Blog Post

Have you listened to any podcasts recently? I am in love with podcasts. I alternate between podcasts on spiritual growth, business, serial killers, parenting, marriage, or any other true crime podcasts. I find myself completely engrossed in the topic and eager to hear the next episode! I find great internal motivation to focus on my personal and professional growth every time I listen.

Well, the same goes for adolescents of ALL ages! Podcasts are amazing for students. They receive the gratification of independent choice by selecting what podcast to listen to, it’s a great independent (and quiet) activity, and students will develop their listening and reflection skills by listening to podcasts.Thanks to the internet, there are tons of podcasts geared towards children of all ages.

Setting up a podcast station and implementing in your classroom is way easier than you could have imagined (I promise). It’s as simple as needing headphones, a technology device with internet access, and maybe a special table or corner for the station. I keep my podcast materials in a labeled bin and move it to wherever I want that station in the room. Sometimes, the podcast station is in our classroom reading corner with the comfy chairs and space for students to lay down, sometimes it’s on my small group table.

As I assign my rotations or groups for workshop, students will have the materials and the location ready for that day. In the podcast bin I have laminated instructions on how to access the podcast website, podcast reflection cards for the kids to fill out, and extra pencils. Students bring their own personal headphones with them and their school assigned laptop or tablet with them.

Step 1 - Podcast Station

First, students will find the instructions page. This is pre-filled out by me of the exact titles of the podcasts they can choose from. I usually laminate these after I write in the podcast titles for durability so I can reuse them for many weeks or months.

My students will get comfy in the assigned location of the station, plug in their headphones to their device, open the website, and choose the podcast of their choice.

To make this easier for my 3rd graders, I spend some introduction time at the beginning of the school year. I guide every student to the website and show them how to bookmark the site for easy access whenever they need.

Step 2 - Podcast Station

Once students identify which podcast and episode they want to listen to, they fill out the “I’m Listening To” response card. I have them fill out this card to keep in their folder when finished. I often find students LOVED a podcast and the next time they go to the podcast station, they forget exactly which one they enjoyed last time. I discuss with my kids that many podcasts are series (similar to chapters in a book) and topics build upon the one prior.

I typically print the “I’m Listening To” cards on cardstock and I have printed them 4 per page and even 2 per page to save paper.

Step 3 - Podcast Station

The last item that I provide for students in the podcast bin is the “Podcast Reflection” sheet. I have many printed copies ready for them to grab. Once they are done listening to their podcast episode, they have to summarize and explain what happened during the episode. This pushes my elementary students to pay attention and use strong listening skills during the podcast, practicing summarizing and paraphrasing, and it helps them practice their writing skills.

Students also choose and circle one of the colored faces to rate the podcast and episode. They decide if they thought it was great, just okay, or did not enjoy it at all. Then the fun part begins, they continue growing these reflective skills and have to write what they would tell their friend about this podcast! This part is critical since we as a classroom will use this information to recommend and discuss the podcasts to one another.

I stumbled across this website last year while searching for “kid friendly podcasts.” The website is called Kids Listen and it’s absolutely AMAZING and user friendly. This website has simple filters where you can narrow down the options based primarily on age! I typically have my class early in the year, open the website with my guidance, we filter to their appropriate age, and then we bookmark the results. That way, when my students go to the podcast station, they click the bookmark, and are brought right to the filtered results. I take podcasts from this filtered list to add onto the “Podcast Instructions” page that is located in the bin for reference.