Dear CEESA Colleagues,

The 26th Annual CEESA Conference is just around the corner.  We have assembled some talented and inspiring educators to challenge our thinking about our theme, "Transforming Education Through Personalizing Learning".

The conference will be held March 17-19, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey at the Renaissance Istanbul Bosphorus Hotel.  This boutique hotel will cater to our conference delegates, as we will have full run of the hotel with our learning programs.  Room reservations need to be made by February 1 to ensure the special rate. Please use this online hotel reservations link. 

For those attending the Pre-Conference sessions, plan to arrive on Wednesday.  To see the full list of Thursday’s sessions, visit our Pre-Conference webpage.

Thursday evening, the hotel is offering a welcome reception in the roof top lounge.  Come and see CEESA old friends and meet new ones.

Friday morning’s key note,  “Learning Personalized: Catalyzing A Vision”, will be given by Greg Curtis. This keynote will focus first on the “whys” of Personalized Learning, move through the “whats” and outline the essential “hows” to achieve the shifts required to make this approach achievable and essential for our students.  Much of this content is drawn from the book, Learning Personalized:  The Evolution of The Contemporary Classroom (Allison Zmuda, Greg Curtis and Diane Ullman, Jossey-Bass, 2015).

Check our website for all of the conference speakers and sessions and register today by using the online registration form.

Istanbul is a gateway to so many fascinating places in the world so you can easily book your flights. The city is a vibrant history center in our region. We recommend you plan your trip to be able to see some of the sites in Istanbul.  Safety is of greatest concern, and while we have monitored all of the events in the past few weeks and feel that the city is still a wonderful place to visit, we encourage you all to follow the advise of the US State Department Travel Advisory to be aware of your surroundings and cautious in tourist areas. They will give you the latest advisory message.

Our local, onsite agency ODS Turkey is organizing half day and full day tours from Thursday through Sunday. Please contact ODS Turkey This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make reservations. CEESA is organizing transportation into several of the key sites on Saturday; however, you will need to decide if you want to partake in these opportunities. 

If you have any questions, please contact me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Ingrid, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Looking forward to seeing you in Istanbul in March

Kind regards,

Kathy