Students need to be able to sit and listen to a passage or short audio program, take notes, recall information, and then answer critical thinking questions about the material. To help prepare students for our e-learning world, I’ve scoured the internet to find high-interest, school-appropriate podcasts that fit within one class period.
In this Listen & Learn activity, students will listen to a 24-minute podcast focused on how Ryanne Jones’ teeth became a marker of poverty and the years she spent trying to overcome the prejudice her broken smile created. This high-quality podcast presents a compelling, heartfelt narrative and allows the listeners (our students) to draw their own conclusions.
The easy prep lesson materials in this download include:
• A list of suggested lesson procedures for the teacher (or just print and leave for a sub) with several links to use to access the podcast online. Several of these sites also allow users to download the program and keep it on their personal mp3 players, a great option if the internet isn’t always reliable in your classroom. (PDF)
• A handout with questions for students to answer both while they listen and after the program is finished (PDF and Google Drive versions)
• A two-page answer key to make grading easy and to provide talking points as you review answers with your students (PDF)
This lesson, designed for students in grades 9-12, will take about 40 minutes to complete or a bit longer if you review answers/allow students to debate some of the questions. Please note that the language in the podcast is clean and entirely school-appropriate, but the episode does briefly discuss how one job interviewer incorrectly assumed Ryanne Jones used methamphetamine because she was thin and had terrible teeth. It is a brief mention in the episode, but I want to give teachers a heads-up about the element of suspected drug use. The podcast is appropriate for high school students, but you may want to listen to the episode before purchasing. Click here to listen to Jones’ story: https://www.marketplace.org/shows/this-is-uncomfortable-reema-khrais/why-dont-you-fix-your-teeth/
Download includes: 5-page PDF + Google version of student handouts (all uneditable)
Want this item plus four more podcast-based lessons at a 20% discount? To avoid a double-purchase, don’t buy the lesson materials on this page; instead, click here to download my Listen & Learn Vol. #2 bundle of high-interest podcast lessons for secondary students.
Please note: This item is also included in my Short Story Unit Plan for Older Teens. To avoid a double-purchase, please do not buy the item on this page if you also intend to buy the budget-priced short story bundle.
Thanks for stopping by!
Cover image credit: Marcus Quigmire, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
$2.50
