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Hi James,
I also looked at Scratch. I hadn’t thought about putting pupils into pairs in the early stages. I think it is a great ideas and one which I think I will give a go until I get used to it myself. I agree that the pre-made lessons are great especially for someone like me who isn’t familiar at all with it. I tried out Robo garden but it was way more confusing from a teacher point of view – I couldn’t seem to see the lessons to assign the pupils or have a go at trying anything out – even when I signed in a pupil! The motivation element of sharing their creations also will keep a good buzz in the classroom.
Hi Clare,
I agree that this module was excellent with so many exciting things to try out. As you said differentiation is so important and Diffit makes it so easy at the click of a button. I also had a look at Gamma and again like you said the powerpoints generated in seconds is just brilliant. Like you I am excited to get using a range of the tools in September.
I agree Google forms are a great way to make assessment fun for the children and gain instant feedback on what pupils have learned. Its also a great way to use gain staff feedback on new initiative being trialed out in school. Clare you mentioned using it for Bí Cinealta – our school did the same and it worked great. We also get pupils to fill out an anti bullying form each month on Google Forms and it is excellent data to have when investigation different issues that crop up in this area.
I too was worried too about the cheating element Michelle but I agree that if we teach student how to use it to self assess and provide individual and real time feedback would be a game changer in helping children progress. we still have a lot of learning to do and the landscape of Ai is changing so quickly so i think being mindful and keeping up to date with advances is necessary
I love the use of Diffit in your lesson. I think it will be great to help link literacy and SESE in general and make learning more cross curricular for pupils. The the use of AI to generate animals sounds is genius. 🙂
Lesson Plan: Grace O’Malley
3rd Class
Subject: History & English
Duration: 60 minutes
Learning Objectives:
Understand who Grace O’Malley was and why she was famous.
Learn about her unique role as a sea captain and leader.
Explore her interactions and conflicts with English rulers.
Reflect on what her story teaches us about courage and leadership.
Practice descriptive writing and digital creativity.
1. Introduction (10 mins)Elicit from the children what they already know about pirates and leaders, asking students what qualities make a good leader.
Introduce Grace O’Malley as a famous Irish sea captain and leader from the 1500s and ask the children to share what they know about her already
Read the first-person script (below) – Generated on Chat GPT
2. First-Person Script (15 mins) Generate Text to video using Vidnoz AIPlay for Children
Grace O’Malley’s Story (First-Person Script)
“Hello, I am Grace O’Malley, born in Ireland many years ago, in the 1500s. I was not like other girls of my time — I loved the sea, my family’s ships, and adventure. When my father died, I took charge of our ships and sailors, becoming a sea captain.
I sailed the wild Irish seas, leading my crew with courage. I fought against enemies who tried to take my land and sea from me, especially the English rulers who wanted control over Ireland. I even met Queen Elizabeth I! That meeting was hard because the English did not like me being a woman who commanded ships and men.
But I never gave up. I stood up for my family, my people, and what I believed was right. My story teaches us that courage means standing strong even when things are difficult. Leadership is about bravery, smart choices, and protecting those you care for — no matter who you are.”
3. Class Discussion
Discuss key points from the script:
4. English Writing Activity: Copilot Image Creator Description (10 mins)After watching the video, students write a detailed description of Grace O’Malley and her world.
Prompt: “Imagine you are describing Grace O’Malley to someone who has never seen her. What does she look like? What is she doing? What is around her? Use as many details as you can.”
Explain that this description will be used to create an image using Copilot Image Creator.
Encourage use of colors, clothing, scenery, and emotions in their writing.
Children generate image on Copilot
5. Reflection (5 mins)Invite a few students to share their descriptions and images.
Recap what they learned about Grace O’Malley, courage, and leadership.This summer course has given me some fantastic tools and ideas on how to integrate AI into teaching and learning. Ai will definitely help me to balance planning, teaching, admin, and everything in between—so discovering tools that can actually help lighten the load has been brilliant.
I found ChatGPT and Microsoft Co-Pilot especially useful for admin tasks. Whether it’s drafting lesson plans, writing reports, or creating emails, these tools save loads of time and will help me stay organised. I can definitely see myself using them during the school year to cut down on late-night planning sessions!
When it comes to making resources, I really liked Diffit, Gamma, and MagicSchool AI. They make it so easy to create differentiated texts, presentations, and activities that are actually suited to pupils’ levels and interests.
I’m also looking forward to using Scratch with the pupils—not just for teaching coding, but to start simple conversations with the children about what AI is and how it’s part of their world already.
Overall, I’m coming away from this course feeling excited and more confident. AI won’t replace the teacher, but it’s definitely going to be a great support in the classroom.
I would like to introduce Scratch to my 3rd class in September. This will be very new to me. After having a loo kat the website I think I would do something along the lines of the below. First, I would give the children a background on what Scratch is to try and get them excited about using it- a website to create your own games, stories, animations even create your own characters and make them move, talk and interact by dragging and dropping blocks a little bit like lego and show them the website on the interactive whiteboard.
On the whiteboard I would make them familiar with the areas Stage (action), Sprites (characters and objects) block areas (coding blocks) and script area. I would model a simple task like ‘Making a Cat Dance’ on the interactive whiteboard. Then I would place the step by step instructions on the board and get them to try it our for themselves.
Open Scratch
Click on the cat sprite
Go to the Events category → drag “When green flag clicked”
Go to Motion → drag “Move 10 steps”
Add a Sound block → “Play meow sound”
Add a Looks block → “Say Hello for 2 seconds”If there was time, I would give them a chance to explore Scratch for themselves and try and do things like change the cat sprite to something else, add a new sprite, change the background, try other blocks. Then allow some time at the end for them to share their creations.
All of the tool discussed in this module were brilliant. After exploring each of them the two which I feel would improve my own teaching, learning and assessment most would be Reading Coach and Diffit. The features in Reading Coach which allow pupils to choose the character, setting etc and how they would like the story to unfold will be brilliant for engaging reluctant readers. I also love the syllable feature and line focus to support struggling readers. The listening feature and instant feedback will also really help provide 1:1 support and assessment. I am looking forward to giving this a go in September. Diffit was so user friendly. I feel the vocabulary section will be really useful when introducing a new topic in SESE. The links to writing and reading strategies are also brilliant and will save so much prep time for me. What I loved most was the book section. This will be invaluable when it comes to novel study and whole class reading instruction when trying to focus in on specific reading and writing strategies. There is excellent potential for the use of all these apps in the classroom for teaching, learning and assessment. The Magic School app gives teacher so much support in all areas of school life and I love how the Speaker Coach app links so well to the OL element of the literacy curriculum. Really enjoyed exploring all of the tools and can’t wait so use some of them in September.
As I’ve begun learning more about AI in education, I’m realising how much potential it has to transform teaching and learning in Irish classrooms. One area that really interests me is how AI can help differentiate instruction. I would be keen to look further into tools like Century Tech and Knewton to see how they can personalise content based on a pupil’s ability and learning style as this seems really valuable for meeting diverse learning needs. As literacy lead, I’m also curious to explore Microsoft’s Immersive Reader as it could be a great tool to support pupils with dyslexia or other literacy challenges.
BENEFITS: AI can reduce workload by handling administrative tasks like grading, attendance, planning, and even emails or newsletters. This could free up time for more meaningful teaching and support better work-life balance — something I know many teachers are looking for.
Last year in SET, I explored ChatGPT and Gemini to see how they could support creativity in lesson planning, especially in topics I feel less confident teaching- particularly around social skills. These platforms were particularly useful in helping me create social stories. Returning to mainstream this year tools, I would like to try out Flipgrid as it seems like a great way to encourage collaboration and allow pupils to reflect on their learning in a fun, interactive way.
Challenges: Cost could be a barrier for many schools, and ongoing training would be essential as the technology changes so quickly. The last video highlighted the importance of GDPR and data protection, and the need to be cautious around bias and the accuracy of AI-generated content. As I have not used AI with the children just more on a personal basis, I hadn’t thought much about how to tell if a pupil’s work is their own or generated by AI — something which I think will be important to consider going forward. Also the video on China was somewhat disturbing and it wouldn’t how I would like to see AI play out in Irish schools.
I would also like to look further into The knewton platform. The premade assignments, with already prepared and sensored content, could save so much time for teachers when doing project work espeically in SESE.
As someone already using AI to manage my workload and enhance the classroom experience, I’ve found it incredibly helpful in streamlining both teaching and admin tasks. I regularly use AI to draft professional emails, create staff PowerPoint presentations, and write up minutes from meetings, which has freed up valuable time. In the classroom, it’s helped me design engaging lessons, generate differentiated resources quickly, and create interactive activities like quizzes and visual aids that keep students motivated and involved.
While I haven’t yet explored AI tools specifically for assessment, this is an area I’m really keen to delve into in the next academic year. The potential to personalise assessment, provide real-time feedback, and track student progress more effectively is something I find exciting and promising.
Overall, AI is already reshaping how I teach and work—and I’m optimistic about how it can continue to support more efficient, engaging, and student-centred learning in the future.
