While browsing my social media feed last night, I stumbled across this article shared by a former colleague: As of this morning, NPR is launching a Student Podcast Challenge for students and teachers in grades 5-12.

The concept is simple: “Take a topic, a lesson or a unit you’re learning about, and turn it into a podcast” on SoundCloud ranging from 3-12 minutes in length. Schools can submit entries from January 1, 2019 to March 31, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. E.T. A panel of NPR judges will pick two winners representing grades 5-8 and 9-12.

If you’re on the fence I’ve had non-native speaking French students make podcasts at all levels of their language study, and it’s incredible what they can do!

Students in the past have made for my classes weather announcements, current events round-ups, and even created commercials for ideal schools that they designed after studying about the educational systems in the French-speaking world. Podcasts are a fun way to wrap up a unit with a summative assessment. The students are responsible for explaining and demonstrating what they’ve learned during their study of a particular unit.

Perhaps this challenge speaks to you…. 🙂