Arriving in Chi-Town and Meeting Ms Ziemke

I realised today that I was getting quite behind in the ol' Blog updates, so I'm going to spend my evening trying to catch up on the past week. I've had hurdles due to wifi issues (literally could only access wifi while sitting on the floor of the bathroom of my hotel room), sickness (acclimitising to Chicago's FREEZING weather was a massive shock to my system - apparently it's spring, but I beg to differ!) and lastly it is difficult to "pen" (type) your thoughts when you're not exactly sure of all the ideas and thoughts that are spinning around in your head!

I arrived in Chicago (AKA Chi-Town) late Saturday night and nearly fell asleep on the reception desk. I managed to keep it together and make my way to a more suitable sleeping location (my hotel room). The next day (Sunday) I met up with my friend Anna, who is a teacher in down-town Chicago and she took me around to experience the city (like eating Portillos hotdogs) as well as discussing current educational issues locally and in the state of Illinois. It was interesting to hear some of the challenges of her local community and we discussed the very different learning needs of her city-kids (that have never seen the stars) to my outback-kids. 

Kristin Ziemke and I outside the Chicago Art Institute

While I was in Chicago I had the absolute privilege to meet with Kristin Ziemke. Kristin is a Grade 1 teacher in the city along with being a co-publisher of the Heinemann text 'Connecting Comprehension and Technology'. She is an Apple distinguished educator and Chicago's Tech Innovator of the Year. Not a bad little collection of accolades, but it was easy to see how she has earned these after spending the afternoon with her and reading her book. How did I hear about Kristin... well I found her on her Blog... And then I found another fabulous teacher that is her friend that I will be meeting up with in Vancouver, Canada. How good is the World Wide Web?! (I'm really not sure how teachers would have planned these scholarship tours without Google).

I'm unsure if the book is actually available in Australia - I'm yet to find it... I did look at ordering it from Amazon but the shipping costs were phenomenal. But lucky for me, Kristin gave me a copy as a gift. The reason I have come to love Love LOVE this book is because of it's explicit nature (it literally shows you HOW to incorporate iPad technology - QR codes!) and because it links so well with the Focus on Reading program which many educators in NSW are trained in. The terminology is slightly different, but essentially it is 'The Super 6 Comprehension Strategies' and teaching children that good readers are good thinkers. 

Kristin shared with me lots of examples of extending the classroom experiences using iPad technology to read and respond to literature, both in it's traditional forms and in digital modes. An experienced educator sharing lessons and ideas is always so motivating to hear. Because of her work as a educational leader, I was able to hear not only tales of her classroom, but of those that she been apart of across the USA! 

A fabulous read!

The book has been quite the enjoyable 'in-flight' read, and I hear that another title is coming out soon. Cannot wait to read it too!