Many educators are seeking ways to diversify teaching resources and incorporate underrepresented voices and perspectives into their curriculum. Fortunately, Listenwise podcasts promote DEI & SEL goals!
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
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
Your Roadmap for Teaching Controversial Issues – teacher guides and videos from iCivics
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
Why We Can’t Afford Whitewashed Social-Emotional Learning by Dena Simmons for ASCD’s Educational Leadership
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
Helping Students Discuss Race Openly by Julie Landsman for ASCD’s Educational Leadership
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
