Using Podcasts in the History Classroom

Do you incorporate podcasts into your history lessons? If you find a good one, I guarantee most of your students will grow to love them.

There are so many great history podcasts out there, it can feel a little overwhelming finding the best one to suit your student's needs and interests. Some of my favorite history podcasts are "History Telles," "Stuff You Missed in History Class," "Presidential," and "More Perfect." There are lots of History teachers out there who have written blog posts highlighting their favorites. Some of my favorite podcast suggestions have come from teachers on Instagram! (Building Book Love is one of my favorite accounts to follow! She is a wealth of information regarding all things PODCASTS!)

My approach to using podcasts in the classroom now is very different from just a few years ago when I taught high school. I currently teach 6th and 7th grade students. When I use podcasts in my classroom, we often listen to episodes in 10-12 minute increments, pausing between segments, or a natural break in the program. An entire episode generally takes us three or four days to cover. Most tweens would not be able to physically or mentally handle listening to an entire podcast in a single sitting, therefore I break up episodes into smaller "chunks."

I provide my students with graphic organizers or doodle notes sheets to take notes and color while listening. When I stop the podcast for the day, we spend a few minutes discussing what we learned and sharing what we've written down on our doodle notes sheets. Then, we work on something else. (I usually break my periods into thirds, spending approximately 10-15 minutes on three different activities.)

I recently listened to a five-part series from the American History Tellers podcast on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. I thought episode 3, "Sixteen Minutes" would fit perfectly with my lesson. We listened to most of the 41-minute episode, listening for 10-15 minutes a day for three days. Most of my students loved the podcast and some were begging to listen to more episodes!

Since I teach 6th graders who are unfamiliar with some of the concepts and vocabulary addressed in the podcast, I thought it would be helpful to create a PowerPoint with images corresponding to the topics covered in the podcast. I am glad I did! The images reinforced some of the concepts dealt with in the program (as well as some of the unfamiliar vocabulary- such as the word "telautograph machine!")

Do you use podcasts in your history classroom? If so, which ones are your favorites? My current favorites are Stuff You Missed in History Class and American History Tellers.

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