Educators who teach language arts content and English learners (ELs) are successfully implementing Listenwise podcasts as audio texts that their students use to practice strategies that build literacy skills. Using podcasts as texts provides equitable access to students who struggle to read, as they may be more easily able to acquire information, build vocabulary, and…
Listenwise’s design provides equitable educational opportunities for special education students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and 504 accommodations. A Listenwise user from South Carolina said: “I’m a Special Education teacher and I love the easy-to-use audio file and transcript—it has built-in accommodations for all students!” Check out the list below to learn more about Listenwise’s…
We hosted an EdWeb webinar to share how educators can teach listening skills to promote literacy, including five research-based practices for teaching listening that work for all students. Some of the practices are especially effective for English learners and students with learning differences. See below, or watch the webinar here. Pre-teaching vocabulary is critical because…
Listenwise has published seven new collections that explore aspects of people’s identities: Black and African American Stories; Latino and Hispanic American Stories; Asian American and Pacific Islander Stories; Native American Stories; LGBTQ+ Stories; Stories of People with Disabilities; Women Making History. Our content philosophy guides our story curation and the instructional materials we create. Our new collections can be used to…
Many educators who use Listenwise report that they love Weird News! These are less-than-30-second current event podcasts about unusual current events are published every Sunday. They include academic vocabulary words featured in the stories, which are incorporated into the accompanying comprehension and discussion questions. Teachers can focus on one or more of these featured words…
We’ve curated three collections to engage your students in meaningful conversations! Our new Youth Voices Collections feature kids and teens speaking about their perspectives, innovations, and civic action. We are excited about these three collections because they include stories that appeal to elementary listeners as well as stories for secondary listeners. Additionally, we’ve learned from…
During our Teacher Talks webinar series last fall, we spoke with Erin Reaves, an English Language Development (ELD) instructional coach at Taylor Elementary in Santa Maria Bonita, CA about how she leads teachers to use Listenwise, not as a supplement, but as the core of instruction for a week of lessons in ELD classes. Reaves…
Talk of fake news is everywhere but how do you begin to teach about it in the classroom? Start with an exploration of the rise of fake news, and why kids should care. Then, delve into the media literacy skills that students need to evaluate news critically. Teaching your students about fake news and how…
We’ve been developing instructional strategies for teaching K-12 students with podcasts, and along the way, we discovered an amazing educator community resource: HyperDocs. HyperDocs are digital lesson plans that are designed by teachers, for students. They give students access to all the content and instructional resources for a lesson in one organized digital space (learn…
Student choice is an important lever for engagement and personalized learning. The Universal Design for Learning Guidelines suggest “optimizing individual choice and autonomy” as an effective strategy for “providing multiple means of engagement” when designing learning experiences. Any student should be able to find a story of interest among the 2400+ short, engaging audio stories…