[Marie Dunne]

I would base my literacy on Sixth Class and fact checking
I would build the lesson around persuasive writing and more specifically debating. I would put the class into teams and give them a motion to write a debate for. I would feed both groups with information supporting and refuting the motion on sheets telling them I had used AI to find the information. Some of the information would be inaccurate or misleading. I would write the sources of each fact alongside the facts. I would tell them it is up to them to highlight the false information I have given them and to listen out for the wrong information the other team may use.
After the debate I would ask them if they can tell the difference between the facts or not. I would then have a class discussion around believing what they find online and different ways to verify information to include authorship and misinformation e.g. who created the output and if it came from a reliable source and I would model critical thinking for them.
Assessment can be carried out by taking up the sheets and observing the facts that were highlighted.

[Marie Dunne]

Hi Linda, this is a great idea for use of AI. It is very clear when using AI for maths because the children can see more obviously when a mistake has been made and explain why. At this age the children are very quick to believe what they read online. I`d say a lot of the class would second guess their own answer to the maths question and a few would probably adjust their answers to match the AI answers rather than trust their own judgement. One question they should ask is who created the answer to the maths problem and where it came from. One way to support the children would be to do the lesson at a time when the learning support teacher is in the room for in class maths if that is general practice in the school. It is always handy to have an extra pair or hands to listen to explanations in a lesson like this.

[Marie Dunne]

Hi Aine, I really liked the idea of the world you explored. It sounds like it links in very well to Wellbeing and with this being such a prominent topic right now it is nice to be able to relate to it in a way the children are familiar with. The children could also speak at assembly informing the rest of the school about what they have learnt and display the posters you were going to make around the school.

[Marie Dunne]

The name of demo world that I have chosen for this assignment is “Artemis Rocket Build”. This world is to do with space exploration, creating a rocket and NASA. The objectives of the lessons are to make the children familiar with the Artemis programme where the first woman and person of colour will be sent to the moon. The children will explore Newtons Law to explore how forces work in relation to launching a rocket. They will also gain an understanding of propulsion and fuel helping to carry heavy loads to space. Children will get the opportunity to put together, design, paint and launch rockets and satellites into space. One curricular link to this is the history of space exploration. If I was using the set of lessons (4 in total) with my class I would probably break the lessons up more depending on the ability of the class. I would have them work at it in pairs as it will encourage dialogue between them, helping each other and encouraging team work.

[Marie Dunne]

Hi Felicity,

I really enjoyed your game. It was really helpful to have the explanation at the start of it and I liked the noises it made when you collected the healthy food. It ties in very well with healthy eating which is such an important topic. One way to make the game more challenging would be to add an unhealthy food to avoid. Thanks

[Marie Dunne]

Game Type: Timed catch/collect

Link: https://makecode.com/_LXT6w830dHrh

Game Title: Marie`s Game (Quackers)

Curriculum Areas and Learning Objective: Maths counting, Art creating a character and background

Storyboard: Location: Pond
Player: Duck
Game Elements: Title flashing at start, duck swimming in
pond, bread falling into the pond from random spots,
countdown timer, sound effects, bread disappearing and hearts
shooting in their place

Aim of the Game: Bread is falling into the pond and the duck has to move back and forth eating as many pieces as possible within a fifteen second time limit. When a piece of bread is eaten it disappears and a happy noise is made as well as hearts shooting out in place of the bread.

Computational Thinking: Debugging; There are a lot of changes to be made involving different sprites used in order for the game to work properly. I had a few red flags appear to tell me I had made errors and had to fix a few instructions. Errors can also be made changing where the bread is falling from and how fast it falls.

[Marie Dunne]

Hi Rebecca,

I really like this tutorial. Your link showed a nice clear way to display the two emotions. This could help start a lesson based on positive and negative emotions, other ways to say happy or sad, using body language to read peoples emotions or as a response to a story, poem or piece of music they have heard for english or music. It could also be used further to help gather evidence for graphing results of a question for maths. This could be used as a tool for self-evaluation across different areas too. Thanks

[Marie Dunne]

I completed the Microbit Dice Tutorial.
The microbit acts as a dice when given the right instructions showing random numbers from one to six when it is shaken and has a sound to accompany the shaking motion.
The link to my project is: https://makecode.microbit.org/_7RgLVEMvDUzw
I could use this as part of a STEM activity if I assigned the children the task of building their own game e.g starting at the number 65 add on whatever number the dice shows and the first to reach 100 is the winner or create a board game where children have to follow a path around a sheet of card using the dice and answering questions about a topic such as biodiversity as a concluding activity for the topic. I really liked this tutorial as it has a clear purpose and the dice is something that can be used for so many different activities. I also liked the way the sound it makes can be personalised.

[Marie Dunne]

Hi Felicity, I really like the way you have paired the older classes with younger ones regularly for STEAM activities. I think this must really help the confidence of the older children and helps encourage the younger children to share ideas and help each other out. It also helps the class teacher I’m sure as it gives the older children a purpose and helps the younger children implement their creativity. I have used Scratch Junior for coding with the younger classes and there are tutorials online that start by asking the children to try and complete a challenge or solve a problem and then it shows a possible answer. This could help with problem solving skills as opposed to the creative side of coding.

[Marie Dunne]

For the purpose of this reflection, I am choosing “Looking at our School 2022: A Quality Framework for Primary Schools and Special Schools”. This emphasises the need for all children to be included in learning in a way that suits their individual needs most. With such a range of needs in my classroom, and in most classrooms, I feel strongly about differentiation for the weaker and more able children.
I feel that I make good use of digital technology in my classroom in this regard. One such example is the website bookcreator.ie. This allows voice to text, predictive text, will read aloud what has been written and gives an opportunity for children to read and write at their own level. Work can be assigned to children in their individual books online and this can be tweaked to suit their needs helping them to reach attainable goals.
One area I would like to develop is managing my time better so I can be better prepared for more daily lessons. Sometimes I feel that with a young family at home it is difficult to prepare adequately for each lesson but I would like to get quicker at organising myself so the children are all being taught in the best way each.
Some measurable actions I could take would be to divide some of the preparation better with the support teacher working with me and the teacher in the other class at the same level as me. Another way would be to make small changes to lessons already created. I have the same level next year so should be able to reuse some of the topics from this year.

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