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SCC
Professional Development - The Great Teacher Retreat
A
group of Southwestern Community College instructors
recently took part in a three-day professional development
workshop conducted by an internationally known leader
in the Great Teacher Movement. The Great Teacher Retreat
was held at Balsam Mountain Inn.
 David
Gottschall, founder of the Great Teacher Movement, was
the leader. A retired instructor with College of Dupage
in Wisconsin, Gottschall began the movement and developed
the National Teacher Seminar in 1969 to provide an opportunity
for teachers to improve their skills and to ponder and,
if appropriate, to adjust their methods, behavior and
attitude as teachers. The seminar is based on the premises
that teachers learn teaching best from one another and
that creativity in teaching is enhanced by mixing teachers
of diverse teaching fields, experience levels and interests.
In order to keep the number of participants to a smaller
group, SCC made it possible for half of the faculty
to take the seminar this fall, with the understanding
that the other half could participate in a similar workshop
next spring.
The Great Teacher Movement was founded as a method for
allowing teachers to discover what constitutes great
teaching by talking to other teachers. It is a grass-roots
faculty movement with no organizations and no commercial
interests. It's only focus is on performance in the
classroom and on the nature of the great teacher. There
is never a pre-planned agenda; through various means
with the teachers taking a leading role in formulating
what they want to learn. The focus is on the art of
teaching itself, rather than on the teaching of specific
disciplines.
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Ellen
Heim |
Commenting
on the experience, Ellen Heim, Evening and Weekend Nursing
Program instructor, said, "It was a very good experience.
I was able to share ideas, problems and solutions with
other teachers, some of whom I seldom have the opportunity
to collaborate with. The experience was also beneficial
because it made me more appreciative of the challenges
others face."
See
photos that were taken during the retreat
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