
Classroom Dynamics: A Teacher Podcast
Welcome to Classroom Dynamics: A Teacher Podcast, powered by Logitech! Discover innovative educational technology strategies and expert professional development insights to transform your 21st-century classroom. From cutting-edge teaching trends to proven techniques, this podcast is your go-to resource for inspiring ideas that enhance learning outcomes. Stay ahead of the curve with actionable tips and elevate your teaching with tech-savvy tools that benefit both you and your students...and don’t miss our Bits & Bytes podcast shorts for quick, impactful episodes. Stay informed, stay inspired, and stay ahead of the curve as we explore the latest trends and strategies driving modern education -- tune in and empower your classroom today!
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Classroom Dynamics: A Teacher Podcast
Moby, Diversity, and Professional Growth: Navigating BrainPOP with Dr. Barbara Hubert
Moby, Diversity, and Professional Growth: Navigating BrainPOP with Dr. Barbara Hubert
Episode 17
In this enlightening episode of Classroom Dynamics, join us as we delve into the dynamic world of educational technology with the renowned Dr. Barbara Hubert, the senior director of learning design at BrianPOP. Dr. Hubert shares her expertise on the innovative features that make BrainPOP a transformative learning tool for students and educators alike.
Discover how BrainPOP designs its content to cater to a diversity of learners, ensuring that education is accessible and engaging for all. Dr. Hubert takes us on a journey through the thought process behind the creation of BrainPOP's beloved characters, including Tim and Moby, and explores the fascinating history behind these educational personas.
Get ready to gain a deeper understanding of how BrainPOP supports teachers through tailored professional development opportunities, empowering educators to harness the full potential of this educational platform. Dr. Barbara Hubert's insights provide a behind-the-scenes look at the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into making BrainPOP an indispensable resource in classrooms worldwide.
Don't miss this exciting episode that unveils the secrets of BrainPOP's success and its commitment to shaping the future of education. Join Classroom Dynamics for an engaging conversation that will leave you inspired and equipped to enhance the learning experience for students everywhere!
Links:
EQUITY IN LEARNING WITH BRAINPOP® : FOSTERING ACCESS AND IMPACT FOR ALL (Dr. Barbara Hubert)
WEBSITE
SOCIAL MEDIA
HTTPS://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/COMPANY/BRAINPOP/
HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BRAINPOPOFFICIAL/
HTTPS://WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/BRAINPOP_OFFICIAL/
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Classroom Dynamics LinkTr.ee.
Classroom Dynamics is the premier podcast for educators passionate about integrating technology into their classrooms. With a dedicated audience of teachers, administrators, and edtech enthusiasts, the show provides unparalleled access to decision-makers in the education sector. By advertising on Classroom Dynamics, your company can showcase innovative solutions to a highly engaged audience actively seeking tools to enhance teaching and learning. Each episode spotlights the latest trends, proven strategies, and success stories in edtech, making it the perfect platform to position your brand as a leader in educational innovation. Don’t miss the chance to connect directly with the educators shaping the future of technology in schools!
Interested in advertsing on our podcast? email us at classroomdynamicspodcast@gmail.com
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I'm Adam Todd. Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, a teacher podcast. I believe that the best
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way to engage students in a 21st century classroom is to immerse them with the transformative
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tools that will empower each and every one of them to excel in the world that awaits.
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My aim? To ignite the spark that propels you and your students into an advanced tomorrow,
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and your journey into that future starts right now.
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Classroom Dynamics is supported by Logitech. As education continues to evolve, so does Logitech
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Education, your partner in content creation for the classroom. With Logitech's cutting-edge
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technology, students not only learn but also become content creators. Whether it's in-person
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or online, Logitech's tools are designed to inspire educators and learners alike. Capture
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every educational moment in stunning detail and edit, produce, and share your creative journey
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with ease. Logitech Education, inspiring the next generation of creators. For more, visit
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Logitech.com/education, transforming classrooms, one innovation at a time.
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Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, a teacher podcast. I'm your host, Adam Todd. Get ready to tap into
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the power of motivation and innovative teaching strategies. Together, we'll ignite a love for learning
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in your students, fostering an inclusive environment where every child can thrive. Join us on this
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transformational adventure that empowers you to unlock your full potential as an educator.
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This is Classroom Dynamics, where inspiration meets innovation.
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Calling all educators are you ready to inspire creativity and engagement in your students?
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Unlock their full potential with content creation. Imagine empowering that with cutting-edge
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tools like the Blue Sono microphone from Logitech, which ensures crystal clear audio quality
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for impactful projects. Logitech offers a full range of content creation solutions from audio
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equipment and cameras to lighting and editing software. Plus, they have a suite of education
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Empower the next generation of creators by exploring the possibilities at Logitech.com/educationToday.
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Welcome to Classroom Dynamics, the podcast where we get into the exciting world of technology and
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education. Hi, everybody. I'm your host, Adam Todd, and today we have an exciting episode lined up
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for you as we take a closer look at BrainPop. And if you're an educator, chances are you know BrainPop,
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but there is plenty more you may not know about this iconic brand that continues to grow and evolve.
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So let's uncover the history of BrainPop, the learning design behind it, and discover why it's
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become such a beloved resource in classrooms around the world for nearly the last 25 years.
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Founded in 1999, BrainPop is an educational platform that has been revolutionizing the way
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students learn through engaging and impactful digital content. It all began with a vision by Dr.
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Averm Kadar, a pediatrician and immunologist who sought to bring complex concepts to life
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in an accessible way to demystify big ideas, capture kids' attention, and make learning enjoyable
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and meaningful. With this goal in mind, BrainPop introduced its signature animated topics featuring
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enduring characters including Tim and Moby who embark on educational adventures across a wide range
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of subjects across the curriculum. BrainPop movies combine humor, visual storytelling, and expertly
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crafted educational content to simplify complex topics for students, and creates kindergarten
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through eight and even up. As BrainPop continue to expand its offerings beyond the movie in quiz,
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it introduced additional learning activities such as games, moviemaking, concept mapping, and coding.
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This holistic BrainPop experience builds students' background knowledge and vocabulary,
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allowing students to apply and teachers to measure what they know and even deepens and extends
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through learning experience. Fast forward to today, BrainPop has become a global leader in educational
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technology trusted by millions of teachers, parents, and students worldwide. The company's commitment
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to creating high-quality standards of line resources has earned numerous accolades and recognition
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within the educational community. With a vast collection of learning experiences spanning science,
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social studies, mathematics, English, and more, BrainPop continues to empower learners and promote
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multi-dimensional skills in an engaging and accessible manner. Today, we're sitting down with Dr.
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Barbara Hubert, the Senior Director of Learning Design at BrainPop, who develops and
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scales learning experiences with a focus on literacy, access, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Hubert began
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her career in education as an elementary school special education teacher, working for nine years
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in both public and charter schools supporting both students and teachers. It's all just a click
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and a pop away. We'll be right back.
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Are you a dedicated educator searching for fresh and engaging resources to inspire your students?
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your students like never before. Highly motivated on teachers pay teachers where knowledge meets inspiration.
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She's the Senior Director of Learning Design at BrainPop. I like to welcome my very special
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guest to classroom dynamics, Dr. Barbara Hubert, who is here to talk everything. BrainPop
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welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be here and chat with
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you all things brainpop. I can't tell you how excited I am because I love BrainPop. I know, you know,
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just being a big fan of it and is probably the case by so many educators like I said just all over
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the world. Before we even get started, how would you describe BrainPop to someone who may not know
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what it is, is never heard of it might be a new teacher or has previously heard about it and wants
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to learn a little bit more? Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to start high level but take the journey with me.
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For me when I think about BrainPop, I think about a learning platform that really is at the center
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of where engagement meets rigor to drive those learning outcomes. And I know those terms have a lot
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of different meanings. So I'm going to unpack what I mean a little bit. When I think about engagement,
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I think about really mirroring that authentic student engagement piece, right? What is motivating me
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to learn? Bring me into the the learning task, Greg Augustine because it's meaningful, personally relevant,
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really purpose driven and it meets kids where they are alongside this the R word rigor, right?
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But when I think about rigor, what I actually think about is challenging and productive struggle,
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like learning activities that are designed to again meet kids where they are because that's a really
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big piece of it, but engage them in those higher order thinking skills and complex concepts and
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meaning making. And so what that means and looks like on BrainPop is as a platform, we tap into that
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kids' natural curiosity to explore a topic deeper. And through that process really helped them practice
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and strengthen transferable meaning making skills that they're going to use in BrainPop and beyond
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BrainPop. And those meaning making skills are really those complex higher order thinking skills
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through the movies as an entry point, but all of our learning activities in support of that topic
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knowledge and those transferable skills because we really are, I like to think about it as leveling
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the playing field with background knowledge as one of our like core core strengths. I have, I'll just say,
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I have a, I come from a special education and literacy background. And so I'm, I'm constantly thinking
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about both learn diversity, but also literacy, how to make strong readers and excited readers,
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and we know that background knowledge plays a really, really critical role in becoming a fluent
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strategic reader. So I also love to think of BrainPop as giving kids all kids' entries into building
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that background. So we're kind of all on this level playing field of when we're engaging with the
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text when we're coming up against new ideas, really all being able to be in conversation about it,
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regardless of where learning paths have taken us to that point.
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You know, you actually said a really interesting word that I think a lot of teachers,
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I think they don't, not that they don't understand what the word means. I'm talking about rigor.
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I think they get very, very nervous when they hear that word. Yeah.
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They hear the word and they're like, wait a minute. Am I doing rigor? Am I planning appropriate lessons?
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So there's rigor already embedded in it. So how does BrainPop then, like you mentioned,
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rigor? So can you just explain to those teachers who might be a little bit afraid of that word?
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So to speak, how would that make them feel a little bit more comfortable?
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Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up because I, as a, I'm just going to say former educator,
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but once an educator, oh, is an educator in my heart, that word rigor is charged, right?
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Because it's used a lot in a lot of different ways. It's one of those sort of slippery educational
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buzzwords, but you really get down to like brass tax.
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Rigger is holding a high standard for every student, but supporting them and meeting that high standard.
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And that high standard is a high thinking standard. Yes, it's driven by standards.
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What am I supposed to be doing or knowing in that grade level? But it's really about creating tasks
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and lessons and just learning experiences that are at that right level of challenge, that, you know,
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that zonal proximal development, I'm meeting you there and I know where to go next. So there is
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their struggle. It's not frustrating. It's productive. It's exciting struggle. You're like, oh,
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cool. I'm like, I'm kind of digging into this media idea. Like, where do I go next? And I think that
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that's one of the superpowers of brain pop, right? Because you get to tackle complex ideas and topics
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from like computational thinking to the American Revolution to plot and theme, right? Like all across
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the spectrum of subjects. And there's a lot that goes into those topics, subjects ideas, but we don't
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dilute that experience. We create an experience with our design of the movies and how they connect
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with kids through humor, through that animation, really bringing those ideas to life in a way,
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through like a narrative arc, right? So we know teaching through narratives is like such a great
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way to make learning stick. And I think brain pop is just sort of like so well positioned to continue
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to do that. And so I know I said rigor our word, but not but and for me, rigor is really around like
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holding that complexity of thinking meeting kids where they are and just supporting and nurturing
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them up to up to that place. So it's almost like differentiation on from your end on brain,
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we're just talking about brain pop is using that as an example, differentiated on that end so that
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whatever level that child is on, there's your rigor. Yep. And knowing the goal, right? Knowing where
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you're going, knowing where everyone's sort of got to be, but also knowing that kids not only take in
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not even kids humans, right? Take in information in different ways, process, information in different
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ways and express and show what they know in different ways that really are more aligned to what they're
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like just learner preference is. And so really that's a huge part of a rigor for me in thinking around
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differentiation because it's really that that place of it's coming from universal design for learning,
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which I could talk about in nauseam. But when we think about proactively designing for a diversity
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of learners, then we invite more learners in from the beginning. And so holding that alongside
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the kinds of questions we're asking in our pause points or the kinds of questions we're asking in our
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quizzes and challenges or the kinds of learning artifacts that kids get to create with tools like
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our makeup map, which is our concept mapping tool. It really gives kids like for me, I am a I will
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concept map anything all day long. That is how my brain works. And so you give that to me and I can
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show you that can show you my ideas in a much stronger, more concise way than I can in writing
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any day. And I think brain pop holds that well being really intentional around making sure that those
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questions that that are driving it are getting into the meat, the deep the deep thinking and the
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the complex ideas in that topic. It's interesting. I do one of the units I do during the
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core city is digital sketch noting. And just that whole visual aspect, you know, going along with
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what you're saying with maps and things like that, the visual part of that almost you have to see,
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you know, just the kids ideas come out so differently. And I think they feel like it's so much easier to
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get the ideas out that way in that visual way that it actually their projects or whatever they're
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working on becomes so much more embedded into what they're trying to learn and the memory of it
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and the understanding of it and the higher order thinking portions of it. It really does come together
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when you start to look at that. Totally. The mirror is their brain process, right? Your brains don't
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aren't like linear and and and perfect and concise. They're they're connected. They're tangentially.
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You come back to ideas. You connect to ideas. And so yeah, I love it. I love this. So you're saying
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there's no one size fits all in edge of that. That is that is if I am if I go out with anything,
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that is my my line. There is no one size fits all. Learner diversity is at the center of every
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human, every classroom. Yeah. Yeah. I hope people who are listening that always feel like it's okay to
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do one size fits all will understand that that it doesn't work that way. Yeah. And that's okay, right?
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And it's a key that it doesn't work that way. That's okay. That's the norm that it doesn't work that way.
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Yeah. I think it's I think it's better than it doesn't. 100% I like pouring in the kitchen.
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Absolutely. So let's get some to some fun stuff too, right? So for those teachers who have
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used Brainpop and they do know what it is and what it does. They're very familiar with some of the
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characters like Moby, but for those teachers who aren't so familiar with who those characters are
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and and all the rest of the brain pop cast of characters are in all the movies, you know, how would
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you explain where that came from and who they are? Yeah. I'll start a little bit. I'll give you some
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Brainpop lore, the origin story of Moby. Legend has it that Mike Watnabi are a chief creative officer
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and first and foremost, a brain pop actually drew the first sketches of Moby on the back of his resume
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when in conversation with Dr. Kudar, who is the founder of Brainpop. And it's sort of Moby was this
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genesis of a robot is relatable because it's not a certain gender ethnicity ability, right? A robot is a
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robot. And so having Moby, it started in having Moby in these short topics, starting a boy and a robot
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Mike voiced the boy Tim and and Moby made beeps and what has sort of evolved in terms of Moby's purpose
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is Moby is an every brain pop movie and he's almost standing for any questions that a kid might have
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when Moby beeps, it's because he's asking a question or he's queuing up for there's an important idea
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coming or a misconception that I need addressed. Moby doesn't say a word, Moby beeps, but those beeps are
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really, really intentional in supporting kids thinking and sort of queuing them up to here's a point
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that might be really great to dig into and so that has not stopped. Moby, Tim and Annie became sort of
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the Annie is our character who leads brain pop junior. Tim and Moby were sort of our first explainers.
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As popularity grew, we felt a growing need, not even a growing need, a growing responsibility.
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for all the kids to be able to see themselves in our characters and we added Cassie and Rita and
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Nat and Mateo, their characters from many different backgrounds and speaking with different
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viewpoints and it was a service of a point that kids could see a little bit of themselves in those
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characters and also see those characters sort of being the explainers, being the ones sort of
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sharing that knowledge and bringing kids in and so giving kids that opportunity to see themselves
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in that light was a has sort of been the journey of brain pop over the years.
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That's a pretty cool historical insight because I don't think many people know that the
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history of that that's pretty interesting. He actually drew it on the back of his resume. Yep.
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And fun fact, if you go into brain pop, brain pop 101, which is a little bit of a like, hey teacher,
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you can get an overview in our primary source activity, you can see those sketches from the resume.
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See, so it pays to do something different on a resume sometimes, too, doesn't it? Yeah.
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Talk about thinking outside the box and differentiation and you know, not doing the norm, right? That's
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amazing. Yes. Mike Wattenabi is the testament to that in all the ways. There you go. You author to
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paper titled Equity in Learning with Brain Pop Fostering Access and Impact for All. In the paper,
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you mentioned Make a Movie and this totally got my attention because with Make a Movie and I'm
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quoting here, students produce their own unique brain pop style movies, flexibly creating scenes with
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animated clips, images, simple text and varying background colors using voiceover or computer narration,
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students can explain a focus point or process. How cool is that? Because in a nutshell,
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that's really content creation in the classroom, which has become such a huge thing lately. It's
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exploding with TikTok and YouTube videos and Instagram and you name it. And from mostly because of,
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you know, engagement purposes, creativity, differentiating purpose, all the things we were talking about
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already with higher level thinking. So with that said, how else does brain pop engage students with
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different learning styles and accommodate diverse needs in the classroom? Yeah. That's a great question.
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And you know, it's interesting because I haven't ever heard of this frame to sort of content,
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like content creators, but maybe we were early influencers in that content creation space.
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You were a little ahead of your time. But no, that's a great example of, and I'll talk a little
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bit about making a movie, but then sort of segue over to this sort of bigger, how do we support
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diversity of learners and their learning experiences? And we've added a little bit about it, but
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I think when you look at make a movie, for example, it's such a great example of complex thinking and
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a complex task in a way that is accessible. And when I say accessible, for me, that means all learners
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in the classroom have an entry point and that entry point is into a meaningful learning experience.
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Quick aside, again, my background in special education was there for many, many, many years. And
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my sort of other rallying cry is that like accessible meaningful instruction is a right,
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not a privilege. And so when thinking about that frame and thinking about the learning activities
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that are in brain pop, it's just that there is such a beautiful overlay because if you think about
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something like make a movie, which a student has to plan what the sequence is, what they're communicating,
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they have to look at the variety of tools to do that. How am I going to best communicate this point?
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What is the point that I want to best communicate? How should I say it? Should I say it with a visual?
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Should I say it with words? Should I pull in a little text box like that we have in the movies?
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There's a bunch of ways to make that communication and kids are getting to make decisions moment by
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a moment that you can't do or you can't show in other forms. And so, and as an aside, that's if that is your
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preference. I have students in my life who would prefer to write a, I'm not one of these students,
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but I have students in my life who would prefer to write a bioparigab essay to explain to me,
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let's say the causes of the American Revolution. That is just the topic that's close to mine because
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that's what I just recently was digging into. And that's great. And you can do that on BrainPop, you can
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have a worksheet, you can have a graphic organizer, you can choose to have that as your mean of representation,
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or you can make a movie, you can make a map. And so, one of the things that I often say about BrainPop
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is we're driving learners to share learning goal. Whatever that learning goal is at the teacher has
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named that BrainPop can support, but we're giving them the tools to really give kids the choice
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about how they show their learning and how they process that learning. And so, if you are a student
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who drives in taking sort of more like auto graded, like, let's, like, I want to get a quiz, right? I want to,
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I want to know it, I want to feel right, I want to move on. Like, there, there's a space for you. If it's,
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I need some time to process and I need some time to jot some notes and collect my thinking,
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there's an activity for that. And same thing, with our creative tools, there's if, if making a concept
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map is how you best show what you know, there's a tool for that. And that tool is designed
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for supports and embedded. So, like, if we think about our make a map tool, which is our concept
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mapping tool, it's not just kids pulling in nodes or circles and making connections. They can use
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images from the movie. They can go back the movies embedded so they can go back to a point in the movie.
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If they want to revisit an idea, we have any label that's come up in the movie, you can click a
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little play button, it jumps right back there. So it's just like this embedded support. So it's not only
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just, I have different ways to show what I know or, or process. It's, it's also this low risk,
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safe space to, to make meaning in deep and connections to ideas. Yeah.
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I love it because it does bring out that's, that's like creativity 101, right? Like, that's,
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that's self, self-directed learning 101. That's all the cool stuff and the good stuff that you would
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want to see in a 21st century classroom, you would want to see in a classroom in general. I think it just,
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I love how it just embeds it and kind of promotes it almost automatically, very naturally.
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You don't have to really push any, any kids to, to do more or less, they kind of take it and make
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it, you know, what they want it to be and how they want to kind of build it and, and, and,
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scaffold it themselves. Yep, 100%. It's there. Use it. Don't, it's, it's really up to you and you get to be
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the driver of, of your learning experience. I love that. Yeah, it's great. And also like, even like
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establishing a strong groundwork is crucial in any aspect and acquiring new knowledge in any
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scenario you can think of, especially in the classroom. In what instances does the use of
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brain pops films and those interactive elements contribute to the development of foundational knowledge
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and that essential literacy skill that you're trying to build? And why is it such an important
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pivot point in learning? Yeah, that's a great question. And, and again, I think this comes back to
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that sort of beginning high level. What is brain pop where I said it's, it's engagement and
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it's rigor and that drives learning outcomes because I think we just nailed so, not all the ways,
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but some of the ways that brain popping ages kids and brings them in. But there's also a real intentionality
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behind the learning design of not just the movies, but all of the learning activities that are
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connected to the movies in that topic. And so we know that again, a background knowledge is super
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important for how you're going to engage in texts in the world. And I mean within a school context
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and outside of a school context. So if I'm deep in, I'm going to use, causes of the American
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revolution is top of my insoluble use that as an example. If I'm starting my American revolution
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unit, I'm giving kids that entry point to build some background knowledge or I'm like, what,
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what is the quality? Right? Like, what is a, what is a revolution? Right? Like, what are,
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what are these sort of core ideas that I need to be like a very specific, a very specific,
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just nugget? Yep. And as a, as a, not even just a reader, but a consumer of information,
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I need to know that they're, I need to constantly be asking myself questions to help me make meaning
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what I'm viewing, what I'm reading, what I'm engaging with. And that is something that
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brain pop very intentionally builds into its learning activity. So the pause points, for example,
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and for those who don't know what pause points are, they're one of our newer features and they are
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grade leveled sets of questions embedded into the movie. So they're stopping points that are
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specific for those grades and those questions that are asked are helping that grade level learner
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sort of scaffold to that grade level understanding. But the questions are framed in a way that are almost
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all of them that are cognitive. They're asking kids to not what, what is the main idea of this
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portion of the movie? But it'll say something like, hey, and these causes of American Revolution
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movie at this point, why Tim say XYZ or, or what do movies beat mean? And it's, again, it's a really
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super low risk way for, for kids to almost see a questioning and think aloud model. Like if you're,
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if you're watching that movie, teachers stop brain pop movies all the time and say, pause.
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Let's have a conversation really quick. Why did Tim say that? Or, or what did you notice about that
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image that was shown when when Moby beeped in Tim said XYZ? And so pause points help you, you know,
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do the lifts so that teachers don't have to come with all the questions, but those questions are
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really intentionally designed because they're getting at literacy skills, they're getting at
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meaning making skills, they're getting at vocab skills. So it's, it's not, it's not even that lower
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level recall anymore. Now you're really pushing those higher level, those, those depth of knowledge
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push points where you are expanding the understanding of it and not only just building on the literacy
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points of it. Yeah, absolutely. One of my favorite skills that we hit, I just love to talk about
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this question and we're talking about American Revolution is around sort of unpacking the word choices
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that are being used. And so there's a question in one of the pause point sets that stops and says,
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it's about guerrilla warfare and it says guerrilla and Spanish means little war. What does that tell
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you about guerrilla warfare? And so you're stopping at a really strategic point to make great level
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meeting. You're having kids say, huh, like words and they're alternate meetings have these sort of
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transform and you're sort of modeling a skill. And so it, I don't want to say it sneaks it in
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there. It just eating, eating beds it into that learning process for kids. Yeah, no, and you know what's
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great about that is that it's it's kind of like buying one, getting one for you, you know, in terms of
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the lesson. So you're buying one, getting one free in terms of like a teaching point, you're buying
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one, getting one free in terms of expanding knowledge or language or vocabulary, like you mentioned.
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It's a great way to push the thinking of a child who may just be ready just to give you that recall.
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But now there's multiple levels, multiple dimensions that you can actually then pivot off of
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and get into. Absolutely. You know, it's interesting. I often hear subject matter teachers say,
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gosh, I need to help my kids with their literacy skills, but I'm a social study teacher or a science
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teacher or a technology teacher. Like, help, how do I do that? I can't do both, right? Yeah.
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Like, I don't have time to teach those literacy skills and then there's another campus is, but we're
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all literacy teachers and like brain pop really holds that. Eat those and says like, so we are, and we're
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going to embed those literacy skills, which are just their meaning making comprehension,
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folk have acquisition skills into different subjects and sort of help do a little bit of the lift
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for you. Yeah. So our podcast is really dedicated to reaching a worldwide audience of teachers that
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provides professional development. And I think you're doing a great job just if we have stopped right now,
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if we stop right now, this has been really fantastic. And teachers do appreciate good professional
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development. And more importantly, they really do know when they've received good professional
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development. They know when it's been a waste of time, they know when it hasn't been worth it,
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they know when they haven't learned anything new, they know when it's good and they really celebrate
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that kind of stuff. What professional development resources does brain pop offer teachers to effectively
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integrate it into their existing lessons and into their existing curriculum? Yeah. You make such a
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great point about it. It really spans the spectrum of relevance. And I think one of the most
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important tenets that sort of spirals through all professional learning at brain pop, whether it's
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our professional learning services or whether it's a brain pop 101 that's for your lesson planner
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or certified brain pop educator course is that it has to be relevant to what you're teaching and who
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you're teaching. And so that that ethos really drives everything. So for a professional learning
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services team, they will go work with schools and say, what is your priority? What are the instructional
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strategies that you're really focusing on this year? Tell me about your learners. And then they
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will design an experience for that teacher, that school district, whoever that really links up and
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says, and here's how brain pop fits. We have a curriculum alignment team that says show me your
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state standards, show me the curriculum you're working with. I will show you how brain pop topics
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learning activities fit that curriculum that grade level, like whatever your instructional goals are
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because don't make me do the work. You know what I mean? Don't make me do the work of trying to have
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to figure it out myself. I have enough going on in the day. Show me how it fits. And I think that
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that is really a really powerful tenant for how brain pop approach is professional learning. We have
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a sort of brain pop educator course, which is near and near to my heart. I used to work pretty closely
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with it. And it's a it's a free course for anybody who has brain pop. But it's really a deep dive into
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like what is the learning science behind each of these instructional activities in a brain pop
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topic? And how does it fit into an instructional strategy alongside bringing together this community
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of professionals from across the country to share ideas to be in that collaborative space? Because we
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know that that is also how professional learning sort of indoors and like gets sticky for adults and
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gets in there. It's when you're talking about your ideas and sharing, oh my gosh, I am this class. And
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I tried this topic and I used the the quiz and the make a map. And this is what worked and this is
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what didn't what about you and share, you know, really being in that conversation. So our certified
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brain pop educator both course and then community that endures after that is really powerful. But they're,
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you know, there's there's a ton. There's a ton. But that's that's really good though because, you know,
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in terms of just relevance, right? You know, teachers who and like you even just said it yourself,
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they, you know, there's so much going on throughout the course of the day. You know, forget about like
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just the curriculum part. You also have social emotional like things to look at and think about and
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kind of marry, you know, into what you're teaching that day and whether or not it's going to work or
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not and and, you know, who's feeling well and who's not. And there's so many things, so many variables
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in a classroom. It's nice that a teacher could get a very specific, very, you know, very relevant
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professional development to kind of guide them and help them so that it does, I don't want to say
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make their life easier, but the understanding becomes a lot easier so that it can be intertwined, so to speak
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into that curriculum or into that lesson that they're doing that day. 100% and I, and I think you're
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bringing up a really good point about the role of just educational technology in general
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and teacher capacity, right? Like the role of that tech is to make learning better and make your
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jobs easier because it's embedding good learning into the product. And I think that is,
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that is a commitment that's sort of held across brain pop. It starts in the way we build new features,
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we do it in collaboration with teachers, we do code design sessions with teachers to say,
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what do you mean? Look, we have this idea, we've got, we've got a lot of data that this is important,
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but like, what are they doing? Do you want to tell us and really doing that code design with teachers?
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All the way to our learning design team who holds on to this is what learning science is,
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is really good for learning and this is what we know about instructional strategies. So let us
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build as much as we can in the most seamless way to make your job a little easier and have one less
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thing for you to do because you're trusting and knowing that this is that, that this engaging and
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rigorous learning is happening and, and driving those learning outcomes. That's big too because if you
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really, you know, look at professional development, a lot of times a school district or a school itself,
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an administrative team will say, this is what I want you to do today versus what I would like to do
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today to, to make my job, you know, like you said, a little bit easier, but also so that it's relevant
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and it's solid. I want to use this. I don't want to be told, you know, to use something that may not
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really do me any good. I want to actually get something that's solid and concrete so that I could
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then incorporate it in and I could marry it into everything that I do. So that, that, you know,
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that, that such a fine line, you know, the tell, I have to, you know, tell me I have to do this yet,
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I kind of really want to do that. Yeah. That's more important to me. I love that. Yeah. And teacher
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agency, like teachers are smart, they make really good decisions and you empower them to make those
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decisions, right? And I think that's a lot of what we see it, like partnering with BrainPop, it's like,
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it's a good, I don't mean to be like, it's a good decision, but, you know, like, it's a good decision.
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So this obviously a lot of thought and effort that goes into BrainPop, you're hearing it now,
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right? Just from this conversation. And it with, especially with the topics, the wide range of topics,
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curriculum areas, and I'm sure I know that teachers appreciate that. What factors does BrainPop
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consider when creating just new content, new things that are happening, you know, at tech upgrades,
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things that are happening historically? How does BrainPop ensure that it's, it's content remains
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up to date, number one, and also aligned to all the curriculum standards that teachers are being
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faced to incorporate and use? Yeah, 100%. I will say that just from a, from a genesis, the place,
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standards drive, what concepts are tackled in the movie, right? We know that teachers are using
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and kids are learning, and so it has to be connected to what the, their great level expectations are.
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But when it comes to choosing a topic, there's a little bit more openness. It's sort of what the
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standards require are there sort of gaps that we want to make sure we can address? We'll get teacher
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write-ins, that's a, I would love a movie on trying to think of the most recent one we got. I would love
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a movie on computational thinking. My kids are getting into coding. I need to back this up with,
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with the what and the why. And so we'll get requests in and it's also thinking around and those requests
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take different shapes. So we had a bunch of requests in that said more content on African history,
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and that's sort of not all of African history, but from that perspective and where that took shape
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from our, from our editorial team was actually sensing, ending up with our most recent Mansemusa
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movie, because it was like, okay, there's, we have connected topics. What sort of a piece that's missing
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that can connect a lot of them? And in this particular instance, it just happened to be that. So
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there are lots of different ways that those topics get chosen, but we also know that events happen,
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life changes, and there are lots of keeping up on what changes happen in events. We're in constant
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dialogue with content experts around writing, like what, how are we referring to people of this
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community and this instance and this context, and it's really, really nuanced. And those writing
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guides, lines change over time because humans change over time when events happen like Queen Elizabeth
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passing or Queen Elizabeth movie got updated in record time might I add it without like the next day.
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Because we had folks on our script writer team and our editorial team who were, were, had the
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fourth thought to be like, there's this event, change is coming, we're going to sort of hold, you know,
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hold it. And so there's, there's a constant sort of pulse on events and changing and discourse
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with subject matter experts that really anchor when and how movies are updated and what level and
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grain size of those. But I will say as somebody who also our team on the learning design team not only
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thinks about future learning, but the learning that is, and so we there, there is a, we do, we redo
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and make updates to a lot of movies because there is this sort of like recursive expectation of
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and responsibility. Yeah, I thought, well, you know, you even use a couple examples, these,
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because think about it, standards do vary worldwide. It's that we don't have a standard for the standards,
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you know, it isn't like a, again, that's not a one size fits all. And so to, you know, think about
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a worldwide level and that worldwide stage, you know, that's, that's what it's about, you know,
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and the fact that you could actually acknowledge that, that's pretty, that's pretty good, especially
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because it is something that everyone anywhere can really, you know, connect to and access.
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100% so can you share any, I don't know if you can't, but can you share any recent additions to
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brain pop that are designed to enhance student experience and support teachers and even administrators,
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or is brain pop launching anything down the line that you can kind of give us a sneak peek at?
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Oh, man. Yeah, I'll give you, I'll tell you about it. I'm going to speak some launches and then I'll
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leave you with a bit of a cliffhanger. So I had talked about them a little bit. Our newest feature
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a lot on brain pop, our core product is pause points and and they're, as I mentioned, these
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grade level sets of sort of scaffolding questions. You get to apply those literacy skills, but it
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really helps you have that grade level entry point into the movie viewing experience. And when we're
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thinking that we hold universal design for learning in their design as well, because sometimes they're
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a, like a low risk multiple choice question, you've got two to pick one because it's not about
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assessment. It's about giving you real time feedback as a student. Did I get it right? Nope. Okay,
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here's my misconception. I need to move forward. There are also open ended questions. And because,
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again, it's, it's, it's, it's low risk. It's really about meaning making. You can draw your response.
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You can write your response. You can record your response. If I am intimidated by writing and I
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sometimes shut down, that's okay. Record your response, right? You're still doing the thinking and
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just doing more. There's your content creation again, by the way. And we also just launched
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admin reports and teacher reports, which are super exciting. So our teacher reports were developed
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and co-designed with teachers. And we wanted to make sure that it fit within the ecosystem of assessment,
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kids are assessed in many different ways. But it was varying degrees, right? There's, there's
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benchmarks on there's practice tests. And, frame pop really takes an approach to assessment,
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that's assessment for learning. So keeping a really formative assessment approach to gathering info
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on kids and making it usable and actionable for teachers to use the next day, the day after. I
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don't have to wait a month for test results or I don't have to, you know, if this is really so,
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our teacher reports give that, that real time feedback. So the teacher can make instructional
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decisions tomorrow with what kids do on brain pop today. And it has so many fun functionalities that
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I'm going to talk about really quickly because I love them so much and I wish I had them as a teacher,
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which is I can see my whole class at a glance, but then they can like sort with most kids got this
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question wrong. So I'm going to group them and give them a different assignment to sort of support
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that misunderstanding. This group got kids rights, so I can group them in this interactive table
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and give them an extension activity. So there's just a lot of opportunity in their report
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to really give not even just actionable feedback, dynamic interface, but you can be inspired to do
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your next level of supporter push with brain pop too. That's awesome. That is really cool that you can
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go either way and really tap into the needs. Yeah, specifically right then and there. That's pretty
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cool. Yep. So this has really been a lot of fun. We only have a couple minutes left. I want to play
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a game called input output where I'm just going to ask you some questions and just give me the
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first thing that comes to your mind. Don't be nervous. You're ready. What's one app on your phone
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that you just can't live without? Spotify. Good one, especially because you can listen to classroom
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dynamics on Spotify. Best piece of advice anyone has ever given you. I will speak to as an educator.
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I had a professor who my first semester said I'm going to tell you guys three letters that's
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going to get you through teaching when we're like, okay, this is great. And it was a WSV and win small
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victories because in the classroom day to day, there are these moments that feel big, that feel
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sometimes in terms of I have so much there's there's less planning and there's PD and there's this
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and I have to talk to Johnny's mom and it's hard to say but like I worked with Barbara today
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and she could do two steps more than she could do the day before and that is a win. Hold that win
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honor that win and then meet Barbara and Maro and see where she can go then but that idea of like
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winning the small victory is I take it with me in life now beyond the beyond the classroom.
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That's that's great advice for a brand new teacher. That's great advice for a veteran teacher.
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That's great advice for everyone in between. I think that's really good. Besides the
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videos, what's one favorite part of brain pop that you still feel every teacher should use no matter
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what? Besides the pause points because they're part of the movie, I will say make a map. Make a map is
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my like, again, I don't know if I'm biased because I'm, you know, this is kind of my thinking but it is
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like the most accessible way to let kids show it. They know and support them and I will nerd out over
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over scaffolds and support and differentiation all day long. So my make a map is my sort of
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holy grail. Oh my gosh, please use that. If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece
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of technology from today, what would it be? Tell you what it wouldn't be. It wouldn't be social media
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because I am old, now I am a little mad. That wasn't now. It would be, oh this is a great question,
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one piece of technology of Apple tags. I am a notorious loser of things. They are my godsend now
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with like, where are my keys? Where's my kid? No, I'm kidding. Yeah, totally. So you have all the
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air tags are on everything. Yes, that's great. And uncomfortable about places. So when you pick,
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when you open up your Find My app, you have to like keep scrolling to find all, they're like, they're
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all here somewhere. Great. That's it. That's good. Hey, listen, you could always, you know,
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signal it to tell you where it is, you know, so that's my go, yeah, that is my go to. Finally,
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if you could create a new educational mandate or law, what would it be and why? Oh, oh, this is so great.
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I, I would really love for every teacher to get the opportunity, whether it's in pre-service
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and service, to dive deeply into learning and the brain of learner diversity. Their Todd Rose is
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a fantastic man. Look up his, his TED talk on YouTube and he just talks about this idea of
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jagged learner profiles and how no one has is either good in everything bad and everything.
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It's just we all have this slightly different jagged learner profile and holding how to design
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for that and supporting how to, how to build proactively into our classroom and have, have the
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resources and time and money to do it. Yeah, yeah. That's really, that's, that's what it is. It's,
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it's having the resources and time and money to really do what, what centering learning diversity.
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And access to meaningful learning. That's, and that's, that's the bottom line, I think, right? Yeah.
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That's the bottom line. So this has been awesome. We've had such a great conversation. You know,
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I think you gave a lot of awesome information to, like I said, even a teacher who's, who might be
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starting off at the first time this year or a teacher who's been doing it for 25 years, I think you,
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you really have, have given them some really great talking points that they can talk to with
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their colleagues and even some information that they could use with brain pop. But before we go,
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just tell teachers where they can go to get started with brain pop and what you even suggest teachers
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use for the first time if they're just getting started with it. If you want to learn more about
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brain pop, you can go to brainpop.com/forthslashclastroom-solutions week. We'll put the, I will share that link
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with you and you can put in this once you're in brain pop as a teacher, dive into brain pop 101.
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It will walk you through all the, the great amazing features, but it does it in this sort of,
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like, really fun and a cognitive way. So visit their brain pop 101 or just dive into a topic and
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tap that natural curiosity. That doesn't just live in kids, right? It lives in like all of us as
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a learner and like take the deep dive. That's awesome. Well, for those of you who have been listening
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today, thank you for tuning in and make sure that you've shared what you've learned or any takeaways or
487
00:45:47,560 --> 00:45:53,400
reflections that you've had and tag us on Twitter at class dynamics or Instagram at classroom dynamics
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00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:58,360
podcast. We always love to hear your thoughts on our episodes, ensuring waves in which you're using
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what you've learned, especially with brain pop today. You can also help support classroom dynamics
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with as little as $3 a month at classroom dynamics podcast.buzzsprout.com. Once again, I'd like to thank
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Dr. Barbara Hubert from Brain Pop for being with us today and also being such a huge inspiration in
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the world of not just education, but ed tech education because I think that's, you know, we mentioned
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that before too. I think that's important, especially with a 21st century classroom. Adam, thank you so
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much. This was a joy and the best way to sort of wrap up a Friday. Thank you so much for this
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great conversation. Thank you. We're definitely going to have you back. Happy to.
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For more on brain pop, visit brainpop.com on social media on LinkedIn at brain pop, Facebook,
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brain pop official, Instagram, brain pop underscore official and on Twitter at brain pop. Also,
498
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:55,400
find more information at the blog at blog.brainpop.com and you can also check out the story of
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brain pop on YouTube by searching a brain pop style movie. And for white papers authored by Dr.
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Barbara Hubert, search how to maximize a knowledge building approach to literacy skills with
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brain pop and equity in learning with brain pop, fostering access and impact for all.
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And that brings us to the end of this episode of classroom dynamics where knowledge and inspiration
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meets innovation. I hope you've enjoyed today's discussion and founded both insightful and uplifting.
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As always, my goal is to provide you with practical strategies, engaging stories, and powerful insights
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that can fuel your motivation as an educator. I believe that when knowledge and inspiration do come
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together, incredible things can happen in your classroom. And for all of you who may feel that it's
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00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:49,960
too late to strengthen your craft, I challenge you to make it your mission to do so. You've worked hard
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to get to where you are today and it's never too late to infuse new life into your work. So why not
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make today that day to do so? I'm Adam Todd and you've been listening to classroom dynamics, a teacher
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00:48:01,640 --> 00:48:09,000
podcast. You can follow classroom dynamics on X at Class Dynamics or on Instagram at Classroom Dynamics
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Podcast. If you haven't already, go to Apple Podcast and subscribe, rate, and review this podcast.
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00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:20,600
And if you know a teacher who may benefit from today's show, please share it with them. We'll be back
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00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:26,120
soon with more captivating conversations, inspiring stories and strategies that you can implement
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into your everyday routines. Until then, keep igniting that spark in your classroom and never stop
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believing in the incredible impact you have as an educator. You're more powerful and inspirational
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than you think. If you love this episode, you'll enjoy my conversation with educational leader and
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00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:48,920
author of Disruptive Thinking, Eric Shenninger. Join us as we sit down with the visionary educator
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and true trailblazer in the field of educational leadership and technology integration.
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00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:59,640
Eric shares his unparalleled insights on transforming schools into dynamic hubs of innovation.
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00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:04,040
From digital learning strategies to fostering a culture of continuous improvement,
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our conversation with Eric offers invaluable wisdom for educators, administrators, and anyone
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00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:15,640
passionate about the future of education and disruptive thinking. And you know, what I always
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you know really think about is you know, two things. How are learning, how are students using
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technology to learn in ways they couldn't without it? And number two, if you're an adult,
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how does your use of technology represent a fundamental improvement over what you did in the past
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without it? And if you can't answer those questions, it's okay not to use technology.