Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/overhead-shot-of-a-cellphone-between-a-mug-and-headphones-6686442/

For a long time I’ve thought that podcasts were a great idea to use in the classroom. This year I decided to use them in my classroom to test out if they’re as great as I thought they would be. Honestly, I was very surprised by how much my students enjoyed the series!

There are a couple of reasons I choose to use a podcast:

  • It would save my voice from reading aloud
  • It was free and accessible outside of the classroom for absent/vacationing students
  • Many students hadn’t listened to them before and hadn’t listened to this show yet
  • Students were exposed to a new way of consuming media
  • I was able to link it directly to the classroom
  • You don’t need to purchase anything extra (though I decided to purchase a unit that went with this series because I honestly didn’t have time to re-create material when it already existed).
  • Accessibility. Reading, decoding, comprehending can present a major obstacle for some students and this format permits all students to enjoy the material. I purchased the transcripts for this series because I wanted to have the text to go along with it. Many students referenced the transcripts when they were working on their projects.
  • Each episode was short, between 7-12 minutes and it was a great Friday morning activity that the students looked forward to all week.

My class listened to The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel it’s a serialized and scripted podcast based on the book by the same name. It’s meant for students aged 8-12 but I recommend students aged 11-13 (grade 6-7/middle school). There are some parts of episodes that have situations and content that is better suited for those ages. The podcast is 3 seasons long and each season has 10 episodes. My students absolutely loved season 1 and are asking that we listen to season 2!

How I structured each lesson:

Being new to using podcasts in the classroom I chose to purchase and use an already created unit plan with activities and then I created my own mid-unit assignment and summative assessment at the end of the unit. There were activities included in the bundle I purchased but I wanted something different for my students that incorporated some of the other things we were learning, like paragraph structures.

Already prepared unit – 2 Peas and a Dog

We usually listened to an episode every Friday morning, it was a really great way to start off Fridays and it gave the students something to look forward to. I happen to have a built in speak system in my classroom and I would plug the iPad into the system and play it that way. In the purchased unit, there are activities for each episode for pre-listening and post-listening. My class did both of those activities for every episode. In addition, we worked on building our character analysis and sketches after every episode. By adding details about each character throughout the series, the students had notes to refer back to during their mid and end unit assignments.

Mid-point check in:

For the mid-point check in, my students wrote a longer paragraph (400-500 words) where they focused on the plot and character development up until that point in the series (we did this activity right after listening to episode 5). The students were asked to include the following:

  • A plot summary
  • Choose 2 characters to analyze (main traits, their interactions with other characters, key actions they’ve taken, how their actions move the plot forward)
  • A personal reflection (most interesting part for them, how they feel about the main characters, prediction for what might happen next (this one should be short and a general idea))
  • Connections to their own life (there’s lots they can connect to with the friendship group and their interactions with adults)
  • Prediction (this one should be more in depth in what they actually think and include specifics)

At the beginning, many of my students felt like they wouldn’t possibly be able to write 400 words. When they finally started writing almost all of them asked for a word limit extension because they realized they had much more to say about the podcast.

Summative assessment:

Whenever I’m using a project as a summative assessment I want to provide as much choice as possible for the students. I gave them 7 options to choose from, and option 8 is always “speak to the teacher if you have another idea.”

  1. Written essay: Analyze the character development of Mars Patel throughout Season 1. How does Mars grow and change? What challenges does he face, and how does he overcome them? Use specific examples from the podcast to support your analysis.
  2. Creative project – Create a piece of artwork, such as a comic strip, storyboard, or painting, that illustrates a significant scene from Season 1. Include a brief written explanation (1-2 paragraphs) describing the scene and its importance to the overall story.
  3. Group presentation: Work in groups (max. 3 people) to create a presentation on the themes of friendship and teamwork in Mars Patel. How do these themes drive the plot and affect the characters? Use multimedia elements such as slides, videos, or audio clips to enhance your presentation.
  4. Diary entries: Write a series of diary entries from the perspective of one of the characters in Mars Patel. The entries should cover key events from Season 1 and reflect the character’s thoughts and feelings about what is happening.
  5. Podcast review: Write a review of the Mars Patel podcast as if you were a critic for a magazine or website. Include a summary of the plot, analysis of the characters, and your overall opinion of the podcast. What were the strengths and weaknesses? Would you recommend it to others?
  6. Alternate ending: Write an alternate ending for Season 1 of Mars Patel. How do you imagine the story could have ended differently? Explain why you chose this new ending and how it impacts the characters and plot.
  7. Character interview: Imagine you are a journalist interviewing one of the characters from Mars Patel. Write the interview, including both your questions and the character’s responses. Focus on the character’s experiences, thoughts, and motivations throughout Season 1.
  8. See the teacher with your idea.

I gave them choice in the format they chose for presenting their work. I had students who typed up their work and handed in a written document. I had other students who created digital works for their presentation. Some students created big poster boards and displayed their work that way. Each student presented their work to the class and they did a really fantastic job. The students really enjoyed hearing and seeing their classmates’ work.

Final thoughts:

I really, really, really enjoyed using this podcast series in my classroom. It’s one I will definitely return to using in the future. Now that I’ve tried a podcast once and I’ve seen how it can be included, it’s something that I’d like to try with a French language podcast!