What does Dante’s classic poem Inferno have to do with contemporary American culture and the lives of high school students? Come find out as Dr. Deborah Parker, world renowned Dante scholar and Italian professor at the University of Virginia (UVA), and Dr. Mark Parker, Professor of English at James Madison University, lead this professional development program designed to animate the study of Dante through the use of highly accessible literary and artistic works and pedagogical strategies. Based on the three-week seminar for high school teachers on Dante held at UVA in summer 2015, this abbreviated one-day program highlights the cultural legacy and influence of the iconic poem on Western tradition by using other works as a creative and interpretive lens for deepening students’ understanding of the poem while building a bridge between the Dante’s world and today’s world. In particular, digital media—of which our students are avid consumers—have adapted and appropriated Dante’s famous poem in new ways, making a commonly difficult text more accessible to students.
The program agenda will include a demonstration of how to teach students about Dante’s Inferno and interactive presentations from three U.S. high school teachers who have written and field-tested related classroom lessons. Participants will also gain access to 13 other classroom lessons featured on the National Endowment for the Humanities website and additional instructional resources. To conclude the program, teacher-led breakout groups will be facilitated to brainstorm how the newly acquired content and pedagogical knowledge can be tweaked and localized for participants’ unique classroom contexts. Breakfast and lunch included.
Sponsored by the Center for the Liberal Arts at the University of Virginia and the National Endowment for the Humanities.