History 420 – Teaching with Podcasts Assignment #1
Dr. Gayle Olson-Raymer
Due September 15 - 50 points

After reading the Introduction below, read and complete the four parts to this assignment:

Introduction: 

Podcasts are everywhere and they have become an exciting new tool to use in our classrooms.  According to the website “Teacher’s Guide on the Use of Podcasting in Education," a podcast, as defined in the New Oxford American Dictionary is a “digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio payer."  It continues, “ … in other words, it is a digital audio file that is created, shared and heard. Podcasts can also be in the form of videos streamlined online, however, video podcast is known as vidcast or vodcast.”  (http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/12/teachers-guide-on-use-of-podcasting-in.html)

The Guide then provides at least five educational uses for podcasts in the classroom:

But before you can begin to think about how to use podcasts in the classroom, each of you must explore the value of podcasts to your own education.  This is the first part of this assignment – Part 1:  Exploring podcasts for your own education.

Part 1:  Exploring podcasts for your own education. 

Three episodes of three of the most popular podcasts currently available have been selected to familiarize yourselves with how podcasts can contribute to your own knowledge.  You will need to listen to each podcast and then answer the questions that follow.

First Podcast:  This American Life,  “The problem we all live with,” Episode 562 aired on July 31, 2015 (1 hour) http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with

  1. What is “the achievement gap” as explained in the podcast?
  2. What do we know does decrease the “achievement gap?”  Why does it work?  Why do we never discuss it in our classes or in our lives?
  3. The following is a statement made by a white parent at the school integration hearing: “This is not a race issue.  This is a commitment to education issue.”  How and why would you help your students deconstruct this statement?
  4. After listening to this podcast, explain at least 2-3 reactions you had while listening.
  5. How would you use this podcast in your classroom?  Or would you?  Explain.

Second Podcast:  On Point, “Journalist Robert Parry: America’s Hidden History” aired on October 26, 2915 (45 minutes)  http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/10/26/robert-parry-iran-contra-investigative-journalism

  1. Why is the information in the podcast important for every history teacher to understand?  Or is it?
  2. What do you find most troubling about the information in this podcast?  Why?
  3. How would you teach some/any of the information in this podcast?
  4. Of all the examples of “living history” discussed in this podcast, which do you think is most important for high school students to understand?  Why?

Third Podcast: Radio Diaries, “Strange Fruit: Voices of a Lynching” aired on August 25, 2014 (16 minutes) http://www.radiodiaries.org/strange-fruit-voices-of-a-lynching/

  1. How and why were “ordinary, average Americans attracted to the spectacle of lynching?”
  2. What parts, if any, might you use in a high school history class?  How and why?
  3. What do you feel is the “bottom line” message of this podcast?

Part II:  Learning how podcasts are being used in classrooms. 

While there are several excellent online sites about how educators are using podcasts in their classrooms, I think the following two are both useful and succinct for this introductory assignment:

Please read both articles – they are short.  Then answer the following questions:

  1. What did you find most useful about these two articles in terms of using podcasts in the classroom?
  2. Explain one idea that arose when reading the articles about how you might use podcasts in your classroom.

Part III:  Selecting a podcast to share with your classmates. 

Today there are thousands of podcasts that can be accessed, many of which could be useful in your classroom.  For this assignment, you have listened to three of the most popular podcasts. And some of you may have favorites that you are already listening to on a regular or irregular basis.  Now it is time to do a bit of exploring and in so doing, find a new podcast that you would be interested in using in your own classroom.  Following are some sites you could explore:

Once you explore the Internet and select a podcast that you think would interest your colleagues in terms of their own learning as well as their possible use in the classroom, please address the following:

  1. Provide the title and URL of the podcast. 
  2. Provide a brief synopsis of the podcast objectives and the types of episodes available on the podcast.
  3. Select one episode that you think would be especially interesting for your colleagues and carefully listens to it. 
  4. Provide the title of the podcast, the date it was aired, and the URL, as well as a brief synopsis of the episode.
  5. Describe how and why you would use this podcast in 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and/or 12th grade classroom.
  6. Make 5 copies of your response to questions 1-5 in this part of the assignment.  Bring the copies to class on September 15.

Part IV:  Sharing your podcast with your classmates. 

On September 15, bring your TYPEWRITTEN entire assignment – Parts 1-4 – to class, as well as 5 copies of the answers to your 5 questions in Part III.  You will each be working in a group of 5 students. Within that group, each of you will take no more than 10 minutes to do the following:

  1. Distribute a copy to each classmate of the information relating to the podcast and the episode you selected for Part III of this assignment.
  2. Explain – IN A WAY THAT WILL HOOK YOUR CLASSMATES – how and why this is a podcast that could be useful to them in terms of increasing their own understanding of history and/or in terms of encouraging them to use it in their classroom. 
  3. Your presentation MUST include visual and/or verbal support(s) in any format you choose.

After each of you has completed your presentation, each group will select the person with the most interesting podcast - and that person will then present his/her information to the entire class. After all five presentations, your professor will facilitate a class discussion about this assignment.  Some questions for discussion include:

BEFORE YOU LEAVE CLASS, TURN IN YOUR TYPEWRITTEN ASSIGNMENT.