Caolán McManus

Teacher of MFL (🇫🇷 & 🇪🇸) | Inclusive education & UDL | Digital media and AI as language learning tools | Whovian | il/lui/él

[Caolán McManus @koalamcmanus]

#CreedonsAtlas mentioned a Cairn - I took this photo atop Corn Hill (or Cairn Hill) in Longford. The rough translation of the Gaeilge, Carn Clainne Aodha, means the "Cairn of Clann Aodha". Legend says Ferdia, Queen Maeve's best fighter and Cúchulainn's best friend is buried here.

[Denise Ní Mhathúna @DeniseM67887845]

Returned to the SNA role for school-based provision in Holy Rosary Primary School, Tallaght.
welcoming staff, every one of them fantastic.Reminded how demanding this job is, and how much SNAs deserve in pay & respect. They're the backbone of inclusive education in this country.

[Doinkadect Klomberbatch @Doinkadect]

Is this the first time the UK’s been looking for a new Prime Minister, James Bond and Doctor Who at the same time

[Michael Fry @BigDirtyFry]

That’s your man, what’s his name, superman

[🇵🇸💚 Jade @Jade_ODonell]

insane pull

[Dr Ida Milne @milnem]

@CarlowCollege is being closed over two years, with all 87 staff being made redundant and all programmes wound down. Some of us will be made redundant immediately, some kept on a year by year basis. We still do not know who. Or what the workloads will be. This was not the plan.

[Joel @PoorlyAgedWho]

Dick Van Dyke has officially outlived Doctor Who TWICE!

[Joel @PoorlyAgedWho]

I’ve been watching Doctor Who since I was 5. I’m 25 years old now. Never in a million years did I think it’d all be over just like that.

[Om @betterrcallom]

i think we should bring back the concept of waking up on weekends and watching cartoons first thing in the morning.

[𝕭𝖊𝖓𝖓𝖎𝖊✨ @Bennieeexyz]

My high school math teacher Mr D was known for one thing.

He reused the same exam questions every year. Just changed the numbers. Everyone knew it. He also made a very big deal of collecting every paper back after we reviewed our scores so nobody could pass them to the next year's class.

Of course some of my classmates got their hands on a full set of tests from the previous year.

Within a week everyone had a copy.

Before every exam we'd sit together and work through every problem on the old test until we could solve them in our sleep. When the real exam landed the numbers were different but the logic was identical.

We thought we were geniuses.

Years later I became a teacher myself. Ran into Mr D at a funeral.

Me: I have to confess something.

Me: We had a copy of your old tests the whole time.

Me: Full set. Every exam.

Him: (smirked)

Him: Who do you think leaked them?

Me: (stared at him)

Him: Kids won't study if a teacher tells them to.

Him: But if they think they're getting away with something?

Him: (shrugged)

Him: They study all night.

Me: (stood there)

Me: (replayed four years of feeling clever)

Me: (we were never clever)

Me: (he played us perfectly)

Me: (I became a teacher and I still got played)

Me: (Mr D was built different)

[Brian Tolentino M.Ed @TolentinoTeach]

A teacher can only inspire, instruct, and connect up to a certain point.

Eventually, students must take ownership of their work.

When they refuse to take responsibility for their learning, an “F” isn't just a grade, it's a necessary lesson.

[Gabriel @gabriel_horwitz]

You open ChatGPT. You type the question. A clean, structured answer comes back in three seconds. You read it, it makes sense, you move on. You feel like you learned something.

Forty-five days later, a professor walks in and hands you a test you weren't expecting. You don't remember most of it.

André Barcaui at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro ran the experiment to find out if the feeling was accurate. 120 undergraduate business students, ages 18 to 24. All told to spend two weeks researching AI concepts, ethics, societal impacts, technical foundations, and prepare a 10-minute presentation.

Sixty used ChatGPT freely. Sixty used textbooks, library databases, articles, and standard web search. Then, 45 days later, with no warning, a retention test.

The ChatGPT group scored 57.5%. The traditional group scored 68.5%. Cohen's d was 0.68, a medium-to-large effect. In most grading systems, that's the difference between passing and failing.

This is called cognitive offloading. When your brain delegates thinking to an external tool, it reduces the mental effort required during encoding. Effort is what makes memories durable. Struggling to find, synthesize, and connect information is not an inefficiency in the learning process. It is the learning process. ChatGPT removes the struggle and takes the encoding with it.

Barcaui calls what the AI group experienced "borrowed competence." The answer was structured, the vocabulary was right, the reasoning felt sound. It just wasn't theirs. And 45 days later, it was gone.

The AI group's forgetting curve was steeper and didn't stabilize the way the traditional group's did. The memories weren't just smaller. They were more fragile from the start.

You didn't learn it. You borrowed it.

[maura @curlymo_99]

Being a prof in UCD is a very part time job and substantially better paid than primary school teaching for a lot less impact. Whether it is worthy or beautiful is debatable.

[Fixing Education @FixingEducation]

We’ve created a school system where the students who follow the rules get the least attention… because all the energy goes into managing the ones who don’t.

[Daniel @sillyolddaniel]

"And I packed your angry eyes, just in case"

[Vince Boley @VinceBoley]

🎯

[Lien @Jacksonsrule]

A psychologist recently explained something interesting why 90s kids developed different thinking patterns than Gen Z, largely because of games. Back then, no autosaves, no hints, just three lives. Games like Super Mario Bros. and Prince of Persia taught: fail, restart, keep going you had to earn progress. Games like Tetris and The Legend of Zelda trained maps and patterns, building memory, navigation, and patience. Finish a level turn off the console. No infinite dopamine. Play was social: one couch, one screen, real conflict and cooperation.
Today, games like Fortnite and Roblox are endless, with autosaves and reward systems that keep you playing. They hold attention but don’t train completion the same way. The difference is simple: 90s kids built focus and tolerance for failure, while today’s players are shaped by constant stimulation. What do you think about this?

[On This Day in Simpsons History 🇺🇦 @dailysimpsons]

30 years ago today, Principal Skinner purchased fast food to disguise as his own cooking at an unforgettable luncheon with Superintendent Chalmers.

#TheSimpsons episode “22 Short Films About Springfield” first aired April 14, 1996. @thatbilloakley @Joshstrangehill

[Caolán McManus @koalamcmanus]

@SpyMast73050981 They are among the sassiest Daleks we see on screen. Absolute Queens 😂

[★★★★★ @ItsJonesii__Bby]

This is something to celebrate

[Resko★ @Bloke_Baz]

Studying an hour before the exam and realizing the subject is actually kind of interesting is a top tier experience.