Posts on “ teacher resources ”

Have you been using games on GameUp to help your students understand themes of this year’s election?  If so, you might be interested in two new quizzes that we’ve created specific to this year’s presidential contest.  First, is the all important Election Year Economics  quiz that ties right in to Budget Hero Election Edition.  With open ended questions about swing states and resource allocation, this quiz is sure to promote thoughtful dialogue with your students.  Want to quiz your students on other aspects of the election, you can always mix your own, custom quiz using the mixer.  With access to over 10,000 BrainPOP questions, and the ability to write your  own, it’s never been easier to customize your students’ BrainPOP experience.  You can learn how to use the tool by watching our quick overview video.   Also, searching for more election ideas?  Be sure to visit out “spotlights” page, join the election discussion group, or view our archived webinar with our friends from iCivics.

E-Line Media, the makers of Gamestar Mechanic, are looking for educators to help test out a new approach to preventing bullying, digital abuse and dating violence. The Real Robots of Robot High is a video game and curriculum that helps middle school students understand social systems as they play, remix and design video games. The Real Robots of Robot High brings the power of systems thinking to Social and Emotional Learning. Our goal is to help kids understand how social system components–like communication, influence and social power–work together. We believe this understanding prepares young people to deal critically with the social systems they encounter in the real world and to practice the positive behavioral strategies we would all like to see them adopt when dealing with challenges like bullying, dating violence and digital abuse. The Real Robots will be available everywhere on December 7th, 2012. But, you and your students can get it next week, for FREE by participating in the Real Robots Fall Beta Program! E-line Media is looking for 50 educators to try out the Real Robots video game and lesson plans in their classrooms between Monday October 15th and Friday, November 16th. All beta participants will receive free… Read the Rest»

GameUp is buzzing with its newest game, Lord of the Flies!  Developed by Nobelprize.org, this game guides students in exploring the symbolism and themes of William Golding’s novel.  The objective of the game is to challenge the reader’s memory through playing the game and introduce some basic analytical aspects of the book.  The game presents students with one possible interpretation of Golding’s book, but they will create their own interpretations of the book by analyzing various elements. Perfect for an author study or English Literature unit, we’ve created a lesson plan to guide you in integrating the use of this game into your curriculum.  Utilizing BrainPOP resources such as our Lord of the Flies movie, our lesson plan includes some excellent tips for preparation and extension activities so you can get the most out of this interactive game.   

Now that the school year is in full swing, remember to check out the BrainPOP Spotlight on Digital Citizenship.  More than ever, classrooms are going digital, and it’s our job as teachers to help students understand appropriate online behavior and the importance of interacting respectfully. From Copyright and Plagiarism to Cyberbullying and Internet Search, the Digital Citizen Spotlight provides a collection of useful content to help students understand their role as digital citizens.  A thorough exploration of the Spotlight page can provide a roadmap for navigating the wild, wild world of the web.  Your students will learn a lot, and you will too! Once you’ve explored the Spotlight page and clicked through to its specific topics,  be sure to visit each “Lesson Plans and Teaching Ideas” page.  These pages feature topic-specific lesson plans, graphic organizers, movies, and quizzes that you can customize and remix to use with your own students. After exploring the Digital Citizenship Spotlight, topics, and teaching resources,  put your refreshed digital etiquette skills to use and share your ideas in our community forum.  It’s a great place to meet fellow members of the BrainPOP Educators community and make your voice heard!  

The new Mixer™ – which lets you remix, customize and craft  your own BrainPOP-style quizzes – is already receiving glowing reviews!   After this week’s overview webinar, members of the BrainPOP Educators community shared their positive reactions. @lwolfe puts it simply: “I love the Mixer!!”  @ccentra raves: “This will help me customize the quiz for each student!”  @sturpin asserts the ability to “customize quizzes will enhance the assessments of standards that we are using in our classrooms.” So have you tried the Mixer yet?  Have you explored our 9,000+  multiple choice and open ended questions?  Have you had the thrill of creating differentiated quiz experiences for your students? What are you waiting for?  Remember that in order to use the Mixer, you’ll need to link your free BrainPOP Educators account with your BrainPOP username and password. Do you have suggestions for how we can improve the Mixer experience?  Since this is our newest feature, we’re especially excited to read your feedback. We want to make this tool the best it can be! Want a quick refresher on how to use the Mixer? Check out this screencast:

Last week, Senior Manager of BrainPOP Educators Andrew Gardner presented at the Apple Store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  The topic was “iPad in the Classroom” and Andrew spoke about the device and the specific apps using the SMAR (Substitution, Modification, Augmentation and Redefinition) framework defined by Dr. Ruben Puentedura.  The rise of tablet computing and the rapid adaptation of the devices in schools, requires us to think deeply about best use.   “Substitution” apps do things that you can do with regular classroom tools, like reading a ebook, creating flashcards, or practicing fast facts and phonics.  ”Modification” and “Augmentation” apps do things similar to regular classroom tools but with added functionality, like an ebook that reads to you, an encyclopedia that calculates equations or a magazine that is built around your interests.  The most exciting category is Redefinition apps that do things previously impossible without the use of technology and the device, like building collaborative narrated digital slideshows or helping students with Autism learn social cues. BrainPOP’s favorite example of the using a “Redefinition” app is the first grade project that BrainPOP Educators Eliza Chung and Jan Bird submitted at the end of last school year. Using Puppet… Read the Rest»

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!

Did you know that BrainPOP offers free clip art? BrainPOP Educator Bobby Lewis of Feagin Mill Middle School in Warner Robins, Georgia, shares how he and his students make use of these resources. He writes: “I use BrainPOP clip art to help reinforce concepts from the movies we watch. My students can copy and paste it into their documents or print it out to add to their work. The clip art is used to reference a topic we watched on BrainPOP or a game they played on GameUp. Some students print off the clip art to add it to their notebooks, while others make videos using the clip art. We use the clip art in conjunction with Prezi a lot: students to share what they know about different concepts we learned and complete fun projects at home. Here is a Prezi a student made about BrainPOP using the clip art and screenshots.” Brain Pop on Prezi Thanks, Bobby, for sharing that with us! How do YOUR students use BrainPOP’s free clip art?

The New Media Consortium, authors of the esteemed and widely referenced Horizon Reports,  provides an authoritative voice about all things education and technology. Therefore we were thrilled to see a positive review of GameUp on their blog!  Click through to the NMC’s website and read their take on the value of game based learning, and how GameUp provides traction for the implementation of new teaching and learning styles!

Wednesday, August 15th at 4:00 PM ET- BrainPOP and BizWorld The BizWorld Foundation offers programs designed to help teachers impart critical thinking and teamwork skills. We’ll join BizWorld for an introduction webinar you don’t want to miss! Together, we’ll look at their project-based programs and the BrainPOP resources that support them. BizWorld programs encourage a fun, hands-on approach to teaching kids in grades 3-8 business skills they’ll use all their lives.