Historical figures such as John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson visited the classroom of Dan Jones at Richland Academy School of Excellence on Tuesday, thanks to the power of technology. Through a Skype video chat, Jones’ eighth grade students were able to chat about the Declaration of Independence with Missy McNatt, Education Specialist for the National Archives in Washington, D.C. from the comfort of their classroom in Mansfield.
It’s a practice familiar to Jones, who has held Skype sessions with his students before, but a brand-new experience for McNatt.
“This is my first Skype session with a school group,” said McNatt, whose image was projected on a screen in Jones’ classroom. “We do video conferencing but haven’t really done Skype. It might be the first time anyone in our education group has done it with a group of students – I’m very excited to be with you this morning.”
The idea for a Skype session with McNatt came to Jones after a trip to Washington D.C. this past summer, a place where he realized many of his students may not be able to travel to. Instead, he decided to bring Washington D.C. to them.
“I wanted to create an authentic experience for the kids,” said Jones. “I knew we were studying the Declaration of Independence, and the historic significance of this particular document on the rest of our country’s history was so significant. It was one of those things where I was like you know what, I’m just going to try, just to see if I could get someone that would be willing to talk to them about it, and that’s exactly what happened.”
McNatt chatted with Jones’ students for about an hour on Tuesday morning, answering their questions that had been sent to her before the video call. Most questions centered on the students’ current research paper topic about the Declaration of Independence and the principles of self-government, as well as their research on the “fair copy” of the Declaration of Independence. The legend says that Thomas Jefferson claims a “fair copy” of the Declaration of Independence – a clean, full-text version without corrections or alterations – was in existence before July 4 when the text underwent a number of deletions, additions, and changes before it was ratified. If this “fair copy” manuscript still exists, it is considered the “holy grail of American freedom.”
“The kids are used to doing research on things that are unexplained,” said Jones. “Last year they did a whole unit on history’s mysteries such as the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the death of Louis Meriwether, the John F. Kennedy shooting, and they were amazed that real people like this would get back with them. It got them in the mode of doing real research and contacting professionals to get more of a legitimate answer on some of their questions.”
However, as is the case with mysteries, many answers to these questions don’t exist. Eighth grader Ariana Hull stated she was surprised McNatt did not know the answer to many of her classmates’ questions, but Jones was optimistic about this fact.
“I got encouragement from that, in knowing that [my students] are on the right path and they’re asking the right questions, because these aren’t things you can just look up on the Internet,” said Jones. “I think [McNatt] appreciates that as well, even though there were things she couldn’t answer. It’s good to know the students are thinking higher-order processes that really will help them down the road.”
After the Skype session, eighth grader Brandon Dixon stated he was excited to learn facts from McNatt other than what Jones had taught inside the classroom. Classmate Rhapsody Howell agreed.
“I was really excited for this experience because it’s something new, we haven’t really done this kind of thing before and it’s a good opportunity,” she said.
“I thought it was interesting that we actually got in contact with someone from Washington, D.C. from our little Mansfield, Ohio town that’s not very big at all,” added eighth grader Mikala Bell. “And we actually got to meet a person who works with the actual document in the building where it is stored.”
For Jones, the experience exceeded his expectations, and he noted he was glad the students were able to get feedback from an actual professional who deals with documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.
“The fact [McNatt] was willing to take an hour out of her day to talk to a school group, it meant a lot to me that she saw that as a priority and that our government does see that as a priority, to educate kids about the Charters of Freedom,” he said.
