8 Simple Podcasting Projects That You Can Do With Your Students
If you have been paying attention to the news, you might have seen the word Podcast come up one or two times … ya know, each week. Podcasts are now a BIG THING and with more and more companies, brands, and institutions getting turning to podcasts to tell their story, so are schools, classrooms, and students. In this post, we are going to look at 8 pretty awesome, and pretty simple Educational Podcasting Projects that you can bring into your classrooms this year.
What are Educational Podcasts?
To put it extremely simple terms, podcasts are audio or video files that can be subscribed to by a listener using an RSS feed. The term Podcasts is now more than 13 years old and the popularity of podcasting is growing every day. Did you know that as of 2019, more than 44% of the population of America has claimed that they have heard at least one podcast? (Pretty cool!)
To separate traditional podcasts from Educational Podcasts, we define the “EDU” as podcasts created either in the classroom by students or created by teachers for other teachers. The TeacherCast Educational Network has been creating educational podcasts for the last 8 years and you can find all of our content and subscribe to it at TeacherCast.net/Subscribe. We have hundreds of episodes that cover a wide variety of subjects for you to enjoy and learn from.
Are you looking for Educational Podcasts and Podcasters to follow? Please visit the brand new Educational Podcasting Directory where you can find more than 140 Podcasts to subscribe to this year!
Can You Create Educational Podcasts In The Classroom?
YES! One of the best ways that you can engage your students in your curriculum is by inviting them to use audio and video. The best place to learn how to bring audio and video projects into your classroom is www.PodcastingWithStudents.com, a new channel on TeacherCast that is being built with your classroom activities in mind.
Another great place to learn about podcasts is through a brand new podcast called the Student Podcast PODCAST hosted by my good friend Monica Brady-Myerov.
To learn how to launch your own educational podcast, please download our handy Teacher Guide.
8 Ways That Podcasts Can Be Used In Your Classroom
Book Reviews
When I was growing up, there was a popular show on public television that supported helped to teach young students the love of reading. In each episode, there was a segment where children would come on camera and give a book report of their favorite book and always ended with the phrase “but you don't have to take my word for it.” These little skits are PERFECT in both audio and video podcasting form and can be done with any number of applications available to your classroom.
Here is a simple example of what one school has put together. Please check out this example of the Student Podcast PODCAST hosted by Monica Brady-Myerov from Listenwise.
Field Trip Reports
The concept of virtual field trips is something that is widely available and can easily be free to you and your students. In this post, you can read how audio and video can be used for students interested in not only learning about faraway places but describing ones that are in their community as well.
Not interested in learning about faraway places? Why not create a scavenger hunt of your school using audio and video that the students create different places in your building? This can be a great educational podcasting activity for new students or your pre-school orientation days. (Great for Parent Night too!)
News Stories
Are you interested in teaching your students about journalism? Educational Podcasts can be created to help students learn the art of storytelling that helps them ask the Who, What, Where, When, and Why of their community. Check out this example from KQED for more information.
Interview a Community or Family Member
One of the most important things we can focus on this year is social and emotional learning activities that help our students get a sense of where they come from and what their places is in this world as citizens. One great idea is to ask your students to interview someone in their family about their history and ancestry. This not only opens up a number of fantastic projects but also gives students a better understanding of their backgrounds.
If you are interested in doing an activity like this, please check out this great guide to creating podcasts with students from NPR.
Personal Essays
If you are interested in having your students create stories about their families, communities, or schools, a great starter activity is to get them writing about themselves. Creating a simple worksheet asking students to write down thoughts on their favorite topics, sports teams, or activities is a great way to get students interested in asking others questions.
Here is a great example of how to turn personal narratives into Educational Podcasts.
Audio Diaries
Are you looking for a simple Do-Now activity? Why not invite your students to come in the room, turn on their favorite recording app (Synth would be great for this) and ask them to talk about their day, mood, or thoughts about life.
Dramatic Read-Alouds
Getting back to our example above on creating Book Reviews, another great use of Educational Podcasting Projects is to ask your students to create read-alouds where they read a book on video and then record it for the younger grade students to enjoy.
Speeches
It can be said that the one thing that fears students more than anything else in school is the possibility of being called to stand in front of their peers and give a speech or presentation. One of the best ways that you can tame these fears is through Educational Podcasting. The more that a student is comfortable being either on camera or in front of a live microphone, the more they are comfortable standing in front of the class speaking about their passions.
What Other Educational Podcasting Projects Can You Think Of?
There are many more ways to bring Educational Podcasting Projects into your classroom. These are only a small handful of possibilities. We would love to hear from you and get your examples and ideas for student podcasts. Please take a moment and leave us a message below in the comments section.
How Do You Get Started Creating Educational Podcasts?
There are several great ways to get started Podcasting with your Students this year. The best way to get into Educational Podcasting Projects is simply to just jump in. No heavy or expensive equipment needed to have a good time challenging your students.
If you are looking for some great suggestions for applications or hardware, here are my suggestions.
Educational Podcasting Applications
Educational Podcasting Equipment
Where Can I Learn More?
To learn more about educational podcasting in your classroom, please check out a recent podcast episode recorded with Listenwise CEO Monica Brady-Myerov about her podcast called the Student Podcast PODCAST where she interviews teachers and students about their in-class projects.
If you are interested in professional development for classroom podcasting, learn more here and fill out this interest form to find out more about an online personalized 3-month PD module co-hosted by Listenwise and Soundtrap.
Find other great resources to support your podcasting projects on the NYTimes Learning Network.
Is Podcasting Right For Your Classroom?
We are interested in learning how you and your students are using Podcasts in your classroom. Do you have your students creating audio and video content or are you using content from iTunes and YouTube as teaching materials in your lessons?
We would love to have you leave a comment below to share your story with us.
For additional information, please visit www.EducationalPodcasting.com.
About the author, Jeffrey Bradbury
Jeff Bradbury, creator of TeacherCast, and father of the famous @EduTriplets Thanks for checking out TeacherCast today. Please take a moment to find me on all of my Social Media channels!