Trends and Research

While using a podcast in the classroom might be new to you and me, many teachers are using podcasts in their classrooms daily.  
Michael Godsey, an English teacher in California, writes a great article for The Atlantic on the value of podcasts in his classroom. He noticed it was a struggle to get his students to read. When he introduced the podcast Serial to his class he found many of his students reading the transcripts of the podcast.  Godsey explained how many of his ELL students enjoyed reading the transcripts while listening to the podcast because it helped them understand what they were reading and it also helps them with understanding the language and pronunciation.
Another English teacher, Alexa Schlechter from Connecticut, also used the podcast Serial, by This American Life with her English class. In the article for MindShift by Linda Flanagan, her students spent months listening and reading the blog about Serial. When they finished she felt it wouldn’t make sense to give them a regular paper exam and instead created a final project where the students became podcast creators. Her students experienced the creative process of podcasts when they became the authors of their own. They were able to discuss topics related to what they had learned and understood the process to make a podcast.
Podcasts are becoming the latest creative way to learn and create presentations that go beyond the original oral presentation. As many teachers make the shift to podcasts and podcasting there are many things teachers can do to incorporate podcasts into their classrooms. Here are a few sites to visit as you begin your podcast journey:
  • The website We Are Teachers has made a list of possible podcasting projects teachers can try. Here are just a few:
    • Audio tours
    • Newscasts
    • Reenactments
You can visit their site for more details and ideas on creating your podcast projects in the classroom.
  • The website Edutopia also has a list of the best education podcasts for teachers. This list links different podcast that focuses on professional development for teachers. Some of the topics they cover are:
    • Teacher Leadership
    • Teacher Strategies
    • STEM
    • PLN
Visit this site for more information in each podcast.
  • The website Teach Taught has created a list of 51 Education Podcasts for the 21st Century Teacher. In it, they list podcasts of various topics such as:
    • Math
    • Grammar
    • Professional Development
    • History
  • The last website on this list is Listenwise, an education website that samples public radio. It is not a podcast but it is very useful for ELL students. They have an entire section dedicated to ELL with audio clips and transcripts that are appropriate for students to listen too. At my school, we tend to get international students from Korea in the winter. They often struggle with history class and all the reading required. Listenwise is a great supplement to help students like my students from Korea with American history.

Ready to start creating and using a podcast in your classroom? Here is a great guide by EducatorsTechnology that will provide step by step instructions and great sites for podcast creation to help you get started.  Whether it is listening to podcasts on education and professional development, listening to an audio story unfold like Serial or becoming the creators, podcasts have had a huge influence in the education world. I’m very excited to try it in my classroom this fall.

Comments

  1. fraudorseyJuly 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM

    Great resources!! Thank you for collecting and curating these. I've bounced around the idea of using podcasts in German...I think it would probably be more successful in the upper levels rather than in Levels 1 and 2 when they are just learning the basics. Have you been experimenting at all in your Spanish classes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zack CyphersJuly 12, 2017 at 7:19 AM

      Frau Dorsey, do you ever use news podcasts? I have used "The News in Slow Spanish" and "The News in Slow German" to improve my understanding of each of those languages. That might be useful for the older kids.

      Delete
  2. Zack CyphersJuly 12, 2017 at 7:18 AM

    This post contains a great wealth of resources, Mel. Thanks for posting these! I've been keeping a list of "tech tools" so that I don't forget all the great websites and apps we learn about. I really thought that I was pretty tech and web savvy, but this program has introduced me to a lot of stuff that I never thought to use in the classroom. I'm going to save a few of these links for future use. Thanks!

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