Mega Podcast Bundle

This podcast bundle has a little bit of everything with many opportunities to use the resources throughout the year! Some lessons take weeks, while others can be completed in one or two days - whatever works best for you!

Here are the products included:

• Scary Podcasts for High School Students - one of my best-sellers! Students analyze what makes urban legends so spooky with a Myths and Legends podcast that features five clean, well-known urban legends. A fun extension - they make up their own using what they've learned about how to craft a suspenseful story. Part two of this lesson has students listening to an episode of Lore about a real-life ax murderer. The focus here is on identifying valid and relevant evidence. This lesson includes various graphic organizers and worksheets as well as a teacher guide with a breakdown of when to start and stop the podcast throughout the lesson.

• Grit Podcast with Duckworth - As a class or independently, students listen to the Ted Radio Hour segment on Angela Duckworth's talk about grit. The original Ted Talk is only 6 minutes long, so I show that as well as the podcast (both listening and viewing guides are included). The Ted Talk gives the basics of what grit is while the podcast gets into the evidence behind it and how Duckworth implements strategies to improve grit in her own house. The focus of this lesson is identifying valid and relevant evidence. I also include a #committogrit page for students to make their own pledges to improve grit based on Duckworth's talk.

• Social Media Shaming Podcast - This teacher's guide and worksheet was created to accompany the TED Radio Hour segment with Jon Ronson titled “How Can Our Real Lives Be Ruined By Our Digital Ones?” Students see online shaming first-hand, so this lesson was created to help them understand how and why relatively nice people can get caught up in malicious social media shaming. Teacher guide details when to pause the audio and prompt discussion. The worksheet is a graphic organizer to organize information from the talk. Students look at what Ronson's argument is about social media shaming and how it is changing our society. Along with identifying his arguments, they will look at what evidence he gives to support it, and if the evidence is significant and relevant to the argument. I include two links to NPR articles on social media shaming of the Charlottesville Rally and accompanying guide questions. The articles are relatively short, but they show the perceived positive and negative consequences of online social media shaming. The final part of this product is a writing prompt asking students to take a stance on whether or not social media shaming is an acceptable way to help end or deter social injustices such as racism and sexual assault.

• Sedaris Christmas Podcast - This activity is the perfect way to bring a little holiday fun into the classroom. Students listen to two very amusing podcasts of David Sedaris reading his best Christmas material: "The Santaland Diaries" and "An Animal Farm Christmas." -Guide questions for each podcast. Questions are broken up by segments in the podcast and are labeled with timestamps so students can easily keep track of what they are answering and when. QR codes and short links on each worksheet for students to independently access the podcast if needed. Links to the transcript if students need a visual copy as well. This lesson focuses on theme and irony.

• Podcast of the Week - Instead of assigning an article of the week, assign a podcast of the week! I give this assignment on Monday and give students until Friday to complete and submit the unique graphic organizer that goes with each podcast. Podcasts are all from NPR and have QR codes and links directly on the worksheets. The podcasts also have transcripts so students can listen and/or read depending on their preference. You can also use this for sub plans or complete them as an entire class for a group lesson. The product includes four unique graphic organizers to pair with four different NPR podcast episodes. Extension questions and answer keys included for each.

• Jefferson's Contradiction - This resource goes with NPR's Hidden Brain podcast episode: "A Founding Contradiction: Thomas Jefferson's Stance on Slavery." Perfect to pair with any other lessons or units about slavery or lessons about the current issue of whether or not to remove monuments of former slaveholders. The main idea of the podcast is how our minds justify our actions. Thomas Jefferson's use of slaves even though he knew it to be deplorable is the main example used to explore this idea. A teacher guide breaks down the different ways to have the students listen to the podcast and complete the work. The guide also breaks down the podcast into different sections by listing out the times to pause and discuss certain topics or to check for clarification. A graphic organizer helps students keep track of the different justifications Jefferson had for owning slaves. The backside of the page is used to explore the current issue of retaining or removing monuments of former slaveholders. Extension: To keep it relevant to students, they are asked to describe ways they have seen contradictions in society and how they can make positive impacts to change these contradictions.

• True Crime Podcast Intro - Want to try true crime podcasts but don't have an entire unit to devote to it? This mini-unit is perfect for you. This product includes graphic organizers for the first episodes of Serial and A Very Fatal Murder. Serial is a true-crime podcast with an entire season devoted to discovering who killed a Baltimore teenager in 1999. A Very Fatal Murder is the Onion's satirical take on true crime podcasts. This hilarious podcast will not only entertain students, but it will also help them to understand how satire can be used to create social change. The final extension asks students to reassess their initial ideas about true crime as a form of entertainment. A teacher guide lists out the start and stop times or you can just play it through depending on your group of students.

• How I Built This - How I Built This is an NPR podcast where the host interviews successful people from various industries about how they built their empires. Most came from average upbringings – probably similar to your students – and with hard work and perseverance, they were able to build some sort of successful business. Looking to give your students choice and help them find something they are interested in and passionate about? This is it. Episodes focus on fashion, music, hospitality, etc. There’s something for everyone. Have your students pick an episode to listen to and give them a graphic organizer to fill out as they go or when they are finished. Hang them around the room for a quick bit of inspirational decor!

• In the Dark Season 2 Episodes 1-4 - If your students love Serial, wait until they hear In the Dark! This bundle goes with the first four episodes of the second season which explores how Curtis Flowers has been tried for the same murder case six different times over a 21 year period. They'll really be shocked when they hear he was behind bars up until December 2019 even though each of his trials has resulted in a hung jury or an overturned conviction from the Supreme Court. For each episode, there are graphic organizers with start and stop times and a written reflection. The product also includes an op-ed writing assignment as a cumulative assessment.

• Lore Episode 122: The Shortest Straw - This episode is from the critically acclaimed Lore podcast - winner of Best History Podcast 2016. Your students' attention is immediately grabbed as the host details a gruesome shipwreck that resulted in some of the crew members eating other crew members in order to survive. The majority of the podcast consists of the host detailing the Mignonette shipwreck where a captain and first mate killed a young cabin boy in order to use his body as sustenance. Known as the custom of the sea, this podcast explores instances of cannibalism at sea and the moral ambiguity that comes with it. This product includes a three-page graphic organizer with timestamps so teachers and students know exactly where to find all of the information; an answer key for the graphic organizer; two written responses: one to cover the informational reading standard and one to cover the argument writing standard; optional discussion topics. Perfect informational text to pair with any reading with themes of man versus nature, man versus man, morality, or survival of the fittest!