Jack Marshall

OCSS Conference 2016

Digital History Interviews

Jack from Van Buren – Participant

Unknown – Recorder

Russ Crawford – Transcriber

Interviewer: What is your name and school?

Jack: My name is Jack Marshall.  I’m a teacher from Van Buren Middle School in Van Buren, Ohio.

Interviewer: And how many years have you attended OCSS?

Jack: This is my first year attending.

Interviewer: Other than this session, which has been your favorite session from OCSS?

Jack: On Monday, I attended a session on technology integration, and what was good about it was that there were six useful and free apps, and websites that I could use.  I already have plans for using at least three of them in my class when I get back.

Interviewer: What is the benefit of attending OCSS?

Jack: Well, like any conference, I am always looking for ways to take things back that I can start using right away, that’s not going to take days and days, and lots of research beforehand.  Whenever I get an opportunity like that, that I can get those ideas and implement them soon and they support my curriculum, it’s great.

Interviewer: What are your ideas for using digital history in your classroom?

Jack: It’s something I’ve been considering for a few years, and this was a great opportunity to see this here.  We have an elective course that we just labeled as “Genius Hour,” and the idea is that year to year we can change it up.  It doesn’t have to be anything specific, and so, this is one of the possibilities.  Our school building is approaching one hundred years old, at least the main part of it.  Other parts are only fifteen years old, but our town is one hundred and twenty five years old.  Our county is one hundred and fifty years old.  So there’s a lot of history in the area.  We’re right on the edge of the Black Swamp, and so northwest Ohio, that’s why it’s all flat.  There’s a lot of history there that we don’t always have access to.  It’s not a really important thing in the timeline of the world, but it is something that affects our kids.  So, I’ve been considering doing something with our local history, and this would be a great opportunity.