Hearing the phrase 'podcasts in the classroom' probably causes you to think of creating podcasts at the end of a project. This post is going to focus more on utilizing professionally created podcasts as the classroom content itself. In general podcasts are gaining popularity and, in some instances, have gained wide spread appeal. Much of this momentum comes from the recurring podcast series Serial . According to this article from CNN Serial is the fastest podcast to be downloaded 5 million times and as of December 2014 had been downloaded more than 40 million times. I am one of those who has been engrossed in this series about the murder of a Baltimore teen - Hae Min Lee - in 1999 and the trial of her ex-boyfriend - Adnan Syed - who is convicted to life in prison. While listening to the story I would catch myself wondering how I could use this in the classroom. This recent article from Mind Shift takes a look at how English teachers have done just that. Mr. Godsey