Handing Students the Mic: Podcasting to Increase Engagement
Mike Yakubovsky Published in ASCD Express
A recent LinkedIn study identified the top 10 skills employers are currently looking for in their interns and new hires (Hess, 2019). I looked through it all, and nowhere was there a reference to test-taking ability. What was at the top of the list were soft skills like collaboration, time management, and creativity and hard skills like analytical reasoning and people management. I try to intentionally incorporate these skills into my high school classroom, but getting my learners to internalize the information, take ownership of their learning, and branch out into new ways of demonstrating that learning proves more difficult.
Over the last couple of years, I have met several teachers who use podcasting in their classroom and are seeing success with their content. High school English teacher Anthony Stirpe has his learners create podcast episodes of their work and says their verbal-only presentations force a new level of expression and thoroughness. Students come up with a fully developed story and engage in high levels of research, preparation, and reflection.
