Students learn about chemical bonding while creating frescoes during a Renaissance art history lab.

I am “thehistoryhead” and my name is Kathy Carroll.  A history and English teacher by trade, I have been teaching in both public and independent schools in Dallas, Texas, since 1993.  I hold a Master of Humanities from the University of Dallas.

Building aqueducts to illustrate engineering advancements of Romans.

My passion is interdisciplinary learning through the vehicle of the  classroom.  Language, art, technology, science, religion, geography and math have impacted the march of history in ways large and small.   Understanding how these forces shaped our past and present is foundational to assessing the impacts they will have on our future – politically, socially and environmentally.  Student are encouraged to look at historical sources beyond what they find in their textbooks in order to hone their critical thinking skills in a rapidly changing world.

Student “learning to look” for historical details on a Roman coin circa 50 BC.

Currently, I teach at St. John’s Episcopal School and serve as social studies vertical team chair.  Along with my colleague, Tom Parr, I use the creative and connective power of digital technology to help students to become historians themselves through the medium of documentary film.  Students spend a year collecting original primary source material in order to research, script, edit and produce a short documentary film shown at the St. John’s Documentary Film Festival.

I am also a life long learner, having recently earned a Graduate Certificate in Digital Public Humanities at George Mason University.  My work there included an internship at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum where I produced a digital adaptation of exhibit, A Right to the City.