Humanities & Technology Workshop

Using Technology in the Humanities Classroom

Presented by Ms. Jo Ferrell and Ms. Karen Lang

Workshop Goals:

To overcome some of the fear and resistance some teachers have of using technology as a tool in humanities.
To demonstrate methods and techniques starting with simple technology such as the digital camera to illustrate poetry, and proceed to using computer applications to have students track their edits in revising written work.

Intended audience: Middle School, High School

Anticipated Time Frame: 45 minutes to an hour

Anticipated number of participants: 25

Possible Handouts:

Samples of student work: illustrated poetry, electronic portfolio, literary magazine design
List of applications of technology used in humanities
WebQuest, a guided research sample

Workshop Format:

Brainstorm the technology tools and applications that the teachers in the workshop presently use in the classroom?
Demonstrate and present examples of uses such as:
1. electronic portfolio
2. illustrated poetry
3. literary magazine format
4. student-created websites for specialized assignments
5. Webquest (websites created by middle school teachers with links to guide student research, or by high school students to format their own research)
6. digital video camera to teach oral presentation
7. digital camera to create headshots for students to draw a self-portrait to accompany a reflective poem

Wrap-up/follow-up ideas:

Teachers would work in pairs to brainstorm how they would use these technology methods in their own classrooms, and we would close with sharing those.

About the presenters:

Theloise (Jo) Ferrell is Master Teacher in Humanities at the MA Academy for Mathematics and Science at WPI. She has contributed to school restructuring and innovative teaching methods since 1986. In 1990, she was a member of the faculty that qualified Souhegan High School (Amherst, NH) for membership in the Coalition of Essential Schools. While there she teamed with her social studies counterpart to create curricula for American Studies and for World Studies. At the same time she coordinated the writing program for grades 9-12. Her workshop, “Strategies in Teaching English and Integrated Curricula” emerged from that effort, as do other workshops that she has led. The current “Humanities and Technology” offering is, once again, the result of a team approach (Karen Lang) and her desire to constantly refine her teaching practice.

Karen Lang is a Visiting Scholar in Computer Science at the Mass Academy. After several years working as an applications programmer at various software companies in Massachusetts, Karen made a career switch to education. She has taught math, computer applications and programming to high school students in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and England. She has also acted as technology coordinator at schools in Venezuela and Hungary.

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Last modified: September 27, 2007 14:16:22