PODCAST · education
Use Your Words
by Sam Futrell & Rebekah O'Dell
This is Use Your Words, a seasonal podcast featuring the voices and perspectives of middle school students. Each season, lovable, insightful, awkward middle schoolers craft episodes on topics they’re learning in English and history. While these student-led episodes form the backbone of our podcast, teachers Rebekah O’Dell and Samantha Futrell introduce and conclude each season with episodes designed to help other educators conduct similar projects in their own classrooms. The ultimate product is an endearingly organic experiment in education.
Episodes
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DRAGON READS: Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Jack shares his review of Scythe by Neal Shusterman
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DRAGON READS: Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Klara shares her review of Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
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DRAGON READS: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Tate shares his review of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
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DRAGON READS: A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Aidan shares his review of A Separate Peace by John Knowles
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DRAGON READS: Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Madison shares her review of Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
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DRAGON READS: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan
John shares his review of Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan
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DRAGON READS: All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott
Juliet shares her review of All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott
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DRAGON READS: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Jack shares his review of The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
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DRAGON READS: Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
Vivien shares her review of Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
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DRAGON READS: Twilight by Stefenie Meyer
Childress shares her review of Twilight by Stefanie Meyer
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DRAGON READS: When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson
Finley shares her review of When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson
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DRAGON READS: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Sarah shares her review of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
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DRAGON READS: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Mackenzie shares her review of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
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DRAGON READS: 2 Perspectives on The Hunger Games
Mary Allison and Olivia share their perspectives on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
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DRAGON READS: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Ruby shares her review of The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
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DRAGON READS: Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad
Nick shares his review of Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad
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DRAGON READS: Dragon Hoops-a-palooza
Sam, Reagan, Wynn, Sawyer, and Lawson each share their perspective on Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang
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DRAGON READS: Septimus Heap by Angie Sage
Millie shares a review of the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage
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DRAGON READS: Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
Lily shares a review of Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
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DRAGON READS: We Are Not Free by Tracy Chee
Henry shares a review of We Are Not Free by Tracy Chee
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DRAGON READS: The Slummer by Geoffrey Simpson
Grayson shares a review of The Slummer by Geoffrey Simpson
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Books So Good You'll Finish Them "All In One Day"
Book reviews from June (The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas), Magovern (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins), Charlotte (Other Words from Home by Jasmine Warga), Sarah Carter (New Kid by Jerry Craft), Libby (Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon), and Umber (Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi).
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"Music and War, Longing and Loss"
Book Reviews from Norah (Lovely War by Julie Berry), Matthew (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams), Jonah (Lost in the Pacific 1942: Not a Drop to Drink by Tod Olson), Ryan (Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay), Tucker (The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton), and James (And Then…
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"My 100% Recommendation for Every Reader"
Book Reviews from Foster (Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee), Clara (The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton), Jack (Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serrillier), and Kinsley (Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz)
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Welcome to Season 7!
A conversation between Sam and Rebekah to take you behind the scenes of the 8th grade book review mini-cast project.
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Stories of "Survival, Grit, and Friendship"
Featuring reviews of Commander in Cheat by Rick Reilly, The Good Girls by Clara Eliza Bartlett, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, and Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean
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Rosalia Katz Kaplan: A Story of Resistance, Capture, and Liberation from the Grip of the Holocaust
In this episode, listen to the story of Holocaust Survivor Rosalia (Rosalina) Katz Kaplan. Rosalia made her way through the Resistance network in Holland to an estimated 20 different safe houses while hiding from the Nazis as a young girl from 1941-1944. After being captured in 1944, Rosalia...
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Clara Daniels: Surviving the Holocaust from Hungary to Auschwitz
Our student June describes Holocaust survivor Clara Daniels as a well dressed, soft spoken woman who survived the unspeakable. Clara lived in Hungary during WWII, and was sent to Auschwitz after Hitler's invasion in 1944. In Auschwitz, Clara experienced true horrors, like being forced to watch...
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George Landecker: Can a Man be both German and a Jew?
George Landecker is a happy, kind, bald, slow speaking, gentle 84 year old man wearing a white and blue striped shirt. Prior to WW2, George had a pretty good life living with a middle class family in a decent sized home. Despite his father thinking “he was more of a German than a Jew,” this all...
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Julianna Toth: Born into War
Julianna Toth, a Holocaust survivor, was born into world war in 1941. Listen to seventh grader Molly retell Julianna and her family's harrowing experiences of living through the Holocaust and Russian occupation of Hungary from the 1930s to 1967. This epic story spans generations, providing...
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Otto Schimmel: Life and Death in Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Otto Schimmel, from Budapest hungary, survived three Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, one of which was the infamous Auschwitz II-Birkenau death camp. Our seventh grader, Myles, tells us Otto's story by emulating the Otto's stream-of-consciousness interview, making the episode feel...
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Ursula Murden: Finding Kindness in the Enemy
Ursula Murden, a religious Lutheran, was persecuted for being an ethnic Jew during the Holocaust. Despite her horrific journey, Ursula experienced many acts of kindness from Germans as well. Listen to our student Libby retell Ursula's story. Ultimately, Libby concludes, “we categorize Germany as...
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Steven Kende: All that We Have Is that Shout into the Wind
The best summation of this episode comes from our student, Roman, who tells Steven's story in this episode: Steven Kende’s life is best described by this quote from Golden Son by Pierce Brown, “All that we have is that shout into the wind - how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we…
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Agnes Heller: The Ghettoization and Bombing of Hungary during WWII
This is the story of Agnes Heller, who survived the ghettoization and bombing of her hometown in Hungary from 1944-1945. Let our student Sophi's soft voice carry you through Agnes' experience during WWII. Like all Holocaust survivors, Agnes' story is unique, but carries a similar message to many…
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Dr. Roger Loria: Saving the Life of One Person Can Save Many
When Roger Loria was born in 1940, Belgium was invaded by the Nazi Germans. He was only three weeks old at the time. So, in 1940, his family decided to try and flee from Belgium. Escaping with Roger was his father, Wolf Loria, his mother, Dina Maisel, his Great uncle Hiem, and his great uncle’s...
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Panina Leviatan: Israel, Homeland and Hiding Place
A patient woman sits in a grey padded chair and waits. Her name is Panina Leviatan. She was a studious girl when she was younger, and was a student when her world was shattered. Panina Leviatan would survive the Holocaust. In this episode, Gretchen recounts Panina's life as a student in Lithuania...
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Alan Zimm: "Learn from What Happened, but Don’t Hate People"
Born in Poland in 1924, Alan Zimm and his brother Sol, were the sole survivors of the Holocaust in their family. Through luck, calculated decisions and shere willpower, Alan made it through ghettos and a concentration work camp to ultimately be rescued by the English in 1945, one month prior to…
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Halina Zimm: Hiding in Plain Sight
Before Halina Zimm was separated from her family in the midst of the Holocaust, her father told her to never ever tell anyone she was Jewish. From that moment on Halina became Wanda Kazusek. Though Halina's new identity helped protect her from being murdered by the Nazis, Halina knew she would...
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Solomon Zimm: A Prisoner of War
Solomon Zimm, Sol for short, is the brother of Alan Zimm (one of our other featured Holocaust survivors this season). Alan and Sol were the only members of their family to survive the Holocaust, and Sol's story is incredible. Sol was first captured in 1939 as part of the Polish army defending...
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Inga Asher: The Holocaust in Shanghai
In one of the most unique episodes of this season, our student Eila retells the story of Inga Asher. Born in Berlin, Germany in 1920, Inga and her family experienced the horrors of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, first hand. Her father's shop was destroyed, and the Jewish community in...
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Ted Lehman: A Life Interrupted
The date is September 1st, 1939, and it’s a normal day for 12 year-old Jewish Ted Lehman. He is visiting his grandmother in Zawiercie, Poland when word begins to spread that the Nazis are invading. In that moment and the years after, everything changed for Ted. The life as he knew it stopped and…
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Edna B. Ipson: A Mother's Journey from Concentration Camps to Liberation
Edna B. Ipson, her children and her husband Israel were some of the only 500 Jews living in Lithuania to survive the Nazi extermination there. Our student Lila takes us through the horrific and unbelievable story of Edna's life, showing us that Edna lived her life for her children before during…
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Samuel Althaus: Where Is God?
In this episode, seventh grade student, Liam, recounts the harrowing story of Holocaust survivor, Samuel Althaus. Separated from family, Samuel was relocated countless times and survived both Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau concentration camps. Liam details life in concentration camps, and how...
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Welcome to Season 6!
We, Rebekah O'Dell and Samantha Futrell, are just thrilled to welcome you back to Use Your Words for our SIXTH season! We are so excited! Particularly, we are excited to introduce you to our new Use Your Words host, Reid McBride. In this episode, Reid, Sam and Rebekah take you through this year's...
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S05 Episode 9: Fifty Years of Change in Richmond, Virginia
Emerson wants listeners to know more about how Richmond has changed in the past fifty years. In this episode, her family history and what Richmond was like when her mother and grandmother lived inside the city. They compare the differences between that time period and now from two residents'...
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S05 Episode 8: River of Life
In this episode, Preston talks about the Huyard family and how they have made their home in Virginia. Relax and listen to stories of farm life and growing up in an Amish household. It is really cool to hear the stories of these intertwined families and how their stories are brought from their…
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S05 Episode 7: Life in the United States
In this podcast Sonnie will be joined by her dad, Josh, and grandpa, Steve, to talk about her family's past life and emotional geography. She talks about their jobs, hobbies and beliefs.
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S05 Episode 6: STRICKLER Speaking, A Family History
In this episode, Thomas explores connections between his family- the Strickler's- and himself.
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S05 Episode 5: Exploring Her Family's Past
In this episode, Molly takes a look at her paternal family: starting from the beginning when they came to America. From marriage scandals to lawsuits, Molly uncovers things she never knew about her family. With interviews from her father and grandfather, Molly makes great discoveries.
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S05 Episode 4: Growing Up in a Small Town
In this episode, Will talks to his dad about living in a very small town known as Colonial Beach. He talks about what it was like to live knowing pretty much everybody in the town and what it was like to spend a childhood there. Also, he discusses how living in a small town environment might have...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
This is Use Your Words, a seasonal podcast featuring the voices and perspectives of middle school students. Each season, lovable, insightful, awkward middle schoolers craft episodes on topics they’re learning in English and history. While these student-led episodes form the backbone of our podcast, teachers Rebekah O’Dell and Samantha Futrell introduce and conclude each season with episodes designed to help other educators conduct similar projects in their own classrooms. The ultimate product is an endearingly organic experiment in education.
HOSTED BY
Sam Futrell & Rebekah O'Dell
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Use Your Words have?
Use Your Words currently has 81 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Use Your Words about?
This is Use Your Words, a seasonal podcast featuring the voices and perspectives of middle school students. Each season, lovable, insightful, awkward middle schoolers craft episodes on topics they’re learning in English and history. While these student-led episodes form the backbone of our podcast,...
How often does Use Your Words release new episodes?
Use Your Words has 81 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Use Your Words?
You can listen to Use Your Words on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Use Your Words?
Use Your Words is created and hosted by Sam Futrell & Rebekah O'Dell.
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