I haven’t heard of using podcasts in the classroom because we never did in middle school or high school. After reading about them and listening to a few, I think it is a great idea and can be very beneficial in the classroom. I know that I would rather listen to a story on tape then read it. Another bonus is that it is covering standards like What Teens are Learning from Serial and Other Podcasts had stated.
It gets them interested, but also excited and anxiously waiting for the next time to listen. It captivates the students. The article also stated that students can listen to two-to-three grades above them that they cannot do when reading. It can also be beneficial for those ELL students because they can hear English. I like the fact that they said the students enjoyed that the teacher didn’t know the outcome before they did. I think this makes for even better discussion, because it is new and surprising for the teacher as well. Another great thing about podcasts is that most of them are free. Serial is free on iTunes. I like that these are true stories that they share. I think it could make it more eye=opening and easier to connect for students.
There could be some disadvantages to listening to podcasts. I think that if they get used to much and in replacement for reading, then it will not help enhance their reading skills. There are some podcasts that might be questionable if they are appropriate for school. I think they could get in trouble with the vulgarity and other issues with the stories.
I will not be teaching at the high school level, but I think students that are at the higher elementary level would be able to create digital storytelling. By having students create their own digital story, it covers so many more skills than just the writing does. It covers all of those skills that could be covered during writing, but also with technological skills.
taylorbauer 
Great post!! I read that article and I thought the same things that you did. I think it is really cool that they can hear something be read to them that is above their grade level and I believe it would be super beneficial for ELL students. I also like how you brought up that if podcasts are not used correctly or overused it will not improve students reading skills.
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I did not know that was a statistic but it is an important one! Thank you for your comments.
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I like the idea of having the students create their own digital story, that is a fun twist. I do not know that podcast could replace reading because most podcast are about a certain topic and therefore would not challenge books. If anything, digital storytelling could challenge traditional reading.
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I think it would be a fun way to teach all of the same things they would be covering doing writing but adding a twist like you said. That is a good point about digital storytelling challenging traditional reading.
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The fact that kids can listen to 2-3 grade levels higher than their current reading level is what got my attention the first time. Still unsure if elementary students would get the full benefit. They’d have to be short casts.
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I thought the same thing! Good statistic to know. They couldn’t listen to podcasts such as Serial because they would not be able to keep their attention that long.
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I agree with the fact that podcasts could be really beneficial to ELL students. When I read that I thought about what my German teacher had us to in high school. What we did was listen to audio tapes in German while following along with the transcripts that were in English. It seems like it wouldn’t do much, but just listening to a spoken language that’s being spoken fluently is really beneficial to the listener.
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That is so funny that you say that because I took German and my teacher did the same thing! It is such a difficult language it helped to hear it spoken. She always said that she learned the most when she had some background but then was in a place where German was frequently spoken.
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Oh gosh, it is incredibly difficult to learn. It’s interesting though how much easier it makes it when you actually hear it spoken fluently!
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Taylor, I also like how it gets the students excited and anxious to listen to the next one! Makes school “fun” for high schoolers again I believe. Good thoughts, and good post!
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It’s almost like any TV series. We are always waiting to watch that next episode to see what happens. Thank you!
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