If you’ve used podcast episodes in your classroom, you know that the kids love them. You also know that it’s really, really hard to find one that’s not too short/too long, isn’t riddled with swear words, and will actually hold our students’ attention.
This week, I’m happy to share a nugget of curriculum gold that I found over at Sidedoor, a podcast produced by the Smithsonian Institute. In Season 2, Episode 4, host Lizzie Peabody brings us the story of the rise and fall of Atari, a beloved company of my childhood that created a video game “so loathsome that all remaining copies were buried deep in the desert. And it was so horrible that it’s blamed for the collapse of the American home video game industry in the early 1980s.” (Note: The si.edu site is sometimes a bit laggy on my computer, but you can also listen to the episode here or here or here.)
I also built a set of active listening and critical thinking questions for students to answer as they work through the program. Up here in Idaho, our spring state tests assess listening skills and I’ve found podcast-based activities like this one are useful to help kids prepare. Click on the image below to be taken to this product’s listing in my TpT shop.
I’m always looking for more podcast episodes to use with our classes, so feel free to share links below to anything you find that might work. Teach on, everyone.
“Game over” image credit: Pixabay, Public domain
Thanks for introducing me to this podcast. I fell in love with the whole thing immediately. I’m sure I can use it someplace in my lessons!
So glad you like the program, too, R Deedrick! This is definitely one of the best episodes I’ve found so far. If you find others with the same vibe, definitely let me know. 🙂