Sample Responses from Visitors

WORKSHOP FOR TEACHERS OF ADVANCED PLACEMENT OR HONORS ENGLISH, THE WALT WHITMAN HYPERTEXT ARCHIVE

 On April 22, 1997, Dr. Ken Price from the College of William & Mary conducted a workshop in the Library, Reno High School. Each high school had previously designated two teachers of Advanced Placement or Honors English courses to attend the workshop.

Dr. Price presented a basic overview of the Archive, provided teachers with an understanding of how to find the teacher-assistance portions of the Archive, and then led a computer lab so that hands-on experience could be provided. For a number of these teachers, this workshop provided their first encounter with the Internet and represented their first experience with the wealth of literary information available through this resource.

Dr. Price also solicited teacher evaluation of and response to the teacher-assistance portions of the Archive. He invited teachers to participate in the further generation of the Archive by submitting their own writing topics or activities. Two of our high schools, McQueen and Reno, will be specifically providing student responses and evalutions as AP classes are involved with the use of the Archive. It is Dr. Price's goal to shape the remaining portions of the Archive so that it is as student-user-friendly as possible, for both high school and college/university students.

Dr. Price has opened the door-or, more appropriately, turned on the PC power switch--for our teachers or AP and Honors English as they move toward the enhancement of their own technological competence and as they acquire the tools to move students toward more productive, more educationally focused use of the Internet.

Dr. Price has agreed to return to our district in early October to conduct a workshop which will involve the district's teachers of AP and Honors (at the junior level) English and AP and Honors (at the junior level) American History, perhaps focusing upon an important period of American history which is common to both courses. For example, the Civil War or the Vietnam era and accompanying Internet resources for both literature and history might become the vehicle for this workshop. Dr. Price will be working with several teachers, high school assistant principals/curriculum, and Testing Services to decide upon the most effective use of the time he can spend with us.

As with the morning workshop, teacher response was extremely positive. The following are quoted comments received directly from teachers who attended the workshop:

This technology brings poetry to life. Sometimes even my AP students have difficulty accepting that writing is a difficult process that must be learned. To be able to see and study the various manuscripts and the careful editing actually done by famous writers is amazing. This is a wonderful opportunity for my students.

The workshop showed me the potential of the web in helping students gather helpful material in the analysis and appreciation of literature.

I enjoyed the workshop, if for no other reason that it gave me much needed exposure to someone passionate about a great writer. It good to know those websites are out there and to share them with our students.

25 Apr 97

 Dear Ken,

I am very interested in your Whitman project. I have explored your home page, and the offerings are terrific. As Julia may have told you, I will be teaching high school English and serving as a dean for Cincinnati Country Day School next year. As a private school, we have the latitude to create/incorporate curriculum as we see fit. Currently, we are engaged in a "Learning with Laptops" program with Microsoft and Toshiba. We are one of 25 schools in the nation selected last March, 1996, for this endeavor. I was hired by CCDS to chronicle our laptop experience. Bottom line--every student in grades 5-12 has a laptop for his own use. Students and faculty ( 600!) have had their laptops since the end of September, 1996; we have had Internet access in all classrooms--in fact, throughout the school-- since January. Naturally, we are most interested in exciting curriculum that we can incorporate. Your archive is fascinating. I look forward to communicating with you about this. We have a dynamic faculty--I'm sure there would be interest in serving as a "test site" for you in some capacity. I think this would be a valuable opportunity for all of us. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Sarah

24 Mar 1997

Ed et al;

 Let me introduce myself... I am Marc Strassburg, Bob Strassburg's son. I have helped both my father and son (Justin) with our Whitman Home page (somewhat neglected of late, due to Justin's academic schedule).

I have just reviewed your excellent Walt Whitman Hypertext Archive, and when I am at my father's I will put it on his bookmark, and I am sure that he will be as impressed as I was.

I am hopeful that your homepage will become ---one day -- a standard supplementary teaching aid in schools throughout the Country, (God knows we need something in our schools to give students a sense of history and direction.) I will be adding your link to our Home Page and to my UCLA Epidemiology page (for my students). I am teaching a class on Information Interconnectivity at UCLA this quarter.

Keep up the good word(k), and I look forward to further additions to your page.

All the best.

Marc Strassburg
Los Angeles

15 Mar 1997

 Hello,

I am much impressed with your site, keep on the important work! I am planning a site that will promote the laymen study of our classic literary treasures. At the right time, I might like to use a few of Whitmans poems in this project and I am wondering - are there any copyright restrictions on using this material? Your reply will be much appreciated.

Thanks, peace,
Noam, from Israel


 
03 Mar 1997

Your website is excellent and useful for beginning students, as well as teachers. It has eye appeal and should be a good resource as it continues to be developed.

I have been teaching Whitman's poetry for years and have published a few things from time to time. I am also learning to do things on the web. My gardening homepage is available at http://www.agnr.umd.edu/users/mg

If you have any need for assistance in your venture that you think I could offer, please let me know.

Peter Van Egmond
Associate Professor of English
University of Maryland, College Park

30 Jan 1997

Dear Directors,

 My name is Lori Beth Sack and I am a 2nd year Literature major. I came upon your site during a search for additional information regarding an assignment on Walt Whitman. I felt compelled to e-mail this message to you. I was so thankful to see part of your site was dedicated to education. I have tried to find information on various other authors and only came upon reviews/essays that exceeded my current education on the subject of Literature. Your site was extremely helpful and I felt quite comfortable browsing the "Classroom" section. I read a note indicating the classroom portion was yet unfinished, I would like to get additional information regarding it though. Would I be able to access it in its entirety once it is finished or would I have to be enrolled in a class? I would truly appreciate your response. I can't tell you how thankful I am to have found a page that is so user-friendly to a student of Literature.

Thank you again,
Lori B. Sack

27 Jun 1999

You guys have created an exquisite web site from many standpoints. The opening page design is extremely aesthetically appealing but also highly functional. I stumbled across your site due to a slow-going American poetry web page & pathfinder series/ project our staff is working on. Incidentally, I am an automation support coordinator with the Charlotte Public Library system (PLCMC in NC) and have visited tens of thousands of sites, perhaps more. Yours is among the best designed en toto! Bravo!

Be well & keep it up. any updates this year?

Ken Sandow