GTS
Special Event
This page will be updated after the start of the school year.
Western's Great Teacher's Seminar
GTS stands for Great Teachers Seminars and is a forum to share ideas among faculty from all disciplines and levels of experience. All who teach are welcome at this meeting, which will include discussions of successes, challenges, and other topics the group wishes to share. We hope to see you at one or both events.
Misson
The mission of the Great Teachers Seminar at Western Wyoming Community College is to promote professional development and bonding among faculty and staff who teach by following the ideals of the National Great Teachers Seminar movement. These ideals are based on the principle that teachers learn best from other teachers in a relaxed setting and that GTS meetings serve as a bowl or container to hold the ideas generated by teachers with a range of experience and from all disciplines. Meetings, therefore, are loosely structured with an emphasis on celebrating good teaching and sharing innovations and challenges to generate “well-facilitated shop talk.” At our meetings, participants propose and vote on session topics, and special attention is given to new faculty questions. To build comradery among faculty, major GTS events take place off campus and include team-building activities and meals. In addition, as the GTS experience is greatly enhanced by encountering faculty from different institutions and a wider variety of disciplines, sending members to national and regional conferences is also a priority.
Western’s GTS features events at the beginning of each Fall and Spring semester. These events are held off campus and include 1-2 days of meetings plus team building activities. Typical sessions include the sharing of innovations and challenges, reflections on inspirational teachers, first-day strategies, questions posed by new teachers, and topic sessions such as teaching with technology, maintaining rigor, diversity practices, and gamification. In addition, our members have hiked, rafted, played Laser Tag, made it out of an Escape Room, bowled, shared fondue, and enjoyed meals at several fine restaurants. Our members leave our events with new ideas, solutions to problems, reminders of why they love teaching, and feelings of comradery with colleagues.
In addition to our major events, GTS also holds hour-long sessions throughout the semester in CTLI and over Zoom. These sessions focus on innovations and often include helpful tips from Outreach staff. Challenges may also be addressed as desired by participants.
At the end of the academic year, GTS holds a meeting and luncheon to finalize any business, select committee members and officers for the next year, and thank our members who have participated.
All who teach are welcome to participate in GTS Events, whether they are full-time, part-time, or staff. New faculty are strongly encouraged to attend our Fall event to learn more about Western, get to know colleagues from a range of disciplines, and find answers to questions they may have about teaching or the college. Membership is also flexible. Participants are free to come to all events or just one as fits their schedules.
GTS is committed to sending members to national conferences where they can interact with faculty from a range of institutions and disciplines. Our members have found these events in locations such as Pacific Grove, California, British Columbia, Canada and Portland, Oregon to be memorable, rewarding, and very useful to their teaching practices.
Members have access to a Canvas shell with innovations, challenges, and resource links.