Posts on “ featured teachers ”

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»

A year and a half ago, Dr. Jan Harris, district superintendent from Cullman City Schools, spotted Moby on the shirt of BrainPOP’s VP of 21st Century Learning, Dr. Kari Stubbs.  Dr. Harris shared her district’s enthusiasm for BrainPOP and its use alongside other cutting edge technology tools to increase 21st century learning outcomes for students and teachers. BrainPOP has been following Cullman City Schools’ successes ever since and has had the opportunity to collaborate with one of their star Technology Integration Specialists, Aimee Bates. Here at BrainPOP, we were ecstatic to learn that Cullman City Schools recently won the 2011 CoSN Team Award for their visionary leadership and utilization of technology! They were recognized during the CoSN annual conference for their effective and innovative use of technology to transform teaching practices, learning opportunities for students, parent and community involvement, and professional development for teachers. To learn more about the award and the accomplishments of Cullman City Schools, check out the recent press release issued by CoSN. BrainPOP couldn’t be prouder of Cullman City School City schools! Keith Kreuger, CEO of CoSN, said it best in the press release, “From their implementation of a one-to-one laptop initiative to ensuring that teachers… Read the Rest»

Kate Ryder, a 5th year elementary school teacher, is one of five winners in the Mobile Learning Experience Contest. Join us in congratulating Kate as she shares her vision for mobile learning, “My own love of learning, A-Ha moments, and FUN are promoted by my favorite mobile devices. I, myself, have experienced a positive impact professionally and personally when incorporating mobile learning into my daily life and as a result strive to provide my students with the same opportunity.” Mobile Learning Facilitates A-HAs and FUN There are two things any teacher, from pre-service to old-school veteran, will tell you are required for high student achievement (academically and socially). No, it is not based on years of research…just good old fashioned common sense! Students learn and retain more information when: 1.  The students’ light bulbs illuminate and they have “A-Ha” experiences. and 2. Students are engaged, on task, and learning when they are…dare I say it…having FUN! Even though this is not justification for the “powers that be,” it is understood by educators that are in the trenches everyday. (However, when decision makers are asked about their favorite teacher…inevitably, that teacher cared to make learning memorable and FUN!) Mobile learning facilitates these two elements in… Read the Rest»

Join us in congratulating, Mary Bade, as one of the five winners in the Mobile Learning Experience Contest.  Mary is a a former 5th grade teacher and current Teacher Technology Facilitator at Los Ranchitos Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona. She started teaching for the Department of Defense Schools in Italy in 2006 and moved to Tucson in 2008. Her current school district, Sunnyside Unified School District, has taken on a digital initiative to put laptops in the hands of 5th and 6th graders by the end of 2011. Mary shares with us her vision for mobile learning, “I am honored and encouraged to be a part of this endeavor by the district, but want to take learning to an all new level with the students by making it a truly mobile learning experience.” Life Long Learning In Your Hand What better way to engage students in achieving academic success than reaching them with the tools they use every day. Laptops, iPods, iPhones and iPads are where our students are comfortable using and acquiring information. I envision a class where all students are engaged in the learning process with a computer in front of them and a smaller portable device for on the go… Read the Rest»

Karen Bosch teaches K – 8 technology and K – 5 art at Southfield Christian School in Southfield, Michigan.  She is one of five winners in the Mobile Learning Experience Contest and a 2007 Apple Distinguished Educator. Join us in giving Karen kudos, as she shares her vision of  how mobile devices positively impact student learning! Fostering Creative APP-titutes in Children using Mobile Devices Last week 6 new iPod touch devices “joined” our school community and I couldn’t be more delighted! Our students will use them to explore topics using search, map, reference, and video apps (such as BrainPop) and will enjoy practicing math and grammar skills using learning games.  But my primary vision of how students will use the iPods is to take the information and skills they are learning and use the devices to design products that creatively share their knowledge with others. The National Educational Technology Standards state that 21st century learners need to be able to use technology to demonstrate creative and innovative thinking that applies existing knowledge to generate creative ideas or products. I believe the drawing tools, video and still cameras, and voice recorders that are included in mobile devices like the iPod touch and iPad will shift the… 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»

BrainPOP was lucky enough to meet lead middle school teacher, Nicole Hesson, at the NSTA conference in San Francisco, CA.  Nicole shared with us how she uses BrainPOP as an effective teaching tool and how it speaks the language her middle school students understand! We were thrilled she wanted to spread the word with the rest of our BrainPOP Educators community. This is the second year our school has been using BrainPOP.  Our middle school students love it!  Besides being entertaining, it’s great at teaching content.  This generation is living in an age of constant media exposure and teachers must utilize media and technology to effectively teach them.  Tim and Moby can say the same thing as I would say, and yet my students understand it better when it comes from the beeping robot. In my seventh and eighth grade classes, we watch the BrainPOP movie as an engagement tool.  Each movie is just a couple of minutes, so it’s the perfect length for introducing a topic.  While they students watch the movie, I normally have them fill in one of the activities pages.  The close captioning option helps students with this task.  Often, we fill in an activity page… Read the Rest»

Jayne Clare and Anne Rachel are two inspiring, experienced classroom teachers who’ve got their finger on the pulse of apps! We regularly refer to their website, teacherswithapps.com, a credible resource to help educators wade through the vast educational apps out there. We think what they are doing is amazing and are thrilled they’re sharing their expertise with us through a guest blog series! Check out their first BrainPOP Educators guest blog post, where they share how our BrainPOP Featured Movie App inspired them to delve into the world of educational apps. Every student, at some point, should become familiar with the legendary and dateless writings of Shakespeare. To introduce his work into your classroom, you can watch the William Shakespeare BrainPOP movie. I recommend pausing at the letter to Tim and Moby and asking your students to turn and talk or do a quick write to share what they already know about Shakespeare. You can then assign the associated Activity Pages or explore the FYI section as an added bonus. For a lesson plan idea, check out what BrainPOP Educators has to offer. Now, you might want to extend the learning just a bit further. This is where the app,… Read the Rest»

We were thrilled to hear from one of our dynamic BrainPOP educators, Karyn Keenan. She shared with us her summer funding project to bring BrainPOP Jr. into her classroom, and how she uses it to increase student engagement and energize her lessons. Karyn is in her third year of teaching and is currently pursuing her certificate to teach English Language Learners. Each day her students’ excitement about learning inspires her to provide them with an enriching educational environment. This summer, I decided to work on getting a subscription to Brain Pop Jr. through Donors Choose.  Within twenty days my project was funded and we were looking at starting the school year with Brain POP Jr. My students quickly learned that the catchy BrainPOP Jr. theme song meant Annie and Moby would be teaching them something new and making them laugh. The first thing I do when using BrainPOP Jr. for a lesson, is for us to watch the movie. We watch the movie through one time to get started. Then, we watch it a second time, stopping the movie on the blinking pause sign and answering the questions that come up on Annie’s notebook. Sometimes, I will have students write their answers… Read the Rest»

Chris Carter’s saga with BrainPOP ESL in Germany continues with week 4… Day Sixteen I used Brain Pop Jr. today.  Our current Unit of Inquiry is about animal habitats.  On Sunday, I wrote habitat in the search window and got eleven matches – not too shabby BrainPOP.  I went through them and found the language tougher than the ESL pages, but decided the visuals were strong enough to keep the class focused. It worked, kind of.  We started with Fresh Water Habitats because that starts with, “What is a habitat?”  They could handle the explanation that followed but I lost half of them when Annie went on to explain ecosystems.  They liked the game though.  You get to choose a fresh water habitat and then fill it with plants and animals. Day Seventeen Today we did the Rainforest habitat page.  Annie is quite the little chatter box compared to Ben.  I think she’s fine for a native speaking third grader but my English learning first grade doesn’t get words like tropical, humid, equator, or species. They keep waiting for Moby to bump into a tree, sink in the mud, or get squeezed by an anaconda.  I stopped the video after about… Read the Rest»