Building Coding Skills across the CurriculumBy Michael O’ Kane With the focus of schools, teachers and school leaders on trying to navigate through the extremely choppy waters of teaching through the Covid19 pandemic, I have been pleasantly surprised to see how many schools are celebrating EU CodeWeek, which runs from the 10th to the 25th October this year. It is one of my favourite times of year (after Christmas!) and it really is a great starting point to ensure that your students develop key coding skills which will be immensely important to them in their future careers. The Seamless Integration of Coding across the CurriculumCoding in the classroom does not have to be a separate lesson, held at the same time every week. It can be integrated easily into lessons right across the curriculum, from the early years right through to Leaving Certificate. For 7 year old children this could involve using the Scratch Jr app to build a project about Neil Armstrong landing on The Moon. 1

Inclusive and Immersive Maths lessons with Microsoft EducationBy Stephen Eustace Many students experience challenges inside and outside the classroom. Students with dyslexia can experience challenges with Maths problems involving words or a written story and visual crowding can also make the Maths problem even more difficult to process. Students with ADHD can have difficulties with focus and attention and Dyscalculia can add an additional obstacle for students in the Maths classroom.As a post-primary Maths teacher I have found the in-built accessibility tools in Office 365 to be invaluable in removing barriers for students with additional needs in my maths classes, helping all learners reach their potential. Below are just some of the ways you can make your Maths lessons more inclusive and engaging. Immersive ReaderImmersive Reader is a free tool that utilises proven techniques to improve reading for everybody. Immersive Reader improves comprehension, encourages independent reading and

Adapting to ‘The New Normal’ using Office 365 Office 365 facilitates effective remote teaching and learning in Scoil Mhuire, Clane As a co-educational school with over 1000 pupils in Clane, Co Kildare, Scoil Mhuire decided to set up Office 365 as their online school platform to enhance communication, collaboration and the teaching and learning experience. ICT Coordinator, Andrew Herring, explains how important training and support has been in getting the full benefits from the platform: “We wanted to enhance teaching and learning and increase collaboration between staff and students but we wanted to make sure the whole school was comfortable with using the technology first. Wriggle provided training for our Digital Leaders in our chosen teaching and learning app, OneNote, and those Leaders then held CPD training sessions for other teachers. Over the past three years, Wriggle have worked with us to support our Office 365, including setting up our account for academic

Safely Managing Shared iPads in the classroomby Roisin JohnstonHygiene and safety routines are now vital in every school and it is important to teach the students the proper rules and cleanliness routines around using shared iPads in class. With 4 years’ experience sharing iPads in Holy Cross Mercy National School, I’ve pulled together some of our top tools and tips on sharing iPads safely in the classroom during the ‘new normal’.So you’ve bought a class set of iPads…what next? An important consideration to factor in is how to distribute the iPads in order to maximise the positive impact on teaching and learning and minimize contact with multiple small hands on any given day.One way of doing this is to create a timetable for the iPads and move the set around to each class. Classes could have the class set of iPads one day a week or for a full week on a rotation basis. Another option is to share the iPads between your classes evenly so that every cla

Windows devices and Office 365 enable smooth transition to Blended Learning in Old Bawn Community School As a large, multicultural school with almost 1000 students, recently nominated as a Microsoft Showcase School, Old Bawn Community School took the decision to begin the process of introducing Windows devices for all teachers and students to foster students’ independent learning skills, as Principal Ursula McCabe tells us:“We wanted to empower our teachers, challenge our students and deliver curriculum content using 21st century skills that would prepare students for further education and the world of work. Wriggle trained our teachers as digital leaders who shared their skills with their departments. We then introduced devices for each student (1:1) starting with first years this year.”“Lessons have now become more interactive with the onus on students to explore processes and answers as opposed to learning through direct instruction.“ Laying the Founda