Textbooks or Podcasts?

In my past academic career, I hadn't been exposed to as many podcasts as I would've liked to be. When I hear others talking about how much easier they were to pay attention to, I always wondered if that would apply to me as well. Being given the option to either read your work, or hear it should definitely be something that all teachers do. I remember learning about the Universal Design of Learning at the beginning of the semester, and how important it is to have multiple means of expression and engagement, and even representation for educators. This idea has been so essential to just me while learning how to teach students with different abilities and skills. I was thinking about how teachers used to say reading aloud helps with your literacy and comprehension, but that led me to think about why hearing texts isn’t more beneficial as well? I think that all of this does end up depending on the individual specifically, but still something to think about. It could simply be the fact that some students dread reading, or vice versa. It was upsetting that there were minimal positive results found in the study, but I believe it’s still important for us to acknowledge the different ways that our students can learn.  If we don’t continue to adapt to how students learn, we won’t be as successful as we can be while teaching them.  

(221)