POPtalk

It’s essential that the numbers add up in these rough and tumble financial times which is why we’re doing a Managing Your Money Spotlight in September.

We think it’s time to take stock, invest your interest and give credit where credit’s due as Tim & Moby get clued up on money matters. The Spotlight will feature Maths topics like Basic Probability and Finding Percentages as well as personal finance topics like Stocks and Shares and Credit Cards.

Here comes the interesting bit…

Teach Primary magazine are putting together a special Maths focus for September which ties in ever so nicely with our Spotlight. So we’ve booked one page in the magazine to showcase a KS2 teacher’s thoughts and opinions on teaching financial skills and understanding to 7-11 year olds. This is your chance to share what works in your class with over 20,000 Teach Primary readers.

What do you do in your classroom, or see reflected at home with your kids, to teach them how to save and spend wisely?

• What resources do you use?
• Are your kids “money sensible” or total spendaholics?
• Do they understand credit, interest or saving or the ‘value’ of money?
• How have you explained the “credit crunch”?
• What worries your pupils about the current financial crisis? What questions are they asking?
• How do you use Maths in your financial literacy lessons?

So, if you think you can help us, please submit your idea(s) and we’ll discuss the next steps. The article is 500 words and will be published in the September issue of Teach Primary magazine. The deadline for submission is 5th August. If more than one teacher submits an idea we withhold the right to approve the final decision as to which author we choose.

We promise it’ll be fun and a worthwhile thing to do. We’ll also promote your article in POPtalk with the BrainPOP UK community. In return we’ll recompense you accordingly with an economically viable free 6 month subscription to BrainPOP UK and a goody bag too.

Email info@brainpop.co.uk as soon as you can and we’ll get back to you with more information.

You might have noticed a new button on the home page of BrainPOP UK.

Click that button and you’ll be whisked off to a new BrainPOP service – www.brainpopesl.com

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know about Moby and Tim, but what you probably didn’t know is that Moby has lots of friends, including his newest buddy Ben, with whom he has recently started helping kids learn English.

BrainPOP ESL is an international resource, designed to be used anywhere in the world, as there are kids who want to speak English everywhere.

But why ESL? English as a Second Language is one of the many phrases that are used when introducing and teaching English to those who already have a language. There are many different terms, pedagogies and androgogies, but when it boils down to it – this is all about teaching kids to speak, read and understand English – as a living language.

For many readers of this blog, it is most likely that BrainPOP ESL would support EAL sessions with kids arriving in your schools from elsewhere in the world, without enough English to take part in mainstream lessons.  Whether they are from Pakistan, Peru or Poland – Moby can help them to get a firm grounding in speaking and using English with confidence – and have fun too!

This innovative program takes the student from the very beginning of English learning to a sophisticated level of English knowledge and competency. BrainPOP ESL has already won awards and been hugely well received. BrainPOP ESL offers comprehensive English learning content that is lively and engaging while providing rigorous, structured instruction. For further details see our BrainPOP ESL FAQs.

BrainPOP ESL is managed by the BrainPOP US team and they will handle all invoicing and payments. Cost of access for a year starts at £50* for home users, or £76.10**  for schools.

If you want to evaluate BrainPOP ESL simply sign up for free trial access .

If you wish to purchase a subscription to BrainPOP ESL , or have any further questions, please get in touch!

* (Family option, at current currency conversion rates. Please ask us when ordering for up to the minute costs)

** (Single Classroom option, at current currency conversion rates. Please ask us when ordering for up to the minute costs)

You may have noticed that Tim & Moby tend to get themselves into all sorts of scrapes in the name of learning so we’ve decided it would be worthwhile to collect a list together of what we consider the funniest Tim & Moby moments so far.

Do you agree with our list? Do you have any favourite Tim & Moby moments we’ve missed?

1. Jazzbot scatting in the Jazz movie:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/uk/arts/artanddesignstyles/jazz/

Just improvise, man!

2. Fish talks to Tim in the Sleep movie:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/psheandcitizenship/pshehealthandconditions/sleep/

Sweet dreams

3. Moby jumps into Tim’s arms – he gets a little fright in the Light movie:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/science/lightandsound/light/

Banish the darkness!

4. Moby’s robot choir in the Vocals movie. What a racket!
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/science/lightandsound/vocals/

Sing out loud, sing out strong

5. It turns out Moby’s magnetic in our Compass movie. Watch out for heavy flying objects!
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/science/forcesandtheireffects/compass/

Which way is north?

6. Drooling Tim. Moby tries his hand at painting in the Colour movie…and Tim is his hapless victim:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/science/lightandsound/colour/

"Zzzzzz"

7. Moby jumps in some crispy autumn leaves in a movie about…Autumn Leaves!
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/science/lifeprocessesanimalsandplants/autumnleaves/

Get out the rake!

8. Moby wants to cook Ewan…watch the Fish movie to discover his fate:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/science/lifeprocessesanimalsandplants/fish/

What do you mean they don't have fingers?

9. We hear Moby speak! It’s all words, words, words in our Etymology movie:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/english/knowledgeaboutlanguage/etymology/

Words words words

10. Moby meets a Welsh mouse in the Types of Writing movie:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/english/readingandwriting/typesofwriting/

I'm going to be famous

11. Tim & Moby get all “Einstein”. See the wigs in action in the Albert Einstein movie:
http://www.brainpop.co.uk/humanities/historyfamouspeople/alberteinstein/

Clever man, Einstein

We couldn’t resist an eleventh – there were so many to choose from. We’ve always felt Tim & Moby turn it up to 11.

Other gems from our brand new movies include, Balance, Electric Circuits and Compounds and Mixtures.

We don’t say enough how much parents like BrainPOP UK, to use out of school as a safe, interesting and engaging resource.

So we asked one of our parent subscribers to tell us why they use BrainPOP UK. Here’s her review.

“My 10 year old daughter loves BrainPOP UK.

Here’s why:

• It’s great for people who think in pictures. It suits visual learning styles and it’s perfect for children with a short attention span or for busy people who don’t have time to watch long programmes.
• The range and choice of subjects is fascinating, informative and seems to be well-researched.
• The illustrations are great.
• The tone seems just right, even in subjects that could be controversial or difficult to explain to children.
• Clips can be watched at a time that is convenient for the user, any time of day or night.
• Very educational, but the children are having so much fun, they don’t notice how much they are learning about the world until they impress their parents with something that even they don’t know. And then, when you ask them how they know, they’ll probably say they heard it on BrainPOP.
• School is so long nowadays and sitting at a desk all day can be very tedious for a child.  BrainPOP is so much fun and so different from being talked at by a teacher, that my daughter begs to watch a few more clips even when we’re short of time.
• I have recommended BrainPOP to friends and they seem very impressed and pleased that such resources exist.
• Clips can be watched many times, either because of the humour or to consolidate learning.
• The content offers something for a huge range of ages – I would say from 7 to a 100+

My ideas for BrainPOP UK:

• Personally, I would have liked more voices behind the clips.
• Maybe some children and women could also read some of the material.
• We’re always hoping that you will add more new clips!
• We feel that some of the movies are a bit too short – could perhaps be 4-5 minutes, but then the beauty of BrainPOP UK is that it explains and illustrates everything so clearly and concisely.

We don’t use other resources, apart from BrainPOP UK. Our daughter spends all day at school and it’s important that she has time to play and relax when at home. She used Mathletics and Spellodrome for a little while. They are excellent (award-winning in fact), but it’s difficult to find time for them or any other useful resources.

I enjoy watching the clips with my daughter and learn from them myself, but I know that I don’t need to check the content before I allow access to it. So if I don’t have time to watch them, I know that whatever she is listening to within BrainPOP UK is entirely appropriate.

I consider that her time on BrainPOP UK is time well spent, as she is being exposed to important matters that the school might not cover. This will surely broaden her horizon and help her to become a well-rounded and caring citizen.”

And we’ll save the last word for the daughter in question, Donny, the lucky recipient of some Moby badges:

“Thank you so much for the badges you sent me. I love them! I also love BrainPOP.”

Best wishes, Donny”

by Merita Lumley, from Buckinghamshire.

We get asked a lot to sponsor TeachMeet events, which we are very happy to do, where it’s appropriate and we’re able to constructively contribute.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidgilmour/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

There’s nothing official or organised regarding sponsorship or external support. TeachMeets are generally non-commercial and we respect that.

But, still, we also recognise that it’s difficult to get people to an event and raise awareness.

So if you are holding a TeachMeet, no matter how big or small, no matter where or when, and need a bit of help we want to offer a simple BrainPOP UK sponsorship package, if you want it.

1) Your very own Teachmeet movie

We will create you one of our special TeachMeet movies starring Tim & Moby to help advertise your event and describe TeachMeet to those who want to know what it’s all about.

We’ve adapted the movie for the Scottish Learning Festival, Blackpool (twice as their first was so successful!), Perth, Yorkshire and Humber, Hampshire, Norwich, Clackmannanshire, Northamptonshire, East Lothian, Falkirk and…well, you get the idea. You simply need to tell us:

• The name(s) of the organisers
• The location and date of the TeachMeet
• Any hashtag you have created e.g. #teachmeet
• An address to send the goodies to
• Expected numbers (just have a sensible guess)

We can usually get it ready in a few days and you can then embed it into your TeachMeet wiki page or in whatever digital space you are using to promote your event.

2) Freebies*

We can also supply you some goodies to give out to attendees. How you use them is up to you – maybe as a reward for attending or an incentive to go in the first place. It would be useful if you could tell us expected numbers but as that’s not always clear until the day itself just make it an educated guess and we’ll see what we can do to make sure everyone gets something.

• Badges: We now have a special TeachMeet badge that we will always supply as part of the sponsorship. This is only available to people who have attended a TeachMeet and should be worn with pride!
• Poster: We can send you a batch of posters to give out as gifts. They make any classroom wall look good.
• Mugs & Tshirts: As a special gift the organiser(s) will get a much coveted BrainPOP UK mug or VIB tshirt.

3) Competition

We know that you want as many teachers as possible to come along and experience this unique form of CPD. So we’re happy to offer your attendees the opportunity to win for their school a free years access to BrainPOP UK, worth up to £699.

We will supply you free trial sign up cards that attendees will fill in to get a free trial to BrainPOP UK. You then pick one of those cards out of a hat and that school wins a free subscription. Hoorah! Everyone else at least gets a no obligation free trial to check out BrainPOP UK.

So that’s our sponsorship package for TeachMeets. All you have to do is contact us. We can also put you in touch with other TeachMeet organisers who have run successful TeachMeets whose brains you can pick for advice and tips, though the community in general is very helpful.

All we ask in return is that you add BrainPOP UK as a sponsor (logo and homepage link ) to your Teachmeet page/blog/communications etc where appropriate.

Other places you might want to approach for support include Scholastic, Rising Stars , 2Simple and Vital CPD, who, amongst others, have all historically shown strong support  for TeachMeet events.

*All freebies are subject to avaliablity and we reserve the right to amend the pack without notice. But we will try our best to provide a good selection!

Anyone from anywhere can now request a BrainPOPper to organise a screenshare to chat about BrainPOP UK.

This is new service that we’re offering to all our school users and we think it will help you get lots more value from your free trial or subscription.

Simply fill out this form on the BrainPOP UK site and we’ll be in touch to arrange a date:

http://www.brainpop.co.uk/support/requestademo/index.weml

What is a screenshare?

We will be able to share our computer screen with you. You will see on your computer exactly what we see on ours. Once it’s set up you only need to sit back and watch and chat, either electronically or by phone, at home or work.

We use Skype , Adobe ConnectNow and Elluminate as our screen sharing tools of choice. We’ll help you pick the one that suits you, but they all do basically the same job.

What does it involve?

You will need:

• a computer
• a broadband connection
• a phone (you can put us on speaker phone if you like)
• sound enabled on your computer so you can hear us and Tim & Moby!
• a cup of tea

Does this cost money?

Nope. This is a free service to all. It’s especially useful for those of you on a free trial as we can explore the site with you and you can ask any questions you may have.

How long will the demo take?

We’ll give you whatever time you need. We will allocate an hour but you may only need a few minutes.

Why should I do this? What can you show me that I can’t figure out for myself?

The BrainPOP basics are simple. It’s easy to navigate, easy to play movies, easy to use on an interactive whiteboard.

But via a screenshare we can show you, not just tell you.

• Demonstrate effective ways to use BrainPOP UK in the classroom.
• Provide examples of best practice and top tips.
• Show you parts of BrainPOP UK you may not know existed.
• Discuss pricing, renewals, multi site purchases etc
• How to integrate into your VLE.

You get an opportunity to quiz us back on any aspect of BrainPOP UK.  You may also want to involve your colleagues, all gathered around the same monitor, laptop or projector.

It will be like we are there next to you. You will have our undivided attention. So please go ahead and ask us for a web demo. Moby is really looking forward to chatting to you.

POPboxes are another brand new BrainPOP UK feature for 2010.

A POPbox enables you to embed our Featured movie right into a webpage! This is what it would look like:

Sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it? So every time we update our free featured movie it will appear as if by magic in your webpage. Or classroom blog. Or VLE. Or intranet. Or School website…

Now, we only want it to go to deserving homes where Tim & Moby will feel comfortable spending a bit of time. We will have to approve any requests for a featured movie POPbox. That’s the golden rule.

So if you want to “POP a POPbox” on your website go to the POPbox request page and fill in the small form. We’ll then be in touch with the code and the rest is up to you.

How does it work?

The POPbox is a code snippet that you need to copy and paste to the body of your HTML page. Saving and publishing the page will make it show up.

What if it doesn’t show up?

We’ve found that some VLEs, or web platforms e.g. hosted WordPress.com blogs, will block Javascript being displayed via a security setting in the browser. POPtalk is a self hosted WordPress blog (www.wordpress.org) so we can control what gets shown and what doesn’t.

Getting security settings changed is a matter for your Support technicians or VLE Manager. It might be (although we hope not) that you cannot display our POPboxes at all due to technical restrictions. Sorry.

Can we choose our own BrainPOP movies to show?

No. The featured movie POPbox will change automatically every time we update it so it will remain refreshed. But we decide what and when. It can only show one movie at at time. If you have a special educational event, research announcement, promotion or similar that you think would benefit from a BrainPOP UK movie/POPbox to accompany it we may be able to help – just get in touch.

Does it come with the POPquiz?

Sorry, it’s the movie only. To use the POPquizzes you will have to be a subscriber. There is a button in the movie player to make the POPboxes full screen though.

Do I need to be subscribed to BrainPOP UK to get a POPbox?

Nope. But you do need to agree to place it onto an appropriate web space. And we reserve the right to allow or deny a website access to a POPbox. As to what is deemed “appropriate”… we hope it can be informed by old fashioned common sense. But if you’re not sure add your questions as comments below or ask!

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:

• http://twitterfall.com/?trend=%23tmfishbowl!%231F3547
• http://buzzinged.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/reflecting-on-teach-meet-fish-bowl/
• http://www.learningconversations.co.uk/main/index.php/2010/02/25/reflections-on-the-oxford-teachmeet-fishbowl?blog=5

Finally, can I thank:

• Oxfordshire County Council who supplied the the venue
• Tim & Moby for providing the food, drink and nibbles.
• Joe, Victoria W. ,  Lizzie, Rebecca (who came despite being in the middle of an Ofsted inspection), Mike, Row, Joan, Dawn, Mark, Tom, Nick, Matt, Leon, Carol, Carolyne, Victoria S. , Amy, and James (did I miss anyone?).

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:

• We wanted something remarkable.
• We needed something affordable.
• We wanted something crafted.
• We wanted something sustainable, local and with a low carbon footprint.
• We wanted something that shouted BrainPOP UK

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!

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) who teaches Years 3 to 8 at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex , and 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, Y7 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.