Technology Tips For All Teachers -TeacherTechBlog

The much anticipated Educators page over at BrainPop has had its debut, and teachers can head on over and start getting involved in the BrainPop Community. BrainPop.com/educators.

Some things to do while you are there:

• Check out the blog, and leave your tips, ideas, and thoughts in the comments.
• Take a look at the improved state standards tool.
• Browse the “Tips and Tools” section and find all of the extra activities, resources, and other fun stuff.
• Check out the lesson plans, and submit your own!
• Watch the video tutorials to brush up on your BrainPop best practices.

As attendees of one of BrainPop’s presentations were discussing some of the cool ways that they were using BP in their classrooms, I had a chance to pick up an awesome tip. Monica Nahas, an Instructional Technology Specialist, mentioned that Readwritethink.org has a tool for creating your own comics, and it could be used to create your own BrainPop styled comics.

Taking this tip, I decided to check it out. The tool is simple, and probably best for younger students, but I could imagine that even older kids could enjoy flexing their creativity with the comic tool. The interface consists of drag and drop characters, objects, and text. The background can be changed as well.

Monica mentioned to me that she wished students were able to save their work and come back to it later, but at least they could print it out. Regardless, it would be yet another great way to get students interactive with their learning.

Thanks for the tip, Monica!

Tuesday morning started off with a presentation by Allysin Levy of BrainPop on using their movies to make your science lessons more interactive. I’ll be covering some of the highlights here as I  paraphrase and elaborate on the content of the presentation.

Continue Reading »

Robert Miller, one of the very talented educators traveling with BrainPop at NECC, presented how he uses BrainPop to make science lessons more interactive, something that Robert seems to be quite good at. My first meeting with Robert gave me a chance to see how his 5th grade students took "interactive" to the next level by making their own BrainPop videos. Link.

During the presentation, Robert walked through a typical science lesson that incorporates the BrainPop videos and activities. He started right off using the added activities included with each BrainPop movie by utilizing the printable quizzes as a pretest. 

Quizzes have been used with the BrainPop videos for a while, but as new videos are debuted there are also new types of activities. Those of you that have been BrainPopping for a while will be noticing that even the old videos are starting to get the same extra features that are coming with the newer movies.

Robert’s presentation continued with a Lab that followed the video. This lab lead participants through a scientific exploration of candy. And while his lab was great, the thing that really stood out to me was how the new educator page is going to shine because of users like Robert. The new Educator page on BrainPop features a lesson upload section where teachers can share the lessons and handouts that they create. Since he custom made his lesson including some very cool worksheets, many teachers will be able to download, customize and take advantage of the hard work that he has put in.

Another interesting strategy used in his presentation was his use of screen shots(still frames) from the videos. Visual reminders of the videos that they watch will help them to recall the information. Grabbing screen shots can be easily done by hitting the print screen button while holding the ctrl and alt buttons. This takes a picture of everything that is currently on your screen and places it on your clipboard. You can view and edit it by opening your favorite graphics editor and pasting(CTRL V).

At 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00 Brainpop will be giving away free BrainPop shirts at booth 8074. Wear it while you explore NECC because three times a day, they will be flagging lucky shirt-wearers to win a BrainPop School Combo subscription. Stop by booth 8074 for more information.

This week at NECC, BrainPop will be debuting a new section of their site just for teachers. I had a quick chance to look it over yesterday, and was thoroughly excited. The idea behind the section seems to focus around tieing together the network of educators that use their services. So it’s no suprise that a blog is at the center. I’ll be talking more with their blogger to find out exactly what the blog means for BP and what kind of information they will be featuring, but in the meantime I will mention that the site also boasts a more streamlined curriculum alignment feature, lesson plans(and the option to submit your own), tons of resources to help educators use BP, plus quite a few add-ons for for other lessons currently featured on the site. More to come after the official announcement!

I had a chance today to sit down with a Robert and Lorraine, two of the educators that are here with BrainPop. They will be presenting ideas and best practices for incorporating BrainPop and BrainPop Jr. in the classroom throughout the duration of NECC. The first to be presenting is Lorraine Prince.

Though I’ve talked about BrainPop several times on TTB, not much has been said about BrainPop Jr (which focuses on the early primary grades). It not only extends the content to reach the younger ages, but it was also built from the ground up to really shine when used on an interactive whiteboard such as Promethean’s ActivBoard. Though it can be used just fine on the typical desktop computer, several new interactive features (along with a design geared more towards use with Interactive boards) truly make it an interactive experience. Lorraine’s presentation looks to offer some extremely insightful ideas on how to do just that.

Attendees of this presentation should walk away with some very useful ideas on using BrainPop Jr. with the Promethean ActivBoard, and letting the kids get the absolute most out of the experience. Lorraine will be presenting at 9:00am, Monday morning at the Promethean booth. If you happen to miss the presentation, I will be posting a recap, along with a quick walk-through on how she had her students creating their own BrainPop stories.

For a full listing of BrainPop’s activities at NECC, plus information on their exclusive trial offer, check out brainpop.com/necc.

I’m settling in and getting ready for the big show here in San Antonio. Like I mentioned, I will be blogging with BrainPop during my stay. If you happen to be in the area, stop by and let me know your favorite tips for using BrainPop. I’ll be featuring them through the duration of NECC.

Feel free to email any tips or comments as well. Those are welcome too.

TTB is on the road and heading for San Antonio to blog with BrainPop at NECC. Arrival at the conference is set for late tonight. Be on the lookout for presentation updates regarding several very talented teachers that will be traveling with us.

As for now, you can check out all of the upcoming events for BrainPop at www.brainpop.com/necc. After the conference starts, information regarding a special trial offer for NECC will be posted.

Recently I had a chance to be interviewed by Annie Teich of The Teich Group, a marketing and sales firm for K-12 publishing. You can check out part 1 at How An Educator Uses Social Media to Share Ideas - Part 1 and part 2 at How an Educator Uses Social Media to Share Ideas - Part 2. I can’t say enough good things about her. She has been an outstanding voice of wisdom and encouragement during our chats. She also has a fantastic blog about children’s books at Crazy for Kids Books. Thanks, Annie!