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Given the recent rise in podcast popularity, it's no surprise that audio narratives are making their way into the classroom. They offer an engaging way for teachers to merge project-based learning with digital media analysis and production skills. That's why we're announcing our first-ever Student Podcast Contest, in which we invite students to submit original podcasts, five minutes long or less, inspired by one of our 1,000-plus writing prompts. The contest will run from April 26 to May 25, so stay tuned for our official contest announcement next week In anticipation of that contest, the mini-unit below walks students through the process of analyzing the techniques that make for good storytelling, interviewing and podcasting. The activities culminate in students producing their own original podcasts.

"Serial proved that true-crime podcasts could be global phenomena that rival even the most prestigious of prestige scripted television. But with S-Town, the new podcast from team Serial that launched today, the creators aren't taking their cues from HBO. Instead, they're borrowing a page from William Faulkner, hoping to re-invent the medium once again-this time as a sweeping, Southern Gothic novel. Hosted by This American Life producer Brian Reed, S-Town is the latest offering from Serial Productions, which includes Serial host Sarah Koenig and executive producer Julie Snyder. The seven-part podcast, released in its entirety today, follows Reed as he meets, and ultimately befriends, a fascinating man who claims to have knowledge of an unsolved murder in his rural Alabama town (which the man nicknames "Shittown"-hence the podcast's name). But what begins as a classic murder mystery quickly turns into something much deeper-a winding, intricate narrative of small town politics, family strife, and, as the S-Town team describes it, "the mysteries of one man's life.""

"Business Insider has rounded up some of the best short podcasts out there - podcasts that somehow manage to fascinate, entertain, and teach you something cool in 30 minutes or less. Whatever your current mood or interest, there's a program here for you."

For those who are considering adding podcasts to class or who just want something interesting to listen to on the commute to work: "The following shows don't require you to love a certain movie or have a particular sense of humor. They don't force you to become best friends with the host or listen to five episodes before you pick up on the "in" jokes. We've chosen the 50 best podcasts of 2016 based on their innovation this year, consistent high quality, excellence within their genre, and of course, entertainment value."

"What do students learn from the experience? "They enjoy it so much that they don't realize they're learning at the highest level," says Alexa Schlechter, a 10th-grade English teacher at Norwalk High School in Connecticut, who had never used a podcast in class before trying "Serial." Listening to and engaging with "Serial" helps many students address one of the main challenges in developing their analytical skills: getting beyond simple explanations of what happened, and figuring out how and why an event occurred, she says. Poring over text of the transcripts in class to uncover answers, students also develop their critical reading skills, she says. (See how students answered questions about discrepancies between the cell phone records and Jay's testimony at Schlechter's blog.) Students publicly debated Syed's guilt or innocence in Godsey's classes, addressing a Common Core standard to improve speaking skills, and worked together with other students to create their own podcasts or present mock closing arguments."

"Are you ever SO excited to tell your friends a story that you kind of jumble the whole thing up? Like the substance is there, but if the delivery is off it just doesn't LAND as well. The same thing goes for podcasting. Even if we can hear in your voice that you're excited about something, if there's no structure or narrative to the piece it can be hard to hook an audience. This week on The Students' Podcast, we're revisiting an episode from last season where we talk to some of our high school finalists who managed to tell their story really well."

"Modern Love is a series of weekly reader-submitted essays that explore the joys and tribulations of love. Each week, an actor also reads one of the essays in a podcast. Though the stories are often about romantic love, they also take on love of family, friends, and even pets. This teacher finds their themes universal and the range of essays engaging models to help her students find their own voices."

Check this out Penny Wintermute: "Her students would draw on the skills they learned while listening to and studying Serial. They would work in groups (imagine Koenig, Dana Chivvis, Julie Snyder, the engineer who came up with their theme song, Ira Glass). Students would create a series of podcasts told from the point of view of a memoirist they'd read earlier in the year, such as Alice Sebold."

"This step-by-step format takes you from finding the right topic to researching, outlining and scripting, all illustrated with examples from the student winners of our previous Podcast Contests."

"NPR is thrilled to announce its upcoming slate of podcasts. These six summer shows include a comedy, and for the first time, a children's show. "We are expanding the range of our programming by giving a platform to new voices, sharing a fun new side of favorite contributors, and doubling down on immersive stories and journalism," says Vice President for Programming and Audience Development Anya Grundmann."

"Entries for the Student Podcast Challenge for middle and high school students will open on Jan. 1, and close on March 15. We'll have lots of updates, training materials, and make sure to sign up for our newsletter with more tips and advice, here!"

"This week, find a quiet place (or some earbuds) and investigate a feature of The Times that is totally auditory. In the process, you will hit on components from one of the four Common Core literacy anchor standards for college and career readiness - speaking and listening. Then, explore other podcasts to find more from this medium to share with your students and supplement classroom activities."

"Serial senior producer Julie Snyder described the project as an "arty" and "novelistic" seven-part series about a man who despises the Alabama town he's lived in his whole life and decides to do something about it. The press release circulated this morning offered further narrative clues: Production of S-Town began when a man reached out to This American Life bitterly complaining about his small Alabama town. He wanted a reporter to investigate the son of a wealthy family who had allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. Brian agreed to look into it. But then someone else ended up dead, and another story began to unfold - about a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure and the mysteries of one man's life."

"Mortified shows, as they're called, feature adults reading aloud and on stage from their adolescent diaries. Readers typically share their most embarrassing and wrenching youthful stories on a variety of subjects: crushes, body image, self-esteem, divorce. Sharing these intensely private excerpts provokes laughter and connection between the audience and reader. The Mortified "movement" has grown to include podcasts, the film Mortified Nation, a couple of anthologies of stories and a Sundance TV series. Some Mortified fans, Gootee included, have found another medium for these deeply personal stories: the classroom."

"Entries for the Student Podcast Challenge for middle and high school students will open on Jan. 1, and close on March 15. We'll have lots of updates, training materials, and make sure to sign up for our newsletter with more tips and advice, here! "

"Start with simple assignments that are an easy transition from what you and your students are already familiar with. Try blogging, then build to more complex projects like podcasting or video storytelling. In addition to concentrating on the ideas and the writing itself, try to create situations where the students' writing takes advantage of the medium and the connectedness of the internet. Some criteria I use to develop assignments include: student agency engagement and passion audience impact beyond the classroom authoring skills and experiences needed for success outside of academia collaboration and connectivity with other authors and audience members experiences authoring in a variety of media other than text When we develop our writing assignments, we must ultimately come back to one main concern: purpose. Why are we giving specific types of writing assignments and how do they help our students convey their ideas in ways that resonate with their audience?"

"When you tell somebody you grew up in New Jersey, people assume certain things - namely, that your father was the model for Tony Soprano, or that you have a heavy accent that sounds kind of like Brooklyn by way of a kazoo on steroids, or that your home was wedged on the corner of Chemical Factory Lane and Smokestack Way. And there is some truth to this narrow vision of New Jersey. But my New Jersey was Hunterdon County, a beautiful swath of land directly across the river from Bucks County. I ran around fields and forests when I wasn't playing softball on neatly manicured diamonds in pristine parks, or reading books from the well-funded local library. And because I grew up in one of the only remaining agricultural strongholds in New Jersey, where the game butcher wasn't too far from the dirt racetrack, I grew up in a slice of what some pundits call "Real America," which is to say: white, Republican, and far fonder of guns than gays."