Listen Wise. Monica Brady-Myerov

unit on Hamlet by listening to a story about a touring company that performed the play in 197 countries. Listenwise is dedicated to curating high-quality audio stories that are especially well suited for educational use and developing instructional supports to accompany them.

For middle and high school students, listening to a news story from a public radio reporter is engaging. Students like listening to the same stories that adults hear because they are authentic. They aren't what a team of education writers and producers thought an educational audio story should sound like. These are real stories with appeal to real audiences.

      For elementary students, I turned to the excellent podcasts being created for kids to find the right educational content. On Listenwise, we focus on sourcing engaging stories that address English, social studies, and science topics. These podcasts are typically 15–30 minutes long, so our team edits them to a shorter length and focuses on key educational elements of the story.

      It was through my work as a journalist that I came to understand and appreciate the importance of listening. My daughter showed me how essential listening skills are in learning to read. And my experience in building Listenwise into a thriving education technology company has taught me how good listening comprehension skills are critical to learning and how educationally valuable well-produced audio stories can be.

REFLECTION AND PLANNING

      Take this opportunity to write some reflections and plans for action.

      What are some ways you can incorporate reading aloud to your students to build a personal connection with them through audio?

      Have you learned to speak another language as an adult? How has that experience informed your understanding of the importance of listening in language acquisition, and how can you share that experience with your students?

      How might you find and share one audio story that you think will be interesting to your students?

      Audio Resources

      1 [1] Garcia-Navarro, Lulu, et al. (2018, February 4). 50 years after she was struck by lightning, reconnecting with the girl who saved her. NPR, www.npr.org/2018/02/04/582904413/50-years-after-she-was-struck-by-lightning-reconnecting-with-the-girl-who-saved-her.

      2 [2] Peacher, Amanda. (2018, October 9). Trying not to break down—A homeless teen navigates middle school. NPR, www.npr.org/2018/10/09/653386388/trying-not-to-break-down-a-homeless-teen-navigates-middle-school.

      3 [3] Martin, Michel. (2018, December 2). How a stuffed toy monkey reunited a Holocaust survivor with relatives. NPR, www.npr.org/2018/12/02/672758708/how-a-stuffed-toy-monkey-reunited-a-holocaust-survivor-with-relatives.

      4 [4] Brady, Monica. (1997, July 21). Tax bill: Wine. NPR, www.npr.org/1997/07/21/1039020/tax-bill-wine.

      References

      1 1 Edison Research. (2019, March 6). “The infinite dial 2019.” https://www.edisonresearch.com/infinite-dial-2019/ (accessed September 10, 2020).

      2 2 PodcastHosting.org. (2021, January 1). “2021 global podcast statistics, demographics & habits.” https://podcasthosting.org/podcast-statistics/ (accessed February 1, 2020).