Using In the Dark Podcast in the Classroom

If your students love Serial, wait until they hear In the Dark! Season two explores how Curtis Flowers has been tried for the same murder case six different times over a 21 year period. As the host says, it’s about “a black man from a small town in Mississippi who’s spent the past  21 years fighting for his life, and a white prosecutor who’s spent that same time trying just as hard to execute him.”

Honestly, In the Dark season two is one of the best informational texts I have ever used in the classroom. I have a list of reasons why it’s even better than Serial, but that’s for another post.

I know it can be daunting using a new text, and for some, a new medium in the classroom. So I’m going to break down exactly how I use In the Dark. Truly, it’s an important piece of work and I’d love to see more students exposed to the powerful content in the podcast.

****Warning: So many spoilers ahead****

Why is it So Amazing?

1. It’s current. The murders happened in 1996, but Flowers’s six trials and probation continue. He was actually still in prison up until 12/16/19 when he finally received bail. *UPDATE (9/5/2020) All charges dropped!!!!
2. It’s organized in a way that makes it easier to break up into different lessons.
3. Limited offensive language. You can easily censor.
4. It’s more about the justice system than the murders.
5. Perfect for discussions on race and social injustice.
6. It’s an engaging way to learn about the legal system.
7. The location of the murders is not far from where Emmett Till was murdered. There’s a strong connection to how the white men obviously killed a black boy and were not punished, while there’s practically no evidence against this black man accused of killing white people and he’s tried six different times by a DA seeking the death penalty.

How to Teach In the Dark: Season 2, Episodes 1-4

This mini-unit takes about a month to get through. The podcast episodes are just under and hour so each one will likely take at least two days. This timeline also includes an op-ed writing assignment of 750 words about what sanctions, if any, should be placed on DA Doug Evans for his actions during the investigation and trials.

For each of the graphic organizers I create for my students, I include timestamps for where they can find the information. I do this for most of my podcast lessons and it really is helpful for the students and for me.

Episode 1: July 16, 1996

This is the hook. They lay down all the most interesting facts about the case (the obvious facts; thorough explanations come throughout the rest of the season) and leave the listener wondering how anything like this could ever happen in modern society. How could an investigation and the subsequent trials go so wrong and for so long? I have my students fill out a graphic organizer to keep all of the information. They will need some of it for their opinion piece at the end of the unit.

For an assessment we analyze the following:

• What information did the creators choose to include and how much of an impact this has on the listener’s interest in the cast. Were the creators successful in engaging the audience to continue listening to more episodes?
• We look at word choice in Baran’s opening lines: “A black man from a small town in Mississippi who’s spent the past  21 years fighting for his life, and a white prosecutor who’s spent that same time trying just as hard to execute him.”
• And we look at some of the evidence presented during the episode to determine if it’s valid and relevant. Perfect opportunity for class discussion.

Episode 2: The Route

After students have the basics of what is happening and who is involved, they’re ready to hear the specifics of the evidence against Flowers. This episode is all about the alleged route Flowers took the day of the murders and the various people who claim to have seen him that day.

The problem? The route makes little sense for someone who is planning to murder people, and the witnesses are vague and didn’t come forward until months after the murder happened.

For this episode I have students take specific notes on each of the witnesses and their statements. Then students need to determine how credible the witness is based on different facts: Are they drunk? Were they bribed? Are they a known liar? Again, perfect for class discussion and debate about who is credible and who is not.

Bonus: the podcast website has a virtual map students can explore to really get an understanding of the area and the route.

Episode 3: The Gun

Part of the route problem is how he had to detour to get a gun from a truck parked at a warehouse. A few other issues with the gun:

• The man who owns the gun has changed his story about whether or not Flowers knew it was in his truck.
• The method used to collect bullets as evidence is inaccurate and suspicious.
• Bullet analysis is not a science. Who knew?! There are no set parameters to determine a definitive match.
• They don’t actually have the murder weapon. It was never recovered. (Actually, it may have been. But that’s for a later episode)

This episode jumps around a lot, so I created stations and picked out different segments of the podcast for different station. As a class we listen to the first few minutes of the podcast which explains who the owner of the gun is and how he knew it was missing. Now that everyone has a background of the gun owner, they can go in any order through the stations. Here are the station categories I created:

• The polygraph administered to the gun owner, Doyle, and his crazy brush with death from a few years earlier. Students are blown away by Doyle’s past experiences and they are very relevant to the case.
• Doyle’s many statements to the investigators and how they keep changing.
• Doyle as a suspect with Flowers
• The DA’s bullet expert and his findings
• Counterargument from Carriquiry, the Director of Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence

Students fill out a section of their graphic organizer at each station. I also have extra materials for them to look at in case they finish early: pictures, related articles, and statistics.

For this episode I actually leave out a few segments that are mostly opinion. At the end of the lesson I have students listen to one of the opinion sections. Afterwards, they discuss or write about how it should or should not be included in an investigative podcast and if it changes their own opinion about the case.

Episode 4: The Confessions

Students hear about three different people who claim Flowers confessed to them while in prison. However, all three have changed their stories and taken back their confessions. Only one of the three changed his mind again (three times total!) and continues to stand trial against Flowers.

Once again, the big takeaways from this episode are how blatantly Evans and his team are manipulating or even making up evidence in an effort to prove Flowers’s guilt. One jailhouse informant claims Evans created the entire confession story and told him exactly what to say on the stand. Students will use most of this information in their writing assignment which comes up after this episode.

For an episode mini-lesson, we look at word choice for this episode: snitch versus jailhouse informant. Both are used by the host, so we discuss the connotation of each and the choice to use both. As a final reflection, students debate whether or not jailhouse informants should be used at all. The podcast details some statistics about informants so students can use this as evidence to support their claim.

Assessment for Episodes 1-4: Op-Ed

At this point the students have most of the critical information about the trial. Baran, the narrator, says throughout the podcast that it all comes down to the route, the gun, and the confessions. Students now have the basics of the case and are usually eager to actually do something with all of this information.

Amazingly, Curtis Flowers was released on bail in December 2019. District Attorney Doug Evans recused himself from the case in January 2020. However, justice has not been served. Flowers was in jail for over 21 years – he missed his mother’s funeral and countless other important life moments. The DA stepped back but was never punished for all his immoral and illegal actions. This is what I want my students to address. I ask them to write an opinion piece about what sanctions should be placed on Doug Evans and to explain their reasoning.

Specifically, I have my students write an opinion piece for the The Washington Post. Based on their submission requirements, the op-ed should be no more than 750 words. Each word must be chosen carefully since students have so few to use. I also like that students can actually submit their finished op-eds with the possibility of being published.

Ready to Give it a Try?

You can go through and create your own plans using my suggestions above, or you can check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store for all my graphic organizers and activity resources. I have them broken down by episode and I have a bundle available for episodes 1-4 and for the op-ed assignment.

Want More?

I usually stop after episode four. I just don’t have any more time to devote to it. I’ve hit the standards I wanted to hit and students who are still interested will listen on their own. I love that podcasts are free to the public. And while I have listened to the entire season and found it all fascinating – my students won’t. It’s one thing for me to listen on my own for enjoyment. It’s another to take notes and tie lessons to each one.

However, if your students still want more, here are some tips for teaching episode five.

Episode 5: Privilege

This episode is perfect for a debate about the role race plays in this case. There is only one remaining jailhouse informant who continues to testify against Flowers: Odell Hallmon.

Odell Hallmon – a brief history. Hallmon’s been in and out of jail for drug and assault charges since he was 12 years old. He even tried to run over an officer once. He just keeps getting out of jail though. His crimes become more violent, but his charges are always dropped or he’s given minimum sentencing. At the time that he testified against Flowers, he had seven felony charges that were all dropped.

Hallmon is currently in jail though, because one night he shot and killed three people and attempted to kill two more. One of the people he tried to kill is his 12-year-old son. He did kill his ex-girlfriend and her mother as well as one of his own friends.

A few discussion points for this episode:

• It’s clear Hallmon should never have been let out of jail. How culpable is Doug Evans in this tragedy?
• Evans quickly gets a confession from Hallmon and there is a trial with little to no time to conduct a thorough investigation. The victim’s families are not consulted until it is over with. This is very different from the white victims of the Tardy Furniture murders. Is the difference based on race or the difference in the crimes?
• Unlike Flowers, Hallmon did not receive the death penalty. In Hallmon’s case Evans did not request it. Is it because of a legal technicality or does race of the victims play a role?

This is also a good episode to refer back to the podcast website. The podcast occasionally jumps around or has to skip over some facts. The website has an easy-to-read timeline so students can get a better understanding of Hallmon’s criminal history.

More About Podcasts

If you’d like more information on how to use podcasts in the classroom, check out my previous post all about different podcasts and different lessons to go with them.

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