Podcasts have exploded in popularity in recent years, and for good reason—they’re accessible, engaging, and they can transport listeners into new worlds with music, sound effects, and voice. Podcasts can easily be integrated into various ELA units, whether you're exploring informational texts through interviews and discussions, enhancing narrative units by analyzing storytelling techniques, or even sharpening persuasive skills by examining how speakers build their arguments. Best of all, they’re FREE!
Still need convincing? Let me give you my top 4 reasons why podcasts are perfect for ELA classrooms, especially during spooky season:
1. Listening Skills: Students are more accustomed to visual media, but podcasts are an excellent way to sharpen active listening skills. By focusing on voice inflections, music, and sound effects, students must rely on auditory cues to make inferences, analyze tone, and interpret mood.
2. Engagement: Whether you have a group of strong readers or a group who may struggle with traditional reading tasks, podcasts provide an alternative way to engage. The suspense of a good eerie story can captivate students’ attention and keep them on the edge of their seats.
3. Critical Thinking: Halloween-themed podcasts often center around mysteries, suspense, and eerie tales, which challenge students to go beyond surface-level listening. These stories encourage deeper engagement, prompting students to predict outcomes, identify clues, and analyze narrative structures—key components of critical thinking in ELA.
4. Discussion Opportunities: You can find many Halloween-themed podcasts that are short and highly engaging, making them ideal for sparking rich classroom discussions. Students can analyze themes, character motivations, or even the production choices that help build suspense.
Spooky Podcasts to Try
With Halloween just around the corner, now is the perfect time to explore some spooky podcasts that can add a chilling, thematic twist to your October lessons. One tactic is to integrate a single podcast episode to focus on a specific skill or as an introduction or enhancement to provide valuable context for texts being studied. You can also use them as springboards for discussions around themes, character development, and real-world connections.
Here are my top 3 podcasts suggestions that are appropriate for middle or high school students:
In this Criminal episode, the story of a haunted Victorian house in New York leads to a famous court case, now dubbed the “Ghostbusters ruling,” where the house was legally declared haunted. Experts weigh in on how psychological stigma impacts real estate, from infamous cult properties to murder scenes.
Why it’s perfect for ELA:
I have used this podcast to pair with an
informational text to explore narrative perspective, real-world legal and
ethical issues, and the concept of psychological stigma. Students can analyze
how tone and mood are created in storytelling while debating whether the
supernatural should influence legal rulings. It’s a chilling, thought-provoking
listen, perfect for October!
2. Criminal Podcast Episode # 71 “A Bump in the Night”
In this Criminal episode, Amber Dawn moves into a new apartment and almost immediately starts hearing strange, unexplained noises. As the unsettling disturbances continue, Amber and listeners are left to question what could be causing the strange occurrences in her seemingly quiet home. It’s eerily creepy because it’s true – AND it happens more often than you might think!
Why it’s perfect for ELA:
I love using this episode in my classroom as an introduction to an argumentative unsolved mysteries project in the month of October. Students are appropriately “creeped out” by this episode and hardly noticed they were learning how to make claims and support their claims with evidence. It’s an engaging way to practice argumentation while tying in the spooky Halloween theme!
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Grab this completely FREE lesson!
3. Unspookable Podcast Episode 3:“The Ouija Board”
Why it’s perfect for ELA:
This podcast episode is perfect for ELA class because it explores themes like belief, superstition, and human psychology. It encourages students to synthesize information and reflect on societal views. It can also spark dynamic discussions, which makes it a great fit for any ELA curriculum.
Check out this done-for-you lesson on Unspookable Podcast: "Ouija Board"
With a current library of 66 episodes on many diverse topics, this is a podcast worth checking out!
Final Thoughts
This list is just the beginning when it comes to incorporating spooky podcasts into your classroom. There are many more fantastic and spooky options to explore, Lore and Full Body Chills to name a couple. As always, previewing any episode before sharing it with your students is important to ensure it aligns with your classroom needs and audience.
If you haven't yet given them a try, you definitely should! Podcasts open up a world of possibilities for creative lessons that captivate and challenge students PLUS they offer a fantastic way to enhance your ELA curriculum and keep students engaged.
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