Great Teachers Seminar Alumni Retreat

Here I am at Cornwallis and the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre attending the Great Teachers Seminar retreat. We gathered yesterday evening from all over NSCC and the province, 25 great teachers coming back together to share what they have done and experienced since last attending the GTS.

We are off to a good start - David got us in our circle and we re-connected renewing old acquaintances and making new ones. Some new and interesting exercises from David to get a feel for the room - creating human bar graphs based on years of teaching and years at NSCC - some interesting results - many had lots of years of teaching, but less had many years at the College - an indicator for me that we are doing a great job of attracting great teachers to the College. A really cool exercise that I'll add to my tool kit.

We then convened for a most pleasant evening, but not before David actually gave us a handout (testing the extremes of minimally rigid structure) - seven questions that we will share and answer today - I can't wait. The stress and minutiae of the World slipped off my shoulders as soon as I passed through the gates of Cornwallis, and I'm feeling quite refreshed this morning.

Back to the pleasant evening - we solved all of the problems of the World but typically, no one took notes. I suspect that was because we had a glass (or can or bottle..) in our hand and paid heed to David's three rules - Eat, Meet, and Bring Nothing.

I can't wait for today...

Pictures From The NSCC Great Teachers Seminar 2007

I've posted a set of pictures from the NSCC Great Teachers Seminar on my Flickr site. You can check them out here. A visual recap of an amazing week as the sun sets slowly in the West...

NSCC Great Teachers Seminar

This coming week I will be attending the Nova Scotia Community College Great Teachers Seminar at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre in Cornwallis Park Nova Scotia (the old CFB Cornwallis for those of a military bent).

The Great Teachers Movement, founded by David Gotshall, was created to "improve skills and to allow educators to ponder and adjust their methods, behavior and attitude as teachers of diverse teaching fields, experience levels and interests. The focus is not on the teaching of specific disciplines, but rather on the art of teaching itself. The emphasis is on the universals of teaching and on the special nature of those who are and will be great teachers. It is based also on the notion that, if properly tapped, the collective wisdom, experience and creativity of any group of practicing educators far surpasses that of any individual expert" (from the New York State Great Teachers Seminar 2004).

I am really looking forward to this week of reflection, discussion, networking, and yes decompression after a long academic year. I will be blogging my thoughts about the GTS, so hopefully you may gain some insights and benefits too...