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I like the clear pathway through your lesson plan, Patrick. I like that it reinforces that input controls output and that the user is so essential in generating clear, simple prompts that will enable the AI tool to generate the desired creative output. I also like that AI is used to solve a problem and to complete a task that would be difficult to complete in the real world.
A key takeaway for me from every module in this course has been the need to explicitly teach AI concepts and safe, ethical use of AI to students as we introduce different tools to them at age appropriate levels. Prior to doing this course, I had self taught myself to use Chat GPT and some Google AI tools to support my planning, help me generate questions for surveys and generally to reduce my time on essential paperwork. This and previous modules have introduced a greater range of AI tools to me for my own personal and professional use and has also shown me tools that could be introduced to children at different age levels to support curriculum learning and support them to become more digitally literate.
I am not currently classroom teaching but in my role as HSCL, I bring parents in to work in the classroom with their children on different topics and themes. I used Microsoft Co pilot to generate a lesson plan for a session where parents and children would explore positive uses of AI in the classroom to support language learning and creativity but also to teach the importance of generating clear, succinct prompts to guide the AI tool in generating the content we want. The lesson is below and is aimed at 4th class pupils and above.
A full family-inclusive lesson plan that brings parents into your 4th class to explore positive, safe, creative uses of AI — all centred on writing succinct, accurate prompts for Image Creator. This version keeps the learning playful, collaborative, and reassuring for parents while empowering pupils to lead the way.
👨👩👧 Family AI Creativity Workshop
Exploring succinct prompts together with Image Creator
🎯 Learning Objectives
Parents and pupils will work together to:
• Understand how clear, concise prompts shape AI generated images
• Learn positive, age appropriate ways to talk about AI
• Build confidence using AI as a creative learning tool
• Strengthen communication and teamwork through shared tasks
🧠 Core Message for Families
AI is a tool, not a replacement for creativity. The clearer your idea, the better the AI can help you express it.
Parents and pupils learn the same simple structure:
• Subject — who or what
• Action — what’s happening
• Setting — where it happens
• Style — how it should look
📚 Materials
• Tablets/laptops with Image Creator
• Whiteboard
• Prompt-building cards (subject/action/setting/style)
• Display area for family creations
• Tea/coffee station (optional — parents love this)
🕒 75-Minute Workshop Breakdown
1. Welcome & Warm-Up (10 minutes)
• Pupils greet parents and explain: “Today we’re teaching you how to write great prompts!”
• Show two contrasting AI images and ask families:
o What differences do you notice?
o What words might have caused those differences?
• Emphasise positive AI use: creativity, imagination, teamwork.2. Mini-Lesson: How Prompts Work (10 minutes)
Teacher models the four-part prompt structure on the board.
Example evolution:
• Weak: “A robot.”
• Better: “A friendly robot waving.”
• Best: “A friendly silver robot waving in a colourful city, cartoon style.”
Parents often over-explain; pupils often under-explain — this becomes a fun talking point.
3. Family Prompt Challenge (20 minutes)
Each family receives a set of prompt-building cards.
Task:
1. Choose one card from each category.
2. Build a succinct prompt together.
3. Generate the image in Image Creator.
4. Discuss:
o Did the image match your idea?
o What detail mattered most?
Guided Links for deeper exploration:
• Prompt subjects
• Prompt actions
• Prompt settings
• Prompt styles
4. Parent–Child Swap Roles (15 minutes)
Round 1:
• Pupils write a prompt.
• Parents must interpret it and sketch the image by hand before generating it.
Round 2:
• Parents write a prompt.
• Pupils sketch it first, then generate it.
This highlights how clarity and brevity help humans and AI understand ideas.
5. Independent Family Creation Time (15 minutes)
Families create three prompts, each more refined than the last.
Encourage:
• Creativity
• Playfulness
• Succinctness
• Trying different styles (cartoon, realistic, watercolour)
Optional themes:
• Animals
• Space
• Fantasy
• Sports
• Irish landscapes
• Mythical creatures
6. Gallery Walk & Reflection (5 minutes)
Families display their favourite image with the prompt beside it.
Reflection questions:
• What made your best prompt work?
• What did you learn about communicating clearly?
• How might AI help with creativity at home or school?
📝 Assessment
You can assess learning through:
• Prompt clarity
• Ability to explain choices
• Collaboration between parent and child
• Understanding of AI as a tool, not a decision-maker
🧩 Extension Options
• Family Prompt Book: each family contributes one prompt + image.
• Guess the Prompt game using family-created images.
• Introduce advanced prompt features like mood, lighting, perspective.
• Home challenge: create a promptHi Martina,
I agree. I have used Scratch Jnr with a child but realised we went straight in without doing the ‘unplugged’ work first so I lost an opportunity to develop the language and concepts first that would have made the experience better from the outset.
I really liked Khan Academy for younger children and would have used it for children to use at a maths or reading station during station teaching. I like that the teacher can assign tasks but also that children can work at their own pace and level within the task so the learning is differentiated and personalised.
I also really liked the suggestions for using generative AI to explore perspective and bias with children. I would use it in senior classes to explore different perspectives on the famine, for example, having read a book like ‘Under the Hawthorn Tree’. Although mainly told from the children’s perspective, it lends itself to asking pupils to imagine the viewpoints of:
the landlord,
the workhouse master,
neighbours,
British government officials,
emigrants,
and the children’s parentsI played around with asking Chat GPT to write first hand accounts of famine experiences from these perspectives that I coud give to students. It would be an excellent springboard into discussions about why historians study multiple sources when learning about the Famine, as well as exploring the language use in the various accounts.
I also explored Google NotebookLM. I love how it enables the same information to be presented differently depending on the learning strengths and preferences of the children. It really supports differentiation by allowing students to choose whether they listen to a podcast or view a presentation, for example.
I will definitely use all these tools next year.
Like you Sinéad, I really liked most of the tools that were presented in this module and look forward to using them and seeing more of their potential next year. Copilot Image generator looks wonderful and can be used in so many great ways in class and outside of class. I look forward to trying it out to stimulate writing. Not only does it develop language, it teaches children the importance of writing accurate prompts to generate the best images. This will be a lifelong skill for working with AI.
I was introduced to lots of new-to-me AI tools in this module and all look very useful and usable. I would like to use Gamma to make presentations when I need to give input to staff meetings or parent meetings. I can also see I will use it to make presentations to explain the curriculum content and skills we will work to develop during in- class interventions with parents and children working together in the classroom. I can see Gamma helping me to make more attractive, customised presentations and also saving me alot of time getting the presentation design sorted and organising the slides. I tried it out and can see it has huge potential.
MagicSchool was unfamiliar to me. It has so many uses, even to help me draft emails or Aladdin notices to parents. I also tried out writing behaviour support plans using one of the tools in MagicSchool and will try to adapt it to draft attendance support plans for students with chronic low attendance. I loved Twee and it’s use in drafting questions on text or visual content used in classroom lessons.
I can see I will have a bank of tools to work with in the new school year which I hope will enhance learning but also be a huge timesaver tool for me.I think you are so right Patrick. AI can help us quickly make resources that are customisable to our school environments and our particular contexts. Your post made me think about that. I think giving the right prompts and up;oading images or documents will be critical to the quality of the resource. I look forward to playing around with some of the tools to make those resources quickly!
I am currently not a mainstream classroom teacher. I’m working as a HSCL in a DEIS school. I would like to use AI more to help me deliver in class interventions where parents and children work together on Science, maths, literacy or art projects that are age appropriate and that involve parents and children working together creatively in open ended ways. I’ve tried prompting Chat GPT and Gemini by giving them a materials list and a science skill like ‘Design and Make’, for example, and asked them to help me develop a lesson plan that sets a time bound challenge for parents and child to create using the materials provided. I used similar prompts to those given in the numeracy lesson plan example. I got some great ideas that will need refining. I think using generative AI in this way will help make sure that when I offer inclass interventions to teachers which bring parents in to the classroom, I can make sure to align with content they are currently working on in particular curricular areas or with skills they are working on developing. It will make my inclass interventions more beneficial to everyone involved.
Like other course participants, I am a bit overwhelmed with the range of AI tools designed for use with children. I can see the benefits of personalised learning that is attractive and motivational to children and provides customised feedback to teachers but I think I would need training and time to become familiar with these tools. I think the advice to try in small ways first is good. That makes it less overwhelming for me.
I was also alarmed by the video about tracking of students in Chinese primary schools and think it will be so important to think about ethics and balancing educational progress benefits with observing basic human rights! I also tend to think we need to limit the time children are using screens in our schools as they need so much support with social interaction and emotional regulation so making sure we use AI as just one learning tool is important too, I think.
Like you, I’ve been teaching a long time Margaret and agree the paperwork demands have become ever greater. I’m hoping that AI will help me spend less time on the paperwork and more thinking about how I can solve problems and support better learning experiences all around. 100 % agree on the need to check everything AI generates! I also think CHAT GPT posters are so readily identifiable as they all look the same! Tools like CANVA can help make better and more customised posters and resources I think and I look forward to learning more about how to use that tool better.
Over the past year or so, I’ve been exploring AI’s potential in supporting my work in school. Many posts here have emphasised how important it is to see AI tools as professional support tools rather than a replacement for teacher expertise. I’ve been primarily working with tools like Chat GPT to reduce my administrative workload by assisting with lesson planning, drafting reports, setting learning targets and preparing classroom resources. I’ve also used it to improve my planning by asking for engaging learning activities, ideas for station teaching, differentiated tasks and drafting clearer student instructions for tasks. This module has helped me explore other platforms like Gemini or Pictory. I can see that choosing the right AI platform for different tasks like image or video creation might be useful to me from now on.
This module has emphasised that the quality of the prompts is essential for producing the best content. I’ve noticed that as I’ve worked with Chat GPT this year and have gotten better at generating clearer prompts from the outset so that I’ve had to spend less time on refining and editing what comes back to me, all the time thinking about protecting confidentiality by redacting names or other identifying details.
It’s been good to have some time to explore new AI tools during this module. As Pat has said, the best way to learn how to use these tools is trial and error and this course gives good time to do that with previously unfamiliar tools.
