Prompting Progress: Bringing Beowulf to life using AI within Glow
This example is shared by a Primary teacher from Calderwood Primary School, South Lanarkshire Council (SLC), who has been using Gemini Education and Gemini Notebook within Glow.
Use case: Transforming Beowulf Planning and Modern Studies Differentiation using Gemini Education and Gemini Notebook
I have been using Google tools for a number of years to support my teaching and learning in school for a variety of Curricular Areas. As a Google Educator and Gemini Educator I was interested in using both Gemini Education and Gemini Notebook to support my teaching of “Talk for Writing” which was new to me as a class teacher.
Gemini Notebook was particularly useful in helping to create a 3 week Talk for Writing plan for my class partner and myself, using the key elements of the programme and organising this into manageable lessons. This helped to ensure continuity and progression over the topic. Having never used the Talk for Writing programme before, this was invaluable for me in understanding how the unit should progress. I also created a visual timeline of the story for myself to help with the progression of lessons. When introducing the topic I used Gemini Education (Nano Banana) to create images of mythical creatures and a wanted poster as a visual “hook” for the class to pique their interest in the story when introducing the “cold piece”writing task. This was really useful and incited lots of interest and discussion about what their story could be about, allowing the children to produce exciting cold pieces for future work.
I’ve been using Google tools to make my Modern Studies lessons more accessible for the range of learners I’ve got in front of me. Gemini Notebook has been particularly useful for bridging the gap between complex topics and getting students actually engaged with them. I create short overview videos that introduce new units or work as revision prompts. I share these in our class Teams and use them as lesson starters. They give students a visual and auditory “brain nudge” before we get into deeper source analysis or critical thinking. It builds confidence when they’re not going in cold. The infographic feature is brilliant for breaking down tricky Modern Studies concepts or specific SQA exam skills. It gives students a low-stakes way into topics that would otherwise be overwhelming walls of text.
Gemini Education has become essential for differentiation. I use it to adapt reading passages and web content into tiered worksheets aligned with SOLO taxonomy. This means students can work through questions at their own pace and level – proper support for those with Additional Support Needs,and meaningful challenge for those ready for extension work. Recently I used Gemini to adapt a class test for students with significant literacy barriers. I simplified the sources and question then generated specific word banks and used the image creation feature to provide visual scaffolds. These helped students recall key information and actually articulate what they knew. The point is assessing their understanding of the political or social issues, not just their reading speed or vocabulary.
Prompt crafting
This was the prompt I used.
‘I am a Primary 6 teacher, working on 2nd level of Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland. Create a three week planner for the story of Beowulf, using the Talk for writing structure and follow the three-week teaching sequence divided into the Imitate, Innovate, and Invention phases . Create 4 weekly lessons, each lasting 60 minutes. Identify the Learning intentions and success criteria for each lesson. List resources required for each lesson and any new vocabulary required.’
Was it a ‘one-and-done’ success, or did you have to tweak your instructions to get what you needed?
I used the initial planner made by Gemini Notebook and read through the Talk for Writing programme to ensure that no elements were missing. This required changing some of the learning outcomes produced to make them more specific to lessons.
How the tools improved the task I was doing
My advice for others who haven’t used these tools before
If you have never used Gemini Notebook or Gemini Education before, you definitely need to try it out. When tackling a new topic/subject/concept in class these tools are invaluable for giving you starting points for lessons, ideas for collaboration work, resources, assessments and more to help your understanding and in turn the children’s understanding.
Next steps
Beowulf Lesson Examples
Beowulf infographic “Hook” for learners
Examples of some AI generated mythical creatures for inspiration
Wanted poster example
Tools Used
Appropriate Use: Generative AI
Be aware that these Generative AI tools contain functionality which allows the upload of pictures and files. It is the responsibility of the user not to upload content or enter prompts which may generate inappropriate or concerning text or imagery, or which contains any personal, sensitive or confidential information.
Please also refer to the Scottish Government's AI Guidance for Schools when using any kind of AI tool within education.
