Education: Connecting the Lonely Profession

As a teacher I know from experience how lonely it can be especially when a teacher is first starting out and doesn't know the ropes and what might be a great idea for the classroom environment and what can be a poor idea for the classroom setting.  Blogs and other websites or forums are a great way for teachers to get in contact with each other and in an informal setting where friendships and bonds can be created and sometimes even mentors from other parts of the country can be found for new teachers.  It is important that we as educators use these tools to our full advantage because without these resources many times teachers feel they are in this battle to make education better by themselves because of the isolation.  Also besides blogs and forums for teacher discussion it is extremely important that teachers use professional development and workshops to form these bonds with other teachers and continue using these teachers as resources as time goes on via email, phone, or through a blog or forum.  Also it is imperative for new teachers not to shy away from speaking to people and communicating to make sure that we do not get lost or isolated.  Having an open line to use such as forums and blogs or invaluable to a new educator as well as having a great line of communication with colleague inside the school building itself and that does not necessarily mean only with your department but with people in other departments as well.