In the mind of a CBE

CBE of the Month Shana White Shares Her Reflection on the CBE Program

Posted by cemignano on

Earlier this month, we spent some time getting to know CBE of the Month Shana White’s teaching background and love of BrainPOP. Read on to get an in-depth look at Shana’s experience with the CBE Program and how she’s encouraged the use of BrainPOP throughout her school.

BrainPOP is one of the first educational technology companies I connected with. The resources that BrainPOP provides for health and physical education curriculum were a huge help to my teaching and definitely impacted student learning immensely. Even though I’m out of the classroom now, I still believe in the value of BrainPOP for personalized student learning and engagement. As Creekland Middle School’s technology coordinator, I have made it a point to make BrainPOP, a technology tool easily accessible for all of our students and teachers. Both this fall and last, I onboarded all 2100+ students and 120+ faculty into our school account and even added the app to all of our student iPads devices. I undertook this large task so that both students and faculty could take full advantage of the learning experiences BrainPOP has to offer. I believe in the impact BrainPOP has students, and it is because of this impact, I decided to apply to become a certified BrainPOP educator last fall.  

Becoming a BrainPOP CBE was actually a hard, but fun process. Being a member of the first online cohort was a great experience and I really had a chance to take a deeper dive into the BrainPOP tools in a personalized way. I appreciated that opportunity not only tinker with the actual tools I wanted to use with my students, but also converse, learn, and troubleshoot with Andrew G. and other aspiring CBEs through the modules and lessons.

Being a part of the BrainPOP family has been very rewarding. I’ve learned in my short time as an active member of the educational technology community, this space is very large, very cliquey, and very unique. Navigating the world of education technology has at times become tricky, confusing, and also eye-opening for me. This is why I appreciate being a CBE and recognize that BrainPOP has done a good job in helping me in this space. They have empowered me by offering a variety of opportunities. As a former health and physical education teacher, we often are shunned and don’t receive as much respect as other educators do, unfortunately. Similarly, as an educator of color, we also at times do not receive the support, respect, or praise that we should. BrainPOP as a company has empowered and welcomed me into their community of passionate educators. They have given me confidence and provided opportunities to amplify my voice as well as have helped amplify diverse voices from all over the country. Being a CBE, has reminded me why I should continue to fight the good fight and that there are edtech companies who really care and listen to educators to make their products better for all. When you find an edtech company that is passionate about helping you grow, not using you as a token or pawn, and want to help you make things better for students, that is the edtech trifecta, which I’m proud to be a part of with BrainPOP.