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I agree, Alice. Like you I am a great fan of Scratch Coding. Simply allowing students to engage in visual applications like Scratch will develop so many skills like logical reasoning, critical thinking, and problem solving. The teacher does not need to be an expert. Letting children make mistakes and figure things out through trial and error is where the real learning happens.
Hi Elaine. Thanks for your post on Google Classroom. As you point out, one of the great advantages of this tool is having everything saved in one spot. It really is so much easier to track work over time when it’s all there in one location. A great way to take it a step further is to use it for group work, not just individual tasks. You could set up shared documents for different pupils or groups to work on together. It’s perfect for project-based learning.
Hi Tadhg.
As a former SEN teacher, I agree that planning differentiated learning for your pupils can take lots of time, and it’s great that you are starting to realise how AI tools can greatly assist with this task. I like how you get an understanding of a child’s interests at the start of the year and plan materials/activities that take these interests into account. This can be a great motivating factor for the individual pupil and keeps them engaged in their learning. One suggestion would be to use AI tools to generate tiered tasks or activities for your pupils. You are simply using AI to create three versions of a task that are all at different levels of difficulty. That way, every pupil is working on the same task but at a level suited to their needs. This is an excellent way of managing differentiation for your class.I liked how you used drawing Kate as a starting point to assess embedded gender stereotypes amongst your students. It’s such a simple activity that can give a great insight into what children already believe. Your follow-up discussion and the use of stories or videos that include characters in non-traditional roles is an effective strategy to challenge embedded stereotypes. One suggestion would be to maybe add a drama element to your lesson where pupils take part in short role plays that showcase someone in a job that doesn’t match traditional stereotypes. Afterwards, you can chat about how it felt to step into that non-traditional role.
Hi Anna. The project you’ve outlined gives pupils a great chance to practice key 21st-century skills. Collaborating and working as part of a group, swapping ideas and finding ways forward when they don’t agree, researching and exploring how other schools have created sustainable playgrounds, creating plans, keeping track of costs, or putting together a basic website, all give them time to develop a range of key skills. And when they present their finished ideas to the class, they’ll be drawing on all that teamwork, research, and creativity without even realising it.
Hi Tara. Immersive Reader is proving to be very popular with many on this forum. The main reason for this is that it really does make texts accessible for pupils who might otherwise feel shut out. The combination of text‑to‑speech, the simple user interface and flexible layout, and the picture dictionary can make an enormous difference to reading fluency, confidence, and comprehension.
One simple way to get the most from this tool with your pupils is to run a short “tool orientation” session with the students who’ll be using it. Point out simple things like how to change the background colour and the font size. Show how you can get the tool to break words into syllables, and explain how they can access and use the picture dictionary. Give them plenty of time to practice with some familiar texts so that they can get comfortable with all settings. This gives them ownership over how they use the tool and takes away any stigma.
Hi Fiona. Sorry that you ran into technical problems with Robo Garden. You have to register your school and then activate this subscription. Once this is done, you can start using the dashboard to add classrooms, teachers, and students.
If you’re looking for a way to build children’s understanding before using the digital tools, start with a simple unplugged activity like a “human robot” game. Give one child a set of literal instructions to reach a spot in the room (e.g., “take two steps forward, turn right, pick up the book”) and have the rest of the class write or call out the commands for this. They’ll quickly discover that you have to be clear and precise, which is exactly what they’ll be doing in RoboGarden.
Hi Paige. I also love Scratch and the potential it has for teaching and learning. Scratch is a brilliant way to get children using their computational thinking and creativity skills. When working with Scratch f, try linking it to a curricular area. For example, if you’re working on a story in English or Gaeilge, ask the class to recreate a scene or invent a new ending using Scratch’s characters and backgrounds. Show the whole class the basics, then let them explore and create on their own. Working in pairs is a great approach when working with any coding application as it as it can take some of the pressure off and spark ideas and creativity.
Hi Jessica. Thanks for your contribution to the course so far. As you point out, knowing which tools match which learning needs is half the battle when supporting pupils with SEN. Technologies like Immersive Reader, Dictate, and Office Lens will definitely help you provide engaging learning experiences for the children you support. As you explore the possibilities of a tool like SharePoint, one idea might be to set up a simple class hub where each week’s reading materials, vocabulary lists, spelling lists etc are available in several formats. Perhaps you could upload a scan of a text and link to the Office Lens version for those who need audio support, or attach a simplified version of a text created with Immersive Reader’s tools, and include a few visuals or the picture dictionary for EAL learners. Encourage pupils to choose the format that works best for them. This will help make the content more accessible for each individual child.
Hi Eva. Thanks for your contribution to the forum. It is often disheartening when you see gender stereotypes in the classroom so early in the child’s school life. I always say, though, noticing them is the first step in challenging them. When pupils start to think certain colours, games or activities belong to one gender group or another, it can narrow their horizons long before they’ve had a chance to experiment and find out what they enjoy. One strategy that can help is to introduce examples that mix things up and then talk about them. Maybe choose storybooks or videos that feature boys doing things like painting and dancing, or girls doing well at football or building robots, and use them for discussion. Ask your class what they noticed about the characters’ choices and how they felt about them. You can then move into your own classroom activities, inviting everyone to try something outside their usual comfort zone. Over time, seeing a range of role models and having conversations and discussions can make it less likely that pupils will attach specific gender labels to hobbies or activities.
Thanks for posting your thoughts, Alice. You’ve summed up the AI dilemma very well that faces all primary teachers. On one hand there is the personalised support and real‑time insights AI can offer, but they do come with a need for us teachers to sharpen our own digital skills and help our pupils develop theirs. Search Coach is a good example of something that can make a big difference to older students who are starting to do more independent work. One way to roll it out with your 6th class might be through a short research project on a topic they are interested in. Before they begin, spend some time modelling how to use Search Coach to refine queries, look at the quality of sources, and cross‑check facts. Then let them try it themselves, perhaps in pairs, and ask them to identify one example of a trustworthy source and one that turned out to be unreliable, and why. This turns digital literacy into a practical skill, and you’ll quickly see where further teaching might be needed.
Hi Padraig. You have captured well the possibilities and the pitfalls of using AI in the classroom. The support they offer can motivate learners and lighten your teaching load, but as you say, there’s a risk that pupils will accept everything they see on screen without question or rely too heavily on ready‑made answers.
One practical way to address that is to build in explicit “verification” steps whenever AI is used. For example, when pupils use a chatbot to summarise a text or answer a question, ask them to highlight one piece of information they will check against another source and to explain why they trust that source. Similarly, if they use AI to generate ideas, have them select two suggestions that they must develop further by adding in their thoughts and observations. Taking this approach will help reinforce that AI is just a starting point, not the finished product, and it also promotes their own critical thinking and creative skills.
Hi Laura. Thank you for your post on the potential benefits that AI could bring to your teaching. The idea of having technologies that adapt to each child’s pace and interests is certainly appealing, and anything that frees up more teacher time for face‑to‑face work with pupils is a bonus. The right AI tools can help those more able pupils to feel challenged and those with learning difficulties feel supported. Of course it can also make the process of designing and marking assessments a lot less time-consuming.
One thing to keep in mind as you start experimenting with these platforms is to begin small and see how it fits with your style and your pupils’ needs. For instance, pick one subject area or unit and use an AI tool/technology there first. This will give you a clearer sense of how AI recommendations fit with the teaching and learning that happens in your class and whether what you are seeing truly benefits the children. You could then decide which AI features are beneficial to your teaching and where you might still prefer to stick to traditional methods and approaches.
Hi Kevin. Thanks for your post and contributions to the course so far. It’s great that you can see the potential these AI tools can offer to make writing more engaging for the children. Showing a simple description next to a more detailed/elaborate one can be a real eye‑opener for children, and combining that with an assistant like Co‑pilot gives them a concrete way to see what adding extra detail looks like. Having translations at your fingertips is also a great help when you’re trying to support EAL children
To build on your plan, you might introduce a “writer’s workshop” element where, after exploring the differences between basic and detailed descriptions, pupils try to improve one of their own sentences with your guidance. You can use Co‑pilot to generate a rich example on the board, then invite them to identify the specific words or phrases that make it more engaging. Ask them to highlight similar elements in their own work.
Hi Fiona.
Thanks for your post and for your contributions to the course to date. As many on the forum have suggested, Immersive Reader is a fantastic resource. It does feel like a gift when you’ve been paying for similar services, and the range of customisation options can make a real difference to pupils who struggle with reading. If you’re missing the picture‑to‑text element, one workaround worth exploring is the Office Lens app. It’s free as well, and you can use it on a phone or tablet to snap a photo of printed material, then convert it into editable text that can be sent straight into Word or OneNote. From there, Immersive Reader can read it for the pupil. It’s not quite the same as having everything in one place, but it might bridge the gap without adding extra cost.
