Six Minutes Podcast Lessons

Six Minutes Podcast lessons can be a challenge to find since podcasts are a relatively new medium in the education sphere.

The Six Minutes Podcast is mysterious and mystifying with lots of twists and turns.

All these words describe the storyline of this Six Minutes Podcast. I love Season 1 Holiday’s season.

Everyone loves to be entranced in a story so intriguing that they leave their lives for a few minutes and enjoy quality storytelling, whether it be fiction or real life!

Eleven-year-old Holiday is pulled from the icy waters of Alaska with no memory of who she is or where she came from. Are her mom and dad really who they say they are? And when she begins to develop incredible abilities, she’ll soon discover she’s not alone in the world.

These short episodes will keep you guessing and wanting more every time! A good old-fashioned “whodunit” is great for critical thinking and problem-solving skills; however, most true crime or mysterious podcasts aren’t appropriate for the classroom; however, this Six Minutes Podcast is a perfect fictional podcast that is safe to listen to with your classes, without losing the mystery!

Why Use This Podcast In Your Classroom

How many times have you struggled to reign students in at the beginning of class? Or had an extra 5-10 minutes after a lesson before the bell? It’s not enough time to start something new, but it’s too long to let students sit and wait. This podcast is only 6-minutes per episode (except for the season finale).

At the beginning of class, it can be used for students to calm down and get their brains working and focused-ready to learn. At the end of class, it is the perfect activity to fill extra time or focus on something different. We ALL need brain breaks at any (and every) point in the day – this is the perfect activity that resets students’ brains and lets them work on deeper thinking skills (without even knowing it!)

No matter what subject you teach, you witness every day the lack of listening-skills students have. Just this week, think of a time you gave oral instructions and how many “What do we do?” “What did you say?” “I don’t know what to do!” – I’m guessing a whole bunch of them.

Students struggle with listening and applying what they hear. They also struggle with figuring things out on their own. This Six Minutes Podcast not only gives them the chance to practice listening skills, it gives them a chance to let their brains explore lots of new options and think critically about this storyline.

Six Minutes Podcast Lessons

There are lots of ways you can use the podcast in your classroom. Here are some Six Minutes Podcast Lessons.

Comprehension Questions

Comprehension questions may seem old school, but they are effective and straightforward for students! If you are pressed for time, or just want an easy-to-grade assignment, this is perfect to go along with the podcast! We all need a little help, right? So, to make it even easier on YOU, comprehension questions are provided for you (to print or assign virtually) in this Six Minutes Podcast Unit Bundle.

Free Lesson – Season 1 Episode 1

You can try out a free Six Minute podcast lesson for Season 1 Episode 1 here.

Journal Entries

Another lesson idea is journal entries after each episode! And guess what, journal entry prompts WITH a journal entry rubric are also included in the Six Minutes Podcast Unit Bundle! You can print them all out and have students create a folder/journal/binder for all their entries or you can have them all in a digital folder for students to access. You can try out Six Minutes Episode 1 for free here.

One Sentence Summaries

Students can write a quick one-sentence summary of each episode in a journal, class binder, or online in a running Google doc or a discussion board post. This concept can help students learn how to write concise sentences that are short but get their point across. This will challenge students’ writing skills in a way that they probably aren’t used to.

Character Stations

Who doesn’t love a good stations activity? You can set up stations for different characters throughout the episodes. You could do this in several different ways. Have students create a profile for the character at each station. Students could write personality traits about each character on a post-it note and post them to a poster about each character.

Visualization Activities

For visual learners, podcasts might be difficult to follow. You (and your students) can get really creative with some visualization practices! Have students sketch the scenes from each episode or select a key scene and mold it out with materials.

Students can draw the characters or the actions that are happening throughout the episode. You could also do this activity digitally by having students create comic strips with Google Slides or Google Drawings of the events that happen throughout each episode.

Individually or as a class, students could create a timeline of events throughout all of the episodes. This timeline could be on one page for individual assignments, or the timeline could be posted around the room and added to as you go throughout the series.

Short Research Assignment

Students need to develop strong research skills, and this is an excellent way to incorporate them! Use this as a quick research assignment as a way to help students not feel so overwhelmed by researching topics. You could pair with a short, brief research assignment about any topic from the podcast the students might be interested in. This activity can help students work on writing and citation standards. This hits informational/expository writing and research standards/expectations – and could also hit citation standards/expectations.

Create A Large Plot Diagram

Help students keep track of all of the events with a large plot diagram posted up somewhere in the classroom. This can help students take notes of significant events.

Choice Board

A Choice Board is an excellent tool to help students choose how they are learning. One choice for this podcast could be to write a new ending for the story! This will allow them to think outside of the box and get their creativity flowing.

Another choice could be for students to design a new podcast cover for this series. This will definitely catch the eye of your artistic students and students that love working with graphic design.

You will want to fill up your choice board with 6 – 8 different choices for students. If you want a ready-made choice board I have one that has already been created for this podcast within the Six Minutes Podcast Unit Bundle.

Six Minutes Podcast Bundle

The Six Minutes Podcast Unit Bundle has the lesson planning work done for you.

What’s Included In The Bundle?

Podcast Non-Fiction Article (modified and regular levels, mp3 recordings, comprehension questions and writing response prompts)
205 Quizzes (PDF or Google Forms™)
205 Journal Prompts (PDF or Google Slides™)
Podcast Choice Board Summative Task (8 choices)
PDF and Digital Formats

Teacher Feedback – “My students love 6 minutes and these comprehension questions were an easy assignment to do. It really helped me know who was actively listening and focused based on how they answered the questions.”

These Six Minutes Podcast lessons provide a lot of variety for your students. This 205-episode podcast will keep your students engaged in your class. This podcast is perfect for any middle school ELA classroom to be used as bell work, listening comprehension practice, or as nightly homework.

As teachers, we are always looking for new and exciting ways to help students learn and grow. Our purpose as teachers is to help our students learn how to be productive members of society. Whatever path they choose, we are here to help prepare them for life after school. No matter where life takes them, they will need listening and critical thinking skills. That is exactly what this podcast series has to offer. Find this resource on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.