Great Teachers Seminar Alumni Retreat

Darn!! It's all over and I'm home again. The GTS Alumni Retreat is over for another year and it was over way too fast. Hard to believe hos fast 24 hours goes by. It was a great opportunity to come back together and see where we all were after having attended a GTS in the past.

The validation and sense of community that I felt as we sat in a circle and got caught up with each other - sharing our experiences, issues, and practices had to be the highlight of the weekend. Taking time to come together, to pause and reflect on what we do as educators, to listen to others, and discover a shared passion for what you do is a very powerful thing.

I brought, for me (and who knows maybe for you too), an interesting perspective to the retreat. When I attended the GTS last year, I attended as a faculty member who had just finished his fourth year in the classroom at NSCC and had not yet begun a lengthy process that would end up with becoming an academic chair. Now a year later I'm at the alumni retreat, not only as a GTS alumni, but as an academic chair with a completely different perspective on the impact of the GTS. I found myself not only looking at what I do, but how what I do and what I've learned at the GTS would effect the faculty that I work with, great teachers all. As a chair I will do aaht I can to see that that all my faculty get the opportunity to attend the GTS.

I have four faculty attending the GTS this year (which started today - have an amazing weekend everyone) and I know they will come back better for the experience. Now I can't wait until next year when I hope to attend the whole week of the GTS with several of my fellow chairs in tow. We are all very busy, particularly this time of year, but I think it's very important for chairs and others at the College to attend the GTS - there is lots to share, lots to learn and lots to go away with.

It's OK to know that you are good at what you do and that you are part of a company of Great Teachers - we need to be better at celebrating what we do and who we are - and in the presence of the greatest teacher who gives all of us something to aspire to - David Gottshall.

It's the conversations that give the GTS it's power and if you want proof of that look no farther:

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...

Great Teachers Seminar Alumni Retreat

Last year at this time I had the great luck to attend NSCC's Great Teachers Seminar, led by David Gotshall (you can check out the experience here) at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre in Cornwallis.

Today and tomorrow alumni of the GTS are getting together back in Cornwallis for a retreat - to reconnect and celebrate nother great year at the College with each other, the amazing team of facilitators, and with David. I can't wait.

If you are an educator, and you get an opportunity to attend a Great Teachers seminar - DO IT!!- the GTS is a cathartic, transformative, restorative and absolutely affirming experience.

I can't wait for the weekend to begin...

STLHE 2007 - Conference Day One - Lunch Roundtable - Implementing PBL In An Undergraduate Business Course

They have a really neat way of doing lunch here at STHLE 2007 - it's held in a big tent in a series of "round table" discussions on various topics. I sat in on the round table discussion "Implementing PBL In An Undergraduate Business Course". Our "host" was Denise Stockley from Queen's University. She described for us the experience they had conducting a PBL business course - and showed us the date that convinced Queen's School of Business to expand its use of PBL.

We had a great conversation about PBL, its pros and cons, about the need for good, clear, measurable outcomes and authentic assessment through the use of rubrics. We also talked a lot about problem formulation and that the key to good PBL problems was to not give too much information, at least initially (more kudos to David Gotshall).

There was also some discussion of what is being done at the University of Maastricht, which has a totally PBL based curriculum. Some of us (me :-)) had some experience with PBL (I use it extensively and have written about it for CCEDP and as part of my MEd research), while others were new to the subject, but eager to try it. One common thread that I have heard throughout the conference is a great willingness to get away from lecturing and the "sage on the stage" and to move towards teaching styles and strategies that will engage learners. It's great to hear and reassuring to know that I am already there.

A great session and a great way to eat lunch with your colleagues...

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...

Back From The Great Teachers Seminar

I'm back from the NSCC Great Teachers Seminar and it was an amazing week. I blogged the experience, and will continue to post on my GTS blog as I work through the thoughts I have brought home with me.

I highly recommend attendance at a GTS for any educator - it truly is an altering experience. I have picked up a lot of valuable tools, tips, and techniques that will make me a better educator and facilitator.

I will also be pondering on some of the issue sthat we discussed as th week progressed. Hmmm...

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...