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On this episode of The Conversation, hosts John and Rachel chat with Marnie Hallet Szymanski, a history teacher at Margaretta High School who attended the 2025 Smithsonian National Education Summit. She’ll share the insights she gained from the conference and how those strategies are transforming learning for her students.
Welcome to Season 3 of The Conversation! This season we’re exploring how educators can rediscover joy, cultivate hope, and reconnect with the educational journey. Join us for a season filled with inspiring stories and meaningful insights that celebrate the power of education.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski is a teacher at Margaretta High School. This is her 27th year in the classroom. She currently teaches 8th grade history, psychology, sociology and AP psychology. She is constantly striving to find creative and fun ways to teach her students. In addition to being a classroom teacher she is also the RE Program Coordinator, social studies department head, 8th grade Washington, D.C, trip advisor, student government advisor, senior class advisor, varsity cross country coach, varsity swim coach and JH track coach.
Contact the Guest: mhallettszymanski@margarettaschooldistrict.com
Links:
Smithsonian Newsletter Sign Up: https://si.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ef149f26b899566ccc91c2354&id=78ccd8b27a
The Smithsonian Educator Resources: https://www.si.edu/educators
Music:
Aaron Boylan, Marysville Early College High School Student
Music:
Aaron Boylan, Marysville Early College High School Student
Creators and Guests
Host
Host
Producer
Brenna Schoen-Roth
Brenna Schoen-Roth is the Communications and Social Media Specialist at the ESC of Central Ohio. As the producer of "The Conversation", Brenna assists with the planning, recording, post production and promotion of the podcast. She also voices the intros of all podcast episodes! Want to be part of "The Conversation"? Email us: brenna.schoen@escco.org
What is The Conversation?
Welcome to "The Conversation", the ESC of Central Ohio's podcast! Join podcast hosts John Hambrick and Rachel Daniels every month as they explore a variety of topics featuring voices in education, helping to ignite ideas and inspire change. Want to be part of "The Conversation"? Email us: brenna.schoen@escco.org
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
I've had a huge decrease in discipline problems because the kids are so engaged in what we're doing that I don't have a lot of time redirecting or asking them to actually complete something.
Rachel Daniels:
That was Marnie Szymanski, a high school teacher with Margaretta Local Schools. On this episode of The Conversation, Marnie details her experience attending the 2025 Smithsonian National Education Summit, and shares how the ideas she brought back are transforming learning for her students. Let's dive in.
We're jumping in briefly to see if our listeners notice something different with our podcast music. At The Conversation, we're committed to involving students not only in our discussions, but also in the podcast process itself. That's why we're excited to share that our new music was created by a student from one of our client districts. Erin B., a high school student at Marysville Exempted Village Schools, composed the new music you'll hear at the start and end of all of our future episodes. Now, back to the podcast.
John Hambrick:
Hello, and welcome back to The Conversation, Ohio voices in education, igniting ideas, inspiring change. I am so glad that you're here with us. We have the privilege of talking with Marnie Szymanski, Margaretta High School teacher. Not only high school, but also years in the middle school. So, we are so thankful you're here with us today, Marnie, welcome to The Conversation.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Hi.
John Hambrick:
Fantastic, Marnie. So often our listeners are like, "All right, great, who's Marnie?" Tell us about yourself, and really, not only tell us about yourself as an educator, but we've got a really cool topic for you attending the National Educator Summit. So, can you share with us a bit about yourself, and why you chose to go to that National Educator Summit for your summer learning?
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Yeah. This is my 27th year teaching at Margaretta, I'm in the middle school/high school building, it's a combination of six through 12. I teach eighth grade history and then high school psychology and sociology. And anybody who knows and teaches middle schoolers, you understand that you have to keep it fun, you have to be creative, and you have to make them think, or else they get real squirrely real fast. So, as an educator I'm constantly on the search for new instructional strategies that will help me promote their thinking and learning, and challenge them, but it's also fun and interesting so they stay engaged. And that's what drew me to the National Educator Summit because they had these different strategies that I had never been introduced to before. So, I thought I'd check it out a couple of years ago.
Rachel Daniels:
Well, Marnie, my heart did an extra jump when I was at Margaretta a couple years ago and shared my experience at the Smithsonian Summit, and your eyes sort of lit up and you said, "Oh, I want to go." And I thought, this is the exact person who would really benefit from all of the offerings that the Smithsonian offers to educators for the summer learning opportunity. So, talk to us about how your teaching practice has evolved as a result of the experiences that you've had over the past few summers, the resources that you've picked up, and different insights that you've gained through your time at the summit.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Sure. I've changed my entire process of teaching because the strategies that they've introduced, like from the Project Zero, which I had not ever been exposed to prior to this, they create an experience where the students get a greater depth of knowledge, and they learn problem solving and things like that. So, I'm constantly trying to incorporate new strategies into my classes. But these strategies from the National Summit have also allowed me to raise my expectations for my students, and I can expect them to have that deeper critical thinking and problem solving skills. A strategy that I incorporated last year... Sometimes we get a little crazy and we brainstorm and it gets real silly and stuff and fun, and then we have to reign it in. The example that I'm talking about from last year... Actually I was with you, Rachel, when we did the exhibit at [inaudible 00:04:46].
Rachel Daniels:
Yes.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
And I pulled that, it's a picture of a bike, and it's a bike with three wheels and then there's two sets of handlebars going in opposite directions. Well, last year I had the ability to teach about the election because it was an election year, so I pulled in that picture of that bike, with the two handlebars in opposite directions, and I used the 10-10-10 strategy, which I was able to actually be engaged in with Rachel down at the summit. And I learned it because I was able to do it while I was down there. So, I had my students look at that picture for about 10 minutes, and contemplate what they thought it meant, and then they drew part of it and explained those parts for another 10 minutes.
So, after 20 minutes of thinking about the picture and what it could possibly mean and how it could pertain to our topic, they then had 10 minutes where they were able to discuss things and tell their group about their interpretation of what that picture was. And I was so surprised by the high quality conversations that were coming out of their interpretation about that bike, and what it could mean, and how it related to the election process. And I was really actually completely shocked with some of the stuff they were able to come up with that I hadn't even thought about, and it totally applied to what we were talking about. So, they were very engaged, they really enjoyed the lesson, and I'm going to continue to work with the Smithsonian to try to find more pieces of art to pull into my classes that I can use stuff like that for.
Rachel Daniels:
Just a note for our listeners, we'll make sure that our show notes are robust, so you'll be able to check out those notes to see the image that Marnie's referring to, because that was a really great interactive time we spent together. It is fun as an educator to become a learner every once in a while, and you and I both had grand epiphanies during that time.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Yes.
Rachel Daniels:
I do want to follow up and ask this. You've alluded to it, but could you talk us through how your students have responded? As a lifelong educator in a same small district, where you're having students in the middle school and then some of those same students in the high school, I'm just curious if you've noticed changes in the way that your students are reacting to the way that you're teaching, or the different kinds of tools or resources that you're using. Can you highlight anything you've noticed with your students?
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Actually, the biggest... I was thinking about this as I was looking at my notes from the summit and stuff, and the biggest thing that I've noticed over the last two years is I've had a huge decrease in discipline problems, because the kids are so engaged in what we're doing that I don't have a lot of time redirecting or asking them to actually complete something. And they see that I have high expectations for their learning process, and so they're actually responding with being engaged and trying to make sure that they're gaining the knowledge that I'm expecting out of them. And that's been really awesome because it allows me to step back and be more of a facilitator and them to take charge of their own learning process.
John Hambrick:
Love this. Hey, Marnie, I'm curious, what role do you think right now partnerships with institutions like the Smithsonian play in our current educational landscape?
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
I think they can be very, very valuable for all different areas of education, not just in school, but all sorts of different learning opportunities. But I think a lot of educators are unaware that these opportunities even exist. So, I went to the conference last summer and I got so much out of it, and then I went back this past summer and there was so much more that I didn't even realize that I had missed the year before. So, I had a chance this past summer to talk to so many of the museum personnel that were there, and I found that there's opportunities that... I take my eighth graders to D.C. in the spring, well, I didn't know that I could set up a time with the Smithsonian for them to give just my students a presentation on some of the different displays that they have.
Also, I met a guy who is in charge of creating the app for the Washington Mall, and I was so excited to meet this guy. And I went and introduced myself to him, and I was like, "This is going to be so much fun when my kids come down this spring, and they can check it out," because according to him, the app, you can ask any question about anything that's on the mall, and it will provide an answer. So, if you're walking past the Washington Monument and you're like, oh, I wonder what the top of that's made out of, you can ask the app and it will tell you.
So, he actually asked if my students would be guinea pigs for this app, they're going to finish producing it right before we get down there. And so, my eighth graders are going to be able to download the apps on their phones, and as we walk through the Washington Mall, we'll be able to ask the app any questions and make sure it works the way he wants it to.
Rachel Daniels:
I think that's an incredible opportunity for your students.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Absolutely.
Rachel Daniels:
So, I'm proud of you for being vulnerable. I think that is something that's important to recognize in being a continuous learner, is that sometimes you have to approach people you don't know, sometimes you share your interest, sometimes you just sort of live on the edge and don't know what's going to be the result of it. And here, your students are going to have two incredible opportunities for additional learning that will really set Margaretta's trip apart from other schools who take that journey to D.C. So, those are really fun things to think about. Well, Marnie, looking ahead, what new opportunities or themes from the summit are you most excited to explore in your teaching? You mentioned the Project Zero, those thinking routines, which are incredible tools, and there are so many of them, so there's lots you can explore through that.
I know that the Smithsonian has a whole education branch, so there are not only just teacher resources, but there are archived recordings of a lot of professional learning opportunities that folks can tie into, along with different tools and things like that, that you can take advantage of. So, do you have a next step in what you're planning to use from your Smithsonian experience?
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Yes, absolutely. This year, it seemed to me that the summit was focused mostly on STEM, which I teach social studies, so at first I was like, huh, I wonder how this is going to work in. But I kept an open mind because last year it was about art, and I've used so much of that. So, I have two plans already in place to incorporate these STEM strategies into my social studies classroom. The first one is we're going to do in a couple of weeks when we get to the causes of the revolutionary war and the war actually breaks out, it's called exploding ideas. And so, we're going to take the fact that war breaks out, the revolutionary war breaks out, and we're going to explode it backwards.
So, it's actually deductive reasoning, and they break it into as small of pieces as they can. So, what led to the war? What led to that cause that led to the war? And they'll take it all the way back to when the colonists first arrived. And my plan is I'm going to put a big sheet of paper across the table and they can write and draw and explode their idea all over this entire paper until they take it down to the smallest piece that they can get it to. And I think what they're going to find is there's connections where they didn't realize that connections existed. The second one, it's called inventive design cycle, and this is a STEM strategy as well. And I'm going to, when we start the War of 1812, we start with the British invading, and the America has only been 20 some years and the Americans aren't expecting it.
So, we're going to, in my classroom, we're going to go real ridiculous, and I'm going to say there's an alien invasion. They have new weapons, they have different fighting styles, what are we going to do? How do you feel about this? And we're going to take the ridiculous and talk about that, like how would we react? And then we're going to narrow that focus to, well, how do you think the Americans felt when the British invaded? So, I'm hoping they can draw on how they felt and then put that into how did the Americans feel when the British did it to them. So, I'm really excited about that because I think it's going to expand their ability to think and reason.
Rachel Daniels:
Yeah. And what I love about these two ideas is that you're making the learning experience so authentic, which takes us back to your observation that student behaviors are more in line with what you want in your class, like less of a distraction from your teaching, and more ability to really hone and dive deep into this content learning. And those strategies certainly help do that with motivation and engagement with our middle level learners. So, I think that you've got some good lessons ahead of you.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
I'm hoping.
Rachel Daniels:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Marnie, it's always a pleasure, I was sharing with my colleagues before our podcast started that you're one of my favorite educators to work with.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Aw.
Rachel Daniels:
Because you take an idea and you run with it, and you're not afraid to fail forward, and you are always willing to try what you think might work best for your students. And you're the perfect example of a person diving into something like the Smithsonian's National Educator Summit, taking what you learn and applying it. And that I think is a way to keep joy in your instruction. So, it was a pleasure, it's always a pleasure to work with you, to see you, but it certainly was a pleasure to meet up at that summit two summers ago, and I hope our paths can cross in D.C. again.
Marnie Hallet Szymanski:
Yes.
Rachel Daniels:
Yeah, so much good stuff. So, as a reminder to our listeners, we'll have a lot of resources in the show notes for you to make visual of what Marnie has done a great job explaining to us here on the podcast. So, Marnie, thanks for taking time out of your busy day to share your insights with us and to inspire our listeners. For John, this is Rachel, stay curious and keep up the conversation.