Web 2.0 community for new teachers

My recent post, Connecting Ed-tech to Ed-reform got a nod from Will Richardson (mother-of-all ed-tech bloggers) as part of a thoughtful post on his search for connection and meaning beyond the latest shiny new technology.

It also attracted a comment from Peter Henry, one of the participants of the panel and author of some of the educational reform articles I linked to. Web 2.0 at its finest.

I was on the panel that you quote above and wrote some of the material. And yes, I am specifically talking about using new technologies to fundamentally change and “reculture” public schools. I myself offer graduate level courses online and have completely rethought how I teach based on using the Web as a learning tool.

In fact, my site, www.newteachernetwork.net, is dedicated to the proposition that “new teachers” (the new generation, mainly) collaborate, share and team much more regularly and effectively than do previous generations.

The goal is to build a learning community online that is dedicated to using technology and the ethos of open source learning to bond new teachers together, wherever they may be.

And, frankly, I need help. I need members, I need content, I need web designers. This is an open call to the community. If you want to move toward democracy, incorporating new technologies and building networks of like-minded people, please contribute what you can, when you can and spread the word far and wide.

It is a new day, a new dawn really, and we are on the cusp of something really special here but like any incipient community, we need the founding members to come forward, stake a claim and build something tangible so that others can see the dream actually going up.

So there ya go – I think this call to action deserves to be up front, not hidden in a comment. I’m not sure if I agree that new teachers are better (or worse) at teamwork than previous generations. But really, we certainly should do anything possible to prevent the incredible exodus of new teachers from the profession. So if what Peter wrote intrigues you, head on over to New Teacher Network and join the cause!

Sylvia

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