Monday, February 13, 2012

Once you *Pop, the fun don't stop!


Have you ever had a moment where you gaze around the room and notice that your students’ eyes are completely glazed over in confusion or disengagement?  Suddenly you realize that they’ve all got brain freezes and you wonder, ‘what could I do to help them learn and find their ‘a-ha’ moments’?  As a future educator, I would love to share the top secret website that I use constantly to free my students’ minds (and my own sometimes!) of those brain freezes. 
Although it has become relatively popular over the past year or so, I feel like any elementary educator should be aware of BrainPop.com if they haven’t already.  This website offers teachers the opportunity to show videos, play virtual games, and plan activities on the user-friendly organized content categories. 
This is a pretty popular site among teachers but I’ve found that it is extremely helpful in extending and strengthening my lessons as a student teacher.  For those of you who have never heard of it, I highly suggest paying a visit to the signature ‘pop’ of the site and the lovable Moby.  Moby is the digital robot that travels with the students as they learn new concepts in most all content areas.  Depending on the age level of your students, the friend of Moby the robot changes so it becomes more relatable to the students.
The BrainPop site is adaptable for lower elementary classrooms and called BrainPop Jr.  During my first student teaching placement in 1st grade, I found that my students absolutely LOVED watching the videos and playing the games.  The silly song they play in the beginning of each video clip is the perfect time for the students to jump up and shake it out for 10 seconds.  Once their minds are ready, they become fully engaged in the content of the video (it never failed in my classroom!). 
What’s great about BrainPop is it not only is useful in an elementary classroom, but for any content area in lower middle school.  It works perfectly for my current 5th graders in middle school!  Although they aren’t into the ‘cutesy’ aspect of Moby and his friend, they still would much rather watch the BrainPop video than listen to a lecture.  I only teach math to these students and have found that the BrainPop video tends to clear up some fuzzy areas that students may have.  The visual cues and demonstrations are extremely helpful for the students to see what they are learning.  I use BrainPop as more of a supplemental activity to introduce the upcoming units for my middle schoolers. 
  After the video, students can answer the questions on the activity for the video or the teacher can lead a discussion to assess their understanding.  Students apply their knowledge of what they learned from the video into their class work and it has definitely improved my teaching as well as their learning.  
You can start a free trial of BrainPop on their website or find the subscription that your local school uses.  There is plenty of free stuff for educators to use without a subscription but it’s definitely worth it to subscribe so you can watch the videos!  Parents can also get on BrainPop at home if the teacher provides access (or they use the free subscription).
Hopefully you check it out so we can get more brain ‘pops’ and less brain freezes!


Always,

Ms. Lyvers

*Here's the link! http://www.brainpop.com/


1 comment:

  1. Ms. Lyvers,

    I agree that BrainPop is a great website. I used it in my sixth grade practicum classroom with English Language Learner students. They reacted positively and even enjoyed the review quiz at the end. I think it is a great way to engage students.
    I remember as a kid watching videos such as Bill Nye in middle school and high school. I know that as a future secondary education teacher I am constantly looking for websites that include educational videos for the older student. Any recommendations?
    Great blog, and thank you!

    Ms. Watkins

    ReplyDelete