ESCI and PDST are delighted to collaborate for a series of eight webinars for Code Week Ireland 2020. The webinars are being held from 12th-22nd October. Places are limited so early booking is advisable.

Monday 12^th October 7:30pm

The new Micro:bit 'Classroom' with Roisin Flaherty

Tuesday 13^th October 7:30pm

Let's get more girls coding with Aoibheann Mangan, Iseult Mangan & Joanne Dolan

Wednesday 14^th October 7:30pm

The Big Game Show Dublin Maker vs Maker Meet

Thursday 15^th October 7:30pm

Escape from Zoom with Julie Power & Pam O’Brien

*Very limited numbers for this feature event*

Places are limited so early booking is advisable.

Registration for all webinars is available at the following link:

https://www.esci.ie/news/163-eu-code-week-in-ireland.html

This webinar provides an overview on dyslexia, discussing, among other things, what dyslexia is, the indicators of dyslexia, technical terms around dyslexia and the social and emotional effects of dyslexia. It also looks at what teachers can do to help, strengths of the dyslexic learner and provides an insight into available interventions.

Attendees can expect a mix between theory, practical tips and reflections with a view to helping inform a more dyslexia friendly approach to teaching and learning.

 Biography

DySI (Dyslexia Specialists Ireland) comprises a group of over 20 practising and experienced primary, secondary and further education teachers with a Masters in Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) from Dublin City University (DCU). We also hold an Assessment Practising Certificate (APC) for the assessment of specific learning difficulties/dyslexia from the British Dyslexia Association.

We have pooled our expertise to create this webinar, the first in a series of webinars, which we hope helps support you as parents, teachers and SNAs in working with dyslexic learners.

Register here

 Information Evenings on Epilepsy Awareness for Teachers and School staff.  

Epilepsy Ireland will host an Information Evening for teachers and Special needs assistants through zoomMonday Monday 12th October from 4.30pm to 6pm. Community Resource Officer, Kathryn Foley will speak about epilepsy related issues in school, including types of seizures, first aid, triggers, activities and how to manage seizures in the school environment.

This event is suitable for all staff dealing with students with epilepsy in both primary and post primary schools.

There is no fee for this webinar.

Click here to register

For further information please contact Kathryn at 064-6630301 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Register here

Oral language skills form the foundation for the reading and writing skills children will develop as they progress through school. Having a strong foundation in oral language helps children become strong communicators, successful readers, building competence and confidence as well as an overall sense of well-being.

Unfortunately, many children are missing out on important oral language skills from a young age. Much research indicates that without a solid foundation in oral language skills, children will not develop competency in reading and writing.

Children learn best when they are engaged and interacting. In this webinar, I aim to give some ideas of how we, as educators, can help children build strong oral language skills.

Biography of Presenter

Julieanne Devlin is a teaching deputy principal. She is currently teaching a multigrade classroom of 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes. She qualified with a Bachelor of Education from St. Patrick’s College in 2002, a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from St. Patrick’s College in 2004 and a Master of Science from Dublin City University in 2007. She specializes in the area of oral language and vocabulary development. She has spoken internationally on the topic in addition to delivering CPD training and seminars in numerous Education Centres countrywide and talked about ‘closing the word gap’ at the IPPN Conference in Citywest January 2020. She also hosted a popular home-school blog throughout the pandemic with up to 2000 unique visitors per day. (www.julieannedevlin.com).

Click here to register 

This workshop is offered by IT Tralee as part of the SOAR project for broadening participation in third level education.

Assistive technology can reduce or remove many of the barriers to learning faced by students with disabilities.  A difficulty often faced in schools, however, is that the use of technology in the classroom may single out and stigmatise the student using it.  Many teachers have noted students actively or passively resisting using a laptop when others are writing by hand.

However, many of the technologies now available have much wider application and are used effectively and productively by students and professionals across the board.  The need for all students to have access to a full range of technology for learning has been brought strongly to the fore by the current COVID crisis.

These sessions will be an opportunity to consider how technology can be incorporated into mainstream classes to create an inclusive environment where students can experiment with different means of representation and of expression as per Universal Design for Learning. 

After the introductory first session, teachers will try out some of these approaches in their own classrooms.  This will vary depending on the individual school’s technology infrastructure and policies, the subject matter to be covered and the teacher’s and students’ preferences.  The second session will be a sharing of experiences, problem solving and forward planning.

Session 1. Date – Monday 5th October, 7-8.30pm

Overview of technologies: text to speech, speech to text, mind mapping, collaboration

Integrating technologies into inclusive mainstream classrooms

Session 2. Date – Wednesday 21^st October, 5-6.30pm

Review of experiences, difficulties arising, planning future learning.

Who should attend?

Mainstream subject teachers, SEN teachers working or planning to work in mainstream classes, SNAs.  Participants are asked to commit to attending both sessions in full.

Participation in this training can be included in your school’s Digital Learning Plan. 

Click Here to Register

Navigating emotions in times of turmoil - EQ to support better relationships going back to school

Sinking or swimming? We’re in unusual times and each of us respond differently to  change and challenge; how we think and feel directly impacts what we do, every moment of everyday. Mindfulness and emotional intelligence has a critical part to play in our success and the success of our students. 

This webinar focusses on how we can use emotional intelligence to   navigate relationships and work in uncertain and changeable times. We’ll explore how being emotionally smart can increase insight, connection and purpose and lead to more meaningful outcomes. 

We’ll start with understanding, appreciating and managing ourselves and how we interpret and respond to change and challenge. We’ll then develop ways to engage students in being more emotionally intelligent and support them to apply simple strategies to get better results everyday.

If you're sinking, make sure you’re also waving; if you’re swimming make sure you’re supporting others to stay afloat. 

Biography

Katharine Roff is the Regional Director in Europe for Six Seconds, a global non profit committed to growing emotional intelligence. We think the world would be a better place if a billion people were practicing the skills of emotional intelligence (EQ). So, we research and share scientific, global, transformational tools & methods to support that goal. People are at the heart of what we do and why we exist because emotions drive people and people drive performance.