This week, I took my first venture into podcasts. I had subscribed to a few before on iTunes, but I never really knew how they worked or what they were about. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised at just how many podcasts are out there & readily available for use in the English classroom!
The one I want to share with you today is the This I Believe series.
Every week, the This I Believe website publishes a new podcast that includes a selection of a number of This I Believe essays. This I Believe essays are statements of personal beliefs and are written by people from all around the world from all walks of life. Browsing through, you might find a piece by Muhammad Ali, a kindergartner, Bill Gates, a housewife, athletes - anyone and everyone you can think of. They even have recordings of essays that date back to the 1950's, when a radio show called This I Believe aired! It is an amazing website to browse around and a project that everyone can participate in.
The podcast is published once a week, and features at least one essay - you never know what you're gonna get from the selected piece! I love the This I Believe writing prompt and I love listening to all the different stories, so I would definitely like to use this podcast in my teaching.
What I would like to encourage my students to do is listen to the weekly podcast. I plan to use This I Believe quite a bit in my teaching, both for listening/reading and writing. I would ask students to take note of ones that stand out in particular to them, and create space for students to share them with one another and discuss.
As a teacher, I would listen to the podcast each week to keep myself fresh and listening to lots of different essays, as I'm always searching for ones that can relate to themes we're dealing with in class. One of my favorites that I plan to use is Jackie Robinson's This I Believe piece called "Free Minds and Free Hearts." This piece dates back to the 50's, and would tie in nicely with a unit on the civil rights movement- it has a great message behind it and paints a clear picture of some of the struggles Mr. Robinson had to face. I hope to be able to deal with issues of social justice in my classroom, and this podcast would work well to frontload a text such as Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals. Just as I would link Jackie Robinson's piece with this text, I would keep my ears open for other essays (in the podcast) that relate to other texts that we read throughout the year. Along the same lines, I would have students listen to different This I Believe pieces to find one that expresses a big idea or message that they take away from a piece of literature that we read together. For example, if we finished up Macbeth, I could have them search for This I Believe pieces that talk about the ways to reach your ambition, what type of person to be in the face of greed, or any theme or lesson that stuck with them from the play.
Ultimately, I would like to have my students write their own This I Believe essays and record them for submission to the website. After hearing a number of them throughout the year, they will be familiar with the format and guidelines of the piece, and know what it takes to make a really compelling statement of personal belief. I would love, for example at the end of the social justice unit I mentioned above, to have students reflect on what they are willing to stand up for in their lives, and write and record a piece on that topic. How awesome would it be to hear my students' voices on this podcast one day?
I also stumbled upon some other great podcast resources and ideas, including readings of various pieces of literature that are often studied in schools, such as Frankenstein on Learnoutloud.com. This would be really helpful for students who are auditory listeners or who would just like to listen to a story be read to them. I also got some great ideas from browsing around different Harry Potter fan podcasts. Many of these sites published reviews in their podcasts- of chapters, books, and film. I could have my students work in groups and each be assigned a chapter of a book or portion of a film to critique, review or just discuss on their podcast. This would be a great way to get students to collaborate on creating a response or reaction piece to something we read or watch in class - and by the end of the school year, we could have a whole archive of podcasts to go back and listen to! And it would be a great way for students to remember their experiences with literature - something they can always go back to!
The one I want to share with you today is the This I Believe series.
Every week, the This I Believe website publishes a new podcast that includes a selection of a number of This I Believe essays. This I Believe essays are statements of personal beliefs and are written by people from all around the world from all walks of life. Browsing through, you might find a piece by Muhammad Ali, a kindergartner, Bill Gates, a housewife, athletes - anyone and everyone you can think of. They even have recordings of essays that date back to the 1950's, when a radio show called This I Believe aired! It is an amazing website to browse around and a project that everyone can participate in.
The podcast is published once a week, and features at least one essay - you never know what you're gonna get from the selected piece! I love the This I Believe writing prompt and I love listening to all the different stories, so I would definitely like to use this podcast in my teaching.
What I would like to encourage my students to do is listen to the weekly podcast. I plan to use This I Believe quite a bit in my teaching, both for listening/reading and writing. I would ask students to take note of ones that stand out in particular to them, and create space for students to share them with one another and discuss.
As a teacher, I would listen to the podcast each week to keep myself fresh and listening to lots of different essays, as I'm always searching for ones that can relate to themes we're dealing with in class. One of my favorites that I plan to use is Jackie Robinson's This I Believe piece called "Free Minds and Free Hearts." This piece dates back to the 50's, and would tie in nicely with a unit on the civil rights movement- it has a great message behind it and paints a clear picture of some of the struggles Mr. Robinson had to face. I hope to be able to deal with issues of social justice in my classroom, and this podcast would work well to frontload a text such as Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Patillo Beals. Just as I would link Jackie Robinson's piece with this text, I would keep my ears open for other essays (in the podcast) that relate to other texts that we read throughout the year. Along the same lines, I would have students listen to different This I Believe pieces to find one that expresses a big idea or message that they take away from a piece of literature that we read together. For example, if we finished up Macbeth, I could have them search for This I Believe pieces that talk about the ways to reach your ambition, what type of person to be in the face of greed, or any theme or lesson that stuck with them from the play.
Ultimately, I would like to have my students write their own This I Believe essays and record them for submission to the website. After hearing a number of them throughout the year, they will be familiar with the format and guidelines of the piece, and know what it takes to make a really compelling statement of personal belief. I would love, for example at the end of the social justice unit I mentioned above, to have students reflect on what they are willing to stand up for in their lives, and write and record a piece on that topic. How awesome would it be to hear my students' voices on this podcast one day?
I also stumbled upon some other great podcast resources and ideas, including readings of various pieces of literature that are often studied in schools, such as Frankenstein on Learnoutloud.com. This would be really helpful for students who are auditory listeners or who would just like to listen to a story be read to them. I also got some great ideas from browsing around different Harry Potter fan podcasts. Many of these sites published reviews in their podcasts- of chapters, books, and film. I could have my students work in groups and each be assigned a chapter of a book or portion of a film to critique, review or just discuss on their podcast. This would be a great way to get students to collaborate on creating a response or reaction piece to something we read or watch in class - and by the end of the school year, we could have a whole archive of podcasts to go back and listen to! And it would be a great way for students to remember their experiences with literature - something they can always go back to!
You have some great ideas for integrating podcasts from This I Believe into your lessons. I'm also glad that you "stumbled upon" other resources. Sometimes we find the best things unexpectedly!
ReplyDeleteDr. Burgos