Posts on “ Getting Started ”

Tim and Moby are getting into the holiday spirit! Now through January 15th, save 20 percent when you purchase one of the 12-month Family subscriptions. You’ll have the chance to print or email a gift certificate letting your lucky recipients know. And remember, all our subscriptions now include mobile access.  For more information about the promotion, check out our promo page.  This discount only comes around once a year, so act now!

Wednesday, December 5th at 6:00 PM ET- BrainPOP Basic Training Whether you’re new to BrainPOP or a veteran user in need of a refresher, this overview is perfect for you. We’ll explore the ins and outs of our products, including BrainPOP Jr., BrainPOP, GameUp,BrainPOP Educators, and highlight all the new features we’ve added recently.

Guest Blogger and BrainPOP Educator Steve Isaacs share his methods for incorporating game design into his classroom.  You can find the post in it’s original form on Steve’s blog, games and learning Recently @techucation reached out to ask for some resources and ideas related to teaching Video Game Design and Development.  I responded to his inquiry and realized it would serve as a worthwhile blog post to share with the educational community.  Below is a general description of my 7th and 8th grade courses.  In 7th grade, I teach a six week introduction to video game design and digital storytelling.  In 8th grade I teach a full semester course in video game design and development.  I have also developed and teach the full semester course as an online high school course for The VHS Collaborative (http://thevhscollaborative.org/).  I hope you find the information helpful as I would love to see more courses evolve that teach important 21st century skills through game design. Currently, I am enrolled in the doctoral program in Educational Technology at Boise State University and the focus of my research is the pedagogical benefits of game design and development.  Some of the concepts I find most worthwhile to research… Read the Rest»

Wednesday, August 22nd at 4:00 PM ET- Kate Chechak and the First 6 Weeks As part of the Connected Educators Month and “The First 6 Weeks” discussion, join education consultant Kate Chechak for an in-depth conversation about best practices for setting up your classroom and preparing students for a positive new year! An expert in classroom management, Kate will share detailed and effective strategies for building a strong foundation for effective learning spaces. Kate is a former 3rd- grade teacher, curriculum designer, and founding faculty member at The School at Columbia University in New York City. She currently consults on curriculum development, and math and technology integration, and has served on the board of the Association for Constructivist Teaching for many years.  

As the summer begins winding down, we, at BrainPOP, want to help you best prepare for the start of the school year. From personal goal setting, to helping students achieve, to coordinating with parents and administrators, the teaching juggling act begins very soon! For some of you, it’s already started again, to you, we salute you.  Here’s to an excellent beginning! As part of August’s Connected Educators Month, you can read and share some ideas for the first 6 weeks by participating the initiative’s online forum.   In addition,  this Wednesday’s edition of the BrainPOP webinar series features former classroom teacher, and current educational consultant Kate Chechak.  Kate will share her strategies and methods for building strong culture of learning in your classroom. Join us for what promises to be a stimulating hour that can help you get start of the school year right!

We’re excited about the ability for users of BrainPOP and Google Apps to connect the services. By doing so, everyone benefits from the ease of single sign on (sso) and the ability to send quiz scores directly to a Google spreadsheet. The embedded slideshow below will walk you through the ease of installation, but if you want a more detailed explanation, check out the webinar from March 2012. If you’re in a school that uses Google Apps and BrainPOP already, this integration is a no brainer!

Guest Blogger and BrainPOP Educator Julia Curtis-Burnes is a New York State certified and licensed educator. She received her Master’s Degree in Teaching from Brown University in 2008 and has a four year educational background working with students in grades k-12. Julia is currently working towards developing leadership programs that help students build skills to become good public speakers, strong writers, selective college applicants and successful college students. Last month, I attended the Celebration of Teaching and Learning Conference in New York City on to provide my perspective as an educator who uses Brainpop as a teaching tool. During the conference I worked at a booth with the BrainPOP team, taking turns helping everyone who came by.  I greatly enjoyed helping teachers learn more about how to use BrainPOP as a resource to empower them and their students in the classroom. The conference gave me the opportunity to showcase my ideas and share my specific pointers about BrainPOP. There were so many teachers who came to the booth raving about what they loved about BrainPOP, However, one of the most common issues teachers shared was that the information in BrainPOP  was presented too quickly. Indeed, BrainPOP movies are short but packed with content and I struggled with… Read the Rest»

If you’ve heard about BrainPOP’s collection of free online games but haven’t had a chance to check it out, here’s an easy way to see what GameUp has to offer! In this screencast, we take you on a brief tour of GameUp, highlighting a fantastic iCivics game called Branches of Power. Watch as we show you how our games can be the perfect extension for BrainPOP movie topics so that students can explore the concepts they’ve learned in meaningful, real-world contexts: The Branches of Power game is part of a collection of free iCivics social studies games on GameUp: we also offer Law Craft, Argument Wars, Court Quest, Supreme Decision and Executive Command. You can also search GameUp by subject area and find social studies, math, science, and health games. Have you used GameUp in your classroom? Share your experiences in the comments!

NOTE EARILER START TIME! Wednesday, April 4 3:00PM ET: The BrainPOP Basics Freshen up on the BrainPOP basics with this overview webinar. Take a tour of our sites as we discuss best practices for engaging your students and getting the most out of your subscription. We’ll share some tips and tricks for using BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. in the classroom, as well as the valuable resources found on our free professional community, BrainPOP Educators. A perfect webinar for newbies and veterans alike!