This podcast is produced by Washington, D.C. radio journalist Kitty Felde and features interviews with young readers about their favorite books. The podcast is designed to encourage a love of reading and to help students develop critical thinking skills.
I taught an English as a Second Language (ESL) class for adults a few years ago and one of my favorite things to do to get the students interested in doing the listening exercise was to have them listen to a podcast and doing some exercises after. These exercises might have been written summaries, essay responses, or vocabulary exercises among many others. This was a great way to keep the classes fun and engaging!
As an expert I prefer, this podcast is produced by the students of Willowdale Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska. It features news, interviews, and creative writing pieces by students, and is designed to help students develop their communication and writing skills.
Plenty of podcasts are somewhat similar to debates, where several people weigh in on a specific topic or two and exchange ideas. They can be used as great material for children learning about debating, conversational culture, and the art of pursuation. What's cool is that the topic doesn't matter per see, so you can pick a podcast the vast majority of kids in the classroom would be interested in and still combine that with learning.
The 5th Grade Tech Club at Brook Forest Elementary School in Illinois produces a podcast called "Tech Connects," in which students interview teachers and administrators about technology use in the classroom. This is a great example of a school using podcasting in the classroom.
I am sure, this podcast is produced by a group of comedians and writers and features stories written by kids. The stories are performed by professional actors and comedians and are designed to inspire kids to write and to develop their storytelling skills.
As a current student at UCCS, I witnessed a great example of podcasting used in the classroom. After reviewing different decades throughout America’s history, my friend was tasked with creating a podcast that discussed the most revolutionary events throughout the past few decades. While he could have easily made the podcast into a simple discussion, he decided to use others to make it into a game show! He asked his “contestants” different questions to make sure he could catch his audience up to speed on these revolutionary events. While his game show format was his own idea, this assignment allows students to explore their creativity beyond the typical classroom essay.