[Martin Kenny]

So much to do in this lesson plan. I suppose the fact that it covers so many subjects is to it’s benefit. Packed full of great ideas

[Martin Kenny]

Part 1

After watching module 2 of the course, I decided to run the same History lesson planning on Nelson Mandela through CoPilot, ChatGPT and Gemini, with the intention of picking and choosing what I wanted. I incorporated a lot into the lesson plan, which I intend to refine over the next 2 years in my class, once I see how it plays out in a classroom setting. I’m very much aware that AI is a tool that I’m using to develop lessons and that there will be things I will edit as I try to put my own stamp on things. I hope to look at developing quizzes using the Quizizz website once the topic is nearing completion. I think the integration part of the plan is very important to tie in as it will reinforce what the History lesson is fundamentally about and allow the pupils to see the broader picture of the nation at the time.

 

Part 2 Lesson Plan

Class: 6th Class (Stage 4)

Subject: Social and Environmental Education (SEE) — History & Citizenship (Integrated with Wellbeing and English/PLC)

Title: Nelson Mandela: Courage, Justice, and the Journey to Peace

Objectives:

• Introduce pupils to Nelson Mandela as a significant global figure.
• Explore apartheid and its impact on South African society.

• To examine the key events of Nelson Mandela’s life, his struggle against Apartheid, and his role in establishing democratic leadership.
• To introduce the concept of systemic inequality (Apartheid) and explore how non-violent resistance and negotiation bring about societal change.
• To encourage pupils to critically reflect on human rights, fairness, and active citizenship in both historical and modern global contexts.

• Develop empathy, critical thinking, and an understanding of fairness and equality.
• Encourage pupils to connect Mandela’s values to Irish and global contexts.

 

Learning Outcomes:

• SEE (History/Citizenship): Outcome 4.2 — Children critically analyse the actions of key global figures in history and evaluate their impact on human rights, equality, and democratic change.
• Wellbeing (SPHE): Outcome 4.1 — Children demonstrate an understanding of equity, social justice, and how individual agency impacts broader community and global structures.
• Language (English): Outcome 4.3 — Children synthesize biographical information from multiple sources to express informed opinions through debate and reflective writing.

Learning Objectives:

• Recall: List three major milestones in Nelson Mandela’s life (e.g., Rivonia Trial, Robben Island imprisonment, 1994 election as President).
• Understand: Explain in their own words what the Apartheid system was and why Mandela fought against it.
• Apply/Analyze: Compare historical injustice under Apartheid with modern concepts of fairness, human rights, and peaceful resolution.

Differentiation:

• Support: Provided with a visual “Mandela Timeline” graphic organizer with simplified sentence stems; paired with a buddy during group inquiry tasks.
• Core: Complete the standard timeline activity and participate in small-group analysis of Mandela’s key speeches.
• Extension: Challenge pupils to research and draft a brief comparative paragraph linking Mandela’s peace strategies with another activist studied (e.g., John Hume or Rosa Parks).

Assessment:

• Assessment for Learning (AfL): Teacher observation during small-group discussions, traffic light self-assessment on understanding Apartheid, and targeted questioning.
• Assessment of Learning (AoL): Evaluation of completed “Mandela’s Legacy” reflective journal entries and group timeline accuracy.

Links and Opportunities for Integration:

• Wellbeing (SPHE): Discussions on fairness, prejudice, forgiveness, and conflict resolution.
• Arts Education (Drama): Role-play scenario simulating peaceful negotiation strategies.
• Language (PLC): Persuasive speech analysis and writing persuasive letters advocating for a chosen human rights cause.

Questions and Skills Development:

• Key Questions: “What does it mean to stand up for justice even when it costs your personal freedom?” / “How did Mandela choose reconciliation over revenge, and why was that decision significant?”
• Skill Focus: Critical thinking, bias detection, empathy building, primary source analysis, and historical inquiry.

• Historical Inquiry:
  • What was apartheid and why was it unfair?
  • How did Mandela show courage?
  • Why is forgiveness powerful?
• Critical Thinking:
  • What makes a good leader?
  • How might Ireland’s history help us understand Mandela’s struggle?
• Reflection:
  • What values from Mandela’s life can help us today?

Resources and Organisation:

• Resources: Interactive whiteboard display, short archival video clip of Mandela’s release (1990), primary source excerpt (Mandela’s 1964 Rivonia Trial speech “I am prepared to die”), biography exit cards, flipchart paper, markers.
• Organisation: Mixed-ability groupings of 4–5 pupils for primary source analysis; whole-class carpet/discussion setup for video analysis; individual desk work for reflective writing.

Conclusion:

• Gather class to share key takeaways from the group discussions.
• Conduct a 3-minute reflective cool-down: Pupils write one word on a post-it note that summarizes Nelson Mandela’s legacy (e.g., Resilience, Reconciliation, Freedom) and stick it to the class “Citizenship Board.”
• Preview the next lesson: How Mandela’s work connects to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).

[Martin Kenny]

I never heard of Osmo until I did this course. It looks like a fantastic resource for younger pupils. The idea of bringing your ideas to life, would really encourage children’s creativity

[Martin Kenny]

I think Scratch Jr gives a super way of introducing a variety of concepts into school. Starting out with junior classes, simple things such as directions, speeds, names of animals etc could all be pieced together in a very simple little activity like having a dog, rabbit and pig run a race (Description on website). Here they would also learn the very simple steps to block programming to animate their scene.
This could be developed further in the middle classes where you use the official Scratch website/app to make the animals/cartoon characters have a conversation (English/Irish/Modern language) between each other at a particular location, at a birthday party, starting school etc. Again, here pupils could build on what they learned in Scratch Jr, to make the characters move in and out, add sounds, alter speeds etc
Senior students could then be tasked on working on tasks using “Scratch’s Project Idea Generator” which will task them to develop their own little activity, using their own ideas and creativity. These can be quite random, but only adds to the fun, especially to show off to their peers!

[Martin Kenny]

Similarly looking forward to using more of Gamma AI in future to make PowerPoints more visually appealing. The ability to alter text and ideas within the Gamma PowerPoints add to it appeal.

[Martin Kenny]

Part 1
I can see Youtube & Twee being very handy resources in 6th class. The ability to quickly run of a set of questions or discussion prompts on a video is an excellent tool. The questions could be used as a formative assessment of the pupils regarding the topic.
Gamma AI also offers an easier way to make more visually appealing PowerPoints quickly. Again this could have relatable questions attached to assess what pupils have learned and to discover any misconceptions.

Part 2
The 2 examples above will definitely be something I will be looking into further. The way that pupils use short videos to get the gist of topics nowadays will make Twee such a handy resource. I think Copilot Image Creator is a brilliant tool to demonstrate how descriptive writing can be improved by small details and it is something that could be used throughout the school year.
AI tools will impact massively on future teaching, learning and assessment as teachers become more familiar with them. It will allow teachers to become more detailed in what they want to portray or explain in class, being factual when necessary, as well as allowing pupils the freedom to create their own ideas.

[Martin Kenny]

Hi Martha

I agree with you on a lot of what you said and I think the point you made about the unique potential of every pupil is an important thing to remember. We’re not robots after all and we all have to discover our own paths

[Martin Kenny]

AI could be used in many ways within a classroom setting. I’d say the biggest benefit is leaning towards personalised learning. AI possesses the capabilities to adapt and develop plans for teachers and individual students on a multitude of topics in the curriculum. It would allow for teachers to tailor make questions/tasks for weaker/more academic pupils which would keep them engaged and challenged at their own level. All this could be accomplished by listing clear instructions into any Generative AI programme that would create appropriate questions for the pupils involved.

AI could also become more interactive. Pupils could use an application like Vidnoz AI to create conversations in different languages, describe/explain a topic or announce something using their famous people from history, TV or sport etc.

I suppose the biggest challenge of using it in class, is that pupils will use AI to complete an assignment rather than read & research it for themselves. With intelligent prompts, it may we quite difficult to discern if the school work was authentic or not.

[Martin Kenny]

I think the “real vs fake” is very important to make children aware of, as it’s getting harder and harder to distuinguish between the two.

 

[Martin Kenny]

I agree with you David. The use of AI isn’t going away and it benefits for planning are obvious, so I think anything that we can use to reduce workload has to be a good thing

[Martin Kenny]

Module 1 has broadened my understanding of how AI can support both teachers and pupils in the classroom. AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot have massive potential to make the life of the teacher that little bit easier. I think their simplicity of use and the speed of which they can tasked with the design and development of planning & differentiation in particular, make them an obvious tool to reduce teacher workload. I think ChatGPT has been the go to for a lot of teachers (with it being the most famous), but there are so many more that offer other benefits.
Up until today, I had never heard of Vidnoz or Pictory and I think these could be worth looking at (“playing around with”) a bit further.
I do find with my 6th class students that they are always eager to get quick information when researching topics, and Google has given them that option once they use the search function. I’m not a huge fan of this, as I’d like them to read more and make their own conclusions when constructing their project. But I suppose that with all AI, there is going to be the debate of whether it’s helping or not, and inevitably it does both.

[Martin Kenny]

<p class=”isselectedend”>Module 1 has broadened my understanding of how AI can support both teachers and pupils in the classroom. AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot have massive potential to make the life of the teacher that little bit easier. I think their simplicity of use and the speed of which they can tasked with the design and development of planning & differentiation in particular, make them an obvious tool to reduce teacher workload. I think ChatGPT has been the go to for a lot of teachers (with it being the most famous), but there are so many more that offer other benefits.</p>
<p class=”isselectedend”>Up until today, I had never heard of Vidnoz or Pictory and I think these could be worth looking at (“playing around with”) a bit further.</p>
<p class=”isselectedend”>I do find with my 6^th class students that they are always eager to get quick information when researching topics, and Google has given them that option once they use the search function. I’m not a huge fan of this, as I’d like them to read more and make their own conclusions when constructing their project. But I suppose that with all AI, there is going to be the debate of whether it’s helping or not, and inevitably it does both.</p>

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