Seeding a Discussion with a Podcast

I have blogged about podcasts many times. After all, podcasts were essential in my decision to go bookless in my American Government class. But, I have also used podcasts for English which have utility for almost any course where teachers are pressed for time.

I always feel a time crunch in my Literature into Film class. After all, so much class time is spent watching the films. So the longer I teach the class, the less time I seem to spend discussing the literature. But some works, like One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, truly warrant some class analysis.

So for today's class, I have "seeded" our discussion of the novel by creating brief podcasts sketching out themes or symbols in the work. These presentations end with open ended questions for the students to consider. I assign the podcasts over night, and then jump right into the questions. "Cutting to the chase" allows me to avoid the tough choice between of dropping a film or skipping interesting discussions of the novels. Here's a sample:

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Podcast

Perhaps you are finding yourself in a time crunch as the semester winds down. I hope this helps.

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