Podcasts for Differentiation

It seems like I am always looking for ideas to differentiate work for students to fit different preferences for performance options. So many of our final unit assessments in ELA are essays and, though I don’t discount the value in having students write an essay, sometimes it feels like that is all they are asked to do in so many of their classes. For kids who struggle with putting words on paper, this is a huge task to attempt and some students feel like giving up before they even start.


During Winter Break, a colleague sent me a link to NPR’s student podcast challenge. This was my chance to differentiate my next unit project!  The planned final project required students to reflect on their learning by writing an informative essay and creating a slideshow that they would present of their change in perspective during a exploration of values in other parts of the world and their own lives. It was a HUGE task to ask them to complete.

Then a thought came to me... 

what if I added an alternative to this task? 

Instead of completing those two pieces, the alternative would be to create a podcast addressing all of the same information. For the students who struggle with putting words onto paper, they would have the opportunity to just verbally say what they would have written. It also benefited the students who freeze when presenting because now all they would need to do is to play their podcast for the class as their presentation. It would be a win-win for those students!

I presented the option and was pleased to hear some of the students say, “a podcast?? I do those already in my free time!” Okay, only one student actually said that. However, I was happy to hear excitement about the choice from a handful of students in each period.

Last week, assignments were due and all week, we have been presenting them. The students loved hearing the podcast as opposed to watching a student presentation. Also, it is amazing how many of the Speaking and Listening standards (often forgotten or only briefly touched upon in middle school) actually are met with this one assignment! The students creating the podcasts were presenting their claims and findings (SL 4) and adapting their speech to a new context (SL 6) while the audience members were analyzing the main ideas and supporting details of the presentation (SL 2) and evaluating the speaker's reasoning and argument (SL 3).  The students were practicing multiple skills which will help them in their future years without even realizing it! And what if this were an option for students to complete with a partner?  How wonderful would that be to see the creativity that went into involving another student in the project??

Some podcasting resources you can use:
1. NPR’s student podcast challenge. The student materials also have great examples of podcasts that I had my students listen to to determine what they wanted to include in their own (for those who don’t make podcasts in their free time😉)
2. A list of apps you can use to create your own podcasts.  I had my students download Anchor and they found it fairly easy to use.
3. Here's a link to one of the submissions.  This was her first time ever creating a podcast and she included every single thing the assignment asked for and did it in such a way that we could really hear her "voice" as she presented!

Let me know if you've ever tried something like this. I would love to hear about it!

Keep the magic alive,

Kandyce Valverde