Thanks to everyone who came along and helped make a success of the West Lothian BrainPOP UK demo at the West Lothian Education Centre yesterday.
We’re really glad so many teachers attended and were keen to have a shot!
Thanks especially to all who took part in our mini-competition.
Congratulations to t-shirt winners, Kirsteen, Jennifer and Ms. Ferguson! Your Mobylicious prizes are heading northbound today so keep an eye out for a pretty orange package popping through your letterbox…
Tags: BrainPOP UK, competition, competition winners, prizes, west lothian
Last night, something rather special happened. Teachers came together from all over Oxfordshire to transform the way that they plan at the first ever TeachMeet Fishbowl.
This all began in a meeting between James Bird (Oxfordshire Primary LA Advisor) and me (BrainPOPper), at the Rusty Bicycle, where we talked for a long lunchtime (over soft drinks!) about the joys of being inspired by innovation, at events like TeachMeet, and the challenge of making that transferable to the schools and teachers we worked with.
James had the idea to use an adult training method (andragogy) called Fishbowling, where a small group take on the role of ‘experts’, and engage with a real life problem, whilst a wider group watch and contribute. This is how it was set out (see the annotated version on Flickr courtesy of Leon Cynch for more detail):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/learn4life/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
This event needed to focus on the one aspect that all the TeachMeets, conferences, and workshops we had been to sometimes lacked: practical steps to improve planning.
How could we change that moment when a teacher sits with a blank sheet of paper – and turns it into a plan!
We hoped for three outcomes:
1 – That participants would be able to get engaged with planning in a way that they could take away ideas to apply to their schools immediately
2 – That we would inspire each other and share new ideas, tools, resources
3 – That we would create a local and powerful learning network which would have life after the event.
James has written more about what we planned and hoped for in a blog post: TeachMeet Fishbowling
I set up a Ning space, we invited folk in, most of whom had not really used online spaces in this sort of way. Fishbowls are not about ICT or technology led. We made the event invite only and kept the proceedings closed (not streamed) because we wanted to test this model and allow people to be open and honest, without fear of colleagues, parents or looking daft!
I invited Tom Barrett and Dawn Hallybone to help us, as great friends of BrainPOP UK (they are both VIBs!) and experienced TeachMeeters (Tom was so inspired that he filmed himself at the beginning of his planning process for his Superheroes topic last term) and Leon Cych, of Learn 4 Life offered to come and video the event.
We were also lucky to be joined by Mark Berthelemy who has years of experience making CPD work, both on and offline.
The hardest thing to do in any walk of life, is to bring about behaviour change. Even in those who want to change, or believe in it, acknowledge that making change happen is difficult and rare.
Last night we got some talented and skilled practitioners to share, think, and do in a slightly different way. We set in motion something that was unique in all our experiences of CPD. Questions of how we sustain this, and the ways this fits with policy and in practice are hard. But I have no doubt in the abilities of the people in that room to find the answers – together!
Is this way ‘better‘? Can I make a value judgement of the efficacy of this model, just because people did something different from normal? I know that we captured the ‘Aha!’ moments that make traditional TeachMeets so inspiring, but also grounded them in practice. We demonstrated the power of social learning – something we all believe in with children – and established network based on trust.
BrainPOP UK was involved because we believe in local CPD networks. Which is why we support TeachMeets.
There are lots of great posts already, talking about last night, if you want to read more about it, try these starting points:
Finally, can I thank:
Tags: #tmfishbowl, BrainPOP UK, CPD, fishbowl, Oxfordshire, professional development
We took delivery of a table today.
You might be wondering why we are blogging about it. Because it’s not just any table, that’s why.
Where to start? We have recently moved offices and we needed a new table. A table for us to meet at. A boardroom type table. We looked in the catalogues, and the options were…terrible. Or at least, terribly uninspiring.
Hugely overpriced steel and glass things, or chipboard with thin veneer on. Even the secondhand options were bad – proving the poor quality of most office furniture.
So, we thought we’d start from first principles:
Quite a brief, eh?
Phil Pritchard , a local “permaculture designer” and expert on sustainability, works with kids who are out of the school system, to develop skills like carpentry and permaculture. Frontiers is a very cool charity that does very important work. So we got in touch and pitched him the project.
Phil said we could use reclaimed wood, local materials, and bring the kids into the process of creating a table. How could we refuse?
Can you tell what it is yet?
Phil found some lovely mahogany beams, and some oak from the side of a pub bar (the pieces came from ‘Ocean & Collins’, a drinking bar in Oxford which is now Kukui, a Tiki bar/club), and began work.
He was slightly hampered by some terrible weather, and quite a difficult design to create, with a very specific orange colour scheme.
The kids in the project were initially less than interested in making a table, but as it began to take shape and they saw it was a GIANT ROBOT FACE they started to get involved.
Painting the Moby table
Then, today, all the pieces arrived, and Phil put them together.
So, at last, we can finally introduce you to our new BrainPOP UK meeting table!
Please feast your eyes on this table made of reclaimed local materials by a local craftsman and kids learning new skills, that is both remarkable and truly the most BrainPOPpy piece of furniture in the universe!
Tags: Frontiers, moby table, permaculture, Phil Pritchard, sustainability, table
Fairtrade Fortnight begins on 22nd February and, as Fairtrade is an issue us BrainPOPpers care quite passionately about, we’re taking part in the Fairtrade Foundation’s Big Swap.
We’ve always been Fairtrade tea drinkers but we got coffee in on Monday too…
The BrainPOP team may be all about the caffeinated drinks (and bananas) but there’s lots of stuff the Fairtrade Foundation suggest you can swap.
Why should you swap?
“Fairtrade believes that developing world producers should be in control of their own lives, by getting a better deal for the work that they do. This is a different way of doing business. It’s a way that puts the poorest of the world first.” (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/thebigswap/why_you_should_swap/)
We registered our swap here – it’s pretty cool getting to see it in all its swap glory.
The Fairtrade Foundation are trying to get one million and one swaps registered over the fortnight so we’d like to encourage you to join in the fun. Schools, towns and even islands can be Fairtrade.
To show your support and learn more you can follow the Fairtrade UK twitter feed or become a fan of their Facebook page. They’ve also got a Flickr group where all sorts of people are posting funny massive inflatable coffee mug pics. We don’t think our photo qualifies in the amusement stakes. ..
We hope to be adding more to the Fairtrade Big Swap list throughout the fortnight so we’ll keep you posted via twitter.
Tags: BrainPOP UK, fairtrade coffee, Fairtrade Fortnight, Fairtrade Foundation, fairtrade tea, The Big Swap
In the name of social research, and the fact we can’t stop thinking about delicious pancakes for Shrove Tuesday tomorrow, we thought we’d conduct a little poll:
Just in case you’d completely forgotten about pancake day, here’s a little recipe from the matriarch of the British kitchen herself, Delia Smith.
Some tips from the BrainPOP UK office:
As we’ve noticed from year to year, it’s usually a case of trial and error…then ending up too full to eat your final perfect pancake.
If you want to learn from the year-in-year-out try-hards, here’s how the Blue Peter team suggest you go about it. And, can anyone find a clip of Yvette Fielding and her pancake attempt on Blue Peter around about 1988? Please send us a link! We found one here but it’s not the best…
Good luck to all of those who plan to toss a pancake or two around the kitchen tomorrow. Hats off to you if you manage frying and flipping in the classroom with your students! Wherever you’re cooking, we hope your pancakes taste delightful.
The pains and pleasures of pancake day. We can’t wait!
Tags: blue peter, BrainPOP UK, pancake day, pancake recipe, shrove tuesday
It’s Charles Dickens’ birthday on 7th February and we made his BrainPOP UK movie free to celebrate. We thought we’d also search back through the annals of BrainPOP UK to see what life was like for Victorian children.
Well, we were overjoyed to find this very special extract from a pupil called “Cratchface Tim” from 1876 which gives us a vivid glimpse of the very first time BrainPOP was used in a school…read on, dear visitor…
“My breath wheezed into the thick dawn air of Oxford town as I peddled in haste from Cowley proper to Summertown for I was due at Mr Moblingwell’s lesson.
It was not one and twenty minutes earlier that I had awoken from a delightfully peaceful slumber at my benevolent mother’s cottage so my mind was well rested and well prepared for the morn’s enlightenment.
The bell tolled upon my arrival at the schoolhouse gate. I bid a hasty farewell to my steed and made my way inside and up the cold winding stairwell.
I found myself at the schoolroom entrance. Instead of thundering in, as is my usual fashion, I stood in awe.
In the very place Mr Moblingwell’s chalkboard once occupied, there stood what can only be described as a white board, glowing celestially upon a leggy pedestal.
I gasped, ‘Sir, what sorcery is this?’
‘Ah, dear Cratchface Tim, good morning to you! Fear not. There is nothing here that means you harm. Enter, and let me demonstrate the wonders of this invention.’
‘Thank you Sir,’ I murmered, for I was too shaken to argue with the learn’d man, and moved to my writing desk.
As my school friends bundled in, each with a similar exclamation as I, I lifted my desk top to retrieve my pen and ink. Alas, my tools were nowhere to be found!
Presently Mr Moblingwell chimed, ‘Yes, young scholars, no writing wares for you this thrilling day. I must tell you that a spirit appeared before me upon the stroke of 7 this morn, err I emptied my chamber pot.
He was no bigger than I, but had skin of metal. He uttered sounds no man of this goodly earth could yet, implausible as it seems, I was able to understand his mechanical ways and communicated quite comfortably with the orange Sir.
Lest be assured, dear boys, he bore no ill will toward me. He simply brought me a wonderful gift.’
And, as Mr Moblingwell gestured at the glowing white board, all of the colours of the rainbow appeared illuminated upon it.
I can hardly contain my excitement at this juncture, dear reader. This day I shall never forget. For, this is the day I BrainPOPped!
Powered by just five treadmilling rats and an engine shovellingly fed by Little Billy Weasel, two brilliant academics, borne of BrainPOP, appeared on the magical screen before us.
My namesake, Tim, greeted us. And, cries of astonishment rang out, for he was accompanied by none other than Mr Moblingwell’s unearthly chum, Moby. These great philosophers took us on a journey through “The Mysteries of Life”, explaining things so advanced and alien it was as though we were learning of things yet to come.
I have to say it was a joyous lesson. Mr Moblingwell’s fat red face and tremendous belly shook as we all laughed heartily together at Moby’s larks.
‘But, how is this learning?’ I asked myself. Lo and behold, as though he were a witch doctor with the power to read my thoughts, Mr Moblingwell “quizzed” us.
A small examination proved unequivocally that we had absorbed all of the facts and figures described. Ten out of ten!
“Hurrah!” we chorused.
As the clock struck noon, the school bell tolled and the white board’s glow abated. Master Weasel took a chair and the rats were obligingly gathered up in a cage. Elated, my classmates and I prepared for home. I turned to Mr Moblingwell, ‘Please Sir?’
‘Yes boy? Spit it out.’
‘Can we have some more?’
“Cratchface Tim”, February, the year of our Lord 1876. God bless the Queen.
Tags: brainpop, charles dickens, classroom, victorian, victorian school
We are very lucky and privileged to regularly get Tweets and emails from our customers telling us what they think about BrainPOP UK.
A while ago we received a letter. A real letter on real paper from a real person. This is actually a pretty rare occasion in this digital era.
It was from Vickie Bacon, a Maths Specialist and Enrichment co-ordinator (and huge fan of all things BrainPOP) at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex , who simply had to write in and tell us how much her and her students loved BrainPOP UK.
“…I immediately decided to sign up for a free trial. I am so glad I did! Since then I have been converted into a passionate user of BrainPOP! I couldn’t wait to introduce it into my classes. So much so, that I’d like to share with you the different ways in which BrainPOP is now being used throughout the curriculum…”
Well, it seemed like a perfect excuse for Tim, Moby, Eylan BrainPOP and Mike BrainPOP to jump in the BRAINmobile and go and say hi.
During the first class, Y6 maths, we were impartial observers, seeing how she incorporated Tim & Moby into her front of class teaching. She mentioned on several occasions how well behaved and quiet the children were that day. We’d like to think it was BrainPOP’s super engagement power but we secretly suspect this was mostly because there were two BrainPOPpers watching from the back of the room 
Tim and Moby’s movie on Fractions took centre stage as Mrs Bacon framed the whole lesson around it. The movie had the students undivided attention and the message seemed to sink in as the POPquiz was shared by all.
One by one the pupils hopped up from their chairs to tap the interactive whiteboard to answer the POPquiz questions. It’s always fascinating to see how the product we pour our hearts into used so effectively and engagingly. She clicked around the screens with ease, pausing for discussion points on several occasions. We’ll be blogging the detail of the lesson in Part 2.
The lesson came to an end and the children began to pack up their things. At this point, Mrs Bacon officially introduced us to the children, although it felt more like the big reveal at the end of a game show, because the kids mobbed us immediately! We survived the demands for Moby t-shirts and mouse mats, but only just. Vickie was very happy with her new Tim & Moby mug.
It was very special getting to speak with the children, who subsequently never left our side for the remainder of the day, helpfully making suggestions for such things as new products and movies. They were big, big fans.
We went on to have encouraging chats in the staff rooms and corridors, eventually seeing BrainPOP UK used on a one-to-one basis. This showed that BrainPOP UK is just as engaging on this smaller, more personal level, as it is for larger classes.
Overall, it was about as positive as a customer experience can get. We plan to return to Hurstpierpoint in the New Year for an open day, where other schools in the area will attend to see it in action and to share experiences.
Following that, Vickie Bacon hopes to join us at BETT in January as a VIB (Very Important BrainPOPper) to present BrainPOP UK on the Promethean Planet stand. It will be great having her there and suggesting to teachers that they don’t just have to take our word for it.
So we got to spend most of the day seeing Tim and Moby in action across a selection of classes and to not only meet the teachers who use it, but to also meet the children (or should we say BrainPOPpers?) who adored it.
Big thanks to Vickie, her kids and the staff at Hurstpierpoint college for making us feel so welcome.
Tags: BETT, bett2010, BrainPOP UK, hurstpierpoint, hurstpierpoint college
We met the lovely Annette Iafrate (twitter: @annette__i ) at the recent Scottish Learning Festival Teachmeet in September 2009.
She is a big BrainPOP UK fan and told us stories about how her class used Tim and Moby as characters in their climate change wall posters.
Well, suffice to say (after we waved a whole book of Moby stickers at her), she kindly agreed to tell us the story of that lesson. We just LOVE pupil made Tim & Moby stuff! Anything we can share and enjoy that comes direct from the classroom is the juice that keeps us motivated…
“Hi BrainPOP,
I’m currently doing my probation (NQT) year at Knightswood Secondary, Glasgow.
I have a fantastic S1 Geography class, with whom I have been working through a unit on weather. Towards the end of the unit I decided to include a few lessons on climate change. We focused on the causes, environmental impacts and what pupils can do to help prevent it.
I decided to use the BrainPOP UK movie on Global Warming and quiz as a plenary to the lesson. I signed up for a free trial as I had been directed to the site after reading Ollie Bray’s blog.
I used the global warming movie because it brought together everything we had been learning during the lesson.
Using the clips with the lower school (S1/2) was useful because they are short, fun and cater to different learning styles.
They engage the pupils with their bright and colourful animations and at the same time are packed with geographical content. The quizzes are great too because the pupils are given instant feedback.
After watching the movie the next lesson pupils were given was a task to design a poster to be placed around the school that makes people think about their actions and what they can do to help limit climate change.
I specifically asked them to make the posters fun so as to attract pupils their age to read them. Some pupils had asked me to play the global warming movie again as they wanted to include Tim and Moby in theirs. The poster was then taken away to be completed as homework, and the photos you see below were the end result.
I have also used some of the movies with other classes – PSE and tutor group – the bullying and Swine flu movies.
Annette Iafrate”
Sounds like you used Tim & Moby to inspire some real creativity. You have also inspired the team to establish our own climate change manifesto. Thanks so much for sharing your lesson with us, Annette.
Tags: climate change, global warming, knightswood secondary, PSE, S1, scotland
So you’ve started your 30 day free trial and you’re ready to dive into BrainPOP UK with your pupils.
But where to start? Click a couple of movies at random? Take a quiz yourself?
It’s difficult to judge a product without some stimulus on how to get the most from it. So here are our top tips – they’re not defintive and they’re quite simple so we’d love to hear more of your experiences in the comments. If you send us a top tip we’ll send you a goodie!
1) Take the robot by the horns – try using BrainPOP UK resources to challenge your class
Don’t start with a concept you or your pupils find easy, when evaluating. Start with a movie that you struggle to get engagement with or find it tricky to get the concept across in a simple way.
It might be the Atomic model, Plate Techtonics, Converting fractions to decimals, Punctuation, or even the Stock Market.
Play it to your class and invite feedback on its impact. Use the pause button regularly to stop and provoke discussion or invite questions. See if Tim and Moby acted well as middle men between the concept and your pupils.
2) Timing is everything – mix up when you take the POPquiz
3) Take advantage of Deep Beep – we’re mapped against English and Scottish curricula
Get your lesson plans/Schemes of Work out. Use Deep Beep, our new curriculum movie matching tool, to drill down via the curriculum you are using to the objective you want to cover. There should be a movie there waiting to be used to complement that objective. Bookmark that URL for later or copy and paste it into a document.
4) ‘Tis better to give than receive – help your department or budget holder see what BrainPOP UK can do
Give your login to a colleague. Seriously. Give it to all your colleagues that you think might be interested, in all departments. BrainPOP UK is a cross curricular resource that is often used at all ages. It can be surprisingly handy with 5 year olds as with 18 year olds. We’ve had success stories reported from all sorts of surprising places:
5) Homework – BrainPOP UK is all online, which means you can link home and classroom effectively
Give your students a list of movies and quizzes you want them to watch at home. There’s no worries about giving your students your login details – they will expire anyway and you can always change them if you decide to subscribe. Ask them to choose the email option when taking the quizzes. That way you (should) have a lovely batch of quiz results to browse through for the next time you meet.
6) The kitchen sink – see how BrainPOP UK delivers value for money
Look at our All Movies page. We admit it’s not the most glamorous page but a glance (or scroll) will show you sheer number of movies in BrainPOP UK. And they ALL come with your subscription. Now THAT’S value.
7) Tim, Moby & YOU – encourage speaking and listening skills
Ask your pupils, in groups or by themselves, to introduce a movie and, if you are confident in them, let them pause the movie to prompt discussion and run the quiz too on the interactive whiteboard. You can also use the rewind and fast forward buttons to skip chapters within the movie.
8 ) See how easy it is to integrate BrainPOP UK movies locally – see how BrainPOP UK movies can be delivered outside the classroom
We bet there’s a school event happening at some point during your trial that a BrainPOP UK movie could be just right for, such as an e-safety week, or an anti bullying campaign or even an historical event such as Charles Dickens’ birthday (February 7, 1812, by the way). Link a BrainPOP UK movie on your VLE front page – ask us for a special URL that will take you straight to it without your VLE users having to login to BrainPOP UK.
*shhh, secret tip* when we launch our POPboxes (embeddable movies) you will be able to play particular movies right there in the page.
9) Two BrainPOP’s are better than one – use collaboration to engage with BrainPOP UK
Split the class into pairs and ask them, with headphones, to watch a movie and then collaboratively discuss it and then share their insights to the class afterwards.
10) Why BrainPOP UK?
This isn’t a tip but some of the best advice we can give you is to remind you that BrainPOP UK designed to fulfil a specific purpose: to engage children enough that they understand concepts.
Any more tips on getting the best from BrainPOP UK?
PS: Thanks to Mr Stucke at http://www.mrstucke.com , who’s currently going through an extended BrainPOP UK evaluation with his school, for the inspiration to write this post.
Tags: deep beep, evaluation, free trial, homework, popboxes, top tips
We are pleased and proud to introduce Deep Beep – our shiny new curriculum matching tool.
What is Deep Beep?
It’s a tool on our website that enables a teacher to find BrainPOP UK movies that match the objectives in their planning. It’s as simple as that.
Deep Beep is in beta, for now, whilst we gather your feedback. It should all work pretty well but we also know how easily stuff can slip through the net.
We need feedback and ideas on how to grow Deep Beep to be as useful as it possibly can be. We are absolutely dedicated to making every aspect of BrainPOP UK as insanely great as the movies and quizzes. Please place any comments here – or by twitter (@BrainPOP_UK) or all the old fashioned ways!
How does it work?
We have painstakingly tagged every movie in BrainPOP UK to not only the English curricular guidance…
Browsing by English curricula
…but also to Scotland’s 5-14 National Guidelines and the new Curriculum for Excellence .
Choosing 5-14 or the Curriculum for Excellence
Browsing by the Curriculum for Excellence
Finding a movie via the Curriculum for Excellence browse
You click through the selections until you find the objective you need and we should have a movie that complements it. Then just click the movie icon and you’ll be taken straight to it. You also might want to save the movie URL as a bookmark or cut and paste the URL into a lesson plan for later.
What’s next for Deep Beep?
It’s kind of up to you – what suggestions you have. This is only Deep Beep version 1. We’ve built it in such a way that we can add curricula, or functionality, fairly quickly. We intend to iteratively improve it over time.
It’s also built in Flash so there’s a possibility that when we come out of beta it can be embedded in VLEs, as a stand alone BrainPOP UK search and browse tool.
One last thing – why’s it called Deep Beep?
There’s two parts to that answer.
Tags: cfe, curriculum for excellence, deep beep, deep thought, lesson plan, lesson planning, QCA, schemes of work, scotland
