Favorite Podcasts

There are so many interesting pod-casts that sometimes it's hard to narrow it down to just a few. One of my very favorites is CNN Student News. One of the reasons I enjoy it is because it provides engaging activities to complete with students that really gets them thinking about current events, both international and nationwide. You could even create a clicker activity to go along with it, incorporate class discussion blogs, and if needed, give quizzes to students via a Google form - quizzes are already made by CNN and provide opportunities for differentiation. When I taught a Broadcasting course to 7th and 8th graders, this was a daily warm-up activity. I downloaded the podcast through ITunes daily instead of accessing CNN Student News for each class, and then saved it to my desk top to avoid buffering issues and lengthy downloading times. You can access the podcast either through ITunes or through CNN.

Jillian Michaels also has a good podcast, called the Jillian Michaels Show. As described on the podcast page, Jillian gives you "tools to find health and happiness in all areas of your life."  If you enjoy working out to Jillian's DVD's or watching her on the Biggest Loser, I recommend you listening to her show on a podcast because she discusses all kinds of issues from being a new mom to choosing good foods to eat to how to read nutrition labels correctly and is much different than the drill Sargent you watch making you sweat and ache from hard exercise.  Each show is about 45 or so minutes long, but, you can always pause it and return to it later.

When I taught English last year, I enjoyed Grammar Girl. These pod-casts are relatively short and great for introducing new concepts, most of which are appropriate to share with students. Although I am certified to teach English, I dreaded teaching grammar, but knowing Grammar Girl was there as my resource made teaching much easier - especially if you've ever seen the worksheets created by the textbook company.  Definitely not written at a 7th grade level!  I learned so much and was able to refresh my memory on the rules as well.  Grammar Girl also has her own website with additional materials and detailed information. Even though I didn't consistently use these in my classes, I posted the link to my Edmodo account for students to access and use as a teaching resource, especially if they had been absent. I always tell students that the 10 or so minutes in the car listening to a podcast or studying electronic flashcards is powerful way to spend catching up on a class or reviewing for a test, and pod-casts are a great resource to facilitate the flipped classroom concept.

These are just a few of my favorite pod-casts.  My next goal would actually be to create my own podcast perhaps on the daily lesson.  I have about 12 minutes to teach 7th graders a concept each 43 minute period- the perfect length of time for a podcast.  I could alternate between videos and pod-casts to get my curriculum flipped.