Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Classroom with Podcasts

Many educators are seeking ways to diversify teaching resources and incorporate underrepresented voices and perspectives into their curriculum. Fortunately, Listenwise podcasts are a great way of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom.

Sharing and discussing podcasts featuring stories and viewpoints of real people in their own voices can activate students’ emotions, validate their experiences, foster empathy, and promote understanding of diverse perspectives. These stories can also seed constructive dialogue among students whose backgrounds and viewpoints differ from their own. 

Teaching with audio stories can engage students in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and critical thinking about relevant topics and issues, while also developing their social and emotional skills.

How Listenwise Podcasts Promote DEI & SEL

The Listenwise library includes short audio stories that can help to diversify curriculum resources and otherwise address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the context of academic instruction. 

Story curation is guided by Listenwise’s content philosophy. Listenwise stories feature people representing a variety of races and ethnicities, cultures and religious backgrounds, socio-economic classes, gender identities and sexual orientations, and abilities/disabilities. Curated podcast collections can provide windows, mirrors, and doors for students exploring their own identities and seeking to understand those of others. 

These stories also provide an opportunity to foster social and emotional learning (SEL) “as a lever for equity and excellence,” addressing the competencies outlined in the CASEL Framework – self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. 

The Listenwise resources below include many such podcasts, along with suggested listening comprehension and discussion questions and a variety of other instructional supports. This webinar offers examples of how short podcasts can be used to promote DEI and SEL in the context of academic instruction. Additional resources from other respected education organizations offer guidance in culturally responsive and anti-racist teaching and practical tools for facilitating civil, respectful student dialogue.  

Listenwise Resources for Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Classroom

Applying the CASEL Framework with Podcasts to Teach SEL Skills

3 Tips for Providing Windows, Mirrors, and Doors to Explore Identities with Podcasts

Discussing Current Events in the Classroom 

Teaching Current Events in the Wake of Violence 

Teaching about Race and Racism

Teaching about  Black Lives Matter 

Stories about Black History and Experiences 

Stories about Women’s History and Experiences

Stories about LGBTQ+ History and Experiences

Stories about Latino and Hispanic Heritage and Experiences

Stories about Asian Pacific American Heritage and Experiences

Stories about Native American Heritage and Experiences 

5 Ways to Address SEL Goals Using Podcasts

Instructional Ideas for Teaching with Listenwise’s SEL Podcast Collection

Teaching about Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

Teaching Current Events with an SEL Lens 

Listenwise Is a Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) Tool to Support Equitable Learning

Other Resources to Promote DEI & SEL

Frameworks & Reports

SEL Framework from CASEL

Equity Insights Report: Advancing SEL as a Lever for Equity and Excellence from CASEL

Social, Emotional, and Academic Development Through an Equity Lense from The Education Trust

Culturally Responsive Teaching: A 50-State Survey of Teaching Standards a report by Jenny Muñiz for New America

Social Justice Standards from Learning for Justice

Guidance on Facilitating Dialogue

Fostering Civil Discourse: How Do We Talk About Issues That Matter? – a guide for classroom conversations from Facing History and Ourselves 

Civil Discourse in the Classroom – a guide with lessons from Learning for Justice

Fostering Civil Discourse in the (Remote) Classroom – a webinar and resources from Facing History and Ourselves

Guidance on Culturally Responsive/Anti-Racist Pedagogy

Getting Started With Culturally Responsive Teaching by Nikki Williams Rucker for Edutopia

3 Tips to Make Any Lesson More Culturally Responsive by Zaretta Hammond for Cult of Pedagogy 

A Conversation About Instructional Equity with Zaretta Hammond and Collaborative Classroom

How to Change the Story about Students of Color by Dena Simmons in The Greater Good Magazine 

What Anti-Racist Teachers Do Differently by Pirette McKamey in The Atlantic

Creating an Anti Racist Classroom by Danielle Moss Lee for Edutopia 

Talking About Race from the National Museum of African American History and Culture

An Antiracist Roadmap for Discussing Tough Topics in Class by Rann Miller for Edutopia 

The Urgent Need for Anti-Racist Education by Christina Torres for Education Week

Why White Students Need Multicultural and Social Justice Education by Sheldon Eakins for Cult of Pedagogy 

Bringing Black Lives Matter Into the Classroom by Jamilah Pitts for Learning for Justice

Additional Teaching Resource Collections

Race & Ethnicity from Learning for Justice

Race in U.S. History from Facing History and Ourselves

Global Immigration from Facing History and Ourselves

Religion from Learning for Justice

Antisemitism & Religious Intolerance from Facing History and Ourselves

Class from Learning for Justice

Ability from Learning for Justice

Gender & Sexual Identity from Learning for Justice

Bullying & Ostracism from Facing History and Ourselves