Last Updated on June 25, 2021
We are excited to share favorite features and lesson ideas from a few of our Listenwise Advocates! These awesome educators are master teachers and Listenwise Advocates. Read about their favorite Listenwise features and how they use Listenwise with their students. Learn more about this program and try out some of these ideas with your students.
Katie Booth
In my class, we listen to a podcast once all the way through and determine the general idea. Then, we use the graphic organizers provided and listen to the audio again, stopping occasionally to take notes. Each student shares what they heard. This gives us an opportunity to compare what information catches students’ attention. We compare those comments to the general idea of the audio (discussed early) to assess whether this information will support us in gaining a better understanding of the main idea.
S
ebastian Byers
We have a 1:1 class, so once I get the classes set up in Listenwise, assigning and using the lessons is very easy and convenient. The lessons easily fit into my curriculum and Listenwise is used at strategic times. I assign stories to students and they listen and complete the questions and assignment. Any assignments are embedded or linked into my Canvas class page. As a group we discuss answers to the assignment and students choose one answer that they are most proud of and prepare to share that with the class. My students appreciate that I make science fun and fresh. I have happily converted many young persons to “podcast people”…their words.
Favorite PREMIUM Feature: Creating an assignment for a unit of study. I appreciate the resource library for search-ability, relevance, comprehensiveness, and as a nice addition to my lessons. My students find their assignments to be interesting and their tasks in the assignments are clear and easy to use.
Erik Eve
Over the course of the quarter (10 weeks), my students choose and listen to 15 current events. They do this at home and then on the last day of the quarter, we have a whole group discussion. The students are given a prompt and they answer based on the Listenwise current events, also referencing other people and their opinions.
In the second discussion we have a “move around.” Students sit in the middle of the classroom, I pull up a Listenwise current event, and ask them a question based on the topic. If they agree they go to one corner and if they disagree they go to another corner. Students have to defend why they were there and provide support for their choice. @mrevelindy
Favorite PREMIUM Feature: The current events allow my honor’s students to come into contact with information that they normally wouldn’t.
Andrew Garnett-Cook
When I’m teaching citizenship, we look at the 14th Amendment and discuss the process of naturalization. Then we discuss “What is one right citizens have that is generally not given to non-citizens?” The most important one is voting. We go to Listenwise to hear this audio:Debate: Should Non-Citizens Be Allowed to Vote in Local Elections?
Students use their own device (Chromebook, laptop) to listen to the audio.
Mike Messner
I play Listenwise audio stories to the class and project the transcript on the screen. After the first listen, I instruct them to jot down answers to discussion questions in their devices or in an app while I project the comprehension and discussion questions. Students listen again and then turn to each other and discuss the questions. I call several students to give their responses to the rest of the class. At the end of class, students respond in writing to comprehension questions on a Google Form that I create. @messner_mike
Favorite PREMIUM Feature: I like the Discussion Questions. They give students a target for their listening and provide a basis for the discussion that will ensue later.
Rosemary Miketa
I give my students a topic, such as climate change, to help them understand cause and effect relationships. They discuss prompts that I give them, and then listen to the Listenwise audio and answer questions. They use the online dictionary feature if needed for new vocabulary. Then they watch a video, possibly from National Geographic, and reflect on the audio and video. I ask them to create a video reflection of what they learned on their phone, explaining some causes and effects of global warming. Students can then share their video responses in Flipgrid.
Favorite PREMIUM Feature: I like the Closed Captioning and interactive transcript highlights while students are listening.
To learn more about the Teacher Advocate Program and how you can apply, check out our Listenwise Teacher Advocate Program page!
