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Hi Roisin
Thanks for presenting your unit of work on the life cycle of the frog. I like how you’ve built such an engaging and varied unit of work around it. I especially like the way you’ve blended explanations with videos, arts, movement, and sensory play. This variety of approaches, methodologies, and resources will keep senior infants/1st class learners engaged and motivated throughout. This age group thrives on that kind of variety, and using AI to generate units of work like this frees the teacher up and allows more time for planning rich learning experiences for the class.
Hi Laura. Thanks for your post and for sharing your reflection on the benefits of AI. You’ve outlined a really positive picture of how these tools can enhance what we do in the classroom. When a tool like Immersive Reader allows a child to engage with a difficult text, we realise that AI is not just saving time for you as a teacher; it’s also boosting the child’s confidence and independence. The same goes for tools like Flipgrid. Giving pupils different ways to express themselves often brings out strengths you might not see in written activities alone.
As you point out, professional development will be key if AI is to be adopted fully across the curriculum. Perhaps one of the most useful things we can do is keep sharing our experiences, what works, what doesn’t, and how our pupils respond to this new technology. That way we can all grow and develop with this technology together as a profession.
Hi Patricia. Thanks for sharing your reflection on gender stereotypes. You rightly described how early and subtly those messages creep in for children. Even when we’re conscious of wanting to raise and teach children without gender limitations, there are so many cultural cues, from toys and television to casual remarks by others, that reinforce outdated expectations. It’s no wonder that by the time they reach school, they’ve begun to sort activities and even feelings into “for boys” and “for girls.”
Linking all of this to emotional expression is a great point. If a child learns that “big boys don’t cry” or that certain jobs are “not for girls,” it shrinks the space they have to experience and communicate their own emotions. Development education can be a wonderful way to widen that space.
Hi Rachel
Thanks for your comprehensive and informative post. It’s great that you have been looking at and trialing a range of approaches to helping children with dyslexia. Dcode and the multi‑sensory elements of UFLI offer tried and tested support to struggling readers, and it’s great to hear how much Immersive Reader impressed you. Those adjustable features in Immersive Reader can make an enormous difference for pupils who need that extra bit of control over how they access and engage with text. ReadTheory, with its adaptive questions, can be particularly motivating for students who might otherwise feel overwhelmed by reading tasks that are too hard or too easy.
It’s encouraging to hear that your whole school is looking at SEN provision through the SSE lens and using resources like the Inclusive Education Framework. I feel more schools should be taking this approach. Always try to keep an eye on what’s working and where gaps remain at a whole school level.Hi Sine
Thanks for your post. What you’ve described is something we have all come across, and it can be discouraging to see those ideas and attitudes taking hold so early. The way you and your SEN colleague tried to address this by opening up the conversation and then building follow‑up lessons around gender and equality sounds like an effective approach. Of course, this takes time, but at least you’re planting the seeds for change.
I’ve had similar experiences, and it takes multiple attempts and positive examples before attitudes begin to shift. Continued exposure to mixed‑gender play, both structured and unstructured, can help to normalise the idea that sport and games are for everyone. Bringing in stories, videos, or real‑life visitors who showcase successful girls and women in football and other activities can also chip away at the “boys are better” narrative. Your idea about looking at the wider school context through SSE is a great idea. Try to promote a whole‑school focus on equality amongst your staff. This can help the children to see that diversity and inclusion are issues to be addressed consistently across the curriculum rather than just as a one‑off lesson.
Hi Sarah. I like your activity where you ask the child to draw what they have read and then compare this to what AI comes up with. Taking a story and turning it into a picture is a great activity that aids comprehension and understanding. They have to really think about the words, pick out the little bits of description, and decide how to show those in their own way. It’s a great way to make sure they’ve really understood what they’ve read.
Bringing in an AI-generated image to compare to their drawings will spark all sorts of discussions. They get to see how differently a computer interprets the same words. Maybe the AI’s version leaves out something they thought was important, or maybe it picks up on a detail they didn’t notice. Comparing the two can make the children realise that there’s no single “right” way to imagine a scene.
Nice lesson plan, Eleanor. Your prompt has given you some useful objectives and learning material for this lesson on friendship. Don’t forget that you could also ask the AI tool to suggest suitable videos that you might use, or create a written activity also.
Hi Ronan
Welcome to the course, and thanks for your post. It sounds like you’ve already got a great plan for integrating technology into your teaching for the coming year. Fifth class can be such a great class, and having tools that help you tailor material to different needs and give you quick insights into how everyone is getting on can make a big difference. All the supports you mentioned are particularly effective and can open up access for students who might otherwise struggle. And bringing AI-generated images into SESE or SPHE is a great way to spark curiosity; often, a single picture can inspire a whole conversation. Just a thought: as you start using these tools, it might be worth discussing with the class how and why you’re using them. Helping the children understand that AI is a tool to support learning and not a replacement for their own thinking can be really useful.
Hi Karen
To use Immersive Reader in Google Docs, you need to install the Helperbird add-on. Get it as a browser extension. Once installed, highlight the text you want to read, then open the Helperbird sidebar and click the “Use Immersive Reader” button. The selected text will then appear in the Immersive Reader, where you can customize the reading experience
Hi Fiona.
Thanks for sharing your post.The fact that gender stereotypes are deeply embedded from a young age is correct, and it’s a challenge many teachers face on a daily basis. As you rightly point out, by the time children reach our classrooms, they’ve already been steered towards certain choices. It’s a huge challenge to try and counteract that. Including gender non-specific games is a simple way to address this and can show that all activities are for everyone. A few other simple ways to address gender stereotypes at primary level would be to avoid using gendered labels like “strong boys” or “pretty girls”.
Share stories and examples where boys and girls are shown in a variety of roles, like scientists, carers, leaders, or artists.
Choose learning materials that portray people of different genders doing a wide range of activities, e.g., stories with female inventors, male nurses, female athletes, male dancers, etc.Hi Fionnuala.
Thanks for your post. A digital tool like Immersive Reader can make such a difference for so many learners who struggle with reading. This technology can remove major barriers to learning for children with dyslexia and allow these children to effectively engage with written content. I like where you highlight how different features would benefit different pupils, such as the picture dictionary for students with limited vocabulary and the translate option for EAL learners. It’s this potential for targeted use that makes Immersive Reader such a valuable tool.Hi Marie,
Welcome to the course, and thank you for this post. As you rightly say, development education is not just about academic success but about preparing students to be ethical, compassionate, and responsible citizens. Your examples of integrating global themes into SESE Science, Art, and Drama are perfect, and it shows that these ideas don’t need to be a separate subject but can be integrated into a variety of curricular areas in our daily teaching. I really like how you highlight the focus on collaboration and school self-evaluation. A whole-school approach is the most effective way to make sure the key themes of development education are a priority. Co-planning and collaboration with fellow teachers creates a shared vision and goal, and using the self-evaluation process makes sure that there is constant review and planning. It’s a very practical and powerful way to make sure development education is embedded into school practices.
Welcome to the course, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on AI Paige.
You have summarized some of the key benefits of using AI as a teacher really well. The idea of using AI to overcome the “blank page problem” is one that a lot of teachers can readily relate to. We all know how much time goes into planning, and having a tool that can instantly suggest creative ideas, resources, and even drafts of worksheets or presentations could be a huge time-saver. This frees us up to focus more on the students and less on the admin and preparation
You rightly point out that differentiation and creating personalised resources are also key benefits of using AI. Having a tool that can help us tailor content to meet the various needs in a class is invaluable. This allows us to create more engaging lessons and make sure every child gets the support they need. I like your point about passing these skills on to our students. They’ll need to know how to use these tools effectively and ethically in their future careers, so teaching them now is setting them up for success in the future.
Hi Paul. As a fellow SEN teacher for many years, I have always found Immersive Reader to be a very versatile tool that can be easily adjusted to meet a wide range of pupil needs. The features you mentioned like having text read aloud with highlighting, and the ability to change fonts and backgrounds, can make a huge difference for a child who struggles with reading on a daily basis
Like you pointed out, it can be used in a variety of learning settings, from mainstream pupils to those in SET and autism classes. The picture dictionary and translation features are especially brilliant for EAL learners, giving them a level of support that was much harder to provide before.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Karen. You make some good points in relation to AI and teaching and learning. As you rightly point out, AI is already a part of our students’ lives, and it’s our responsibility as teachers to guide them. Rather than resisting it, we should embrace the opportunities that this new technology offers and teach our students how to use it ethically and responsibly.
Your points about how AI can help with personalizing learning, supporting diverse needs, and assisting with assessment are all very relevant. While AI can make our teaching jobs a little easier, the main thing to remember is that it can really help us teachers to create a more differentiated and effective learning environment for every child.
