Posts on “ special needs ”

Special Educator Teacher, Shelley Doherty, from Dater School in Ramsey, NJ, shares some helpful tips she and her colleagues compiled. Thanks, Shelley! Our classified children are often distracted by the end of the lesson, so some of the teachers use BrainPOP to sum up the lesson. We find that they are more focused because they are excited to see a BrainPOP movie at the end of a lesson. Although it acts like a culmination review, you can keep students that are often “antsy” in class a little more focused with the promise of BrainPOP. They are now familiar with Tim and Moby and are beginning to call them by name. I think the familiarity is terrific for the students that need the continuity in their daily day schedule. How do you use BrainPOP to help your students focus and pay attention? Please share comments below.

Stephanie Filardo will be joining us at our booth at MITC this weekend. Be sure to stop by and say hello if you’re attending! I was introduced to BrainPOP last fall during my 8-week student teaching by Amber Boyington at Mill Creek Middle School, in Lenexa, Kansas. We used it for 6th grade math and I (a true beginner in the classroom) played it safe by purely showing the video and then taking the quiz. The students had been taught sign language for “a,” “b,” “c,” and “d” before I arrived, so we were set for answering! In my teaching methods class, we discussed and modeled using technology to display math concepts in the classroom, but this was something so different than what I had experienced before. One of the challenges in this school is that class periods were 41 minutes long. This means a teacher has to make every minute count. I found BrainPOP videos were a great way to review material from the previous day and to fill those few minutes at the beginning of the class when taking attendance (or creating answer keys for homework when I’d forgotten to make one the previous day). Not only did… Read the Rest»

After last week’s webinar, START: Special Tactics for Adapting Resourceful Tools, we were inspired to start a group on Learn Central for BrainPOP Educators adapting BrainPOP to meet the needs of students with special needs. We envision it as a place to share materials and fun, creative,& effective best practices. Please join, and pass it on to colleagues who may be interested. Interested in starting up a group for BrainPOP Educators? Already participating in one? Please let us know by posting below!

Longtime BrainPOP fan & super star teacher of students with Autism, Andrea Keller, will be joining us this Wednesday for our free webinar, START: Special Tactics for Adapting Resourceful Tools. You can check out the incredible, inspiring work her students have produced here. Please let your colleagues who work with students with special needs (autism, PDD, low & non-verbal) know to RSVP and join us! I have used BrainPOP Jr. in my classroom many times.  My current teaching position is in a PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) unit.  I am a huge advocate for using technology in my classroom.  Often time’s students with special needs do not get the same opportunities and chances to use web 2.0 tools and other technology devices as a regular education student would get. Irving, however, provides many different opportunities to help all students to engage in the same web 2.0 tools as their non-disabled peers.  My students are very low verbal or non-verbal, but we still have opportunities to podcast, vodcast, and video conference. BrainPOP Jr. and BrainPOP offer one more way for students of all abilities to be involved in technology and exciting learning.  I have used BrainPOP Jr. in many different ways.  At… Read the Rest»

Join us in May for one of our free weekly webinars, taking place every Wednesday at 4:30 pm EDT unless otherwise noted. This month, special guests cover a range of topics beginning with “Student Teachers: Using BrainPOP for Studying for Certification Tests” (May 5). Next up is “Special Tactics for Adapting Resourceful Tools” (May 12 at 6:30 pm EDT), followed by “Using BrainPOP to Enrich Home Learning” (May 19), and “Take Off, Migrate to Another Homeschool Option” (May 26 at 6:30 pm EDT). Get the details and RSVP – space is limited. Did you miss a past webinar? Visit our Archives.   If you have questions, would like to tell us what you thought of the webinars you’ve attended, or have ideas for new webinars, please post comments below!