The History Detective Podcast came about after teaching in an online capacity through a pandemic. Although it had been in the planning stages for at least a year before that. I love podcasts and not a day has passed in the last 4 years where I have not listened to a podcast.
Anyone who has taught a class online knows how awkward it can be. I wanted to create a classroom friendly resource that was aligned to the Australian Curriculum that teachers could use whilst teaching in lockdown. Every episode is short enough to listen to in a class and comes with FREE reflection questions embedded in the show notes as well as transcripts that are available on this website.
For those teachers who want to take it even further, I have created a presentation and worksheet for every episode and made them available from my Amped Up Learning Store and Teachers Pay Teachers Store
The musical element of the podcast came about because when I was researching how to start a podcast, I realised that I could not use copyrighted music, so I ended up writing my own. Then the idea to write a song for every episode came about. I love using music as a part of my teaching practice and often there are no songs to go with some of the obscure topics that we study. And that is how the whole project came together.
More recently I have branched out to YouTube to create short videos for teachers to use with students to introduce a topic and invoke class discussion.
I hope that teachers all over the world are able to have a little respite from lesson planning and use the podcast to liven up their classroom resources.
This is Kelly Chase, on the case.
What I do
During lockdown, I started writing parody songs to my Year 11 Modern History class, just to keep things fun. It is way less nerve wracking to perform in front of people when you are not able to see their faces!
History Detective is Now Available on YouTube
Testimonials about the podcast!
“The History Detective podcast is everything I would have loved as a history-mad, story-hungry kid. Well resourced, interesting and inspiring – both factually and creatively – young minds will be sparkling with ideas after going down the rabbit hole with Kelly Chase.” Kim Kelly, Australian author
“History Detective is an educational podcast yet is so incredibly enjoyable to listen to. With the use of music as well as a little bit of humour, some of the most interesting and important stories are brought forth to the audience, making History even more enjoyable.” Rachel Ward, Year 12 Student 2020
“I love how innovative the History Detective podcast is, especially in its use of original songs! This is such an out-of-the-box idea, with broad appeal. I’ve really enjoyed listening to this series and find myself excitedly waiting for the next episode to be released!” Stephanie Smith, A/G Learning Design Producer, Museum of Democracy
Every episode is extensively researched and all of the sources are included in the reference list in the transcripts.
I taught my self sound engineering skills doing a Udemy online course, first for GarageBand and then I upgraded to Logic Pro X.
During lockdown, I started writing parody songs to my Year 11 Modern History class, just to keep things fun. It is way less nerve wracking to perform in front of people when you are not able to see their faces!