There are a number of prerequisites for introducing a new topic: a clear endpoint, links to previous work and, most importantly, an engaging “hook” or entry point for the students.
Often this could be a photo, a question or even a newspaper article. Recently, however, I have found myself drawn to podcasts as a rich introduction to a unit.
Using podcasts to introduce lesson topics
My subject is theory of knowledge, a course specific to the International Baccalaureate Diploma, which deals with topics from a number of different disciplines. One unit looked at history and the reliability of sources and I wanted to take a look at the civil rights struggle in the 1960s.
A famous newspaper photo of that era shows a police dog attacking a protestor in Birmingham, Alabama. In researching the picture, I came across an episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast that dealt in-depth with the story behind the photograph.
So before the unit started, I issued students with the task of listening to the episode. This did require a little time to ensure that everyone had the software and could download the episode in class to avoid using up their data.
Students, though, were certainly intrigued to experience a new medium, especially one that avoided poring over a textbook or photocopied news article.
Hooked from the start
There are a number of benefits of setting a podcast as a homework assignment: students often choose to listen on their commute to or from school; students are comfortable using devices, podcast apps and headphones; episodes are usually less than an hour long; and, hopefully, they will listen to other “non-prescribed” episodes.
Most importantly from a teacher’s perspective, a well-chosen podcast will give them lots of stories, examples and ideas for the coming topic. Everybody wins.
Indeed, the episode I asked them to listen to certainly did engage the students and provided many points of discussion.
Sadly, the issues of race and media were as relevant at the time of studying the topic as they were at the time of the Alabama protests.
Students not only questioned the validity of sources in history but also the reliability of modern-day reporting for future historians looking back at our current political climate.
These discussions grew out of seeds planted by Gladwell’s podcast; students came to lessons armed with probing questions and challenging ideas.
Many of them used other episodes of the podcast to further their ideas in the assessed writing at the end of the unit. Indeed, I now see more podcasts listed in bibliographies than I did in the past.
From this early success, I started to use podcasts more frequently in my teaching. I am now an avid listener and seek out not only episodes that serve as a stimulus for a specific lesson, topic or unit but also regularly listen to my favourite writers and thinkers for my own entertainment. Often I will make recommendations that fit individual student’s interests.
Five podcast recommendations
Nowadays teachers are spoilt for choice when it comes to podcasts. Currently, I have around 10 different ones I regularly use and a host of others that I dip in and out of. Here is a shortlist of great examples from different subject areas:
Explore the statistics behind the news headlines and what they really mean.
Professor Brian Cox discusses theories and ideas from the world of science.
Historian Jill Lapore explores the attack on truth and the rise of doubt with stories from the past century.
A range of artists, writers and thinkers discuss the ideas that shape our world.
Stephen Dubner, one of the authors of the Freaknomics books, discusses a range of social issues with the leading experts in the field.
Of course, if you can make time in your day to listen to one or two or your favourites, soon you will discover natural links to the topics in your curriculum.
Once you have found material suitable for your classes, and suitable for their age range (always listen first to any episode you suggest to ensure that it does not broach any sensitive areas in your location), you can provide your students with access to some of the best thinkers and ideas that podcasts have to offer.
David Morgan is an international teacher and administrator currently based in Singapore
