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Ten Podcast Topics for Students (And How to Podcast)

ByRichard Byrne

The new year is here and you might be looking for a new project that your students can do in your classroom, at home, or both. If that’s the case for you, try podcasting this semester.

While I’ve included tutorials on how to make podcasts below, it’s also important to answer the question, “what will my students podcast about?” To that end, I’ve included ten podcast topics for students.

Ten Podcast Topics for Students

  • Summarize the week’s lessons in their own words.
  • Explain tween/teen culture to parents/ grandparents.
  • Weather reports/ forecasts (shout-out to my friend Mal for that idea).
  • News and sports shows.
  • “This Day in History.”
  • “Math is Hard” – fun examples of bad math in the real world, like when my local McDonald’s advertised apple pies at 2 for $1 or 1 for $0.49.
  • Book critiques.
  • Video game reviews and tips.
  • “Know Your Classmates” podcast. One student interviews another to share fun facts like favorite hobbies, pets, or music.
  • Short story podcast. Students write and then narrate short fiction stories. Check out Story Spectacular for some inspiration.

Podcast Creation Option 1, Anchor

At the start of the 2021 school year I published some tips for creating good classroom podcasts. At the end of that article I included a video about how to use Anchor.fm. I’ve since created an updated tutorial on how to create a podcast with Anchor.fm.

I like Anchor because it is possible to do all of the recording and editing of your podcast in one place and then publish it to all of the major podcast distribution platforms. Anchor includes a library of free audio effects to include in your podcast. And while Anchor does have a remote recording option, there are easier options.

Podcast Creation Option 2, Zoom

If your students are in a remote or hybrid learning environment, Zoom can be used to remotely record a conversation. When the recording is complete Zoom will automatically generate an MP3 recording that can be downloaded and edited into a podcast. That MP3 could be uploaded to Anchor for further editing and distribution. The same MP3 could also be edited in GarageBand or Audacity.

Podcast Creation Option 3, GarageBand or Audacity

GarageBand for Mac or Audacity for Windows will give you and your students the most options for editing every possible aspect of a podcast. It will also take the longest to master. Pat Flynn offers good tutorials on using both of these tools for podcasting. Here’s the one about GarageBand and here’s the tutorial on using Audacity.

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