# data[].attributes.headline
Students Tackle Real World Topics with Podcasts

# data[].attributes.subject
Students Tackle Real World Topics with Podcasts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Podcasts are on the rise across K-12 as a way to amplify student voice. Prior to distance learning, my fifth-grade humanities class embarked on a study of identity in which they tackled real-world topics-such as bullying, autism, school safety and beauty-in the process of creating their own podcasts.

The project kicked off with students choosing a book they wanted to read. Each novel delved into a specific identity theme-stories included Rules by Cynthia Lord, Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine, Schooled by Gordon Korman, So B. It by Sarah Week, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, and Ugly by Robert Hoge. Through these age-appropriate stories, they were able to explore different identities in the context of real-world issues.

After studying their book, students began to brainstorm what identity concept they wanted to teach the rest of the class. The goal was to share the main character's experience and explain how this resonated with their group. As a class, we decided to use podcasts as the way to capture and share these learning experiences.

To create our podcasts, we used Soundtrap's online studio, as it allowed students to record and edit their scripts and interview adults as "expert sources" relevant to their topic of choice. To prepare students for the task of scriptwriting, we reviewed several lessons on how to organize a podcast. During this time, students learned to write an intro and outro piece, draft transitions, and, the most important lesson, identify their audience-which they all agreed should be their fellow classmates. Students could record directly into the online studio or use their phone's microphone to record and upload.

This end product was a podcast series to surface and explore real-world topics. Here are two of the podcasts and topics they covered:

Love, Starwest - This podcast was inspired by Stargirl, in which the main character spreads random acts of kindness anonymously. Inspired by her example, this group spread random acts of kindness to students and teachers throughout the school. Afterwards, they interviewed three people on the receiving end and recorded their reactions upon learning about the project. Tune in to the podcast to hear how the students take a lighthearted banter approach to storytelling:

Project Ugly - After reading the book Ugly, students in this group were inspired to explore notions of beauty and the value of finding beauty from within. They asked fellow students questions such as, "How do you feel about your appearance?" They also interviewed the founder of a local company called Project Gorgeous on how to mitigate stress and its impact on appearance. Listen to the podcast:

Our final step was to submit these podcasts to NPR's Student Podcasting Challenge, a nationwide competition for student-created audio stories. The NPR education team recently released the results and my students' podcast Love, Starwest was named as an honorable mention for this year's Podcast Challenge, a huge accomplishment for my students who are first time podcasters.

Tips for Educational Podcasting

Podcasting is a great way to transform traditional writing assignments into engaging audio stories that teach students to use vocal expression and other sounds to amplify their message, as well as expose students to the real world application of technology. Here are some important tips from my students' experiences:

1. Get started by exploring podcasts - For many of my students, this was their first time being introduced to podcasts. One of the first steps we did as a class was to listen to professional and student-made podcasts to get a better understanding of the format. We listened to shows on BestRobotEver, WBUR's Kind World, KidNuz, WhatIfWorld, as well as explored NPR's various resources including how-to podcast guides for and .

2. Support the writing process - We treated script writing just like any other writing assignment the class had previously completed. After reading their books, students got started brainstorming their topic ideas. Additional steps included defining their target audience, creating an outline to organize their narrative, and conducting research about their topic. I had my students create their own to share and collaborate on new researching findings within their group.

3. Assign students roles - As the project got underway, I recognized that students were beginning to informally take on different production roles, which was helping to increase engagement and move the project along. I started to assign distinct roles to take charge of various elements of podcasting, such as online studio manager, interviewer, recorder, and editor.

4. Practice makes perfect - Just like their more traditional writing assignments, script-writing involved several rounds of revisions. We found that recording the scripts in segments, rather than all the way through the entire narrative, was key for allowing for students to make minor adjustments to improve their scripts without having to re-record the entire episode.

For more, see:
Stevie Frank is a fifth-grade humanities teacher at Zionsville West Middle School. This is her 11th year of teaching. She's taught 4th and 5th grade and has young boys at home that keep her busy! Follow Stevie on Twitter @steviefrank23. Stay in-the-know with innovations in learning by signing up for the weekly Smart Update.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Students Tackle Real World Topics with Podcasts | Getting Smart

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Podcasts are on the rise across K-12 as a way to amplify student voice. Prior to distance learning, my fifth-grade humanities class embarked on a study of identity in which they tackled real-world topics-such as bullying, autism, school safety and beauty-in the process of creating their own podcasts.

# data[].attributes.body
Our curriculum supports middle and high school students on their journeys creating podcasts. This website hosts a guide to walk students through making their own podcasts and sharing their voices.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Giving Voices to Students

Our curriculum supports middle and high school students on their journeys creating podcasts. This website hosts a guide to walk students through making their own podcasts and sharing their voices.

We began creating a curriculum in 2018 when we realized the difficulties surrounding learning how to podcast as a hobby. As we develop own passion for podcasting, we were inspired to create a guide that would motivate and facilitate podcast learning among middle and high school students.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Giving Voices to Students Our curriculum supports middle and high school students on their journeys creating podcasts. This website hosts a guide to walk students through making their own podcasts and sharing their voices. We began creating a curriculum in 2018 when we realized the difficulties surrounding learning how to podcast as a hobby.

# data[].attributes.body
Audrey O'Clair audrey.oclair@soundtrap.com

Jess Kertz
jess.kertz@soundtrap.com

Jostin Grimes
jostin@soundtrap.com

Taylor Haun
taylor.haun@soundtrap.com

Serena Robinett
serena@soundtrap.com

# data[].attributes.body
Melissa Bush, who teaches 4th and 5th graders at a California elementary school, recently embarked on a project with her students using our online studio to record, edit and create their own podcasts. Learn more about her project and listen to 20+ student podcasts to help you and your students get inspired!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Melissa Bush, who teaches 4th and 5th graders at a California elementary school, recently embarked on a project with her students using our online studio to record, edit and create their own podcasts. Learn more about her project and listen to 20+ student podcasts to help you and your students get inspired!

This semester, I introduced podcasting into my classroom. The project offered my students the opportunity to become responsible content creators while also exploring new ways to share their ideas. In my class, students were given the freedom to research a topic of their choice on which to focus their podcast. The end products included subject-specific content (for example, explaining the history and rules of baseball), how-to audio stories (for example, candle making), and more.

After selecting their topics, students had to learn how to become effective researchers. Students learned to determine the credibility of a website, as well as how to correctly cite sources when speaking and writing. During the research phase, many students even connected with and interviewed experts in the field to help answer questions that came up in their research.

Once students had the information to write their narratives, we dove into script writing. The class studied the different components of a podcast script, including how to make introductions to themselves and their topics, drafting transitions between talking points and interviewees, as well as incorporating different sound elements to amplify their message. The class listened to and studied a few professional podcasts to get inspiration for their own work.

Students used Soundtrap's online studio to record and edit their scripts, as well as incorporate different sounds and music effects into their podcasts. The final product includes over 20 student-made podcasts, covering a range of topics and ideas.

Listen to three of our student podcasts embedded below and visit our class page to hear all 24 projects!
Interested in featuring your classroom and/or project on the Soundtrap EDU blog? Share your story .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Soundtrap Spotlight: Student-Made Podcasts - Soundtrap

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Melissa Bush, who teaches 4th and 5th graders at a California elementary school, recently embarked on a project with her students using our online studio to record, edit and create their own podcasts. Learn more about her project and listen to 20+ student podcasts to help you and your students get inspired!

# data[].attributes.headline
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

# data[].attributes.subject
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hey. Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might have found your way here through a number of possible paths. Maybe you heard about my book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Or, maybe you typed in www.ready4rigor.com and those shadowy internet puppeteers redirected you here. Maybe you ended up here because you were doing a Google search for culturally responsive teaching practices

Or maybe your school is reading Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain in a book study and you wanted to know more about this Zaretta Hammond chick who wrote it.

It doesn't matter how you got here. What's important is that you and I are now connected.

Since you are an equity-minded educator like me, you are probably waging your own private movement to bust the myths behind student engagement (or the lack of) among low performing students of color, poor students, and English learners.

Well, you are in the right place. This is a blog where we can get answers to our collective and individual questions about how we can help students become confident and competent learners. In this space, I want to highlight what I am learning from being out in schools and classrooms with teachers who are successful with diverse students. I want to focus on how we can take everyday strategies and practices and put them to work in their classrooms to be more culturally responsive.

So, again, welcome!

Just to let you know, on average, I publish a new post every other week - two times per month at the least (sometimes a few more). That gives me time to be in schools and to write. If you don't want to miss updates on what I am seeing and learning, sign up for my newsletter by pushing that button below.

Binge-worthy Posts and Podcasts

Books are good, but sometimes you want your knowledge in bite-sized doses. That's what I like to deliver: consumable, usable, and entertaining food for thought (and action). Here are some of the most popular blog posts and guest podcast interviews to sample.

About Zaretta Hammond

It's funny. These days a lot of folks are calling me "Dr. Hammond" since the book has become required reading in many teacher education programs and school districts. Well, to set the record straight, I am not a PhD. I do have a Master's degree, but I consider myself a "boots on the ground" teacher. I call myself a former writing teacher turned equity freedom fighter. My heart is forever with children and teachers in the classroom, not in an ivory tower, even if these days most of my "students" are new leaders and pre-service teachers. [ A quick note: Not throwing any shade at all the PhDs out there doing the work.]

When I was in the classroom back in the day, I taught composition (expository writing). It was where I started to understand how important literacy was to equity, and how neuroscience and culture should inform our instructional practice.

Since leaving the classroom, I have done work as a curriculum designer and professional developer at organizations such as the National Equity Project and the Annenberg-funded Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC) in the San Francisco-Bay Area. I am a trained facilitator in anti-bias processes and have facilitated groups focused on learning to talk about issues of racial politics and privilege.

My primary work has been linking instruction, equity, and literacy. I have spent time as an adjunct instructor at Saint Mary's College in Norther California where I taught Adolescent Literacy and trained tutors and parents in reading support strategies for struggling students of color.

As an undergraduate, I attended University of California, Berkley before finishing up my degree at New York University where I majored in English Literature with a minor in Writing. I completed my Masters in Secondary English Education, with a Concentration in Writing Instruction at University of Colorado, Boulder where I simultaneously did my teacher certification program (starting three months after the birth of my son. I do not recommend this).

For the past 25 years, I've maintained a small, independent education consulting practice from which I do my research and writing as well as support schools doing deep instructionally-focused equity work.

Stay in touch

I hope this blog inspires, motivates, and challenges you to try some new practices that move you toward being more culturally responsive. If it does, send me a note. I'd love to hear from you. The best way to keep in touch with me is to sign up for free email updates (where you get all kinds of exclusive goodies).

Other Ways to Connect

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
About - Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hey. Thanks for stopping by my blog. You might have found your way here through a number of possible paths. Maybe you heard about my book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. Or, maybe you typed in www.ready4rigor.com and those shadowy internet puppeteers redirected you here.

# data[].attributes.body
Book Creator E-Book by Michael Hernandez @cinehead

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read this free ebook by Michael Hernandez. Find thousands of free educational ebooks for classroom use at read.bookcreator.com

# data[].attributes.body
Created by Read Write Think

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Gimlet / Spotify for Podcasters

Introducing a brand new five-episode series from podcast pioneer Alex Blumberg, and Spotify for Podcasters, that teaches the craft of audio story-telling.

While many people have tried their hand at creating a podcast, most have found it's not as simple as it seems, especially when it comes to making a hit. "People underestimate how much time and work it takes to make something that will hold an audience's attention," says Alex Blumberg, co-founder of Spotify-owned Gimlet Media, an influential leader in podcasting.

That's what led him to create a special podcast for Gimlet employees about the secrets to making a great show. Now for the first time, those secrets are being made public in the new podcast Gimlet Academy-hosted by Blumberg and released in partnership with Spotify for Podcasters-that explores how to make compelling audio stories.

"The series is for anyone interested in audio storytelling. It takes the most important lessons my friends, colleagues and I in the podcasting biz have learned over our many decades doing this work, and distills them into five easy-to-digest, fun-to-listen-to podcast episodes," Blumberg explains. From crafting an initial pitch to putting together a show's final structure, Gimlet Academy promises to deliver all the important details behind the world of podcasting to listeners.

Blumberg's own deep dive into podcasts began in 2014. He'd spent the previous 15 years working as a producer for This American Life, and co-creating and running the hit NPR podcast Planet Money. He ditched all that because he saw a niche he knew had legs (and hopefully plenty of ears): well-produced podcasts with a sharp focus on storytelling and journalism. Alongside Matt Lieber, another former radio show and podcast producer, he formed the narrative podcasting company Gimlet Media. In pure meta fashion, Blumberg began chronicling his adventures (and misadventures) in building his business on the podcast series .

Half a decade later, Gimlet's roster now includes podcasts like , Science Vs., Crimetown, and Heavyweight, and are listened to by millions of people each month. Its slate of mostly narrative-style shows are known for their engaging content that holds a person's attention and keeps an audience coming back for more.

They hook listeners from the start, which according to Blumberg stems from creators working on something they're genuinely passionate about and want to share with others. "Think hard about what you actually want to say," he advises. "Don't think that a podcast will lead to fame or fortune. Instead, consider what it is that only you can offer and how you can speak directly and honestly to a community that matters to you."

From there, it comes down to a combination of hard work and great storytelling. The podcasters that create the shows everyone hears about? Blumberg believes they have one thing in common: "they work their butts off to keep that audience engaged, informed, and entertained."

Listen to all five episodes of Gimlet Academy below, available only on Spotify.
Tens of thousands of audio creators use Spotify for Podcasters every month to dive into streaming analytics about how their show is doing on Spotify and tap into resources for how to help their show reach even more listeners around the world. -Spotify for Podcasters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gimlet Academy Has Arrived! - News - Spotify for Podcasters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Introducing a brand new five-episode series from podcast pioneer Alex Blumberg, and Spotify for Podcasters, that teaches the craft of audio story-telling. While many people have tried their hand at creating a podcast, most have found it's not as simple as it seems, especially when it comes to making a hit.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Copyright © 2019 Soundtrap Edu Blog. All Rights Reserved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teachers don't typically encourage students to bring iPods to school, but when a girl in Ken Giles's class brought him "One Tribe," a song by the Black Eyed Peas, he was thrilled. Giles, a music teacher in Washington, D.C., uses protest music to illustrate the connections among culture, art, history and social movements and to help his students understand how music can effect social change. Kids have access to an almost infinite number of songs, but this student saw through the clutter, says Giles. "She figured out that, 'This modern song is like the historical songs he's been teaching us.'"

Protest songs are part of our cultural consciousness-and a powerful tool in the classroom. Just as music has brought together members of different socioeconomic groups, races and religious convictions into cooperative social movements, protest songs can serve as a versatile teaching resource, culturally relevant to students of diverse backgrounds.

"Everyone has some musical interest," says Dr. Christopher Andrew Brkich, author of the article "Music as a Weapon: Using Popular Culture to Combat Social Injustice." That interest is a tool that can be used to hook students and to convey powerful messages that they might miss in traditional texts.

Protest songs allow people to bond on an intellectual level as well as on a deeper, subconscious level reached through shared experience, says William G. Roy, author of Reds, Whites and Blues: Social Movements, Folk Music, and Race in the United States. That shared experience goes beyond listening.

When students are given the opportunity to engage with protest music by singing, the learning experience is enriched. "Music is a very social thing," says Brkich. "If you've ever been to a musical concert, the entire audience sings along with the artist who's up on the stage. The same thing happens in class."

Giles agrees that there is greater power in making music than in simply listening to it. "I really do wish people would sing and play instruments," he says. "When civil rights activists would go out on a demonstration and sing 'we shall not be moved,' everyone in the line was singing."

"It couldn't but cement the learning experience more strongly," says Brkich. "The whole class gets engaged in the learning experience."

As important as the music experience is, it is even more essential that students connect to a song. Students are more likely to participate in class if they can relate to the subject matter. For a teacher, this may mean working with contemporary music, or illuminating the circumstances in which an old song was originally sung. "Try to tell the story that surrounds the song," Giles advises. "Who were [the singers]? What were they doing? What did they think?"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

# data[].attributes.body
A podcast featuring great student podcasts. Each weekly highlights student work and hear from their teachers about the challenges and successes of podcasting with their students. We believe elevating students voice beyond the classroom and sharing the lesson process will inspire others to get podcasting with their classes!

# data[].attributes.headline
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.subject
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.headline
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.subject
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.body
This is the ultimate treasure trove of resources and guides to great audio storytelling and reporting. From how to handle translating audio in your work, to guides for the best gear. MUST BOOKMARK :)

# data[].attributes.body
This is literally a class in audio storytelling. Each episode is a deep dive into some essential part of our craft. Can't recommend it enough!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Backstory to Great Radio Storytelling, hosted by Rob Rosenthal, for Transom and PRX.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tips for Starting a Podcast | Cult of Pedagogy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Producing your own podcast is easier than you might think. This list of tools, processes, and general advice will get you started.

# data[].attributes.body
If you don't already know about Third Coast, it's the podcast/audio conference for us narrative audio storytelling nerds. It can be expensive to get to Chicago each year to attend, but thanks to this podcast, you can hear all the sessions for free!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Third Coast Pocket Conference is the start of your next great story - featuring sessions from Third Coast Conferences and more. Subscribe to learn about creating audio stories from some of the most creative and innovative minds in the podcasting world and beyond.

# data[].attributes.body
Created by: Martina Castro of Adonde Media (http://www.adondemedia.com/)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Audio Storytelling Vocab List (Created by Martina Castro)

# data[].attributes.body
This podcast is made by the folks at Third Coast to highlight some of the best audio documentary work in the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Start listening

In this episode, two young Black artists revisit memories to grapple with how they are seen by others, and how they see themselves.

"Letters to a Young Poet" is one of four episodes of Best ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Start listening In this episode, two young Black artists revisit memories to grapple with how they are seen by others, and how they see themselves. "Letters to a Young Poet" is one of four episodes of Best ...

# data[].attributes.body
Created by: Martina Castro of Adonde Media (http://www.adondemedia.com/)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Recording 101 (Created by Martina Castro)

# data[].attributes.body
Created by: Martina Castro of Adonde Media (http://www.adondemedia.com/)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reporting a story from A to Z (Created by Martina Castro)

# data[].attributes.body
- Do ask your protagonist to introduce themselves, ideally in a full sentence
- Do get their contact info - to ask follow up questions, and to share your piece with them
- Don't ask yes or no questions
- Do ask for anecdotes and have them take you back to how they felt then...people have a tendency to sum up things as they are now, but we want to know how they felt in that moment, and how they may have changed since then
- Don't be afraid to ask follow up questions if you don't understand; ok to play a little dumb to have people explain things simply
- Do pause and allow for space
- Don't talk over your interviewee, interrupt them or react audibly to what they are saying
Shared by: Martina Castro of Adonde Media (http://www.adondemedia.com/)

# data[].attributes.body
- Use short, declarative sentences. If you see many clauses or commas, you should probably replace them with periods.
- Simple is better. Metaphors and flowery language come off as literary...how would you actually say this to a friend?
- let what happened in the story reveal itself to your audience the way your protagonist lived it...ask yourself: are you letting there be any mystery? Are you summing it up in the beginning? Could you do something to cause your audience to ask, ooh and what’s going to happen next?
- Are you setting up the central question or driving purpose of your story in the first minute of your story? And how are you driving it forward?
Shared by: Martina Castro of Adonde Media (http://www.adondemedia.com/)

# data[].attributes.body
- WEAR YOUR HEADPHONES!
- Check your levels
- Make sure you have full battery power
- Make sure it's recording and not paused (ticker should be going up in time)
- Let the interviewee know not to make sounds that could mess up the recording (ruffling shirt, etc)
- GET ROOM TONE AT THE END! 30-60 seconds if it's quiet, 60-120 sec if its noisy
Shared by: Martina Castro of Adonde Media (http://www.adondemedia.com/)

# data[].attributes.body
Book by Jessica Abel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Go behind the scenes of our most ambitious radio programs and witness an intensely creative moment in a medium that's changing the way we tell stories.

Every week, millions of devoted fans download or tune in to This American Life, The Moth, Radiolab, Planet Money, Snap Judgment, Radio Diaries, 99% Invisible, and other nonfiction narrative radio shows. The compelling stories they produce are almost cinematic in scope and approach-intricately weaving sound into robust and engaging storytelling. A lot goes into making the shows we love. Anchored by surprising characters and big questions, their stories are tightly structured, edited, and soundtracked, and they introduce us to authentic voices from every walk of life.

Radio and podcasts today are entrepreneurial and DIY; there's a can-do, collaborative spirit that characterizes people working in this field, fearlessly breaking new artistic ground. And more than ever, given the excellence and explosive popularity of shows like Serial, it's clear that the creative producers working in this medium hold the key to storytelling secrets that the rest of us must learn.

Out on the Wire, a documentary comic, literally illustrates those secrets, gleaned straight from those on the frontlines of radio's revolution. With the help of This American Life's Ira Glass, cartoonist Jessica Abel uncovers just how producers construct a story, spilling some juicy insider details along the way. Jad Abumrad of RadioLab talks about chasing moments of awe with scientists, while Planet Money's Robert Smith speaks candidly about his slightly embarrassing strategy for putting interviewees at ease. And Abel reveals how mad-really mad-Ira Glass becomes when he receives tough edits from his colleagues. Informative and inventive, Out on the Wire shows us the magic that makes these shows great and why we can't stop listening to them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Every week, millions of devoted fans download or tune in to This American Life, The Moth, Radiolab, Planet Money, Snap Judgment, Radio Diaries, 99% Invisible, and other nonfiction narrative radio shows. The compelling stories they produce are almost cinematic in scope and approach-intricately weaving sound into robust and engaging storytelling.

# data[].attributes.headline
Comprehension Amplified- Presentation by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.subject
Comprehension Amplified- Presentation by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.body
Session description: In 2019, podcasts achieved a milestone.  According to The Infinite Dial 2019 report, 51% of the United States population above 12 years old has listened to a podcast.  This means that, for the first time, podcasts are now considered mainstream media in the U.S.  More and more classrooms are embracing podcast creation, and yet few have addressed critically consuming podcasts in a way that explicitly supports comprehension.
Much research has been done on the importance of listening comprehension.  When listening, students can gain exposure to complex ideas, build essential background knowledge, and engage with challenging storylines - all while easing the cognitive load of decoding and fluency that can hinder many readers.
The opportunities available with utilizing podcasts in the classroom are boundless.  If we can help teachers embrace podcasts to benefit the comprehension and engagement of all students, we can begin the important work of providing students with the tools to harness podcasts for lifelong learning and enjoyment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Comprehension Amplified Presentation - Soundtrap

# data[].attributes.body
Comedians and actors create a show based on stories written by kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Story Pirates on Spotify. The award-winning Story Pirates Podcast takes stories written by kids and turns them into sketch comedy and songs. Made up of talented comedians, songwriters, and frequent celebrity guests, the Story Pirates inspire kids to create, bringing laughter to kids and grownups of all ages with hilarious sketches, catchy original songs from all genres, and interviews with the creative geniuses behind the stories...

# data[].attributes.body
Actors read short stories, fairy tales, and myths

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stories Podcast: A Bedtime Show for Kids of All Ages

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Stories Podcast: A Bedtime Show for Kids of All Ages on Spotify. On the Stories Podcast, we perform a new story for your children every week. The stories range from retellings of fairy tales like Snow White to classic stories like Peter Rabbit and even completely original works.

# data[].attributes.body
Finn, his friends, and his pet robots live on a space station while helping aliens and trying to solve the mysteries of the universe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian: Science Fiction for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian: Science Fiction for Kids on Spotify. The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian is a serialized science-fiction story for kids (start with Episode 1), told in 15-20 minute episodes for parents to put on when driving around town, or to marathon on road trips, or to bond over before bed.

# data[].attributes.body
A storytelling podcast focused on world folktales with an eye toward inclusivity.  Famous actors often participate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Circle Round on Spotify. Created and produced by parents of young children, WBUR's Circle Round adapts carefully-selected folktales from around the world into sound- and music-rich radio plays for kids ages 4 to 10. Each 10- to 20-minute episode explores important issues like kindness, persistence and generosity.

# data[].attributes.body
A group of neighborhood kids go on adventures, with sports framing the stories (Produced by Kobe Bryant)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to The Punies by Kobe Bryant on Spotify. Introducing The Punies, an eclectic group of neighborhood friends who play sports and take on adventures together. Created by NBA Champion Kobe Bryant and featuring original songs and an unforgettable cast of characters known as The Good Ol' Gang, each episode shares important life lessons on how to play with joy and limitless imagination, the way sports should be played.

# data[].attributes.body
Silly, kid-submitted questions are turned into short narratives

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to What If World - Stories for Kids on Spotify. What if a tiny dragon lived in my closet? What if there were a never-ending bowl of ice cream? What if cats ruled the world? Pirates, fairies, wizards, robots and more band together to help Mr. Eric tell wacky stories inspired by kids' questions.

# data[].attributes.body
Unique, original stories that reimagine fairy tales, fables, parables, and proverbs from world cultures told in installments of 3-5 episodes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.body
An Alaska Native girl and her friends work to solve a mystery in their small town

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Molly of Denali on Spotify. Meet Molly Mabray, an Alaska Native girl growing up with her parents, family and friends. Over eight episodes, Molly and her friend Tooey discover the identity of a mystery creature that has stolen Molly's birthday cake.

# data[].attributes.body
Stories and perspectives from Southwestern Ohio high school students participating in WYSO's Dayton Youth Radio training program.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Dayton Youth Radio on Spotify. Stories and perspectives from Southwestern Ohio high school students participating in WYSO's Dayton Youth Radio training program.Dayton Youth Radio is supported by the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, the CenterPoint Energy Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council

# data[].attributes.body
Lesser-known, but fascinating, stories from history

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.body
Long-standing weekly show, generally with a few human-interest stories connected by a theme

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Recently Aired
View archive

Turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds-real and imagined-and their mysterious hold over us.

Things our dads taught us, whether they intended to or not.

What happens when you realize the people in charge don't have the answers.

Recommended

Sign up for our newsletter for weekly news and updates.

Visit our store for shirts, posters, tote bags, and more.

Shop now

Turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, fowl of all kinds-real and imagined-and their mysterious hold over us.

Things our dads taught us, whether they intended to or not.

What happens when you realize the people in charge don't have the answers.

"When I'm trying to explain our program to someone who doesn't know it, I stammer a bunch of words like 'entertaining,' 'funny,' 'surprising plot twists,' 'true stories but not boring I swear' ... and then I just give them this list." - Ira Glass

View this list

Yes we have videos! Animations, music videos, speeches, our live stage shows, and more.

View this list

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A weekly public radio program and podcast. Each week we choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme.

# data[].attributes.body
Four bodies discovered decades ago and the modern day investigation that led to the discovery of a serial killer.  (Content warning)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.body
Scientific concepts presented in innovative, creative ways with wonderful sound design

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Radiolab on Spotify. Radiolab is one of the most beloved podcasts and public radio shows in the world. The show is known for its deep-dive journalism and innovative sound design. Created in 2002 by host Jad Abumrad, the program began as an exploration of scientific inquiry.

# data[].attributes.body
Interesting look at the criminal justice system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A high-school senior named Hae Min Lee disappeared one day after school in 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland. A month later, her body was found in a city park. She'd been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was sentenced to life in prison. The case against him was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan's friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae's body. But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae's death. Some people believe he's telling the truth. Many others don't.

Sarah Koenig sorted through thousands of documents, listened to trial testimony and police interrogations, and talked to everyone she could find who remembered what happened between Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee. She discovered that the trial covered up a far more complicated story than the jury - or the public - ever got to hear. The high school scene, the shifting statements to police, the prejudices, the sketchy alibis, the scant forensic evidence - all of it leads back to the most basic questions: How can you know a person's character? How can you tell what they're capable of? In Season One of Serial, she looks for answers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A high-school senior named Hae Min Lee disappeared one day after school in 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland. A month later, her body was found in a city park. And two weeks after that, her former boyfriend and classmate, 17-year-old Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime.

# data[].attributes.body
Looks at “the hidden side of everything” through an economic lens.  Topics can include gender, crime, sports, politics, and much more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Freakonomics Radio on Spotify. Discover the hidden side of everything with Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the Freakonomics books. Each week, Freakonomics Radio tells you things you always thought you knew (but didn't) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do) - from the economics of sleep to how to become great at just about anything.

# data[].attributes.body
Live storytelling with a variety of topics, recorded and compiled

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to The Moth on Spotify. Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of true stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers.

# data[].attributes.headline
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.subject
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.body
Radio announcements - often mysterious, often creepy - for a small, desert town

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Welcome to Night Vale on Spotify. Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, where every conspiracy theory is true. Turn on your radio and hide. Never listened before? It's an ongoing radio show. Start with the current episode, and you'll catch on in no time.

# data[].attributes.body
Reminiscent of a modern day, urban Narnia

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Flyest Fables on Spotify. Flyest Fables is a biweekly audio drama. Using an interconnected story told in an immersive, creative and fun way. We're able to remember the lessons from our childhoods, and learn a few new ones too. Flyest Fables was created, written, and produced by me, Morgan Givens.

# data[].attributes.body
Puerto Rican twins time travel to learn about their ancestors and preserve their history. Great lessons on colonization, oppression, and erasure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Timestorm on Spotify. The Ventura twins are yanked into another dimension where they meet a distant cousin who gives them an extraordinary mission: travel through time to preserve their culture's true history. Alexa and Beni visit three continents across the span of five centuries, meeting people who have left their mark on Puerto Rican heritage.

# data[].attributes.body
Adventure story - with a pulpy feel - of a teen reporter working to solve mysteries and foil villains.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.body
a world full of curious creatures and mischievous foes, each episode features a Grimm fairy tale retold with a surprising flourish

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest on Spotify. Hear the Pinna Original podcast, Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest is a wildly enchanting fairy tale podcast made in partnership with Adam Gidwitz, bestselling author of A Tale Dark and Grimm. Each episode features a classic fairy tale, bringing to life a world full of curious creatures and mischievous foes.

# data[].attributes.body
Teaching with podcasts is a fun and engaging way to teach content, language, and grow listening skills. Listenwise easily integrates into your instruction whether your classroom is blended, flipped or 1:1.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Listenwise | Listening Comprehension Matters

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Listening comprehension matters | Listenwise

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore the best podcast lessons for grade-level rigor. Curriculum aligned lessons with literacy & language supports, great for English Learners. Free sign up!

# data[].attributes.headline
The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

# data[].attributes.subject
The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

# data[].attributes.body
Described as Goonies meets Spy Kids, meets Stranger Things. First season starts as a mystery adventure, while second seasons shifts to science fiction.  Great for grades 4-7.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel on Spotify. The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel is a high-quality serial mystery story for middle graders, performed by actual kids. Think Goonies, meets Spy Kids, meets Stranger Things for 8-12 year-olds.

# data[].attributes.headline
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.subject
List curated and recommended by Jeff Glade

# data[].attributes.body
True stories of people going out of their way to be kind

Ex. Boy creates book to raise money for his friend with Type 1 Diabetes

# data[].attributes.body
Science podcast about curious topics

Ex. How does video game music affect our brains?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Brains On! Science podcast for kids on Spotify. Brains On!® is a science podcast for curious kids and adults from American Public Media. Each week, a different kid co-host joins Molly Bloom to find answers to fascinating questions about the world sent in by listeners. Like, do dogs know they're dogs?

# data[].attributes.body
Exploring wonders in our world

Ex. Learn about a newly discovered species of ants that explode!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Wow in the World on Spotify. The #1 podcast for kids and their grown-ups. Hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz share stories about the latest news in science, technology, and innovation. Stories that give kids hope, agency and make us all say "WOW"!

# data[].attributes.body
Debating topics to decide what’s best

Ex. Dogs vs. Cats or Pizza vs. Tacos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Smash Boom Best on Spotify. Smash Boom Best is a debate show for kids and families from the makers of the award-winning podcast, Brains On! Every episode takes two cool things, smashes them together and lets you decide which is best.

# data[].attributes.body
Kid competes against parents in gameshow to decide which of the “experts” on a cool topic is real and which is faking

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to The Big Fib on Spotify. In the era of fake news, kids need to learn to be able to tell what's true from what's false. And what better way to do that than a game show that puts kids in the driver's seat, adults on the hot seat, and a sound-effects robot strapped to the roof?

# data[].attributes.body
Humorous take on little known historical events retold by comedic actors.  Think Drunk History, but for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Past and The Curious: A History Podcast for Kids and Families

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to The Past and The Curious: A History Podcast for Kids and Families on Spotify. A History Podcast for Kids! Parents love us, Teachers love us, and most importantly, kids do too! History can be amazing, inspiring and relevant to anyone.

# data[].attributes.body
Every episode explores the origin of one thing – like sandwiches, video games and clocks – while teaching listeners to think critically about the past.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Forever Ago on Spotify. Forever Ago is a history show for the whole family. Every episode explores the origin of one thing - like sandwiches, video games and clocks - while teaching listeners to think critically about the past. Produced by APM and Brains On. @foreveragoshow

# data[].attributes.headline
Important Resources setting up your Soundtrap Account

# data[].attributes.subject
Important Resources setting up your Soundtrap Account

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Tweets by soundtrap

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Storytelling in your classroom with Soundtrap

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Course of Mind on Spotify. We learn from the moment we are born. How can we learn more effectively? This is the question that educator hosts Zac Chase (@MrChase) and Shana White (@ShanaVWhite) brainstorm with leading experts in the learning sciences to try answer in the 'Course of Mind', the new podcast from the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Soundtrap - Creativity in every classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Easy EdTech Podcast with Monica Burns on Spotify. Monica Burns from the popular EdTech blog ClassTechTips brings you teaching strategies, tips and activity ideas. Each podcast focuses on how to make EdTech integration easy with a shout out to favorite EdTech tools for classrooms. Monica provides actionable, relevant tips for teachers so you can make this school year the best one yet!

# data[].attributes.body
True stories for English speakers learning Spanish.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to Duolingo Spanish Podcast on Spotify. True stories for English speakers learning Spanish. From the makers of Duolingo, the most popular language-learning app, comes a new podcast that delivers fascinating real-life stories in easy-to-understand Spanish with English narration. These are not language lessons; they're life lessons through language.

# data[].attributes.body
Closed group. Answer 3 questions to be admitted.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Soundtrap for Education has 5,441 members. This group is intended for teachers using the Soundtrap Education account, which is used in schools (K12, music schools, universities etc.) for music and...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Soundtrap for Storytellers | Chapter 3: Interactive Transcript

# data[].attributes.body
Student Podcast shared by Michael McClenaghan from Durham District School Board in Canada

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whether you're leading your class or advising an extracurricular group, we hope this guide will make the podcasting process easier.

Below, you'll find a breakdown of the process and a series of sample lesson plans to ensure that students have the skills and background knowledge to start making a podcast.

For our contest, teachers must submit entries to NPR, but we expect that students themselves are the ones creating them. (Teachers: The submission form is here.)

That's why we've provided a guide for students, covering the same material, here.
Planning Instruction
We recommend dividing the project into stages, listed below. Of course, you and your students are the best judges of what works in your classroom.
Download this guide here. Learning About Podcasting Planning Your Podcast Podcast Production Submission
Submission forms are available now through March 31. Teachers must fill out these forms to submit their students' work.

Podcasting overview, 60 minutes

Objective: Students will learn the difference between scripted and Q&A podcasts and familiarize themselves with a wide range of podcast topics.

What you need: A computer with speakers and an internet connection.

What students need: A pencil and paper.

This can be completed as a class activity or by breaking into groups, if students have access to computers or laptops.

Part 1: Gauging Student Knowledge
Start by spending five minutes in a class discussion about podcasts. Gauge what students know or don't know about them by asking a few questions.

YR Media has a handy list of sounds that all podcasters should consider recording while planning their podcast. Scroll down to "what sounds to gather" on this page to find that list.

What are podcasts about?

Where can you hear podcasts?

Why would YOU listen to a podcast?

What makes a podcaster different from a YouTuber?

How does it change the way you tell a story when you're on the phone? How does it change the way you listen when you can't see someone?

Part 2: Listening
Have students listen to a few examples of podcasts and radio stories to get a feel for some different podcast examples.
In this episode of Kind World, host Erika Lantz uses sounds and interviews with multiple people to tell a story about a friendship.

Have students listen to the episode, then start a group conversation. Do they like it? Who did they hear talking in it? What sorts of sounds does it use, besides interviews?
Hidden Brain: The Haunting Effects of Going Days Without Sleep (7 mins, 2 sec.) How I Built This: Instagram: Kevin Systrom & Mike Krieger (33 mins, 32 sec.)
Play this story twice. The first time, ask students to make a note of all the sounds they hear and people that speak on tape. Afterwards, have students break into partners or small groups and compare notes.
Before wrapping up, have students spend 5 minutes talking as a class about podcasts. Have them consider:
Then, play the story through a second time - having students follow along with the transcript to check their work. Talk briefly about the sounds that they missed the first time.

This is a long one, so perhaps just listen to a few minutes at the beginning. (A good place to start is about 30 seconds in.) Have the class discuss what makes this podcast similar or different from the others they've heard.

After this discussion, the class should understand that this podcast follows the structure of a Q & A/conversation. Unlike the past two podcasts, this doesn't weave in and out of scripted narration. That's one type of podcast that students can choose to make for the Student Podcast Challenge.

Part 3: Debrief

What types of sounds do podcasts include?

Students should understand that podcasts vary greatly - but most include a host and can include sounds from interviews, audio from events, audio from movies or TV, and sounds from the world around them.

What are some ways that podcasts are structured?

Students should walk away from this discussion understanding that there isn't one right way to tell a story. Some podcasts use narration from a host or a reporter, others feature a conversation between a group, others might be a one-on-one interview between two people. The structure of a podcast fits its content.

Additional resources

If your students are still looking for podcast examples, here are some we recommend:

Hidden Brain: How Labels Can Affect People's Personalities and Potential (6 mins, 35 sec.)

Choosing a Topic, 60 minutes

Objective: Students will choose a topic for their podcast.

*Skip this stage if you're assigning the class a prompt or idea for the podcast. Alternately, use this time as an opportunity for students to brainstorm for that prompt.
Distribute copies of the following prompts to students as they work in small groups of 3-5.
What you need: N/A

What students need: Pencil and paper

Part 1: Small-group brainstorming, 30 minutes

*If your class is creating podcasts in small groups, have them split into those small groups now and spend the entire class period completing this activity.
Students should narrow down the ideas on the board to one. Use these questions to help. Students should be thinking about specific tasks - interviews, sound recording, or editing - that each podcast idea could involve.
Directions for students: Pick three of these prompts that you think would be fun to make a podcast about. Come up with an idea for each of these three prompts. How would you structure it? (A conversation as a group? An interview with one person? A story with clips of interviews and sounds, narrated by a host?)

1. Tell us a story about your school or community: about something that happened there - recently or in the past - that you want your audience to know about.

2. What is a moment in history that all students should learn about?

3. Show us both sides of a debate about an issue that's important to you.

4. What do you want to change about the world? What's a big change that you want to make in the future?

5. Explain something that kids understand and grownups don't.

After 20 minutes, go around the room and have each group share their favorite idea with the class. Have students write these ideas on the board. (10 mins)

Part 2: Class brainstorming, 30 mins

What obstacles might come up as we create this podcast?

If this idea involves traveling somewhere far away or interviewing someone famous, it might be difficult.

Does the timeline work?

Can students complete their interviews or record other sounds well before the podcasts are due - so that they have time to edit the audio?

Planning The Story, 60 mins

Objective: Students will determine how they'll structure the podcast.

What you need: Six large pieces of tear-off construction paper or easel pad paper.

What students need: A notebook and writing utensil.

Before class:

Place six pieces of large tear-off construction paper or easel pad paper in various places around the classroom. Two should be at the front of the room or the board. Label these two:

What is my story's driving question?

What is the story not about?

Label the others:

How will I ensure my story is fair to the people and ideas it represents?

How will I engage my audience - and hold them?

What are my dream ingredients?

What will the audience remember when it's over?

Part 1: Review Your Options, 10 mins

Start by opening up a class discussion about what types of podcasts students have heard. What are some ways a podcast can be structured? Why might a podcast be a one-on-one conversation, instead of a story told with using clips of multiple interviews?

Part 2: What's the story?, 25 mins
Keep these posters around to guide students through the podcasting process. When they've recorded interviews and other sounds, remind them to look: this is what they envisioned for the podcast.
Spend 15 minutes working with students to craft responses to the two questions at the front of the room. Have them raise their hands and give ideas until the group settles on one driving question. Then move on to the second: What is the story not about? The class should have lots of answers to this question and there's no need to settle on one.

Then move on to the papers around the room. Students should get up and write a response to each question. If they like someone else's response, they should draw a star next to that response. Tell students to return to their desks after 10 minutes.

Part 3: Recap, 20 mins

Once students have finished, have one classmate stand at each paper around the room and share the responses. Then debrief: Given the class's responses, what do students envision their podcast including? What will it NOT include? How will these ideas shape the structure of the podcast - will it feature one long conversation or multiple short interviews? Pieces of tape from interviews and scenes?

This lesson is based on a post from NPR Training. Teachers: Here's a downloadable poster from NPR Training you can use in the classroom.

Brainstorming Sounds, 60 mins
Play the following radio stories for the class.
Objective: Students will come up with a list of sounds they'll record for their podcast.

What you need: A computer with speakers, a large tear-off piece of construction paper or Easel Pad paper

What students need: A notebook and writing utensil.

Part 1: Listening to examples, 20 mins

Directions for students: As you listen, make a note of the sounds you hear - the ones that aren't people speaking - on paper.

Listen to this "Radio Field Trip" from New Hampshire Public Radio. (4 mins 12 s)

Ask students: Where is host Rick Ganley? How can you tell?

And here's this one, from Radio Rookies, a series from WNYC. (8 mins)

Ask students: Apart from sounds of Edward's narration - what sounds did you hear? How do these sounds help tell Edward's story?

Part 3: Brainstorming, 20 mins

Label a large easel pad paper "sounds" and place it at the front of the classroom.

Directions for students: In small groups of 3-5 students, come up with a list of three to five sounds you think should be in your class' podcast. Talk about why you think it would help the audience to hear these sounds.

Then, have one representative from each group come to the front of the room and write their ideas onto the large paper.

Open the discussion up to the class. Have students shout out the sounds that are on the paper more than once. Circle those. Then have students underline those they think are especially unique or worth recording.

Keep this paper - it should serve as a guide of the sounds that the class will gather to create the podcast.

Recording Practice, 90 mins

Objective: Students will familiarize themselves with their equipment, including their recording device.
In groups of 3-5, have students practice recording themselves and each other. Directions for students: Record your own voice
What you need: N/A
Record another person's voice
What students need: One phone or voice recorder, one pair of headphones, one computer / per small group. Notebooks and writing utensils.
Record a conversation between two people
*Before starting, we recommend identifying a) a voice recorder and b) a computer or laptop. Most smartphones, including iPhones, have built-in voice recorders which can be used for recording narration and interviews for podcasts.
Record sounds from around the classroom
Part 1: Recording, 1 hour

Say your name, grade and age into the microphone, and then listen back to the recording on the phone or recording device.

Come up with one interview question for a group member. Record the question and answer. Then, listen back on the phone or recording device.
Identify a sound-editing software.

One group member should come up with two interview questions for another. While one person interviews the other, a third group member should record them. Then listen back. Take turns so that each person has a chance to record using the phone or recording device.
Upload recordings onto a computer or laptop

Each group member should record TWO sounds that last approximately 10 seconds from around the classroom. As a group, listen back to the recordings on the phone or recording device.

Part 2: Uploading, 30 mins

In the same groups, students should turn to their computers.

If your school already uses a sound editing software - like ProTools or Adobe Audition - feel free to keep that and use it. You could also download Audacity, a free audio editing software that students can use to mix their podcasts once they've recorded interviews and sounds.

Have students practice saving their recordings into the computer or a drive in a place they can find.

Interview Practice, 60 mins

Objective: Students will practice asking engaging interview questions while recording.

What you need: A computer with sound.

What students need: One phone or voice recorder, one pair of headphones, one computer / per pair of partners. Notebooks and writing utensils.

*If recording devices are scarce, this is a good time for students to split into smaller groups to plan various aspects of the podcast. While some students practice interviewing, others could research for the podcast or begin drafting a script.
Directions for students:
Part 1: Review, 5 mins

Take five minutes to review what student learned in the "recording practice" lesson. Student should remember to 1) ask others to introduce themselves and 2) record their own questions while interviewing.

Part 2: Practicing in Partners, 30 mins

Assign students partners. Designate a Partner 1 and Partner 2 in each set. Set a timer for 15 mins.

Partner 1: Ask your partner about the one thing they are most PROUD of. It could be something at home, it could be something at school, it could be something athletic - it doesn't matter.

Once they've answered, keep asking questions about their response until the timer goes off. Why are they proud? How did they achieve this?

When the timer goes off, turn off the recording and switch.

Partner 2, now start recording again - and ask Partner 1 the thing they're most proud of. Don't stop asking questions until the timer goes off.

When the timer goes off, turn off the recording.

Part 3: Class debrief, 10 mins

Ask students to raise their hands and share (with their partner's permission) what they learned and what questions they asked in order to learn what they didn't know about their classmates before.

Part 4: Uploading, 15 mins

Students should use any remaining class time to upload their recordings onto a computer and listen back to as much as they can. They should make notes about parts of the recording that sound clear and strong and those that don't.

It's Go Time

At this point in the podcasting process, your students should be ready to get out there and record sound.

Before they record interviews or sounds, students should set aside time to:

Contact and reserve time to interview guests

Write out possible interview questions

Write a list of sounds to record using the large construction paper from the Brainstorming Sounds lesson

Students should check (and double-check) that they're ready to record before heading to interviews or to record at events. Find our checklist for field recording, which students can take with them, below.
Guides for creating radio and podcasts, from YR Media, are here.
Checklist for Field Recording

Additional Resources

Sign up for KQED Teach to access this set of guides to teaching podcasting, from the very beginning.

NPR Training is a site full of helpful guides about radio and podcasting.

This Radio Rookies site lists examples of stories that may be useful to play as examples in the classroom.

Transom.org is the go-to site for podcasting hopefuls in public media.

If students are looking for help with tools or learning to use sound editing software, this site likely has what they're looking for. Here's Transom's Kid's Guide To Recording Stories.

StoryCorps provides a series of lessons on storytelling and interviewing here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teaching Podcasting: A Curriculum Guide for Educators

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether you're leading your class or advising an extracurricular group, we hope this guide will make the podcasting process easier. Below, you'll find a breakdown of the process and a series of sample lesson plans to ensure that students have the skills and background knowledge to start making a podcast.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Getty

Anthropologists have long understood that storytelling helps us engage with others, share emotions and find common ground through personal experiences. It's a part of our makeup as humans. Even neuroscientists have explored the workings of the brain to extrapolate the nuances of what happens when we communicate.

In the world of business, storytelling is used to attract audiences and customers while helping communicate with management teams and stakeholders. Storytelling consultants and trainer services are sought after to help leaders, entrepreneurs and speakers gain an edge. According to Lani Petersen at Harvard Business Publishing, "Storytelling has the power to engage, influence, teach and inspire listeners. That's why we argue for organizations to build a storytelling culture and place storytelling at the heart of their learning programs."

Considering the importance of storytelling in our adult lives, it seems logical that leaders in education examine the skill development of storytelling as part of a child's learning. There is a science behind effective storytelling that can be beneficial in the process of developing curriculum and setting up students for success.

To better understand the importance of storytelling in education, I spoke with Michael Hernandez, an award-winning media arts teacher and consultant in Los Angeles. With over two decades of experience teaching multimedia storytelling, documentary filmmaking and digital literacy, he offers innovative teaching and learning strategies for students and educators. His new podcast series, Change the Narrative, explores innovation in education.

Rod Berger: Describe your perspective on the concept of storytelling and why it's an essential factor to support learning.

Michael Hernandez: The key to success for any business or future leader is surprisingly straightforward. And, it's not about how good you are at taking tests.

Katya Adresen, SVP at Capital One, said that storytelling unlocks everything of consequence: knowledge, influence and innovation. Even the World Economic Forum has highlighted creativity, originality and active learning as upward trending skills for future workers.

Businesses have to pitch [a story] to investors, scientists have to submit grant proposals, politicians develop a narrative about themselves, and everyone seems to have a LinkedIn profile. These are all complex and important stories crafted to have an impact on others. Ultimately, our students' future economic success depends on being able to tell professional stories effectively.

But more than a business skill, storytelling is actually a better way to learn. Research shows that rote memorization isn't as effective as higher-order learning. There's a saying that to truly learn something you have to teach it. That means you have to take complex ideas and present them in ways that make them clear to others. So really, teachers are storytellers.

Instead of essays and tests, students should be researching, curating and synthesizing information. They can present it in ways that resonate with audiences beyond the classroom-in other words, teaching and telling stories. This process also develops empathy, design, data visualization and performance skills that storytellers need to convey ideas more clearly.

Berger: What are the issues surrounding access to technology that impact the ability of schools to teach students digital literacy skills?

Hernandez: The cost of tech and internet infrastructure can be an obstacle for many schools and can contribute to the widening gap between affluent and under-resourced schools. Many are concerned about the inequity it can cause. The United Nations has declared media and information literacy a human right because it's central to access to knowledge and one's ability to make decisions in life. When students lack access to technology, we deny them the opportunity to develop the skills they need for future success, and that, in turn, perpetuates economic inequities.

Access to technology is as important, if not more important, than textbooks and other school materials. Like most challenges in education, the solution for the edtech gap should be a holistic one where stakeholders accept some of the responsibility. Education codes need to adapt more quickly to reflect the evolution of society and technology.

Government policies need to redefine what we mean by "infrastructure" to include internet access as a utility and make it free or low cost to all schools. Taxpayers and businesses need to view children as our digitally literate workforce of the future and invest in them appropriately. Parents, educators and universities need to rethink what we mean by "literacy" and advocate for sound pedagogy that integrates digital literacy throughout a student's academic career.

The mistake we made in the past is that we laid the burden for investments on the shoulders of individual teachers, schools or districts. Instead, we should be working together to develop creative solutions to the problems that are interrelated.

Berger: What type of value do you see in creating your own content versus buying textbooks?

Hernandez: Textbooks are expensive, heavy, go out of date quickly and are a logistical nightmare for schools. Some are flat out inaccurate. There are a lot of advantages to self-publishing ebooks or creating digital collections of content, not the least of which is cost. Teachers can keep content up to date, include current events and curate content that best meets the needs of their students and their school's curricular goals. It's like an education mixtape that you can shape and adapt as your needs change and you discover new ideas.

One of the biggest advantages of ebooks and other online tools over print is that they are alive and interactive. You can include multimedia content like video, audio, interactive maps and hyperlinks, and students can mark up, search and expand their learning within the content you've created. They also have accessibility features like text-to-speech that can help the visually impaired or students with learning disabilities.

When educators create their content, it models the kind of authorship we would like to see from our students. We use digital tools for professional purposes, applying rigorous research and ethical frameworks. It can be a great way to collaborate with colleagues around the world, or even with students who can contribute content to the resources you create.

Berger: How does storytelling set students up to grapple with the complexities of an ever-changing modern world?

Hernandez: One of my students told me that he learns more from YouTube than he does from his teachers or parents. His bold statement told me two things. First, he found that much of his formal education lacked relevance in his life. Second, our students are curious about the world, and they will turn to digital, online resources to find answers.

We know that teens consume online stories at a massive rate and that there are social media posts that have a negative impact on our democracy. There are major political, economic and social costs for neglecting the literacy of our students, yet we find teachers, administrators and parents doing just that.

Whatever your stance on technology in the classroom, it's important to acknowledge that students are consuming digital stories outside of class. They struggle to navigate digital media well, and it's our responsibility to teach them how to use those tools wisely and safely, and become savvy consumers and ethical authors. The best way to do that is to embrace technology and help students learn to craft their own digital stories to model productive and professional results.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Developing Student Storytelling Skills To Set Up Future Career Success

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
According to Lani Petersen at Harvard Business Publishing, "Storytelling has the power to engage, influence, teach and inspire listeners. That's why we argue for organizations to build a storytelling culture and place storytelling at the heart of their learning programs."

# data[].attributes.body
@NewEdTechClass

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Shortly after deciding to start my own podcast, it seemed like a logical next step to try it out with my students. Although I've experimented with a variety of other ways of having students create digital material, I never really felt confident introducing audio recording and music making, and wasn't sure how it could fit. Now that I've started, I've quickly realized why using an audio creation platform like Soundtrap to podcast with students should be an essential addition to any classroom. Here's why:

1. The Speaking and Listening Standards:

We know we're supposed to teach kids how to speak and listen, and we know from Jeff Zwiers that academic conversations are a fundamental part of developing strong critical thinking skills. Still, it's challenging to develop meaningful, engaging activities that encourage students to speak and listen to each other. Student podcasting doesn't replace structured group or partner discussions, but it's a highly useful platform for actively teaching and practicing the speaking and listening standards.

2. Amplify Student Voices:

One of the most challenging aspects of trying to promote listening and speaking skills amongst students is the fact that not all students share the same level of comfort speaking in front of the whole class or in groups. Podcasting allows all students the opportunity to share their thoughts, insights, and knowledge and gives everyone in class the opportunity to speak and be heard.

3. Engagement:

Once teachers learn how to audio record with students, it becomes another trick up a teacher's sleeve to engage students and to capture their interest.

4. Community Building:

Podcasting is unique in that it encourages long-form audio recording that is then shared and listened to by others. Podcasting gives students the opportunity to tell their stories, and to discuss topics and issues that are important to them. Hearing each other helps students understand each other.

5. Expose Students to New Forms of Digital Creation:

Using Soundtrap to create a student podcast introduces students to software that could help them discover interests and/or talents in media production, journalism, broadcasting, etc.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Start a Student Podcast with Soundtrap | The New EdTech Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Shortly after deciding to start my own podcast, it seemed like a logical next step to try it out with my students. Although I've experimented with a variety of other ways of having students create digital material, I never really felt confident introducing audio recording and music making, and wasn't sure how it could fit.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Now Trending: K-12 Podcasting

I have always believed in the power of audio. For decades as an NPR reporter, I created captivating audio stories. But it's only been in the past few years that the rest of the world has caught up to my love of a good audio story, told by the people affected, and surrounded by sound effects and music that set the scene and mood. It's called podcasting. And it's experiencing a surge of interest, especially in K-12 classrooms.

As the CEO of Listenwise, a listening skill-building company, and the host of the Student Podcast PODCAST, I am seeing the podcasting landscape in education explode. We are on the forefront of an exciting time when audio can bring the world into the classroom, and students can use audio to share what they know with the world. Thousands of classrooms across grade levels, demographics and locations are podcasting. Over six thousand classes submitted podcast entries to the 2018 NPR Student Podcast Challenge.

This upswell really began around the launch of the popular podcast Serial in 2015. TeachersPayTeachers.com, an online marketplace for lesson plans, reported that their annual downloads of lessons based on podcasts increased 650 percent that year. Teacher Michael Godsey, an early adopter of teaching with podcasts, authored many of those lessons.

I've continued to see a rising number of conference sessions on podcasting in the classroom. At this year's ISTE conference, there were 23 sessions about podcasting held over three days.
Eighth grade teachers Matt Stokes and Katie Rogers reflect on podcasting as a powerful way to give legitimacy to a student's voice and create a space to capture someone's spirit:
This trend makes sense; the human voice is captivating. Hearing directly from someone who experienced an event is meaningful. Audio allows us to create movies in our minds, and this is highly engaging for students. It allows them to connect at a deeper level to the content they are learning.
Podcasting fosters authentic, passion-driven learning. Listen to this example to hear how students used their voices to debunk myths and stereotypes about modern life on Native American reservations:
Creating Podcasts in the Classroom

The process of creating podcasts addresses many important 21st-century skills and competencies, including communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration. Podcasting can also address Common Core State Standards, including key speaking and listening skills. Educators have discovered that listening to podcasts can promote deeper learning for students using a modality that has not been traditionally featured in the classroom.
Matt Stokes and Katie Rogers reflect on how podcast creation puts students in the driver's seat as they learn how to teach others with project-based lessons:
Students are drawn to expressing themselves through podcasting. Not only can they emulate real journalists and famous podcasters, they can design their own learning experiences by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions. Recording and sharing what they learn validates their knowledge and empowers them.

Listening to Mentor Podcasts

To set rigorous expectations before beginning your classroom podcasting projects, I recommend having your students listen to high-quality mentor audio stories. Listenwise provides free access to a collection of more than 1900 audio stories from NPR curated for classroom use, featuring relevant topics that align with curriculum in English language arts, social studies and science. These examples showcase the sounds of professional podcasts and present models for students to emulate. Public radio podcasts also offer students a new and exciting vehicle for learning important content.

After sharing great audio stories with students, you should select a purpose for the podcasts that aligns with your curriculum. Will students create podcasts that inform, persuade, analyze, reflect, tell a story, or some combination? Once you have defined a task and product, you can select the appropriate production format for your students' podcasts. Will podcasts be commentary by a single speaker? Will they be interviews or conversations? Will they be investigative reports involving multiple perspectives on an issue or topic?

A variety of project lesson ideas can be found on the Student Podcast PODCAST.

Podcasting and Literacy

Not only can listening to mentor texts support podcast creation, it can build important literacy skills.

Currently, 22 states test listening on their annual English Language Arts assessments. Listening is also assessed on the WIDA ACCESS test, as well as other state English language tests, as it is a key aspect of learning a new language. California includes listening comprehension on the CAASPP and the ELPAC, and many schools we work with note that listening is a skill that still demands a heavy instructional focus in the classroom. Just 43 percent of 8th and 11th graders met listening standards last year across California.

The shift toward teaching and assessing listening makes sense because it is in line with the research on listening and learning -better listeners are better learners. Teaching and learning with podcasts can help to improve listening skills.

Listening skills are increasingly important to success in college and careers. A 2017 survey of 1,000 employers indicated that listening is the 2nd highest skill employers want from new hires. All of this means that more schools and districts are looking for tools to support development of their students' listening comprehension skills.

We live in a time when digital content-in the form of text, video and audio-is widely available, and podcasting can be done with ubiquitous tools-smartphones and computers. This makes it an exciting time to try something that is new and trending with your students.

Teach with listening. Engage with listening. Create with listening.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Podcasting Is #Trending Since 'Serial' and Why Your Class Should Be Doing It

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I have always believed in the power of audio. For decades as an NPR reporter, I created captivating audio stories. But it's only been in the past few years that the rest of the world has caught up to my love of a good audio story, told by the people affected, and surrounded by sound effects and music that set the scene and mood.

# data[].attributes.body
Stories and interviews from the Broadcast Journalism students at Hillcrest High School, Springfield, MO.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.

# data[].attributes.headline
Starting Your Podcast: A Guide For Students

# data[].attributes.subject
Starting Your Podcast: A Guide For Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We don't expect you to be experts. In fact, we expect that most of you are putting a podcast together for the first time.

And even though this is a contest, it's also about learning new skills in a fun way. We want to make that learning easier - so we've put together a guide to help you along the way.
Getting Started Your Toolbox Podcast Examples Planning Your Podcast Getting Your Ideas Together Brainstorming Sounds Podcast Structure Podcast Production What Makes A Good Interview? Preparing For Field Recording Scripting Your Podcast Voicing The Podcast Production Tips Before we get started, we know you might have a few questions. Let's talk about a few basics. What's a podcast?
Podcasts come in all shapes and sizes. That's good news for you, because it means that you have lots of room to be creative and make something you're excited about. Some podcasts, like This American Life, are long - sometimes an hour or more. Others, like Kind World, a podcast from WBUR, are less than 10 minutes. Some podcasts, like NPR's Up First, are about news. Up First comes out every morning, and the hosts talk about the news and feature stories from guests reporting on the news. Other podcasts tell stories. Lots are funny. Some feature people having conversations. Many are educational: They teach listeners about a specific topic. NPR's Hidden Brain is about science and human behavior. And there's Planet Money, a podcast all about money and life.

Think about sound. We're challenging you to work with sounds - interviews, narration and recorded sounds from the world around you.
Don't I need fancy equipment to make a podcast?
Nope! There are ways to make a podcast without buying expensive microphones and recorders. We're writing this guide with the idea that you can make a podcast with two tools: a smartphone and a computer.
How many people do we need, and what roles are involved?
There isn't a set number of people needed to create a podcast, but it helps to have a team of people who work in different roles.

The role of producers frequently varies between podcasts and radio shows. Often, producers are in charge of the sound: They record the sound and edit it to put the podcast together. You'll also need writers to write out questions for interviews or the script. (Sometimes, producers or hosts pitch in to help write for podcasts.) Hosts also "voice" the podcast by acting as the narrator and conducting interviews with subjects. Depending on the size of your class or group, some team members may work as researchers or spend time organizing interviews. After you record the conversations or interviews, your team will want to make sure you talk about what you want to cut out and keep in - that's all part of the editing process. You might choose to have editors on your team or assign editing duties to teammates who have pitched in in other ways.

You can divide up these duties in a way that makes sense for the size of your team. You might decide to have multiple people host and multiple people work as producers.
What does it mean to mix audio?
Mixing is the process of editing and arranging audio clips in a way that sounds seamless and natural to a listener. After you and your team record sounds from interviews, events or other sources, you'll need to arrange them in a sound-editing software, like Audacity, which you can download online free of charge.
I've been reading lots of training guides that use tons of words I don't know. Help!
This glossary from NPR's training site has lots of words that you might come across if you're reading up on podcasting.

Your Toolbox

Before you think too much about your podcast, you're going to want to think about how, exactly, you'll record the sounds you need.

Here at NPR, we use lots of equipment when we leave the office to record interviews or sounds for our stories and podcasts. But we don't expect you to have all that equipment - and you can make a podcast with a few basic tools that you already have.
1. A phone
If you carry a cellphone with you, chances are, you've got a recording device in your pocket. And if you use it the right way, you can record high-quality sounds that work just fine for your podcast.

You can record sounds, conversations or interviews with sound recording apps on your smartphone.

You can also use your phone's built-in recording app. If you've got an iPhone, go to your "utilities" folder and click on "voice memos" to begin recording.

You'll want to make sure you have enough storage on your phone to do this and that you can either email the sound file to yourself or plug your phone into the computer to upload the recording.

If you're recording a person speaking, hold the phone a few inches from his or her mouth. Not too close, but not more than a few inches away, either.
2. A computer with sound editing software
Once you've recorded your interviews or the sounds you want to use, you'll need to put them all together into your podcast. To do this, you need to use audio editing software to "mix" the sound files together. The good news is that there are lots of software options out there.

If your school already provides editing software on the computers, feel free to use that. If not, we recommend Audacity, which is a free software download available online. You can download it here. As you learn to use it, lots of tutorials are available from Audacity.

If your school or podcasting team has other tools available to use, it's important that you use them correctly to create the best product that you can.

Listening

Have you ever listened to a podcast or radio show before?

If you've listened to podcasts before - take a minute to think about them. What keeps you listening? What bores you?

Let's take a few minutes to hear a few examples. As you listen, think about the different ways that these segments are structured. Is there a host? Is it an interview style - or is a narrator telling a story, with clips of interviews in between?
Morning Edition: Hidden Brain: Hidden Brain: How Labels Can Affect People's Personalities and Potential The Haunting Effects of Going Days Without Sleep Reporting Live From Miami: A Bunch Of Fourth-Graders Tell Their Teacher's Story
How I Built This: Instagram: Kevin Systrom & Mike Krieger

Getting Your Ideas Together

Now that you've listened to a few examples, start to gather ideas. We've given you a few prompts to get you thinking. They aren't required, but you may choose to use them.

Here they are again:
Before you settle on one idea for your podcast, ask yourself:

1. Tell us a story about your school or community: about something that happened there - recently or in the past - that your audience should know about.

2. What is a moment in history that all students should learn about?

3. Show us both sides of a debate about an issue that's important to you.

4. What do you want to change about the world? What's a big change that students today will make in the future?

5. Explain something to us that kids understand and grown-ups don't.

Before you settle on one idea, take a few minutes to brainstorm. Try to come up with an idea that might work for each of these prompts. Be sure to think about how you might structure your podcast.

Would it be an interview with someone? Would one host narrate the podcast, using clips of interviews to tell a story? What sound would you use to give listeners a full idea of the story you're telling?

Is this podcast idea realistic?

If the idea involves traveling somewhere far away or interviewing someone famous, it might be difficult. Make sure you can do it before you settle on one idea.

Our friends at YR Media have a handy list of sounds that all podcasters should consider recording while planning their podcast. Scroll down to "what sounds to gather" on this page to find that list.

Does the timeline work? Can you complete your interviews or record other sounds well before the podcasts are due - so that you have time to edit the audio and submit it?

Sounds Like You're Making a Podcast

OK, so you've settled on a topic or idea for your podcast.

Now it's time to start thinking about the sounds that you'll use. Regardless of how your project is structured, it helps to feature a variety of sounds.
Here are a couple of examples of radio pieces that use sounds to add to the story.
Try to record sounds relevant to your story. If I'm telling a story about the mayor of my town, I'll try to go record him leading a town hall meeting, talking to his constituents, and even doing day-to-day activities, that I can play during my podcast.

Let's say you're heading to a protest in front of my local town hall. You're heading into a "scene" that you might want to describe - and include sound from - in your podcast. What sounds should you include?

Compile a list of sounds you'd like to record - and bring that list with you when you go into the field.

Listen to this "Radio Field Trip" from New Hampshire Public Radio. What sounds do you hear? There's narration from the show's host, Rick Ganley - but there's a lot more than that.

And here's this one, from Radio Rookies, a series from WNYC. Listen to the sounds that Radio Rookie Edward uses and weaves between his narration.

Let's Talk Structure

Now that you know what your podcast is going to be about, and you've got an idea of the sounds you want to use, it's time to think about structure.

Before we start planning the podcast - before we get to scheduling interviews or scripting pieces - let's ask a few basic questions. Head to this link, from NPR's training site, and think about your answers.
Before you get there ...
Of course, the structure of your podcast will depend on the idea you've chosen. Will hosts from your class narrate the podcast? Then you'll start differently from the way you would have a conversation on tape.

What Makes A Good Interview?

There's a good chance that you're interviewing someone for your podcast. Maybe you're even talking to lots of different people. It's important to make the most out of the time you take to record them.

Do your research.

Make sure you understand why you're interviewing this person. Read up on who the person is, what he or she does, and the subject you're making a podcast about.

Prepare questions.
When you arrive ...

Come up with a list of open-ended questions you'd like to ask during your interview. It's OK to veer off course and good to ask follow-up questions that you haven't planned. But a list will help get things started.

Clarify the terms of the interview.
When you start recording ...

Make sure your interviewee knows you're talking to him or her for the NPR Student Podcast Challenge. The person should understand that you're recording audio.

Meet somewhere quiet (unless you want to record the noise!).

Don't choose to meet for an interview in a busy mall or a windy park. If you're indoors, head to a quiet room and close the door. If you're interviewing someone at an event, it's OK if there's some noise in the background - as long as it's the sound you want to have in the background. But try to avoid recording when there's music in the background - it's hard to edit around that sound.

Ask the interviewee to introduce himself or herself on tape.

The person should give his or her name and job title (what he or she does). A student should give his or her age and grade.

Record your own questions.

You'll want to hear these questions when you listen back to the tape later on.

Be curious.

You'll have some questions prepared - but that doesn't mean you're following a script. If the person says something you're interested in, ask questions. That's why you're there.

Remember: It's normal to be nervous. The person you're interviewing is probably nervous, too. It helps to be prepared. The better you know your questions and the better you know your equipment, the better you'll feel.

Before You Record Sound ...

Make sure you set aside time to:

Contact and reserve time to interview guests.

Write out possible interview questions.

Compile a list of sounds you'd like to include.

Whether this is your first podcast or you're an audio pro, some basic tips can make your project a lot easier.

Test your equipment before you start.

Don't get stuck in an interview with a phone that doesn't have any storage or a microphone with no batteries.

Bring a teammate along to help when you're going to an interview or to record sounds.

Ask this person to time the interview and make a note of the interesting or compelling moments. Make a note of the time at these moments. This will help when you're cutting the audio and looking for these moments later.

Listen to the audio soon after you record it.

Save it somewhere you'll remember, and label it so you know exactly what your recording includes.

Checklist For Field Recording

Before you head out for an interview or sounds for your podcast, make sure you've got everything you need.

Download a checklist for field recording here to take with you when you're getting ready to head out to record.
Starting the story
Scripting Your Podcast

At NPR, some podcasts are scripted. That means that we plan the order that everything will be in before the host gets into the recording studio and records the narration. That can happen only after getting "tape" - sound from lots of interviews and audio from other recordings.

Let's take a look at the script of an audio segment. Here's one from the NPR Training team featuring a story from NPR's Ailsa Chang. There's not one correct way to write a script for a podcast - but it helps to indicate where your narrators will speak, and where you'll be using sounds or interview clips recorded beforehand, and how long these clips last.

First things first. So, you've figured out how you want your podcast to be structured and you've gathered the sound you need. Whether you're scripting the entire podcast or not, you probably need to write out at least one part: the very beginning.

Here's a post from NPR Training with some ideas about how to start, no matter how you're structuring your podcast.

Voicing The Podcast

After you've scripted the podcast, it's time to record the narration from the host or hosts from your group or class.
Some tips:
If you're hosting or narrating the podcast, you might be a little nervous about recording your voice.

Production

Mixing is the process of editing and arranging audio clips in a way that sounds seamless and natural to a listener. After you and your podcasting team record sounds from interviews, events or other sources, you'll need to arrange them in sound-editing software, like Audacity, which is available online as a free download.

Don't leave audio mixing until the last minute. Mixing is time-consuming, especially if you're using new software or listening to long recordings. It can take many hours just to edit a few minutes of a podcast. Give yourself sufficient time to mix audio before you need to submit the podcast. Remember, the deadline for this contest is March 31.

Take the mixing process step by step. Prioritize things you need to do to make your podcast sound the best it can. Before you can do anything else, you need to cut your sound down to the clips you need, get them in order and adjust their volume levels so they're not too loud or too soft in a listener's ears. These are all things you can do in any audio editing software.

If you're already an audio mixing pro and you want some more guidance, check out this guide put together by Rob Byers of Minnesota Public Radio and NPR's training team.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Starting Your Podcast: A Guide For Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We don't expect you to be experts. In fact, we expect that most of you are putting a podcast together for the first time. And even though this is a contest, it's also about learning new skills in a fun way.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why Make a Podcast?

Podcasts are EVERYWHERE.

Case in point: YR Media just launched our own, Adult ISH, a first of its kind, culture and advice podcast produced by those who are almost adults. Subscribe!

Podcasts come in all sorts of varieties - comedy, music, journalism, fiction - there are even podcasts about other podcasts! So whether you're a Serial addict, a 2 Dope Queens fan, a proud RadioLab supporter, or none of the above, rest assured there's still something in the podcast world for everyone.

In fact, we're living in what many people are calling a new "Golden Age" for audio. We've already seen that audio CAN go viral (ahem, Serial, S-Town...) in podcast form. And thanks to our cell phones, most of us are carrying around a kind of digital audio player and recorder with us all the time. Today more people than ever are getting creative with podcasting as a form of intimate, engaging storytelling. In other words, people are listening - not just to journalists or comedians, but also to ordinary people who decide to share their stories, expertise, and ideas.

So are you ready to try your hand at podcasting? Get the skills you'll need by checking out the five steps we've laid out for you below.

1. Coming Up With an Idea

First, you should familiarize yourself with the basics of podcasting and practice coming up with a brief pitch for a podcast of your own.

Determine Your Podcast Personality

There are a lot of different types of podcasts out there: comedy, music, how-to, journalism, fiction, to name just a few. To determine what kind of podcast you might like to make, we suggest you start by listening to a variety of different podcasts and get a sense for what you like. You can browse what's popular on iTunes, look for productions by your favorite media personalities, or explore by topic.

We've put together a short list of some of our favorites. If you have the time, take a listen and figure out what kind of podcast you might like to make yourself.
If you're a public radio junkie:

This American Life (WBEZ)

Snap Judgement (WNYC)

99% Invisible (Radiotopia)

Latino USA (NPR)

Nancy (NPR)

If you love a good mystery:

Serial (WBEZ)

Welcome to Night Vale (Welcome To Nightvale Presents)

Criminal (Radiotopia)

Limetown (Two-Up Productions)

My Favorite Murder (Feral Audio)

If you're a proud STEM nerd: If you're a history/language arts buff:

Revisionist History (Panoply/Slate)

Allusionist (Radiotopia)

Stuff You Missed In History Class

Song Exploder (Radiotopia)

LaVar Burton Reads (Stitcher)

If you love comedy/pop culture:

Comedy Bang! Bang! (Earwolf)

2 Dope Queens (WNYC)

Radio Menea

Mystery Show (Gimlet)

The Read (Loud Speakers Network)

Guided Listening - Figuring Out What You Like

Now that you've got a basic idea of what this podcasting thing is all about, you'll need to come up with an idea for one of your own. Use our guided listening questions to come up with a new idea for a podcast

1. What do I personally like to get out of listening to a podcast? (example: I like to be entertained, I like to be informed about new things, I like feeling inspired, etc)

2. What kind of podcast tone appeals to me? (example: light-hearted, serious, scripted, conversational, etc)

3. What kind of podcasting structure do I like best? (example: based on a theme, based on current events, narrative [like a book], 10-minutes or less, released in seasons, etc)

4. What kind of person do I want my podcast appeal to? (example: other teachers, people who are interested in a particular hobby, etc)

5. What elements make up the podcasts I like? (example: interview, musical segment, reported story, scene, etc)

6. What might make my podcast stand out compared to what's already out there? (example: add a new storytelling element, use a different premise or style, cover a topic people want to know about, etc)

Vetting Your Idea

You've got an idea for a great podcast... or at least you think it's a great podcast. How can you tell whether your idea will be a hit or fall flat? We've got some helpful tips, from finding inspiration to vetting your ideas and turning them into brief, punchy pitches.
T.A.G.S. - That's A Good Story
Coming up with a good story (and presenting it well) is harder than it seems! Even experienced journalists and producers often struggle with coming up with fresh ideas that editors (and listeners) will respond to. In general, here are some qualities that set fresh story ideas apart from stale ones:

Twist / trend -
A good podcast takes a familiar idea and adds a new angle to make it fresh.

Adds to / Advances the story -
If your podcast is covering a familiar topic or style, make sure the way you present it takes the listener's understanding to the next level.

Grounded in experience / expertise -
How will you make sure your podcast feels genuine? Start with the things you actually know about, or at least are really curious about.

Surprising -
Your podcast should include new, unexpected information, techniques, or elements that make people sit up and listen (and, of course, share your podcast with all their friends).

Common Pitfalls of Pitching

You're almost there! As you finalize your podcast/story ideas, check out these common pitfalls and try to avoid them!

"The Columbus"

"The Long-Distance Pitch"

"The Aspirational Pitch"

"The Thesis"

"The Stereotype"

"The Fake Trend"

Now that you're pretty sure you have a fresh podcast concept, we'll learn how to turn your idea into a brief pitch.

Pitching Practice: The One-Graf Pitch

A pitch is essentially a paragraph description where you make the case for why your story is awesome and interesting. To practice, you're going to write the pitch for the first episode of your podcast.

When writing your pitch, focus on the essentials - What is your podcast/the episode about, and why will people want to listen? Emphasize the T.A.G.S. (see above) of your story, or why people should be excited about it. And keep it conversational! Write your pitch as if you were talking to a friend. This will keep it from becoming stuffy or formal.

For example, here are a few successful pitches from YR stories:
PITCH: Out of the nearly 900 emoji options available to U.S. teenagers, the pistol emoji is one of the most popular (#75). Teens use it to express boredom (another math test: gun), prompt people to respond faster (are you there? text me: gun), or vent frustration (this line is taking forever!: gun). And most of the time, it seems pretty harmless. But even if the message is benign, the question remains why so many of us feel we have to use violent imagery to express ourselves - often without thinking about it. In this podcast episode, Youth Radio's Tylyn Hardamon tracks the linguistic and technical history and use of the pistol emoji, quizzing young people on how and why they use it. Are Teens More Narcissistic Than Before? (Youth Radio) PITCH: Are teens today more narcissistic than ever before? Some psychologists are pointing to a personality test called the Narcissism Personality Inventory, which seems to indicate that millennials have a historically high sense of self-obsession. But not everyone thinks the test is a great tool to use on teens, who may need an inflated sense of self to protect themselves against the natural pitfalls of puberty. In this week's podcast replay, Youth Radio's teen reporters turn the lens on themselves as they investigate their own narcissism scores, and interview an expert on what this trend might mean for the success of the next generation.
2. Getting to Know Your Equipment

Sound is everywhere. From the moment we wake up to when we go to sleep, our days are filled with noise. Even so-called "silence" is actually full of sound - the hum of an air conditioner, the distant rush of traffic, the whoosh of our own breath. By collecting and weaving together high quality recordings of our interviews and scenes, we can bring the story closer to listeners - their ears and imaginations allowing them to enter entire worlds of sound.

Choosing Your Recorder

When it comes to recording sound, not all equipment is created equal. But even if you can't afford a top-of-the-line audio kit, there is a wide range of devices that you can use to gather sound for your stories. In the end, whether you're using a Zoom H4N or a Fisher Price Cassette Recorder, it's still the audio you gather that truly makes your story compelling.

Smartphone

Most smartphones today have a built-in microphone and recording function (example: iPhone's voice memo), and can be used in a pinch to conduct interviews and gather sound. Here are a few tips for using your phone effectively as a recorder:

Find a quiet room - preferably one with carpet, lots of furniture, etc. - for interviews. Unplug or remove all devices that click, tick, ring, hum or buzz.

Make sure your phone has enough space. You don't want to gather awesome sound only to find out there's nowhere to save it!

Have the person being interviewed hold the device's receiver a few inches away from their mouth. If you want to capture multiple people's voices, ideally each person will have their own phone. If the phone is too far away, their voices will be hard to hear.

Consider investing in an external microphone. If you need to gather higher quality sound, there are many setup options (like this one) that allow you to record and edit via your phone. External microphones can also help if you want to gather characteristic sounds of a particular scene.

Check out some broadcast/recording apps. There are many free or inexpensive mobile apps that allow you to customize the levels and quality of the sounds you record on your phone. Two popular options are Hindenburg and Transom - though new ones are popping up every day!

Can't go there in person? Record your phone calls. "Phoner tape," as it's called in audio editing circles, isn't the highest quality sound - that's why many radio studios use tape syncers (locals with audio equipment who can gather sound in-person) to do remote interviews. But if your source lives far away and you're on a budget, there are still ways to preserve that audio. Check out inexpensive apps like Tape A Call or Recorder. Free options are possible using Skype and Google Voice.
If you're doing a phoner, try asking the person you're interviewing if they have a smartphone. If so, they can record using the voice memo option on their device (using the tips above) and then email you the audio afterwards.

Computer (desktop or laptop)

Built-in computer microphones generally aren't as high quality as the ones in smartphones, but you can always pair them with a good external microphone to get decent sound. Check out Transom's guide to setting up a basic home studio for tips on mics and software. Free audio editing software mainstays like Audacity and Garageband are excellent programs for beginners.

Portable Digital Recorder

Outside of a professional studio, a high quality portable digital recorder is your best bet to get broadcast-quality sound - but expect to shell out a few hundred bucks. Transom has a comparison guide geared toward professional storytellers that may help you make your choice.

Other Equipment

A Sound Dampener - When you're recording narration or an interview, you want to reduce outside sounds and prevent echo. If you've got the $, you could get a vocal shield or set up your own studio. If you're on a budget or just getting started, try recording in your closet (the clothes help to muffle outside noise), or in a carpeted room under a sleeping bag.

Headphones - One great way to know you're getting awesome audio is to LISTEN to it as it comes in. You don't even need pricey headphones - just make sure you can hear what's going on clearly and you ALWAYS wear them when you record.

An External Microphone (Optional but recommended) - It's not that you can't get great sound with the microphones built in to your devices (check out Youth Radio's guide to gathering high quality audio using your phone), but it can be difficult. Built-in microphones are more likely to pick up "handling noise," meaning the sounds your hands make when they make tiny shifts in your grip, gusts of wind, or echos from a room. There are entire sites dedicated to picking a fancy microphone that best fits your needs, but in general you could upgrade your sound game by getting some type of external microphone (one you plug into your recorder).

A windscreen/pop filter for your external microphone - Wind makes noise. And, if you do any of your recording outside, it has a tendency to interrupt the sounds you're trying to capture. A windscreen is a soft, cushy cover for your microphone that helps prevent that dreaded WHOOOSH noise. It also is known as a pop filter, which refers to the normal but gross-sounding noises we make with our mouths when we pronounce certain words. If you're just getting started and you're recording indoors, feel free to skip the filter. Or you can be nerdy and make one yourself (see above).

What Sounds To Gather

So now you have the equipment to start recording. Awesome. But to make a great podcast, what exactly should you be listening for? From interviews to interactions, here's a brief rundown of some of the types of sound you might want to gather.

Scene - In audio, a scene takes you to a place where some sort of action is happening that relates back to the narrative. A scene is comprised of elements such as characteristic sounds, room tone, interaction, and emotion. The goal is an audio soundscape that allows your mind to recreate whatever is going on.

Characteristic Sounds - These are sounds that help transport the listener to a particular place. Examples include the buzz of a drill at a dentist's office, a moo at a cattle ranch, the late bell at a school, the gavel noise of a courtroom. If possible in a scene, any action that creates sound should be recorded closely to bring the listener into the moment.

Room tone (ambient noise) - Even if you think you are recording in a silent space, every room has its own brand of quiet. At the beginning or end of each scene/interview, record between 30 seconds and 1 minute of room tone during which you and your source do not talk.

Stand-up - A stand-up is when a reporter does a brief, live description of what is going on and/or what they are doing in the field. Stand-ups often address the 5 W's or reporting - who, what, where, when and why. They may also include narrative elements, such as how the reporter is feeling or thinking.

Interview - This is when a reporter/interviewer asks a source a series of questions. When recording an interview, you want to try to gather the "cleanest" sound possible, meaning minimal background noises. Seek out a quiet space, even if it means asking someone to turn off music or devices.

Levels - Levels represent the sensitivity of your recording device - in other words, it sets the amplitude of the sound you gather. When setting your levels (which you should do before each interview or scene), you want to make sure the amplitude of your sound stays in the mid-range for your device. If your levels are too low, you will not capture the sound you may need. If your levels are too high ("peaking") the sound will be distorted. For step-by-step instructions on how to set, check out online tutorials like this one.

Skills You Need For Gathering Great Sound
*A note on gathering levels: rather than asking your interviewee to say something artificial like "check check 1 2 3," have them answer a basic descriptive question like "what did you have for breakfast?" This will make sure they're speaking within their normal range of volume.
Before you press record on your actual podcast, you're going to want to make sure you have a couple of basic recording skills down. Gather your equipment together and make sure you're comfortable doing the following:

Complete set up (headphones on, cables and microphone attached)

Turn on recorder

Set recording levels to mid-range*

Proper mic placement (for interviews: fist-width distance from mouth, slightly off to side of mouth)

Start recording

Gather room tone (ambient noise)

Turn off recorder

Complete break down (headphones, cables and device stored properly)

We've also made a one-page checklist and a graphic to help you remember what skills to practice when you go out to record sound on your own.

Recording Practice: Gather the sounds of your room

To practice field recording, you can use your recording set-up to gather three different sounds that help define the room you're in. The goal is to get a sense for how you can use sound to build a portrait of a place.

Take a look/listen around the room you're in currently (or pick one nearby that you can easily access). What are three characteristic noises that help to define the space you're in? For example, if you're in a classroom, you might hear the ring of the school bell, the laughter of students coming in, and the creeeeeeak of the chair as you sit down.

Using your recording equipment, gather no more than ten seconds of each sound. Save each sound file and play it for your friends!

3. Getting Great Interviews

Interviewing is the foundation on which most podcasts are built. Great interviews are conversations that suck the listener in and leave them feeling included, informed, and more connected to the story than before.

Interviewing is more than a skill - it's an art. The order of your questions, the way you phrase them, and the tone of your voice all affect the way a person will respond to you. By carefully crafting your interview questions and paying attention to how your source responds, you'll be more likely to gather compelling, engaging tape for your podcast.
Someone-You-Know Interview
The style of a given interview depends a lot on your relationship to the person you're talking to. If you're interviewing an expert, you'll use different words, tone, even posture than if you are talking to a friend. You'll also use different interviewing strategies depending on the angle of your story - if you feel your source is hiding something, for example.

Types of Interviews

In normal conversations, we "interview" people we know all the time. But casually saying hello to a friend or relative can feel really different than sitting down with them with a goal in mind. You'll want to capitalize on your familiarity with your interviewee to get the best stories and answers as possible, but also keep in mind that your conversation shouldn't be so filled with inside jokes and references that other people won't understand what you're talking about. To set the scene for a strong interview with someone you know, it's a good idea to:

Even though you know the person you're interviewing, you're going to want to spend some time writing questions ahead of time. Check out: YR Tips For Interviewing Someone You Know.
Expert Interview
Listening Example: YR's Maya Escobar interviews her dad about whether or not he thinks he's addicted to his cell phone

-

When we think of the word "expert," many of us picture a doctor, lawyer or professor. But an expert can be anyone who has a lot of knowledge or experience that you can to tap into for a particular story. We often interview experts when we need a complicated process explained, or if we need someone to speak about broader trends for a story. When looking for the right expert to talk to, think about someone who is:

Good at explaining things and/or a dynamic storyteller

Acknowledged in the field, meaning he or she has written about the topic or has been recommended by others as a knowledgeable source

Representative of the diversity of the population. For example, women and people of color are often underrepresented in the media as sources of analysis and expertise. You have an opportunity to change that.

Once you find your expert, you're going to want to spend some time researching him or her, and writing questions ahead of time. Check out: YR Tips For Interviewing Experts.
Something-To-Hide Interview
Listening Example: YR's Kasey Saeturn interviews a representative from the Federal Housing Authority, asking him to explain why it's so hard for young adults like her to get public housing

-

The phrase "something to hide" makes it sound like we're talking about interviewing a spy or super villain about their plans for world domination. But really, "something to hide" interviews are about getting information that a character may be hesitant to share. This doesn't mean they are good or bad people, but it does mean you should tread carefully when structuring your interview. Examples of "something to hide" interviews include:

While it can feel awkward to probe someone for hidden information, know that it's part of your mission as a journalist to report as accurately and thoroughly as possible. You are doing your readers/listeners a service by asking thorough questions, and getting to the truth is a powerful reward.

Check out: YR Tips For Something-To-Hide Interview.

Listening Example: YR's Malachi Segers interviews a representative from Spirit Halloween about whether some of their costumes are racist

4. Writing Your Script

Now that you have field recording and interviewing down, you're all set to start gathering awesome elements for your podcast. The next step is learning how to put it all together, turning your raw audio into an edited audio piece.

Essential Audio Editing Vocabulary

Tape - even though most of us use digital recorders now, not cassette tapes, most audio nerds still refer to all the sounds/clips/interviews you capture as "tape."

Transcribe Tape - This means you listen to tape and write down everything that you hear. It can be time consuming (you'll probably need to listen multiple times), but it's really useful to have a full transcript of your interviews, scenes, etc. when you are starting to organize and edit your audio files for a podcast.

Log Tape - to "log" tape, means you listen to your raw audio and then select and isolate your favorite cuts. Then, you can transcribe the "best tape."

Actualities (AXX) - Actualities or "AXX" as some people call it, are non-scripted sound clips from interviews or scenes that you've gathered. Think of it like, actualities come from ACTUAL life.

Tracks (TRAX) - Tracks or "TRAX" refer to sound clips that you recorded in the studio from a script. Many podcasts consist of alternating AXX and TRAX.

Ambient Sound/Room Tone - Every room (even the quiet ones) has its own particular sound. Whether it's a slight hum from a studio, or the background sound of traffic from an on-the-street interview, you'll want to capture ambient sound in your recordings and run them under your AXX to help hide your edits.

Scene Tape - Scene tape consists of the characteristic sounds and sequence of noises that help the listener associate the story with a particular place or action. For example, if your podcast is about cooking, you might have "scene tape" audio of a chef preparing a meal. This audio is action-filled, narrative, and tells the story of someone doing something in the moment.

Finding Your Editing Flow - Organize Your Audio

Once you start gathering interviews, scenes, etc. for your podcast, start organizing your tape right away! You want to be listening for tape that sticks out for various reasons (see graphic above).

1. After you gather your audio, immediately download your audio and save it in a safe place. Name each file in such a way that you can quickly identify each file and what it contains (example: DATE_PODCAST_SOURCENAME_INTERVIEW.wav)

2. Before listening back, take a few minutes to write down what you most remember from each scene or interview - those are probably the bites/ acts/ cuts/ tape you want to pull.

3. Now open up your audio files in an audio player or audio editing software such as Audacity and listen back. Make a note of the time codes of your favorite pieces of audio (logging your tape).

4. Transcribe your audio in a separate document, marking the time codes as you go along. If you have time, you can transcribe the whole thing. If you're on more of a deadline, transcribe only your favorite clips.

Structuring Your Podcast

When it comes to arranging your best clips into a script, there's no pre-set format for how to structure a podcast. On the one hand, that's awesome! You get to be creative and experiment with your storytelling! But it can also be intimidating when you're not sure how to get started.

We suggest you start by making an outline:

1. Print out the transcripts of the tape you logged. Cut each clip/AXX (usually a few sentences or less) and clearly label them so you know who is talking.

2. Look over the clips/AXX and ask yourself:

What should the listener hear first? Oftentimes this is your strongest or most scene-driven tape.

What do you want the listener to leave with? Is there a natural ending?

Is there a narrative thread (meaning a natural beginning, middle, and end of the story) that you can reinforce?

Is there information that you feel is missing? If so, write it on a new piece of paper and put it in the place you think it belongs. Consider using narration (tracking) or contacting another interview/source to fill this gap.

3. Line up your clips/AXX in the order you think makes sense. Try it a few different ways to play with the structure.

4. Write your narration/TRAX in-between clips/AXX

Remember, you are the tour guide for the story. Start us out one place, and take us to another.

Tell the story your clips/AXX don't tell.

Describe scenes, introduce speakers, and explain confusing parts.

Note: you may decide to take out clips/AXX, rearrange the order and re-write narration a bunch during this process

5. Write your host lede - meaning the introduction to the story

6. Double-check your facts

7. Edit your script and prepare to record your narration!

Formatting Your Script - An Example

YR Reporter Amber Ly's parents own a donut shop in the Richmond district of San Francisco. She interviewed her mom as part of her feature about "the model minority."

Once you get your outline together, you'll write in and out of the clips you've selected, giving additional information, transitions, context, etc. You'll also want to format your script so that it's easy to read (see our voicing unit).

Check out this script (below) by YR's Amber Ly about how the Asian-American model minority stereotype has affected her experience in the classroom.
How Model Minority Myth Shortchanges Asian-Americans YR's Amber Ly NPR's Here & Now
You can listen along to the final story here.

-

INTRO: Today there's news out of the Supreme Court (striking down/upholding) affirmative action. That suit was brought by a white student who claims she was discriminated against. Meanwhile, up north, Ivy League colleges face claims from a coalition of Asian American groups who say Asian-Americans have to score higher on the SATs to get accepted. Youth Radio's Amber Ly (AM-bur LEE) is Asian-American, and she's been thinking a lot about how racial stereotypes affect her experience in the classroom

SCRIPT:

There's a joke that an A minus is an Asian F. It's a play on the idea that all Asians are smart. We get good grades. We work hard.

Jokes like this can be pretty frustrating for Asian teens. For one thing, it makes us sound like a bunch of high-achieving robots.But moreover, it's just not true for everyone. How well immigrants do in the US often corresponds to

MOM: I come here with nothing. I don't have English, no English at all.

That's my mom.

MOM: Our family, it's not like have a good education from the country.

My parents never got a formal education. They came here in the early 1990's from Cambodia to escape the Khmer Rouge.

The dropout rate for Cambodian-American kids like me is actually really high-35 percent. It shouldn't be a newsflash that not all Asian-Americans do well in school, but the model minority stereotype makes the actual problems in these communities invisible.

For the last 19 years now, my parents own a donut shop in San Francisco.

My dad carries flour into the back of our shop in 50 pound bags. Both of my parents labor over heavy machinery and boiling oil. They work hard at keeping their business afloat, and by extension supporting our family.

So they're not exactly tiger parents hovering over my homework. But when I'm at school, my teachers and peers still treat me like I'm supposed to be some kind of genius. And I'm not the only one.

RHEA: I feel like I was always expected to be, like, the top student. I mean in middle school and in elementary school, I worked really hard to meet that standard. Because I felt that was like what everyone expected of me and I didn't want to let them down.

That's 15-year-old Rhea Park. For her, the model minority myth can make it harder to get the help she needs at school.

RHEA: Like even with teachers... Whenever I needed help like, they're like "Oh, it's okay. You can figure it out."

I get this too. The pressure I feel about school doesn't come from my family at all. In fact, my mom doesn't even know the stereotype that's supposed to be about her.

AMBER: Have you ever heard about tiger moms? MOM: No. What's mean tiger mom? AMBER: So yeah, like this is what a tiger mom is. It's like you are super strict. Like, Oh my God you have to go study right now. No playing with your friends. You can't go outside. Like you have to go do-you have to study, play piano, do the violin. Mom: Ohh. I cannot do that. Because I saw you trying to work hard by your homework or your everything, your tests. You always try hard by yourself.

My mom says whenever I talk to her about my grades, I make it sound like I'm failing. I've spent the last four years in high school, feeling ashamed because I'm a B student. And lately, I've come to see that this invisible pressure I feel is the model minority myth at work.
BACK ANNOUNCE: Amber Ly (AM-bur LEE) recently graduated from high school in San Francisco. Her story was produced by YR.
This is how racism operates. It erases our individuality. It tells us how we should act, how we should perform in school. And when we miss the mark, we're failures. That's how even positive sounding racial stereotypes cause damage.

For Here & Now, I'm Amber Ly.

Tips For Writing For Radio

As you start filling in the TRAX between your clips, you'll want to keep your writing style super simple, conversational, and clear. In other words, DO NOT write as if you were composing an essay or academic paper. If you listen to how people actually talk, you'll notice a few trends:

Use small, casual words, not big, formal ones.
For example, say "car," not vehicle. "But" not "however," "said," not "expressed," etc.

Use short words/sentences, not long ones.
This is not Scrabble. Long words do not earn you more points. Short sentences are punchy, clear, and engaging. Even sentence fragments are OK in radio scripting!

Avoid acronyms, long organization names or formal titles, lots of exact numbers, etc. unless you absolutely have to.

Assume everyone's memory is really short.

So if you're introducing a new voice, identify them right away (you might need to break a long clip into smaller pieces to do this).

If it's been awhile since you heard from someone in the piece, re-introduce them when you hear them again (ex: that's Joe again, the guy from the laundromat).

Don't make your AXX and TRAX too repetitive.
It's good to reinforce important points with phrases like "in other words," or "hey did you catch what she said there?" But if your narration just repeats the same core concept as your interview clips, the listener will get bored.

When possible, use the present tense.
Audio is an intimate media format. You are whispering directly in the listener's ear! Using the present tense will make the listener feel like he or she is there in the moment with you.

Practice Editing: The Basics Of Mixing

Once you get a script together, you'll want to line up your tape in an order that matches the script using some type of audio editing software. We suggest checking out Audacity, a free, open source program available for both PC and macs.

In this make, you'll get familiar with the program by recreating Amber Ly's piece that you listened to above, her script and audio files that we provide for you.

1. Download Audacity. You can download the program for free here.

2. Download the YR audio files from Amber's piece. We've put them into three folders: AXX (Amber's narration), TRAX (her interviews with other people), and AMBI (room tone or scene tape). We've named them in the order they appear in the script.

3. Start by importing your audio. There are lots of great tutorials available online that will walk you through how to do this. Here's a good one that goes through a couple of techniques for importing audio, as well as showing you how to record audio directly into audacity (which we'll do during the voicing module).

4. Arrange your audio into the order it appears in your script. Here's another Audacity tutorial on audio editing that will help you with the technical details. Do you best to mimic the pacing of the original piece.

5. Voicing Your Script

You've done the research, you've written your podcast script... now it's time to step up to the mic and read. But if you really want to breathe life into your podcast, you can't just read it- you have to perform it. So what goes into a good vocal performance? How do you sound like you're talking to a friend, when you're actually reading off a paper?

What Is A "Radio Voice?"

Journalist and podcaster Eric Simons is the Editorial Director of Bay Nature Magazine and co-host of The Field Trip Podcast. He's also been featured on the popular science podcast RadioLab. YR reporter Sophie Varon sat down with Eric to ask him how podcast makers can put their best voice forward - from tips for sounding like yourself even when reading a script, to keeping conversations casual while covering complex topics.

Supplies for Voicing

When you record yourself (or someone else) reading a script for a podcast or radio story, it's known in the industry as "tracking." When you track, you'll first want to make sure you have a good location to record. As you learned in the recording module, be sure to have:

A quiet place - that means unplugging any devices that make sound such as clocks, phones, refrigerators, etc.

A sound-dampened environment - to eliminate echo, choose a padded place like a studio, a small room with carpet and lots of furniture, a closet full of clothes that you can sit in with the door closed, or even a quiet corner with a sleeping bag over your head.

Headphones - to hear yourself and make sure the sound quality is good.

A recording device - Try to avoid laptops microphones unless you have an external microphone. You may also choose to use your phone (hold it close to your mouth) or an audio kit.

An external microphone - Ideally you are using an external mic, but if you don't have one, try to minimize handling noise by keeping your hand as still as possible and listening for noise during each take.

A partner/producer - tracking by yourself is hard because you're having to talk and listen to yourself at the same time. It's much better to find a buddy and have them coach you on your read and take notes on your cut sheet (see below).

A copy of your script - unless you have a REALLY good memory... just kidding, you'll need a script no matter what. Make sure it includes not only the parts you are recording but the transcript of any audio you are reading in/out of (such as interview clips, scene tape, etc).

A pen or a pencil - you'll use this to mark up your script with notes, change tricky words, and make notes on which takes you like the best.

A cut sheet - this is a piece of paper where you write down the time codes for your best takes of each section of your script. You can add notes for each cut to help you remember what you liked about each time you read your script.

Mark Up Your Script
/ = breathe or pause here Underline ALL CAPS = really emphasize this word because it is absolutely essential to the meaning of the sentence = pay attention to this word because it is an operative word in the sentence. You may want to draw it out or modulate it with your voice.
Voicing is more than just talking - it's a form of performance. If you simply read your script aloud, chances are it will sound very flat. But the goal of podcast voicing is to sound as if you're not reading at all. To make your voice sound natural and engaging, you're going to have to put a little extra effort into your read. One technique many professionals use is to "mark up" your script. This means you'll add notes to help you know which places to breathe and which words to emphasize, slow down, modulate, etc.

Here are some common symbols for marking up your script:

You may also want to add notes indicating the pace, mood, or tone you think would be appropriate for each part of the script.

Here's an example, from a commentary (a short, first-person opinion piece) by YR Reporter, Billy Cruz. Listen to his commentary as you look over his marked-up script.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Using Your Voice Effectively

Now that you've got your set up, marked up script (and hopefully a partner to help you track), it's time to start talking!

Get at least 3 different takes of each part of the script.

At Youth Radio, we usually have reporters start by reading the script all the way through, then they break it into parts and do each part 3 times, and then they do one last full read-through.

With each take, try different reads. If you're a fast reader, try doing an intentionally slow take. Or if you're a flat reader, try doing an extra dramatic take. It may sound silly to you, but it will improve your read as you find a happy medium.

Pay attention to pacing, pronunciation, emphasis, tone, volume, energy and phrasing -If your partner sounds stiff: ask him or her to try these techniques:

Recite the story as if you're telling it to a friend

Turn over the script and do it from memory

Make eye contact with you

Stand up and see if that position gives the read more energy

Watch for "upspeak," the term used to describe when your voice goes like it does at the end of a question

Make sure people can understand you. It helps to:

Slow down at proper nouns and numbers

Don't rush hard-to-pronounce or long words

Make sure you have enough breath. If you're struggling, consider shortening your sentences

Change hard-to-pronounce words or long sentences as you encounter them. Keep sentences short and words simple for clarity's sake.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Podcasts are EVERYWHERE. Case in point: YR Media just launched our own, Adult ISH, a first of its kind, culture and advice podcast produced by those who are almost adults. Subscribe! Podcasts come in all sorts of varieties - comedy, music, journalism, fiction - there are even podcasts about other podcasts!

# data[].attributes.headline
The KQED Youth Media Challenge: Let's Talk About Election 2020

# data[].attributes.subject
The KQED Youth Media Challenge: Let's Talk About Election 2020

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teachers: You are invited to join the KQED Youth Media Challenge: Let's Talk About Election 2020. Middle and high school educators across the U.S. are empowering students to share their take on issues that matter to them. Learn how your students can create and publish audio or video commentaries for a national audience.

The Election 2020 media challenge is a free, standards-aligned program on KQED Learn, co-hosted by the National Writing Project and PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teachers: You are invited to join the KQED Youth Media Challenge: Let's Talk About Election 2020. Middle and high school educators across the U.S. are empowering students to share their take on issues that matter to them. Learn how your students can create and publish audio or video commentaries for a national audience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

# data[].attributes.body
Created by Listenwise

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
3 Fantastic Podcasts for Teachers | Teacher Tip Happy Hour

# data[].attributes.body
Learning to podcast kept my remote students engaged and connected. Here’s how to bring podcasting to your classroom.

By-

Bret Zawilski

Scholar of Rhetoric and Composition. Artist, Writer, Co-Host of the Criterion Correction Podcast. Expat living in Dublin, Ireland.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Build Your Own Library

You don't need to reinvent the wheel, nor do you need to be the de facto expert on podcasting to effectively use podcasts within your classroom. Gather your own set of materials over time, using tutorials from YouTube and other online resources. When working in an online setting, it's important to position yourself as part of the learning community. You might consider making your own brief walkthroughs of the process of organizing the different tasks and actually recording and assembling a podcast using free tools like Screencast-o-Matic.

As an example of this, I'll point you to what became the main resource for our assignment: an Adobe Sparks Page about Creating a Podcast that students could easily consult throughout the project. I added to this library over a period of six weeks, so it grew alongside the tasks that students were expected to complete. As I made videos, I took particular note of the places where I found myself struggling and spent additional time building resources to help others avoid those same pitfalls.

Demonstrate the Process

If possible, it's incredibly helpful to demonstrate the process of making a podcast. In addition to video tutorials, I created a sample podcast to demonstrate the capabilities of freely available software and provided a copy of the script to emphasize the crucial role that writing plays in making a polished audio text. I was able to use this as part of one of the screen-recorded videos to highlight how the script grows and evolves as a podcast is developed. In the future, I also intend to use this resource as a way of demonstrating how to proceed from rough outlines to a finalized podcast episode.

While students will have to gain familiarity with a variety of tools to build a podcast, the kinds of revision and alteration that occur in an assignment like this one mirror the kinds of revision that happen in any kind of writing.

In other words...

Don't Teach to a Specific Tool

I once took a course in Visual Design that turned into a semester of learning how to do very specific tasks in Adobe Fireworks with little attention to broader principles of design. Wait, you aren't familiar with Fireworks? It's probably because a year after I finished the course, Adobe discontinued its development. In other words, the verbatim content of the course became mostly useless because we never focused on overarching principles.

It's important to remember that tools change and programs come in and out of vogue. While a student does need to know how to use certain tools or apps to create a digital text, it's a mistake to focus only on the surface-level concerns of using a particular program.

A particularly useful source on this is Stuart Selber. In his 2004 book, Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, Selber develops a three-part framework for understanding the way we work with and master digital technology (and tools in general). He also warns us away from the mistake of emphasizing mastery of individual software over broader strategies and principles of communication.

Selber suggests that we look at three broad kinds of digital literacies: functional, critical, and rhetorical. We can view them as progressing from simple to complex, but that doesn't do it full justice, as all three are intimately connected.

While Selber's model is broadly targeted to all kinds of digital literacies, it's incredibly relevant for podcasts. There are a lot of traps to avoid when it comes to teaching students how to write for a new medium, and getting them to see podcasting as more than learning a new piece of software is really important. Otherwise, podcasting will become a one-off experience that might seem disconnected from their education or their future professional goals.

My classes explicitly discussed the different stages of literacy that Selber spells out, and this went a long way toward helping students understand podcasting as a complex process that gives them skills that will be relevant long after the project is finished.

Functional

Functional literacy involves the literal ability to operate a specific tool. In other words, if you want to make a podcast, then you need to know how to open a new file in your audio recording program before you can actually get started editing. That's why so many digital tutorials start by teaching how to open a new document and save the file.

Reaching functional literacy doesn't mean an individual will be an expert on the program, just that they can negotiate its interface. The good news is that most tutorials emphasize functional literacy, so there's no shortage of resources to draw upon.

Critical

Second on the ladder is critical literacy, and this is where things start to get meta. In relation to digital writing (or recording) tools, critical literacies involve a consideration of the kinds of texts created by a certain tool and how they position us as authors and audiences.

If we were looking to gain a critical understanding of Facebook, for example, this would entail understanding how their algorithm shapes the content that we see, as well as the kinds of posts that are most commonly shared. In light of the Covid-19 crisis, Facebook recently instituted a new "care" emoji alongside its other emotional "reactions." However, some users are annoyed that despite demand, there isn't an "eye roll" reaction available for use. This limits the options available to users and shapes how individuals can use Facebook reactions.

When it comes to producing podcasts, a critical understanding of GarageBand would go beyond opening a new file and more towards a consideration of how the built-in Loops library enables different kinds of audio cues for a podcast. Or it might involve an understanding of how the default vocal recording settings are or are not tailored to podcasting. For podcasts in general, a critical literacy would also involve understanding what kinds of organizational structures work for the most popular podcasts currently being produced.

Rhetorical

The third and final literacy that Selber identifies is rhetorical literacy. If functional literacy provides an understanding of how to physically use a tool, and critical literacy focuses on what the tool specifically allows us to do, then rhetorical literacy is the most pragmatic. It helps to answer the question: How can I best use this tool to effectively communicate an idea and persuade my audience to buy into an idea or take action? In other words, rhetorical literacy involves understanding how to use a tool - or set of tools - to accomplish some kind of real-world action. It moves from the theoretical into the pragmatic.

In relation to technology, this means that when students pick up habits or technologies outside of school or formal situations, they might be effective in using them, but only within a very narrow context. To take up the previous example, a student might be perfectly comfortable creating a Facebook status update for their friends, but they may not be able to expand the reach of their posts based only upon their unconscious functional use of Facebook. However, if a student possesses a critical understanding of the Facebook algorithm and what "boosting" a post through advertisements allows, they can make active decisions that help them effectively promote their content to a broader audience.

The same goes for podcasts. While our students might know how to record audio, if they don't understand the genre of the podcast they're working within, then it's unlikely that they will be able to meaningfully reach their audience. It's not impossible - sometimes disruptions to expectations are powerful - but if they disrupt expectations without conscious attention, or if it's just a side effect of a lack of understanding, then their success will be a matter of luck.

I fostered rhetorical literacy by inviting my students to reflect during the process of composing a podcast as well as analyzing why other model podcasts are successful. Critically examining one's habits goes a long way to understanding why a text might be successful or unsuccessful, so build in these periods of reflection throughout the project.

Podcasting as a Synthesis

A podcast project like the one described here can be a great way of embracing each of these literacies. While the nature of teamwork means that some individuals might spend more time with one aspect of the project than another, meetings and recorded minutes help show everyone what each stage of the task looks like. This ensures that individuals can share and develop their expertise collaboratively.

Students need to employ a functional understanding of the tools at the beginning of the process for the purpose of creating a rough prototype. This ranges across word processing tools, to messaging platforms, to recording software, editing programs, and website platforms.

By listening to models of other podcasts and having conversations about how podcasts convey information, students become more aware of their critical positioning. They can critically listen to individual podcasts and take a critical look at the overall podcast ecosystem. For example, looking at the kind of content that the recently partnered Anchor and Spotify are promoting can help students see how massive platforms can shape the kind of content that gains popularity.

Finally, the act of making a podcast encourages students to consider how podcasts can serve as a crucial part of their rhetorical toolboxes. Students use their own voices to synthesize the research that they've conducted and share that information in a digestible manner with a broader group of individuals. This mimics the often complex task of taking very technical information and translating it for new purposes. The combination of literacies required to compose an effective podcast also ensure that they're gaining rhetorical savvy in more than one medium.

As a whole, the podcast served as a really helpful capstone that brought together skills and literacies that our students had previously developed. By asking them to compose in a medium that is widely circulated in popular culture, we show that writing doesn't have to yield a words-on-the-page article and highlight the use of writing skills for contexts beyond the classroom. This flexibility also means that a podcast assignment can accomplish a variety of process and content-oriented goals.

Although the podcast assignment was a success overall, our students certainly encountered a few pitfalls. One issue in particular is that while students were spending a good amount of time writing their scripts, the editing process was occasionally left by the wayside. On Anchor, this was the result of a not-always-intuitive process of cutting and splicing together different audio recordings. In other cases, it was the result of students making use of built-in recording options on platforms such as Zoom. While the texts they created were effective, they sidestepped editing almost completely in some instances. You can avoid this pitfall by creating and locating resources that make the editing process more easily accessible as well as critically examining podcast models that have less of an improvisational tone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You don't need to reinvent the wheel, nor do you need to be the de facto expert on podcasting to effectively use podcasts within your classroom. Gather your own set of materials over time, using tutorials from YouTube and other online resources.

# data[].attributes.body
SHOUT OUT: A Kid’s Guide to Recording Stories

# data[].attributes.body
Slide Deck Created by Bill Healy

# data[].attributes.body
Materials needed: Cardboard or plastic box and egg crate foam. Optional: headphones, usb mic.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ideas for using Soundtrap in all subjects, all ages, all abilities.

# data[].attributes.subject
Ideas for using Soundtrap in all subjects, all ages, all abilities.

# data[].attributes.headline
Reflections on Student Podcast Podcast episodes

# data[].attributes.subject
Reflections on Student Podcast Podcast episodes