Professional Learning for Busy Educators

This year, NPR held its first Student Podcast Challenge — a podcast contest for students in grades 5 through 12. As we listened to the almost 6,000 entries, we smiled, laughed, and even cried. Students opened their lives to us with stories about their families, their schools and communities and their hopes for the future.

We named our winners last month — the eighth graders of Bronx Prep Middle School in New York, and the eleventh graders of Elizabethton High School in Tennessee.

But lots of other students blew us away. Here, for your listening pleasure, are just some of the many podcast entries that made us smile — and reminded us what it's like to be in middle and high school.

Since the unprecedented success of Serial, podcasts have become a more popular form of mainstream entertainment. Not only are many adults listening for fun, but some teachers are bringing podcasts into their classrooms as a new kind of text. Teachers like Alexa Schlechter, Michael Godsey and Alex Fernandez have found teenagers to be a receptive podcast audience and have even experimented with asking students to make their own podcasts.

While audio has excited teachers of older students who can access the rich variety of content available for adults, teachers and parents of younger children are noticing there isn’t a ton of content made specifically for a younger audience. In an article written for The Atlantic, Stephanie Hayes investigates this hole in the podcast market. She was surprised to find that kids will pay attention to a full 15-20 minute podcast and learn from it. Hayes writes:

Being a morning person increases productivity, helps you achieve goals, and can actually make you more successful. (It's true--science said so.)

But it's not always easy to make the most of our AM hours. If your morning routine needs a refresh, listening to podcasts could be the answer. They're the perfect outlet for boosting focus and excitement in the morning and are easily accessible (and free!).

And since there are currently over 750,000 podcasts out there, I've narrowed it down for you. Below are seven--one for each day of the week--that are sure to jump start your day.

Have you tried listening to podcasts for your professional development?

Podcasts are first and foremost FREE.  They are ON DEMAND content and can answer dozens, if not hundreds of dozens of questions that you may have about educational technology, professional pedagogy and more.  Did you know there are more than 700,000 podcasts on iTunes … RIGHT NOW?

Recode’s Kara Swisher, The Verge’s Lauren Goode and 60db’s Liz Gannes share their picks — and then our listeners weigh in.