[Sinead Burke]

I love the way you created the powerpoint in a minecraft theme, talk about engaging the children’s interests. It’s a clever idea that could be used when creating powerpoints across the curriculum.

[Sinead Burke]

Lesson Plan for 3rd class SEN group: Exploring Dolch Words with AI Tools.

Learning Objectives
1. Recognize and read 5–10 selected Dolch sight words.
2. Use 3+ sight words correctly in a sentence or creative output.
3. Interact with AI tools to enhance word recognition and usage.
4. Build confidence through multi-modal, supported literacy tasks.

Warm-Up & Word Introduction: Introduce 5–10 Dolch sight words in context

• Use Gamma to create a short, image-rich presentation of the day’s Dolch words in simple sentences.
• Read through the words together, using Immersive Reader to: Read aloud each sentence, highlight syllables, translate or picture-search for clarification

Guided Learning with Khan Academy: Reinforce reading comprehension and listening.

• Open Khan Academy Kids or use Khan’s Early Literacy Videos focused on sight words.
• Watch a short video together (e.g., “Let’s Learn Sight Words: Come, Make, Help”).
• Pause after each word and ask: “What does that word mean?”, “Can you say a sentence with it?”
• Let student respond orally or write simple sentences on a whiteboard/tablet

Interactive Practice with Immersive Reader; strengthen fluency and decoding.

• Use Immersive Reader on a short paragraph or story containing the day’s Dolch words.
• Example: Paste a 4–5 sentence story like: “I come to the park. I jump and run. I make a big splash. I stop to eat.”
• Student listens and follows along
• Use built-in picture dictionary for tricky words
• Ask simple comprehension questions (e.g., “What happened first?”)

Creative Application with Scratch: Apply words creatively in a fun, interactive way.

• Choose simple characters (e.g., cat, dog, ball)
• Student creates a 3–4 step story animation using blocks:
• Add speech bubbles: “Come play!”, “Let’s run!”, “Stop here.”
• Use pre-written sight words to drag and drop.
• Play the story aloud and read through it together.

Review & Reflect with Gamma

• Open a Gamma deck with today’s words and visual cues
• Let the student: Match words to images, if needed use text to speech app (immersive reader) to read sentences aloud, drag-and-drop simple fill-in-the-blanks (e.g., “I ___ to the park” → [come/play])
• Celebrate success with badges or a visual chart.

I realise that this is quite a lengthy lesson plan and can be adapted on the day. All of the AI tools listed in the lesson plan and this module are completely new to me. I’ve chosen to incorporate the tools I intend to try use this coming school year. That’s not to say that all the other AI tools aren’t useful but to aim to use them all as a ‘newbie’ is overwhelming. If I can get to grips with the above mentioned tools over the next year, I’ll be happy.

[Sinead Burke]

I really like this oral language lesson Cian, simple but very effective. It’s a very practical way to teach children to use specific language. Obviously human interaction is different and even without asking a specific question, a person may still provide the ‘desired’ answer. AI will only answer the question asked, in turn developing effective questioning skills. I will try out your idea, thanks for sharing.

[Sinead Burke]

One of the AI applications I would like to introduce to my pupils is Scratch. Having explored the website, I found it to be user friendly, something I value highly until I find my feet with such applications. I found the ‘Educator Guides’ particularly helpful and would use those to begin with when introducing Scratch. The guides/lesson plans are well laid out, practical and engaging for children. They combine whole class teaching, independent and collaborative work and a chance to voice opinions. As the lessons are predicted to last 60 mins, 10 mins; imagine, 40 mins; create, 10 mins; share, I think 1 lesson a week would be a good place to start. Many of the lessons are cross-curricular so timetabling won’t be an issue. The Creative Computing Curriculum gives some nice suggestions for assessment such as maintaining a journal, be it paper or digital, and also offer potential prompts for journal reflections. They truly are providing all the resources for us to start successfully implementing this programme with our pupils.

[Sinead Burke]

I think you could be right about children reacting better to feedback from AI as it is more anonymous. Sometimes I feel like I am stuck on repeat with certain children when carrying out reading lessons, if I feel that way, I’m sure they do too! A different “assessor” would be good for all. I like the idea of peer reading but a child whose confidence is low in the area won’t gain from it. I think the Reading Coach would prove more beneficial in building their confidence.

[Sinead Burke]

A whole host of AI tools were explored in this module, all of them completely new to me. I’m amazed at what is available to us as teachers. Magic School offers a lot of valuable resources. I could not believe how quickly it generated a suitable social story with questions. This could prove useful in my role as certain behaviours can often determine the outcome of my day. Access to such a tool, that speedily generates appropriate social stories will prove really beneficial. I also loved the idea of personalising Maths concepts using the students’ names, a simple, but otherwise time-consuming resource for a teacher to create. Again, the time this tool will save teachers is incredible.
The advantages of the above tools aren’t limited to just time saving. They create meaningful content for children to engage with whilst allowing for assessment. Microsoft Reading Coach also caught my attention. The lessons are graded according with the child’s ability, the idea that the computer is recording them instead of the teacher and/or their peers would help develop their confidence in reading. All whilst assessing the child. I wonder how it would work for EAL students. Diffit also struck me as a useful tool, differentiation is crucial in all lessons but can be arduous and as a result effective differentiation isn’t always practiced. Diffit offers a solution to such time management issues. If all teachers learn about these AI tools and how to use them effectively, I believe our classrooms will transform.

[Sinead Burke]

Catherine, that is a great idea to email the book companies for pdfs and fair play to them for sending them on. I never would have thought to do that, I will now! I am really interested in using the Immersive Reader going forward. Thanks for sharing this idea as I feel this will help include children with reading difficulties in class novels/readers etc. Thanks

[Sinead Burke]

As a SEN teacher, the Immersive Reader Programme and the Microsoft Learning Tools caught my attention. I only wish I knew about them sooner. I’ve been working with a number of children with profound difficulties in literacy over the past two years and one child in particular came to the forefront of my mind whilst learning about these tools. Last year I hired a C-Pen from the library for child X to use. Although initially enthralled with the C-Pen, he grew frustrated using it, the pronunciation wasn’t always very accurate and he would often have to re-trace the sentences. With child X in mind, the line focus, page colour and read aloud tools available in Immersive Reader would have made lessons so much more accessible to him. Obviously, not all lesson content is on Word/the web so it doesn’t solve the issue entirely. However, for example, he could have completed research tasks independently and to a standard that represents his intellect rather than his literacy skills on the Chromebook with the named programmes. This would have worked wonders for his confidence in school. The Immersive reader programme and/or Microsoft learning tools are accessible tools that I intend to use with children with similar needs going forward.

[Sinead Burke]

Vikki’s comments about differentiation have made me think . Differentiation in every lesson can prove a huge challenge and workload. She is right when she said we sometimes resort to generic lessons. AI tools will make differentiation a bit easier for the teacher and create engaging lessons that are  attainable to all.

[Sinead Burke]

I chose this course as I had little to no knowledge about AI and felt the need to learn. When colleagues mentioned AI, I would tune out of the conversation as I thought it was beyond my capabilities to use it. I had preconceived ideas, I thought one would need to be highly competent in I.T. to make use of AI. Having completed this module, I can see how AI is accessible to all, even those less confident in I.T. I can also see how AI is an extremely useful to support teaching, learning and assessment in the classroom.
There were many useful tools provided in the screengrab from Generative AI in education. I tried out the Meiro quiz tool and thought it will work really well in class. It took 2-3 minutes to create a quiz on chapters 1-4 in a novel, a task I would have deemed time consuming beforehand. A simple but effective assessment tool to easily fit into lessons. I also loved the 3D and 360 tool which changes the children’s own drawings into animations, useful for boosting confidence in their artistic abilities. Two tools, targeting different areas, I can now see that AI can be used across all curricular areas. AI does not replace the teacher but can certainly help create engaging lessons which will benefit the learner.

[Author]

Posts