What is a Podcast Day?
an enrichment activity that is used to bring career relevance to your class
an opportunity for students to listen to experts
a physical break from the screens
an opportunity to go outside or exercise while learning
an activity that can be run synchronously (listen together, or teacher is online for discussion) or asynchronously (listened to outside of class)
How to Host A Podcast Day
In a time where online learning adds more hours staring at a computer screen, podcasts offer a unique opportunity to learn away from their usual environment.
Students can listen to podcasts while going out for a walk, exercising, or even just lying down. It allows them to engage in meaningful lessons while giving them a break from the screen and an opportunity to stretch their legs and maintain good health during online learning.
If you wish to give an assessment of/for learning of the podcast, one of the easiest ways is a Learning Journal.
Learning Journals
These are blogs set up on free sites like Blogger.com where students make entries that help guide their internal processing of information they gained in your lesson.
In my learning journals students must write in 3 sections:
- What the lesson was on
This section is simply a summary of what the lesson was about. They are to write 3 sentences minimum but it indicates what they actually picked up in the lesson.
- What they learned
This section details something they were surprised or knowledge they felt was the most valuable to them in the lesson. There is no wrong answer here. Again I ask for a minimum of 3 sentences or points.
- What they wonder next
This section takes what they learned and helps them seek beyond the lesson. It also gives me feedback on what I can do in my next lessons to include some of the answers to their questions. In this section I can really tell if a student is engaged by the quality of their answers. There's no right answer here also, as it is very personal.
9 sentences total. And if a student didn't learn anything and isn't wondering anything next, then they have to write 9 sentences on what the lesson was on.