Some kids find it hard to write. There could be any number of reasons for this but sometimes the writer simply needs inspiration. The following is a guest post from a teacher who describes how one of her reluctant writers found his muse in a certain robot called Moby…

“Hello! I am Miss Read (@missread10) and I am currently teaching a Year 3 class at a Primary School based in Ipswich, Suffolk. I am in my second year of teaching and ICT/VLE co-ordinator at my school. Following finding out about BrainPOP from my visit to the BETT show I was keen to use it in the classroom and to show my children about the technology I use.

So for my own benefit, I used BrainPOP for the first time with my Twitter account open for the children to come and post about what they thought and if I should continue to use it. Armed with some great feedback and comments (as well as an impromptu chat on Twitter with BrainPOP themselves!) I set my children the task to write about what they had learnt from the Rainbow movie we watched.

I have a very wide range of ability within my class ranging from labelling and sounding out words to those who produce reems of A4.

My superstar is classed as a P Scale writer – he usually verbally told our teaching assistant Mrs P what he needed to say and copied from the scribe. But following his exposure to BrainPOP the below is the most he has ever produced!

Since then, he has been writing and adding things in a variety of forms and styles around my classroom – even on my BrainPOP calendar!

Moby makes me feel happy

For as long as Moby (who apparently is a Baby Transformer who has come to learn about Earth) sticks around – I cannot wait to see what my superstar as well as my class (who are all stars) will produce next!”

This is Moby

The significance of this small but important step forward is not lost on Miss Read, nor us. It’s what we hope for when we construct BrainPOP – that at some point a child will make a break through that empowers them to progress and fall in love with learning.

And we don’t apologise for our emotional language – Moby making kids and teachers happy and successful in their learning is what we’re all about and it’s what motivates us in return.

If you have any teaching and learning tales you’d like to share with us – it really is a treat to see what your kids have been up to – please email info@brainpop.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you!

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.