Harnessing BrainPOP’s Teacher Tools – A CBE Aha! Moment 6.19
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Participants in the Certified BrainPOP Educator program are asked to reflect on past teaching practices and identify areas where they can use BrainPOP’s learning activities to improve their approach. Reflecting on these “Aha! Moments” is a valuable exercise and we hope by sharing moments from our CBE of the Month, Jeannine Freeman, you’ll be inspired to identify your own.
1) Tell us your BrainPOP “Aha! Moment” from the certification process. What specific use or application of BrainPOP excited you during this course? How did it change your expectation for using BrainPOP in your teaching practice?
My biggest Aha! Moment from my certification was the ability to create classes and send videos and activities as assignments. At the time, it was brand new to BrainPOP and completely changed how I trained teachers. Now, my Aha! Moment has to do with assignment builder. Training teachers on how they can create custom assignments for different groups of students or even an individual student has changed how they are using BrainPOP in the classroom drastically. They can now differentiate and build assignments with multiple parts.
2) What is a specific lesson or unit you’ve taught in the past that you can re-formulate to bring in the new tools, features, or content you discovered through the CBE process?
When I used to teach first grade, one of the things I always used BrainPOP Jr. for was teaching about historical figures. In Texas, there are specific historical figures that we are supposed to teach about. We would watch the video of this person, read books, and then I would have them do some type of paper and pencil activity such as draw a picture and write about the person or put the events of their life in order.
3) How will you integrate BrainPOP’s new features and tools to replace what you’ve done in the past?
Now, in BrainPOP Jr., students can watch the videos and so much more. I would create an assignment and have them complete activities about each person such as Write About It, Draw About It, and games. Then, I would have them create a concept map using Make-a-Map that helps them to make connections between the historical figures. Make-a-Map makes this so much easier than them filling out one on paper. They can include so many additional digital resources to their map in BrainPOP than they ever could by hand.
