Best Megan Polk Podcasts (2025)

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Here it is! Evan’s new show, Shell Game 33:20

11M ago33:20

33:20

This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, co-host of Longform and a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understand how amazing and scary and utterly ridiculous the world is about to get. In Episode 1, Evan clones his voice, hooks it up to ChatGPT and his phone line, and sends it off to ta…

1
Coming Soon: Evan’s new show, “Shell Game” 3:26

11M ago3:26

3:26

What would happen if you created a digital copy of yourself, powered by AI, and set it loose in the world? Over the past six months, Evan Ratliff has been trying to find out. He combined a clone of his voice, an AI chatbot, and a phone line—many phone lines, actually—into what are called “voice agents.” Then he sent them out… as himself. They talke…

1
Episode 585: John Jeremiah Sullivan 1:06:30

11M ago1:06:30

1:06:30

John Jeremiah Sullivan is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine and has written for Harper's, The New Yorker, and GQ. He is the author of Pulphead and the forthcoming The Prime Minister of Paradise: The True Story of a Lost American History. “I love making pieces of writing and trying to find the right language to say what I mean. It…

1
Bonus: Mailbag 43:29

11M ago43:29

43:29

The hosts answer a few listener questions. Evan’s picks for some podcasts to try: Creative Nonfiction Press Box The Stacks Podcast: Sunday Long Read True Stories Question Everything Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesBy Longform

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Episode 584: Ta-Nehisi Coates 50:51

12M ago50:51

50:51

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an author and journalist. His next book is The Message. “I don’t think we have the luxury as journalists of avoiding things because people might say bad things about us. I don’t even think we have the luxury of avoiding things because we might get fired. I don’t think we have the luxury of avoiding them because somebody might ca…

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Episode 583: Jay Caspian Kang 54:47

12M ago54:47

54:47

Jay Caspian Kang is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a co-host of Time to Say Goodbye. “At some point, you have to kick it out the door, and it’s never finished to the degree that you would finish a magazine piece. But it, in some ways, is more interesting because it is produced in a short amount of time, and it’s read as something that is not…

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Episode 582: Joseph Cox 56:40

12M ago56:40

56:40

Joseph Cox is a cybersecurity journalist and co-founder of 404 Media. His new book is Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever. “In the not too distant future, I will be a very old man, and maybe I won't be able to spend all day talking to drug traffickers. I will be mentally and physically exhausted. So I will dogge…

1
Episode 581: Tavi Gevinson 1:15:39

1y ago1:15:39

1:15:39

Tavi Gevinson is a writer, actor, and the founder of Rookie. Her new zine is Fan Fiction. “Stories are unstable, and memory is unstable, and identity is unstable. All of these things that I've tried to make permanent in writing, they're actually unstable. So even though it's tempting to go, Oh, that was fake, it's more like, No, it was just tempora…

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Episode 580: Rachel Khong 1:00:50

1y ago1:00:50

1:00:50

Rachel Khong is a journalist and author whose latest novel is Real Americans. “It's about the ways in which we miss each other as human beings and can't fully communicate what it is like to be ourselves. … And I think that's what makes it so interesting to me, to work on a novel and to spend so much time trying to get down on the page what it feels…

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Episode 579: Kelsey McKinney 1:08:21

1y ago1:08:21

1:08:21

Kelsey McKinney is a features writer and co-owner at Defector.com. She hosts the podcast Normal Gossip and is the author of the upcoming book You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip. “I was always very interested in how you strategize a creative career. And I think that that is an unsexy thing to talk about, right? It's much sex…

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Episode 578: Lissa Soep 51:42

1y ago51:42

51:42

Lissa Soep is an audio producer, editor and author whose latest book is Other People’s Words: Friendship, Loss, and the Conversations That Never End. “I am so keenly aware of how much my own voice is a product of editing relationships and co-producing relationships with other people's words. … I will forever feel indebted to those then young people…

1
Episode 577: PJ Vogt 52:08

1y ago52:08

52:08

PJ Vogt is the host of Search Engine. “One of our tests editorially is if we think we’ve got something good, but we haven’t started reporting or recording on it, I’ll just try asking the question at dinner and stuff. If it derails conversations, that’s a really good sign.” Show notes: @PJVogt Vogt’s Substack Vogt on Longform Podcast 03:00 “Why Are …

1
170. Interventions for Environmental Factors That Affect Reading Comprehension 23:56

1y ago23:56

23:56

Over the last month, we’ve been discussing all the different factors that can affect a student’s reading comprehension, even in upper elementary. We’ve gone over fundamental and cognitive factors, and now we’ve hit the last factor, which is environmental. So, in the last episode of the series, I’m sharing interventions for environmental factors tha…

1
Episode 576: Lindsay Peoples 54:32

1y ago54:32

54:32

Lindsay Peoples is the editor-in-chief of The Cut. “You see so many incredible people make one mistake and lose their job or they speak out about something and then the next day something blows up. And so I do think that I often feel like I have to be so careful. And that's hard to do because I'm just naturally curious and I want to know and I want…

1
169. Interventions for Cognitive Factors That Affect Reading Comprehension 21:11

1y ago21:11

21:11

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been diving into intervention strategies for students who have difficulty with reading comprehension. The reality is that some upper elementary students aren’t proficient or on grade level when it comes to reading or reading comprehension. So, as literacy teachers, we’ve got to come up with ways to support these studen…

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Polk Award Winners: Jason Motlagh 40:50

1y ago40:50

40:50

Jason Motlagh, a journalist and filmmaker, is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and the founder of Blackbeard Films. He won the Polk's Sydney Schanberg Prize for “This Will End in Blood and Ashes,” an account of the collapse of order in Haiti. “Once you've gotten used to this kind of metabolism, it can be hard to walk away from it. Ordinary li…

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Polk Award Winners: Brian Howey 29:22

1y ago29:22

29:22

Brian Howey is a freelance journalist who won the Polk Award for Justice Reporting after exposing a deceptive police tactic widely used in California. He began the project, which was eventually published by the Los Angeles Times and Reveal, as a graduate student in the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. “It’s one thing to hear about this ta…

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Polk Award Winners: Meribah Knight 44:39

1y ago44:39

44:39

Meribah Knight is a reporter with Nashville Public Radio. She won the Polk Award for Podcasting for “The Kids of Rutherford County,” produced with ProPublica and Serial, which revealed a shocking approach to juvenile discipline in one Tennessee county. “Where does it leave me? It leaves me with a searing anger that is going to propel me to the next…

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Polk Award Winners: Jesse Coburn 34:18

1y ago34:18

34:18

Jesse Coburn is an investigative reporter at Streetsblog. He won the Polk Award for Local Reporting for "Ghost Tags," his series on the black market for temporary license plates. “You can imagine this having never become a problem, because it’s so weird. What a weird scam. I’m going to print and sell tens of thousands of paper license plates. But s…

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Polk Award Winners: Amel Guettatfi and Julia Steers 42:48

1y ago42:48

42:48

Amel Guettatfi and Julia Steers won this year's George Polk Award for Television Reporting for “Inside Wagner,” their Vice News investigation of Russian mercenaries on the Ukraine front and in the Central African Republic. “One of the best takeaways I got from seven or eight years at Vice is that it’s not enough for something to be important when y…

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168. Interventions for Fundamental Factors That Affect Reading Comprehension 30:51

1y ago30:51

30:51

Getting students in upper elementary on grade level with their reading and comprehension skills can be challenging because there are so many factors and reasons why they’re lacking in that area. However, one of the biggest reasons is a lack of fundamental and foundational skills. I talked in last week’s episode about the different areas this can be…

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Rerun: #429 Vinson Cunningham (Feb 2021) 53:20

1y ago53:20

53:20

Vinson Cunningham is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His novel, published in March 2024, is Great Expectations. “I think the job is just paying a bunch of attention. If you're a person like me, where thoughts and worries are intruding on your consciousness all the time, it is a great relief to have something to just over-describe and over-pay-at…

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167. Fundamental, Cognitive, and Environmental Factors That Affect Reading Comprehension 25:24

1y ago25:24

25:24

One, if not the biggest, thing we focus on as literacy teachers is getting our students to be successful readers. But as upper elementary teachers, you know that you will have several students in your class who struggle with reading comprehension. This then becomes a major focus in our classrooms, but we know a student’s lack of reading comprehensi…

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Episode 575: Megan Kimble 53:06

1y ago53:06

53:06

Megan Kimble is the former executive editor of The Texas Observer and has written for The New York Times, Texas Monthly, and The Guardian. Her new book is City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways. “I have never lived in a city that was not wrapped in highways. It’s hard for me to imagine anything else. And I thi…

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166. 3 Scaffolds Every Reading Teacher Should Use 27:59

1y ago27:59

27:59

I’ve always made it a priority of mine to find simple yet effective strategies that support literacy teachers in the classroom. One of our main jobs as literacy teachers is to provide our students with the skills to become successful readers and writers. And one way to do that is by giving your students scaffolds to support their literacy growth an…

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Episode 574: Zach Harris 43:07

1y ago43:07

43:07

Zach Harris is a journalist whose latest article for Rolling Stone is "Meet the Gen Z Hothead Burning Up Pro Bowling." “I'm not like a staff writer who has … status and access. But if I come up with something fun that you've never heard of that might connect to the larger culture, then it kind of hits a nerve and a sweet spot for me. Someone like a…

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165. Time Management Test-Taking Strategies That Work 25:37

1y ago25:37

25:37

Over the last few episodes, I’ve been covering several test-taking strategies in order to help prepare your students for the end-of-year standardized test. Unfortunately, most standardized tests are timed, so having efficient time management is so important for the success of their performance. Knowing how to pace themselves during a timed test is …

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Episode 573: Rozina Ali 1:11:01

1y ago1:11:01

1:11:01

Rozina Ali is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the winner of the 2023 National Magazine Award for Reporting. Her latest article is “Raised in the West Bank, Shot in Vermont.” “I think it’s very, very important to speak to people as people. To speak to sources—even if you have the juiciest story—to really give them the grace…

1
164. Helping Students Manage and Overcome Test Anxiety 21:58

1y ago21:58

21:58

When it comes to preparing for a state standardized test, we tend to focus our energy and time on the content our students need to master in order to get a high-achieving score. We implement daily practice and review for weeks leading up to the test. However, one aspect that we don’t focus on but plays a big role in our students’ performances is te…

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Episode 572: Derek Thompson 46:51

1y ago46:51

46:51

Derek Thompson is a staff writer for The Atlantic and host of the podcast Plain English. “I am an inveterate dilettante. I lose interest in subjects all the time. Because what I find interesting about my job is the invitation to solve mysteries. And once you solve one, two, three mysteries in a space, then the meta-mystery of that space begins to d…

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163. Response Ready: Tips for Helping Your Students Understand Writing Prompts 18:16

1y ago18:16

18:16

I’m so passionate about writing and helping students develop their skills and become better writers. One aspect of writing that is often complex and difficult for students to master is learning how to understand and respond to writing prompts. This is a vital skill because it not only helps students with standardized tests, but it’s a task that can…

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Episode 571: Tessa Hulls 52:57

1y ago52:57

52:57

Tessa Hulls is a writer and artist whose work has appeared in The Rumpus, The Washington Post, and The Capitol Hill Times. Her new book, a graphic memoir, is Feeding Ghosts. “This project is the thing I have spent my entire life running from. I was incredibly determined to never touch this, either personally or professionally. … It was more an even…

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162. Mastering the Basics: Reinforcing Core Writing Skills 23:15

1y ago23:15

23:15

Even though testing season isn’t here tomorrow, it is just around the corner and will be here before you know it. And instead of stressing and trying to prepare your students in a short amount of time, why not get started now? But whether you’re preparing students for a standardized test or wanting to work on different writing skills throughout the…

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Episode 570: Sloane Crosley 59:11

1+ y ago59:11

59:11

Sloane Crosley is the author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake and several other books. Her new memoir is Grief Is for People. “You take a little sliver of yourself and you offer it up to be spun around in perpetuity in the public imagination. That is the sacrifice you make. And it makes everything just a little bit worse. So it's the opposite of catha…

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161. Strategies for Gradually Increasing Writing Time and Complexity 25:48

1+ y ago25:48

25:48

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been diving into the topic of student writing stamina. We’ve explored strategies to keep students engaged in writing, challenges students face while they’re writing, and how to build stamina through practices implemented in the classroom. By having all this background information and fresh new ideas on ways to keep th…

1
Episode 569: Lauren Markham 51:14

1+ y ago51:14

51:14

Lauren Markham is the author of The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life and has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, and VQR. Her new book is A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging. “It took me a while to figure out that this is actually a book about storytelling, about journalistic st…

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160. 4 Ways to Increase Writing Endurance 38:21

1+ y ago38:21

38:21

In last week’s episode, we learned that writing stamina is built over time and includes more than just an amount of time, but when students are actively engaged in a particular writing task. Since having writing stamina can be difficult for students, I wanted to create a series that provided teachers with strategies that improved a student’s writin…

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Episode 568: Zoë Schiffer 53:29

1+ y ago53:29

53:29

Zoë Schiffer is the managing editor for Platformer. Her new book is Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter. “Being the person where it's a fireable offense to leak to you … is kind of a badge of honor.” Show notes: zoeschiffer.com Schiffer's Platformer archive Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter (Portfolio • 2024) 03:00 Schiffer'…

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159. Writing Stamina: 6 Challenges Students Face and How to Help Them 38:41

1+ y ago38:41

38:41

I am passionate about literacy, especially finding creative and engaging ways to get students writing. However, none of that matters if their writing stamina is low. I know from my experience being in the classroom, that so many of my students didn’t have the writing endurance for longer pieces of writing, which meant I had to come up with ways to …

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Episode 567: Chris Ryan 1:04:13

1+ y ago1:04:13

1:04:13

Chris Ryan is the editorial director for The Ringer, where he co-hosts The Watch and The Rewatchables. “There is a point where there’s just too much stuff. I can’t read a 5,000-word feature, 10 blog posts, and listen to three podcasts, and then do it all again the next day. So that is the line you walk in digital publishing, whether it’s for editor…

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158. 5 Podcasts You Should be Listening to in 2024 29:44

1+ y ago29:44

29:44

Podcasts are one of the fastest growing platforms to gain information in a short amount of time. I obviously love the idea of podcasts and how it can reach so many people with a variety of topics. With the availability that it brings, there are so many opportunities to make listening to podcasts part of your daily life. I want to help you discover …

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Episode 566: Patricia Evangelista 1:13:03

1+ y ago1:13:03

1:13:03

Patricia Evangelista is a trauma journalist whose coverage of the drug war in the Philippines has appeared in Rappler, Esquire, and elsewhere. Her recent book is Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country. “It is hard to describe the beat I do without saying very often it involves people who have died. And it seemed like an unfair w…

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157. Sensory Storytelling: Using Sensory Details to Bring Writing to Life 29:35

1+ y ago29:35

29:35

Over the last month I’ve been sharing different ways you can engage your students in that helps develop their simple sentences into more detailed and complex sentences. With this being the final episode in the series, I’m finally covering my favorite way to bring writing to life, which is by using sensory details to create sensory storytelling. Usi…

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Episode 565: Susan B. Glasser 45:07

1+ y ago45:07

45:07

Susan Glasser, the former editor of Politico and Foreign Policy, writes the "Letter from Washington" column for the The New Yorker. Her most recent book, written with Peter Baker, is The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021. “There’s a great benefit to leaving Washington and then coming back, or frankly leaving anywhere and then coming back…

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156. Enhancing Sentences with Prepositions [Sentence Expansion Series] 31:38

1+ y ago31:38

31:38

We are now well into our series on how to enhance simple sentences using a variety of descriptive strategies. What I love about each new idea is that these are grammar concepts you teach your students, but now you’re able to dive deeper and use them in a whole new way. In today’s episode, I’m sharing another strategy which is using prepositions to …

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Episode 564: Rob Copeland 48:50

1+ y ago48:50

48:50

Rob Copeland is a finance reporter for The New York Times. His recent book is The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend. “If I stab you, I'm going to stab you in the chest, not the back. You're going to see it coming. ... But if you're going to tell me something's wrong, you have to keep talking. I'm no…

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155. Joining Forces: Combining Sentences with Conjunctions [Sentence Expansion Series] 30:46

1+ y ago30:46

30:46

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been discussing different strategies that help with sentence expansion. In today’s episode, I’m sharing the third strategy in this series. Just like the previous two strategies, you might have already talked about and taught this particular skill, but I challenge you to intentionally have your students use it in their …

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Episode 563: Miles Johnson 58:17

1+ y ago58:17

58:17

Miles Johnson is an investigative reporter for the Financial Times. He is the author of Chasing Shadows: A True Story of Drugs, War and the Secret World of International Crime and the host of Hot Money: The New Narcos. “I’m really fascinated always by the ways in which people just have to do really boring parts of running a crime organization … I l…

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154. Make Writing Come to Life with the 5Ws and H Strategy [Sentence Expansion Series] 20:57

1+ y ago20:57

20:57

This series is all about how to easily get students to expand their sentences by adding details to their basic sentences. Last week’s strategy was all about adding the 2 A’s, adjectives and adverbs, to create a story and description. But today’s strategy also serves a greater purpose than just sentence expansion. In today’s episode, I’m discussing …

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Rerun: #533 Hua Hsu (May 2023) 44:32

1+ y ago44:32

44:32

Hua Hsu is a staff writer for The New Yorker. His book Stay True won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for memoir. “I've worked as a journalist … for quite a while. … But this [book] was the thing that was always in the back of my mind. Like, this was the thing that a lot of that was in service of. Just becoming better at describing a song or describing the …

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