Who else has just fallen in love with podcasts?!? Years ago I didn’t give podcasts much thought because I never did well with audiobooks. I tend to zone out and think about all the other things I have going on in life. However, I knew so many teachers who were constantly talking about this podcast or that podcast and I finally opened up to checking a few out. Now, I am a podcast enthusiast to put it mildly!
I love listening to the Cult of Pedagogy, Shakespeare Unlimited, and the Spark Creativity podcasts for my professional life, but I also dove deep into podcasts just for fun! Such as This Imagined Life, How I Built This, Myths and Legends, Limetown, Finding Fred, On Purpose, and The Dropout (literally to just name a FEW!).
Limetown Season One
Of course, my mind always goes to, “I could totally use this with my students!” quite often. I played around a little here and little there and I continue to look for ways to incorporate more podcasts because my students are just LOVING it! For example, last year I added Limetown to my suspense unit in the month of Halloween. It was perfect to talk about building suspense, narrative devices, character growth, symbolism, allusions, and much more. It was so highly engaging that I actually had to SPEED up my plans as so many students were listening ahead out of class.
Myths and Legends Podcast
To help my students prepare before reading I Am Mordred, I first have them read inspiring excerpts from the boy king via The Once and Future King and other sources that talk of Arthur’s greatness. Then, I switch gears and have them listen to the Myths and Legends podcast episode on the “Mayday Massacre” (which is also where I Am Mordred begins). Hearing that Arthur was also willing to murder a boatload of babies is a fantastic juxtaposition to go deeper into the lore.
I recently posted about my success with using the same podcast while covering Beowulf. It was fantastic! I was able to cut what needed to be cut to keep true to the amazing story, keep the rigor high, and turn this larger unit into a smaller 2-week mini unit. This helped so much with the crazy 2020 life and so many kids learning from home while working with my face-to-face kiddos. I was pleasantly surprised and kicking myself for not trying this before with hope splendidly it all went! If you have not listened or incorporated the Myths and Legends podcast into your life/classroom, I highly recommend it!
I have many more podcasts that I use and am formalizing to share, but what about you?! Are there any “must teach” podcasts that you can share? If you haven’t thought about podcasts in your classroom, I hope that this gives you a glimpse into the possibilities to try it out!
If you would like to visit my Pinterest board for podcasts and documentaries that I use in my class, you can find that here .
Around the World With Mrs. C 