrant photos with zero text needed.
Main Focus: Building simple wind turbine models in small collaborative groups.There were often enough content for several lessons. The LIs made sense but I would check them against the curriculum and might use a different AI engine (Copilot) to do this.
Short answer:
This Learning Intention aligns with Primary SESE (Science), Junior Cycle Science, Junior Cycle CSPE, and L1LP/L2LP Communication & Understanding in an Irish special‑school context.
For me I would use these tools to help plan (plans, lessons, redraft, etc) by using the idea generating skills while depending on my professional knowledge to reject, adapt, assess as needed. I would keep the prompts anonymous at all times by generalising.Your reflection really shows how strong the pupil engagement was — the investigation task and the “Super‑Adapted Creature” challenge clearly hit that sweet spot where kids feel free to explore, create and take ownership of their learning. I love the creativity in the lesson and how naturally it lets different learners shine, especially those who think visually or prefer hands‑on work. The way you’re now building in word banks, sentence starters, oral recording and Forms quizzes feels like a genuine evolution of the lesson rather than bolted‑on supports. It keeps everything that made the activity fun and independent, while making sure every pupil has a way into the task and a way to show what they know.
I work in a special school that has a link to Apple who supplied us with TY iPads. This meant we had access to an iPads and ability to cast them to our interactive whiteboard and sound through an apple TV over Wifi.
I had a class of 12 students in optional TY. Monday morning first class in our school is usually a news class.
LI – To effectively communicate with the class.
Each student slowly in some cases learned the skills to present their news in the manner of their choosing. Photos emailed to their school account backed up with text and images searched online. If the student wished they could record their voice. If they preferred they could voice to text. If they preferred they could draw…
Early finishers could edit, animate, design. Other students would get assistance from SNAs and teacher.
They could share and present in the manner of their choosing (just show it on screen, stand and deliver, press play and we could hear their voice).
A lot of the barriers that each student had were overcome by themselves as their own intrinsic skills took them in their preferred directions. My role was to ensure that they continued to expand skills and build confidence. Also ensuring the bare minimum was not always the go to for particular students.
After a few weeks the class was self operating! I just said grab an iPad and 40 mins later everyone was presenting.
The same flexible, student‑led news routine can be recreated using Google for Education tools. Each student can open a Google Slides or Google Docs template in Google Classroom and add photos, text, drawings or voice recordings using built‑in accessibility tools like voice typing. Images can be searched safely through the integrated Google Search, and pupils can upload photos directly from their iPad or Chromebook. Students who prefer drawing can use Google Drawings, while those who need support can work collaboratively with an SNA in real time through shared documents.
When ready to present, pupils can cast their work wirelessly to the interactive whiteboard using Chromecast or present directly from their device. Early finishers can animate slides, add transitions, or design layouts, while others continue at their own pace. Over time, the class becomes self‑running: pupils simply open their device, access the assignment in Classroom, and create their news piece in the format that suits their communication strengths.
By giving students voice through accessibility features Google tools can enhance whole school assessment in the SSE.Hi Victoria,
I have just looked again at my google Drive and seen the lack of structure there. Your response reminded me to organise by creating a proper folder structure. Rather than spend hours going through everything I will file from now on and hopefully build a better system in time. Thanks for the reminder! I just looked at the note we were asked to make at the start of the module that was the area.
In a special school context, addition and subtraction are often repeated ad nauseam, sometimes with limited success. I chose to look at addition and subtraction assessments up to 20 for students starting 4th class. I realize this is a huge topic and not suitable for a single activity; however, I wanted to test the AI’s ability to create something that I would consider acceptable.
I built a set of student-facing slides using Gemini that used clickable links to test student ability to add and subtract various images, complete counting tasks, follow patterns, and gradually work up to simple number sentences.
By using this technique, I can create slide decks that mirror this layout for any lesson. This allows students to gain familiarity with the process, helping them get straight to the learning intention.
One adjustment I had to make was to the deck creation itself. It took several attempts, and the images were not always accurate. Moving forward, I need to become more precise when prompting the tool.
Our SSE next year will focus on Assessment and Progress (details still to be fully nailed down!), but stressing the importance of reflection, assessment, and building a consistent approach across lessons and throughout the school should ultimately enhance student learning.
Hi Deirdre,
As a fellow SEN teacher I really enjoyed reading your post. The ability to deal with frustration and to understand the physical reactions it can create in your body obviously applies in all classes. Perhaps even more critically considering your context which is why it is such a good topic. I liked the remote control idea pause idea and the fantastic Lego tower story. I immediately thought to bring it in to class and start building.
You could ask Gemini to make a simple visual icon of a remote control with a big “Pause” button to laminate and keep on your board or wall. Pointing to it or holding it up during real-life moments of frustration provides a low-arousal, visual cue without needing lots of instructions.
I inputted the following request based on an environmental activity we have completed with the GLOBE science programme.
You are a fourth class teacher. You want to outline 3 activities for assessing pollution and health of a local stream.
Gemini responded with 3 suitable activities – The Mini Beast Safari (a simple kick sample test), The Stream Lab (chemical observation and sampling) and Bank Side Mapping and Litter Audit.
I would then narrow this down further and link learning outcomes
Having done all three in the past I would adapt this by listing the scientific equipment I have available and narrowing down the options. I have a kick net and dont have any pH strips for example and build on the first activity for now.
Alternatively I could adapt to suit our school environment, where we have a pond, thus not depending on safety and suitability of local waterways.
I’d ask Gemini to crosscheck/list all the relevant learning outcomes then I’d write my own Learning Intentions and Success Criteria. I’d ask gemini to create printable worksheets at the appropriate reading age level and also differentiated versions.