Have you ever tried a teacher professional development podcast?
Podcasts aren’t just for students! While podcasts can be wonderful for teaching students a variety of skills (read more about this topic here), there are also excellent teacher professional development podcasts out there for teachers of all ages and subjects. Note: these links are current as of June 2023.
Why Use Teacher Professional Development Podcasts?
There are many reasons you should use teacher professional development podcasts:
- You can listen to podcasts anywhere, anytime. In the car, cooking dinner, cleaning the house or your classroom, in the bathtub! Literally, anywhere you can take a device with you, you can listen to a podcast.
- Podcasts are current. No more professional development with books from 10 years ago! Podcasts are updated frequently, usually weekly or monthly, with new and relevant information.
- Learn from educators across the world. Educators and education leaders from all across the globe host their own podcasts or share their ideas and thoughts on the podcasts of others. You can learn ideas from teachers everywhere while also being introduced to other leaders in the education field.
- There are a variety of options. Regardless of what subject matter you teach, there is likely a podcast out there for you. There are teacher professional development podcasts for ELA and math, special education, general teaching/education topics, classroom management/discipline, and educational technology. There are even podcasts designed to help give teachers a little emotional support and encouragement, inspiration, or a good laugh.
- Many schools or districts will provide professional development credits. Have you found a favourite podcast? Be sure to ask your principal or administrators if you are able to earn additional professional development credits or hours for your time spent listening to it.
Below, I have compiled a list of some of the best teacher professional development podcasts. I have organized the list into categories: general education, English Language Arts (ELA), technology, math, teacher emotional support, and special education. A couple of podcasts might be listed in more than one category. I did this when I felt that a particular podcast did a great job of truly covering more than one educational topic in depth. I hope you find something you can use in your teaching career.
Teacher Professional Development Podcasts
General Education
- Truth for Teachers – Great relevant content.
- Teachers of the Year Radio – Brief, approx. 10 minutes each!
- QuotED On-Air – Inspiring quotes from educators. Less than 3 minutes; free copies of quotes and posters are available!
- Classroom Q & A
- The Cult of Pedagogy
- Teachers Need Teachers – Offers a job interview series and some tips for helping SPED students.
- The Creative Classroom with John Spencer
- #EdChat Radio
- 10 Minute Teacher Podcast
ELA
- The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast
- The Workshop Teacher Podcast
- The Joys of Teaching Literature
- Teaching Middle School ELA
- Brave New Teaching
Technology
- Teachers Talking Tech – Mostly for elementary, but technology can be modified for multiple grade levels.
- The House of #EdTech
- An EdTech Minute – A guide to edtech classroom resources and education applications.
- Google Teacher Podcast
- The EdTech Take Out
- Shukes and Giff The Podcast
Math
Teacher Emotional Support
Special Education
Just a couple of reminders:
- These teacher professional development podcasts are for you, the teacher, not for your students.
- This is by no means an exhaustive list. Please feel free to explore sites such as Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, PlayerFM, and Stitcher to find even more options that may be suited to your needs or interests.
Free Teacher Professional Development Workshop
Professional Development Resources
- Teacher Self-Care Challenge
- 15 Professional Development Books for English Teachers
- Managing the Professional Development Paper Overload