I have always been an auditory learner. I can recite commercials heard years ago on the radio, and when I don’t understand a passage I am reading, I read it aloud. As a writer, I also know the power of listening to my own words. I never publish or share a piece without first reading it in my best Leslie Stahl voice. It’s no wonder I push this proofreading technique on my students.

My first “podcast” with my students was last spring. After writing and publishing their “Now I Know Better” stories, my This American Life spin on the personal narrative where students tell stories of epic fails from childhood, usually involving a trampoline and/or torturing by an older sibling, I had students simply record themselves reading their already graded stories. I thought it would be a fun way to share, especially since a podcast was what inspired the assignment. We listened to a few in class, and I encouraged the students to listen at home. We simply ran out of time. Here are some of them:

This year, however, I decided to try something different. Instead of waiting until after the piece was graded, I decided to have students turn in their audio at the same time as their final draft. My thoughts were two-fold:

1. Make each student read the story aloud to hear any mistakes

2. Create an easily shareable format for other students to enjoy classmates’ stories.

It was a resounding success! And this time, I carved out time to allow students to listen to the stories on Chromebooks. Not only were the stories better, but students loved hearing their peers words read by the peers themselves. It was quite powerful.

Of course, my auditory journey did not end there. After going to a session at FallCUE a few weeks ago and hanging out with my buddy, Roland Aichele, he inspired me to do more. Why not record collaborative discussions? So I bought a super cool microphone (the Blue Snowball) and set it up one day last week. I plugged it into a Chromebook, set it to record on Twisted Wave, and plopped it down at one table each period during a discussion. It was AWESOME! Listening to it later, I was giddy hearing the academic discourse, mixed in with the silly 8th grade commentary. It was authentic, it was real and those kids totally rocked the discussion. The best part was I could listen to it after and really assess what each kid was understanding. It is often difficult to get to around to each group, especially in a short discussion. This was an effective way to engage my students, (they were totally on task), and check for understanding.

Now I just want eight more microphones!