Out of Eden Walk-Chicago Information Session for Educators

Home. Among the simplest, most cherished words in our global language. But our understanding of home is deeply personal, and varies widely. What can we learn by asking each other to share stories of home?

Out of Eden Walk-Chicago, a partnership made possible by the Robert R. McCormick and Julian Grace Foundations, including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Salopek, National Geographic Society, the Pulitzer Center, and Esri, invites educators to attend a free information session on Tuesday, September 25, 2018 to learn how they and their students can be part of Chicago HomeStories, a brand new digital map that will gather stories about what home means to people all across the city. 

Using techniques developed by the Pulitzer Center's education program, we will show how teachers can nurture journalistic skills in their elementary, middle, and high school students while forging deeper connections with their community. Attendees will learn how to create walking parties of students who roam their neighborhoods interviewing Chicagoans, slow down to closely observe and photograph their surroundings, and write descriptive dispatches. Presented together on an interactive HomeStories map, these interviews, dispatches, and photos will form a multidimensional view of home in Chicago. 

Out of Eden Walk-Chicago is modeled after Salopek's own digital media project, the Out of Eden Walk, in which he traces the path of the first modern humans around the world on foot. Watch the video below to see how these skills have been taught in Washington, DC:

Space is limited—remember to reserve your seat today!