The Class Podcast: Reimagining the Literary Essay to Honor Student Identity and Agency

Abstract

The author, a fifth‐grade teacher, describes how she reimagined the literary essay curriculum to amplify student identity, agency, and voice by creating a class podcast. Because of their similar structure and organization, teaching students literary analysis and interpretation through podcast writing offered entry into literary essays. The author provides the steps for teaching students how to create a class podcast and write episodes reviewing diverse, inspiring, and thought‐provoking texts. She explains how to support students to transfer their voice, energy, and skills when writing literary essays. The article shares insights about how engaging students as talkers and thinkers supports their identities as readers and writers.