Posts on “ international ”

Guest Blogger Michael Lambert currently teaches middle school in Shanghai and previously taught at Hong Kong International School. He is an ADE, serves on the 2011 K12 Horizon Report Advisory Board and teaches workshops on media literacy throughout Asia. Michael has written several articles related to visual literacy. Along with his passion for teaching, he brings a background in cognitive science and project-based learning. Even after 25 years of teaching in Asia, Michael still maintains a childlike wonder and curiosity. Today Michael joins us to share about his use of BrainPOP at the international setting. Ni hao. As an international school in Shanghai, our student body of 1200 (K-12) from 40 countries, uses BrainPOP almost daily around the school.   The topic pages allow students to replay content, hear a condensed message (as opposed to a teacher’s long explanation) and see a short video as opposed to overly verbose and lengthy lecture! The BrainPOP topics as well as the content are “Spot-on,” says Liam, a grade 3 student from Australia.  “The video clips help me focus.” Students love using BrainPOP for research purposes. For example, in our China unit we are currently exploring pressures and developments in China’s new economy.  The answers… Read the Rest»

Diversity and Culture with NetTrekker and BrainPOP Wednesday, October 26 4:30 PM EDT Duration: 1 Hour We’ll show you how netTrekker Search and BrainPOP can help you pinpoint the most engaging lesson ideas and resources for an array of multicultural-themed projects. You’ll be amazed at the diversity of content and organizational strategies you can use when you combine BrainPOP and netTrekker!

BrainPOP Educators: If We Build It, They Will Come! Thursday, October 20 6:30 PM EDT Duration: 1 Hour Andrew Gardner and Jessica Storer of BrainPOP Educators give you an extensive overview of the BrainPOP Educators community. Hear about the breadth of resources we offer, from lesson plans to graphic organizers to our newest feature, interactive community groups and forums. See the mechanisms we have in place to help you share, support, and interact with more than 145,000 fellow BrainPOP Educators. We can’t wait to see you participating in our robust community!

Chris Carter’s saga with BrainPOP ESL in Germany continues with week 7… Day Thirty The exercises in BrainPOP ESL Level 2 require more reading and more fill in the blank activities.  We have to help Moby accomplish a goal by choosing the correct word to complete a sentence.  Since not all my first graders can read English with fluency quite yet, so I find myself reading for them.  First, I read the main sentence then the four to ten possible answers.  I think three is more than enough. So much for me being able to sneak into the background for a little covert observation!  I had been drifting to the back of the room to watch my class while they watched Ben and Moby.  A teacher sure can learn a lot about their class from the back of the room!  Student P was not very happy about the last time I did that.  She ended up with a time-out for not being able to keep her hands to herself. Day Thirty Two A visitor from BrainPOP ESL came to our school today.  I gave him a tour of the school.  It must have looked like we do nothing but BrainPOP!  (I… Read the Rest»

Chris Carter’s saga with BrainPOP ESL in Germany continues with week 6… Day Twenty Five What a day!  This morning started out with surprise treats brought in from one of my student’s parents to celebrate a birthday. Everyone filled their bellies with chocolate and other sweets, resulting in 20 kids on a serious sugar high at 9:00 in the morning. How did BrainPOP Jr. fit into today’s routine?  Well, it provided me with about 15 minutes of calm in the classroom.  This turned out to be just enough time for me to recompose and change my plans to better fit their manic energy. Day Twenty Six The sugar high seems to have continued, as my students were just as boisterous and giggly as yesterday.   Again, BrainPOP Jr. gave me a period of calm while the learning continued.  Of course I don’t want to use video, even interactive video, to sedate my students but I also don’t want to understate the peaceful beauty of a quiet and fully focused class.  I’m glad Moby had my back. Day Twenty Seven Ah, finally a semi-normal day.  We were on a roll, so decided to stick with BrainPOP Jr. again this morning.  This time… Read the Rest»

Two months ago, in mid March 2011, Yonatan Naim, a young talented musician and beloved BrainPOPer, had a tragic accident and was seriously wounded. For two months he was fighting for his life. On Friday morning he passed away. In these difficult and sad days our heart goes out to his sister, Rona, and his mother, Naomi, who are both an important and significant part of the BrainPOP family. Yonatan’s exuberance for life and his passion for exploring were always evident in all he did. We will always remember his great talent, his remarkable ability to give life to written words with his music, his endless creativity, and his pure heart and soul. Yonatan, we will always remember you with a big smile and great love, your vivacious spirit has always been and will continue to be an inspiration to us all. To view our Mourning video, click here.

Chris Carter’s  saga with BrainPOP ESL in Germany continues with week 5… Day Twenty There’s a bug going around the school, maybe all of Berlin! I was sick on Monday, so we will return to BrainPOP ESL tomorrow. Day Twenty One We are back in action with BrainPOP ESL, we are at Level 1, 3.4 Any Cookies?. The Warm Up! activity was more difficult than the You Can Do It! activity.  The Play It! game was a challenge too.  Not only did it require more reading, but it involved more critical thinking, which I like.  I read the questions out loud and the students tried to choose the correct answer.  I’ve noticed that the activities are repeated at different levels, so the next time we do these, they should be easier. Day Twenty Two We watched the Thanksgiving movie on BrainPOP Jr.  This movie was easier to follow than the Rainforests movie we watched last week.  We played the game afterwards.  It was called Moby’s Match.  It’s a memory game that reviewed Thanksgiving words from the movie.  Everyone could play because Annie read the words aloud when the students clicked on them.  We had to play twice so that everyone… Read the Rest»

Terri Eichholz  was one of five winners in the Mobile Learning Experience Contest. She has been teaching for twenty years and currently works at Fox Run Elementary in San Antonio, TX as a Gifted and Talented teacher.  The enthusiasm of her students and the support of her administration inspires her to eagerly embrace mobile technologies.  Join us in congratulating Terri, as she shares her vision of  how mobile devices positively impact student learning! The most exciting new form of communication that appeared when I was young was the Erasermate pen.  I still remember the whispers at our strict Catholic school about the students who were using them, and the confusion the nuns seemed to have about the legality of their usage in class.  To be able to erase your pen marks, which were as permanent as the engravings in stone tablets, seemed like an open door to temptation to some, and absolutely freeing to others. Mobile computing has the same effect, though to a much larger degree, on the teachers of today.  The structures of our schools are literally and figuratively being ripped out to accommodate this new technology, and some teachers are mourning the loss of the control they could wield over their… Read the Rest»

It Takes A Global Village Wednesday, March 16, 2011 4:30 PM EST Duration: 1 Hour BrainPOP Educators Adina Popa and Tammie Mihet will demonstrate how they teach 21st Century skills, use multimedia tools such as BrainPOP, and how all these resources prepare them and their students for collaborative activities at the international level. RSVP: http://collabor8.eventbrite.com/

BrainPOP’s own Dr. Kari Stubbs, Vice President of 21st Century Learning, is running for a position on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Elections run from now until April 11. Visit ISTE for more information about the election or to cast your vote. When asked how she envisioned leveraging her position on the ISTE Board to benefit ISTE members, this was Kari’s answer: I look to ISTE as the leader in the field of education technology. The online resources, social learning networks, learning opportunities, annual conference, and many affiliate conferences make it a reliable, visionary go-to resource for all things ed tech. ISTE reaches all levels of educators, from the classroom teacher to the library media specialist to the district chief technology officer and everyone in between. My own experiences in this field include 11 years in the classroom, leadership on my building technology advisory committee, program management of the Title IID in Kansas, a PhD in Curriculum with a technology emphasis, opportunities to teach undergraduate and graduate level courses, and work in the corporate side of education through ePals and BrainPOP. Throughout my career both in and out of the classroom, ISTE… Read the Rest»