North Carolina Great Teachers Retreat


Submitted by: Richmond Community College
Contact: Steve Smith

The National Great Teachers Movement began in 1969 as a seminar whose purpose was 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. It 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. The focus is not on the teaching of specific disciplines, but rather on the art of teaching as such. 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.  

Steve Smith serves as the director of the North Carolina Great Teachers Retreat (NCGTR). Kay Crouch, of the retreat's host college, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, is the coordinator.The NCGTR is an energizing and refreshing event that brings teachers from diverse teaching fields together to explore teaching and learning innovations and solutions to problems encountered in the classroom. The retreat is open to all full-time, part-time, and adjunct faculty in both curriculum and continuing education in the community college system.  Faculty from other educational systems are also welcome. The next NCGTR will be held February 26-March 1, 2009.

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