Posts on “ graphic organizers ”

BrainPOP Educator, Amanda Durrence, is an Instructional Technologist in Winston Salem, NC. She is certified in 6-9 Social Studies and was a 7th grade social studies teacher when she shared this lesson idea with us. She has used BrainPOP for the past 5 years in her teaching career and notes, “I’ve been in love with it since day one.” BrainPOP’s Egyptian Pharaohs and Mummies movies inspired me to take my lesson on Ancient Egypt a few steps further with my students.  I came across an interesting documentary by National Geographic titled “King Tut’s Final Secrets.” It tied in perfectly with what we were learning. BrainPOP’s resources provided us with excellent resources to help students understand Ancient Egyptian culture/customs.  Furthermore, they were prepped for the documentary by BrainPOP’s explanation of the mummification process and why it was significant for the pharaohs.

The Ins & Outs of BrainPOP Educators Wednesday, March 23, 2011 4:30 PM EST Duration: 1 Hour Are you getting the most out of your BrainPOP subscriptions? If not, consider joining this webinar hosted by Jessica Storer, our very own BrainPOP Educator newbie! Jessica will delve deep into the ins and outs of our professional community, now more than 100,000 member strong. She’ll share the inside scoop on all the free tips, tools, and resources we offer teachers, from lesson plans and graphic organizers to video tutorials, answer keys, and much more. RSVP: http://educatorinsandouts.eventbrite.com/

George Washington. John Adams. Abraham Lincoln. John F. Kennedy. Richard Nixon. How much do your students really know about our founding fathers and the men in the Oval Office? Find out with our Spotlight: U.S. Presidents. BrainPOP topics include Andrew Jackson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, and Presidential Power. For K-3, there’s Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, President, and more. Plus, our Barack Obama and George W. Bush topics debut later this month! Check out all of the related lesson plans we offer. And, take advantage of our Presidential Power graphic organizer.

My current state of Tennessee is adopting the STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics) approach to learning. A few years ago I was introduced to the idea that our students are “digital natives”. They are constantly immersed in technology, and cannot imagine any true life scenario where it is not used. Because of this mentality, students have an increasingly difficult time engaging with information used in the traditional classroom. In the past, I made the attempt to use technology in my middle school science classroom. This was usually a computer activity once or twice per grading period and possibly a video covering the topic. I am bored typing that sentence so now it isn’t hard to imagine why my students weren’t engaged in the lessons! After giving the idea of digital natives some serious reflection, I made it my mission to include technology every day. BrainPOP allows me to do this in an effective way much more often than twice per grading period. Middle school students love the videos and how they target several learning styles in their short exchanges. The slower learners appreciate the key word identification, all of the students enjoy the simple visuals and the higher achievers… Read the Rest»

Navigating BrainPOP Educators: Free Tips, Tools, and Resources Wednesday, October 20 4:30 PM EDT Duration: 1 Hour We’re thrilled to announce the launch of a new and improved BrainPOP Educators, our free professional community more than 115,000 members strong. Learn about all of the free tips, tools, and resources available to help you maximize BrainPOP resources. You’ll walk away with plenty of free BrainPOP resources to get you through the school year, including lesson plans, graphic organizers and much more. Archived Recording: http://www.brainpop.com/educators/webinars/

BrainPOP Educator, Julianne Ross, shares her recent experience integrating BrainPOP into a cross-curricular Social Studies lesson with her 3rd grade students. The school’s social studies unit, Location of World Communities, included the essential question “How does where we live affect how we live?” and the essential skill, “To identify the geographic features and bodies of water that are common to all regions of the Earth.” The purpose of this lesson was to introduce students to this essential skill. I chose to use BrainPOP and an FQR. An FQR is a graphic organizer designed to help students collect data, question their findings and give feedback on their learning. To activate prior knowledge, I tossed a giant pink Koosh ball to students who wanted to share what they already knew about the Earth’s geography. One student said that there are four oceans, to which I replied, “ Great, I have something I just learned through BrainPOP to share with you.” Next we viewed the BrainPOP Oceans segment. Before viewing, I asked students to watch carefully so they would be able to retain at least one fact from the segment that we would discuss afterwards. Some of what I enjoy about BrainPOP is… Read the Rest»

Be the first to try these out! Hot off the presses — a new batch of graphic organizers to go along with BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., and BrainPOP ESL. lessons. They’re typeable and printable!  You can use them before, during, or after viewing BrainPOP movies, for whole class, small group, or independent work. Whether you’ve got an interactive whiteboard, projector, media lab, or one computer, these will help scaffold student learning. Take a look at our post on advance organizers for more ideas. Have you made a graphic organizer to go along with a BrainPOP lesson? Please share it with us!

by Elizabeth Hubbell, Educational Technology Consultant at McREL, and Allisyn Levy, Director of BrainPOP Educators (*Note: this post is the first of a series of collaborative posts between BrainPOP Educators and McREL’s Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. These articles will be cross-posted on the McREL Blog and on BrainPOP Educators Blog.) One of the most effective strategies that teachers can employ when first starting a unit is to use advance organizers to help students activate background knowledge and organize potentially confusing new information. Advance organizers can take many forms, including graphic organizers, skimming, narratives, and simply giving an overview of the content (expository advance organizers). They are given to students in advance of the learning activities to help scaffold their learning. This “front-loading” before new material is presented increases opportunities for student success as they’re able to connect to prior knowledge and organize new information more easily. For example, a middle school teacher is beginning a unit on forces and motion, with an emphasis on types of bridges and forces that act upon a bridge. He knows that his students have studied some of these concepts before and wants to remind them of their background knowledge on the subject as well as get students personally… Read the Rest»