The launch of each school year promises the possibility of a new start, new faces, and new opportunities. However, as fall break and midterm grades arrive, students, parents, and teachers come to realize how successful they’ve been in taking advantage of that new start.
Whether it’s study habits, morning routines, teaching techniques, or learning challenges, the problem areas begin to surface and reveal where a little extra support could contribute to a more successful semester.
That’s where the following nine podcasts come in!
Podcasts for Students
Is “splooting” a real word? Is “’em” short for “them”? What are “frozen binomials”? What’s the hype about the Oxford comma? Students will find the answers to these and many other grammatical questions listening to Grammar Girl. This award-winning podcast, hosted by Mignon Fogarty, explores writing, history, and the rules of the English language. Not only will students hear quirky stories about words they know and those they don’t, but lessons will also help them use words and punctuation correctly.
While the Department of Education reports 4.8 million English language learners (ELL) were enrolled in 2015, the National Education Association estimates one out of four children in classrooms across the nation will be ELL by 2025. Everybody ESL is a podcast for anyone who wants to improve, practice, or learn more English. The host—known simply as “Ben”—thoroughly explains the different meanings and proper uses of idioms like “small potatoes,” “come on,” “here you go” vs. “there you go,” and “strapped for time” in episodes of four to six minutes in length. This is not only helpful for students learning English as a second language, but also for native English speakers wanting to use correct vernacular.
Host Jesse Mogle understands that being successful in college isn’t just about finding tricks and tips to improve how you listen, take notes, or study. It’s not just about focusing, making priorities, and managing one’s time, either. His holistic approach delves into the importance of emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, discipline, choice, stigma, ego, personal responsibility, and the six core human needs, just to name a few. He shares success habits and hacks that will help students of all ages—and even those who aren’t attending school—live and perform with more efficiency and effectiveness.
Podcasts For Parents
Kimberlynn Lavelle shares insight for parents navigating their learners’ ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, autism, processing disorders, and other learning disabilities. Not only does she discuss how to motivate learners to read and write, but she also explores how reading comprehension and vocabulary are impacted by disabilities, as well as how children learn at different speeds and whether parents should consider unschooling, home education, and/or intervention.
10 Minutes to a Better Homeschool
Each week, veteran homeschool mom Pam Barnhill offers practical tips, stories, interviews, and inspiration in ten-minute, digestible episodes about schedules, burnout, efficiency, curriculum, planning, and more. She thoroughly addresses homeschooling for preschool, kindergarten, early elementary, and high school, as well as how—and if—to homeschool while working at home and finding ways to balance school and life. Earlier episodes include interviews with experts, homeschooling moms, and entrepreneurs.
Host Kimberly G provides educational and informative content for parents needing proven and viable solutions within the educational space. Her aim is to give listeners easy-to-understand solutions and practices within an academic and socio-emotional context to help parents become more aware and informed. She shares statistics, experience, and solutions on a broad range of topics like empathy, college debt, letting go, advocacy, and making practical educational choices.
Podcasts for Teachers
Elementary school teacher Megan Polk shares new ideas and techniques for educating students about literary techniques, choices, and elements. Her goal is to provide actionable steps and information, tips, and strategies she has learned as a literacy specialist. Besides writing basics and advanced tips, she touches on preparing for tests, using multimedia to support readers, celebrating published writing appropriately in the classroom, and creating a summer to-do list.
Teachers aren’t just teachers; they also address mental health, communication, and socio-economic issues that impact their students’ lives. This podcast is a no-nonsense approach to teacher development—a way to learn new skills, better their craft, and get new ideas that ultimately fuel their own ideas and projects. Episodes feature teachers and administrators—like Patrick Harris II, Todd Nesloney, Hamish Brewer, Alfie Kohn, and Donalyn Miller—with unique perspectives on current public-school topics.
Host Jennifer Gonzalez goes beyond simply giving teachers ideas for lesson plans. She shares teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, and educational technology—all those valuable teaching elements that encourage a more well-rounded learning experience for students and teaching experience for educators. Gonzalez interviews educators and students about the social and psychological dynamics of school, trade secrets, and more.
October 2022 Issue
