Did you know that listening comprehension and reading comprehension skills are correlated? In today's episode, Drs. Rebecca Hines and Dr. Lisa Dieker discuss the article "How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom (with Listenwise)" by Angela Watson. Tune in to today's episode to learn practical ways to use podcasts in the classroom to help with reading and listening skills.
Don't forget we love to hear from our listeners! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We look forward to receiving your questions on our Google Phone (407) 900- 9305, Facebook (Practical Access), Twitter (@AccessPractical), or Instagram (@Practical_Access).
Link to Article:
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/how-to-use-podcasts-in-the-classroom/
Did you know that listening comprehension and reading comprehension skills are correlated? In today's episode, Drs. Rebecca Hines and Dr. Lisa Dieker discuss the article "How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom (with Listenwise)" by Angela Watson. Tune in to today's episode to learn practical ways to use podcasts in the classroom to help with reading and listening skills.
Don't forget we love to hear from our listeners! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We look forward to receiving your questions on our Google Phone (407) 900- 9305, Facebook (Practical Access), Twitter (@AccessPractical), or Instagram (@Practical_Access).
Link to Article:
https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/how-to-use-podcasts-in-the-classroom/
Lisa Dieker 00:00
Welcome to Practical Access I'm Lisa Dieker.
Rebecca Hines 00:03
And I'm Rebecca Hines.
Lisa Dieker 00:06
And I think Becky today you have something for us to think about.
Rebecca Hines 00:10
Well, it's not very original Lisa because it's about how to use podcasts. You know, I was really thinking about this, and in my mission to expand some of my own thinking this summer I was struck by you know my own listening to podcasts. Notably, mostly for comedic or like true crime type things but I've noticed how, how I enjoyed that and, and I was thinking about teachers. Easy to find articles about how to actually integrate, so the article that I read was How to Use Podcasts in the Classroom with Listen Wise, which is a specific podcast that's out there, and some of the big ideas from that that I took away one is listening comprehension and reading comprehension are correlated so listening to podcasts as a classroom activity can actually be a really engaging strategy that will help not only with listening but also with reading skills. One of the other things that was pointed out in this particular really light article was that it's also great for English language learners so that they can start to hear more and more and more professionally produced language and, and be very focused in their listening.
Lisa Dieker 01:41
Yeah I, and I really liked the piece in this article that you shared about equity, you know that's kind of been a theme we've been talking about, and again we don't know what we don't know about our students if we don't ask. Hey, you know who would you like to listen to in a podcast and you know, again I'm going to go nerd on you, but you know I love like real science or freakonomics I like those kinds of things because I'm curious. You know, there's a great podcast called you know Curiosity and I love to learn new things, but again, maybe I want to learn more about gender, race, class, culture, you know, again asking your kids at any age, I think we often think first graders don't know, we need to tell them and you and I both think they know completely. The other thing I love about podcasts too is flipping that even if you don't want to make it public, because we know under FERPA guidelines all of that, but you know letting your kids to their own podcast in the classroom what was the best thing, you know we always start with what's, the best thing about your summer. Well, maybe it should just be what, what's a podcast you'd like to make to tell us about your summer because, maybe there wasn't a great thing this summer, maybe everybody had a different experience so again, I, like the fact of it also being a way not only for kids to increase their comprehension, but to give them a voice and, and to hear other people's diverse perspectives and voice.
Rebecca Hines 03:04
Well, now that you mentioned that. This, this article specifically talked about the idea of the human voice being really powerful and it is actually really different than reading something, because it can invoke the word they use is empathy and it's this, this ability to allow students to really think about something from the speakers point of view, while they're hearing the speaker and I, I think that's a good connection for a lot of kids and I think I agree that's a really powerful piece. You can find nonfiction podcasts, you can find podcasts of different lengths based on the age level of your learners and certainly the interest of your learners. One of the things that I thought was a good idea is, is to consider using you know short podcasts you might listen to them as a whole group and then break into pairs to discuss them. You might have a choice among podcast episodes that different groups listen to almost like you would do with, with reading activities taking almost any reading activity and turning it into a listening activity. And I haven't checked this, this stat recently Lisa but the last time I looked listening skills are actually the weakest skills of all in American learners. So I think it is a good chance and a good time for us to be a little bit hyper-focused on helping to hone those skills.
Lisa Dieker 04:38
Well, I won't go there with my husband. Notice that I laugh. Rich don't be mad at me for that one, but he deserves a shout out in this podcast. But I, you know I'm going to take us a little different direction because I do love podcasts, and I assume everybody's listening to Practical Access, but I do think that that's a, you know, a good plug for ourselves, but I do think that podcasts can align with course content, but I also think that the, the trend also is that when kids talk they learn the deepest. So when you think aloud and you speak through, you know, when you're learning something new, you often do your own self-talk. Okay, so I put my foot here, I put my hand there. Like there's this think-aloud that, that can really make a big difference, but I also think this is a generation that likes to see and hear. Unless a kid, of course, has a, you know, a sensory deficit, so I really love vogging and I think this isn't just for kids, but I think this is also for teachers. I think you know, reminding yourself podcasting, YouTubeing, vlogging, all of those things can really kind of take your classroom to the next dimension. And I'll just mention that you know I literally have been watching these three people on YouTube that I just think are really interesting and I'm going to probably it's, it's, it's Darin Nakakihara I apologize for the name in advance, but he does some really great tech tips. So again, I don't think podcasting is just for the classroom I think it's for teachers. My second favorite, I'll just share real quick is Bond with James, get it kind of a flip of James Bond, and he does some great things with science and then there's this great elementary teacher that I just love the title it's called the Caffeinated Classroom and she talks about you know needing that coffee to get her going. But you know whether you're going to do a podcast for your kids but you know model that, say look Mrs. Dieker listened to three podcasts last night or she watched two vlogging on YouTube so that students see it just like we want kids to see us reading we want them to see us as lifelong learners and I think that's what school is about, and I think that's the beauty of podcasts or vlogs or YouTube whatever you might want to look at.
Rebecca Hines 06:44
Well, I will end with a couple of recommendations, podcast wise one is the actual The Listen Wise podcast from the ones that I was looking at really it's well organized I don't know, I know there's some free I don't know if they have a subscription for others, because it is organized in a way that, that helps you align that really with things in your actual classroom versus coming up with all of that yourself. But I also came across something on a site called Tinker Cast and the podcast is called Wow in the World, and I mentioned this one only because they are much more entertainment-focused. You know more music, more high energy, etc, etc, etc had a younger feel but really high energy and something I think if I if I were home with some younger kids this summer I might, I might try listening to something like that with my own kids just to get a feel for what's out there and that one's again, Wow in the World.
Lisa Dieker 07:51
Yeah and I'll end with my two favorites that I kind of just think we don't have enough sometimes resources we think history is about talking and reading a book and I love this one is called Stuff you Missed in History Class and it's kind of fun because it's got that novelty for the brain again. And then one I know we all struggle with is those teenage years and I love this one that I probably wouldn't listen to you, but I think I would definitely put it as a core piece of my classroom or as a parent and it's called Adult-ISH and it's by Youth Radio and it's actually podcast by youth that are about to be adults and I love that fact, because I think that's often a gap where we're like what advice, do we give. Well here's a you know, a couple of really great teens talking about culture and using storytelling and again that's why we, like a podcast because you can tell a story and kind of weave a theme in which can be very powerful. So we thank you for joining us if you have any questions send us a question on our Facebook page at Practical Access or you can send us a tweet @AccessPractical.