Podcasts are also a great way to vary the formats that you are using to disseminate content. Text can be a barrier for many students. It is important that students know how to read and analyze text, but if we only present our content in this way, we risk alienating students that find text a barrier to their learning. Audio can be a more accessible format for these students. It can remove barriers from your classroom whether you are recording the audio yourself, or using podcasts you have found elsewhere. Furthermore, when reading is no longer a barrier, students are able to listen to content and comprehend material that is several grade levels above what they would be able to read in a text format.
The only remaining problem is where to find the podcasts that you need, and this is exactly what this blog post is for. It is not an exhaustive list, but the links below are a curation of some of the more popular podcasts that are made for kids of all ages. They cover Literacy, Science, Social Studies and more. For your convenience, they are embedded in the Awesome Table below. If you can't see the list below, feel free to follow this link to find the best podcasts for kids.
If you have suggestions of your own, things that you would like to have added to this list, please let me know. I am more than happy to update this with anything else that would be useful for students and teachers in the classroom. My contact details are below.
Grant Wood AEA | jwylie@gwaea.org | @jonathanwylie