New Literacies and Global Learning
AP World History and American History 2 Teacher
Needham B. Broughton High School

Marlin Jones ‘20MED has always loved history and social studies. He can’t remember a time when he didn’t love reading about history. As a freshman at Tennessee State University, he changed his major from engineering to history education and has never looked back.

Jones is now an AP World History and American History 2 teacher at Needham B. Broughton Magnet High School in Raleigh, where he enjoys watching his students make connections between the past and the present. He also enjoys watching them learn how being involved can have an impact on their community, state and nation. And Jones was named the 2019-20 N.C. Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year.

A 22-year veteran in education, Jones knows technology has changed the way students learn and that the way they have to be taught has to change to meet them where they are, which inspired him to want to learn the latest research, technology and techniques to help his students be successful. To do that, he chose to pursue an advanced degree in New Literacies and Global Learning (NLGL) with a specialization in social education to help him finish his career strong.

He chose the NC State College of Education because of the uniqueness of the NLGL program, the convenience of the program and the quality of the faculty.

His Story

“When I started the program, I was concerned that the nature of how students learned was changing and I needed more training and skills to better support my students. The NLGL program has given me more and better reading strategies to help my students decipher and analyze documents. I have learned how to get my students to create and support arguments better. I have learned how to include technology in my instruction. In fact, this program made it easier for me to transition to virtually learning through COVID-19.

Ultimately, this program has given me a better understanding of social studies and the important role it plays in helping our students become civic-minded and engaged in our democracy. I now understand how important it is to bring in students’ prior knowledge and to find out what is important to them and include that in the instruction. I think differently about how to keep and maintain student engagement in the classroom. It is now more important for me to emphasize the skills needed in the future and how to teach those effectively in my classroom.

This program has given me the confidence to be on the cutting edge of teaching and learning. Although, I have been a teacher-leader throughout my career, this program highlighted the importance of continuing to be an effective teacher-leader not only in my classroom but also in the education profession at a district, state and national level.”