Teacher Feature - Kaitlin Platt - Podcasts - September 2022

Welcome to our first Teacher Feature of the 2022-2023 school year! We hope to make this a monthly occurrence and welcome suggestions of who should be featured next. 

Up first, Kaitlin Platt (email kaitlin.close@eagleschools.net) looped up to 2nd grade with her students this year in Red Sandstone Elementary School in Vail, CO. Kaitlin has her Master's degree in Education: Learning and Technology from Michigan State University and is passionate about fostering healthy digital citizens who can engage independently and collaboratively with rigorous academic material. She has been integrating Podcasts as a way to address the Oral Expression and Listening Standards for her K-2 students. Continue reading to learn more!

What question were you trying to answer?

How can I incorporate more engaging and individualized activities to grow students in standards related to engaging in dialogue (Oral Expression and Listening)?

Also, how can I facilitate learning new information through active listening?

How did you decide to answer that question?

By providing students access to podcasts during their individual work time, I allowed students to listen to a podcast of their choice prior to participating in collaborative conversations and responding to the main ideas and key details. I used the ECSD K-5 Student Podcast website and generated a list of 3-4 titles based on students' previously determined interests.

Individually or in pairs, students made a choice, listened, discussed, and responded. As students listen, they choose a quiet space in the classroom (library, under a table, couch, etc). When discussing, students use quiet voice level to probe each other’s thoughts by asking and answering questions, agreeing and disagreeing, making connections, and adding on to each other’s thoughts. 

What impact did the solution have on your students?

I found that by providing students with learning opportunities that were directly impacted by student's voice, students’ oral expression and listening skills increased. 

If you were to do it all again, would you do anything differently? Any other tips or tricks you would recommend for teachers wanting to implement something similar in their classroom? 

I continue to embed podcasts into students' daily playlists (their learning path for the day), to ensure continued use of the criteria for success to meet and exceed the standards in regard to oral expression and listening. So, yes, I will continue to use this tool to empower my students to express their interests and guide their own learning.

My students LOVE when they have the opportunity to learn something new that is different from others in the classroom - it provides them an opportunity to be an expert and teach others. In this case, continuing to further the collaborative discussion skills. 

Are you inspired to try this out in your own classroom? ECSD EdTech has developed a website that puts K-5 student-appropriate Podcasts at your (and your students'!) fingertips. Check out our Google site linked here for Science, History, and Podcasts in Spanish. Don't forget to request additional podcasts you would like to use for instructional purposes in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.