podcast resources

There are so many wonderful podcast options for building your content knowledge and professional skills. Why fo podcasts work?  

• Listening to podcasts improves reading
• Podcasts are current and up-to-date
• Podcasts are aligned to local and state standards
• Listening supports multi-lingual learning opportunities
• You can find multiple content, multiple lengths, and multiple formats

And they are free. What is not to love? Start with this post by Glenn:

• Only Social Studies in the Building. Using Podcasts as Teaching Tools

Here are some of our faves:

The Classics

• The Stuff You Missed in History Class
  You get complex and relevant facts, like how smallpox was eradicated and shares histories lost or manipulated over time, including the tale of Mildred Fish Harnack, a Nazi resistance fighter from Wisconsin. Hosts pay special attention to the histories of underrepresented groups.
• RadioLab
  Radiolab asks deep questions and uses investigative journalism to get the answers. Episodes might whirl you through science, legal history, and into the home of someone halfway across the world. 
• This American Life
  An entertaining kind of journalism that’s built around plot. In other words, stories! Our favorite sorts of stories have compelling people at the center of them, funny moments, big feelings, surprising plot twists, and interesting ideas. Like little movies for radio.
• Listenwise
  Listenwise is designed for educators with short audio clips that engage all your students with multimodal lessons for Social Studies and ELA. Find easy to embed and flexible lesson designs for varied classroom settings.

Some of our new listens

• American History Tellers
  The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. We’ll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation and show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today.
• Womanica
  Thinking back to our history classes growing up, we had one question: Where the ladies at? Enter, Womanica. In just 5 minutes a day, learn about different incredible women from throughout history.
• Womanica
  Thinking back to our history classes growing up, we had one question: Where the ladies at? Enter, Womanica. In just 5 minutes a day, learn about different incredible women from throughout history.
• Educational Duct Tape
  A podcast focusing on educational technology as a tool to solve problems in the classroom.
• Teaching Hard History
  Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries from Learning for Justice starts with the history of chattel slavery and continues through the Jim Crow era, sharing lessons many don’t learn in the classroom and advice for teachers who want to change that.
• Black Educators Matter
  Brooke Brown and Danielle Moneyham created the Black Educators Matter podcast to highlight the stories, challenges, and successes of Black educators around the country.
• This Teacher Life
  How do we enjoy education “when it feels like a hot mess?” What does “learning” mean in 2022? These are the types of questions that Monica Genta, a middle school teacher and educational consultant, explores through her weekly podcast This Teacher Life.
• The Past and the Curious
  Think the TV show Drunk History but without the alcohol, this podcast features people telling interesting, little-known stories from history with an emphasis on fun and humor. With a fun song at the end!
• The Daily
  This is how the news should sound. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week
• Kidsnuz
  Perfect current event podcast for the upper elementary and middle classroom. (With an handy quiz at the end of each episode.)
• Every Little Thing
  Why do we cry? Did cavemen really carry clubs? Can swearing make you stronger? On ELT, you call with a question, we find you an answer.
• History Becomes Her
  Host Rachel Thompson speaks to women making change about the women of the past who paved the way for them.
• SideDoor
  More than 155 million treasures fill the Smithsonian’s vaults and with the help of biologists, artists, historians, archaeologists, zookeepers, and astrophysicists, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through Smithsonian’s side door to search for stories that can’t be found anywhere else.
• The History Chicks
  Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider covers biographies of prominent females throughout history like Mary Todd Lincoln or Joan of Arc.
• Throughline
  They say history repeats itself but how has it shaped us as a society? Hosts Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtim Arablouei examine the historical context behind today’s headlines, trying to give current events some past relativity.
• Class Tech Tips
  Each week you’ll find new blog posts featuring lesson ideas, new EdTech tools, and ways to use technology in your K-12 classroom.