7 Podcasts to Listen to on the Way to Work

I can't remember who told me this but....I remember in grad school somebody told me that teaching is like working in a black box. In a lot of ways, it feels harder than ever to grow professionally because I can go days without interacting with a single adult if I wanted to. The students get to see different teaching styles on a daily basis. Me on the other hand? If I'm not teaching, I'm prepping. If I'm not prepping, I'm doing something unrelated to teaching. The only teacher I observe on a daily basis is myself. It's like my classroom is a blackbox and I can't see outside of it. 

At first, it was hard to prioritize professional development. However, when I started running out of ideas, I realized I needed to do some outside research to grow myself professionally. Which is when I discovered podcasts. Podcasts are amazing for two reasons 1) They're entertaining and educational and 2) You can listen to them while driving/cooking/falling asleep.....

Here's a list of podcasts that have helped me the most with my teaching this year. All are available for free on Spotify and/or Apple Podcasts. 

Podcasts related to teaching 
1. Teachers Need Teachers​

• A podcast for teachers by teachers
• Specifically written for first and second year teachers. 
• Addresses common first year and second year teaching problems (feels good to know I'm not alone in struggling with everything I'm struggling with!) This podcast really helped me through my first year. 

2. Talking to Teens

• Podcast on adolescent development 
• Provides more of the psychological perspective on how to work with kids and teenagers

3. Teach me teacher

• Similar to the Teachers Need Teachers podcast
• Each episode features a different guest (most of them are teachers, some are professors or administrators). More of an interview style

4. http://www.edupodcastnetwork.com/

• A hub for all podcasts related to teaching. And there's a lot  of them. 

Podcasts tangentially related to teaching 
1. Serial

• From murder mysteries to politics to the army to the courthouse.....this podcast was just plain entertaining! If anybody wants to rant about serial with me....let me know!

2. TED Radio hour

• Each episode surrounds a theme (love, courage, creativity, authenticity, raising good people.....) and three TED speakers related to that theme. This podcast encouraged me to re-think my classroom management procedures and how I interact with my students. 

3. Radiolab- G series 

• A three part series on intelligence. What do we consider intelligent? How do we measure intelligence? Are animals intelligent? Highly recommend this series for anybody in the education field!

4. Stuff You Missed in History Class 

• If it's not textbook American history, I probably don't know it. This podcast really helped me fill in the gaps! 

What podcasts do you enjoy? Let me know! I'm always looking for more ideas