Guided by "Voices"

Ben Licciardi

Talking shop with fellow teachers was a centerpiece of school life long before the Internet was even imagined, but the social networking possibilities of the World Wide Web now give educators new opportunities to discuss their work with colleagues in different schools and across time zones. The Teacher Leaders Network (TLN), a Web-based organization dedicated to nurturing an online community for the nation's best teachers, sponsors in-depth conversations and debates between educators in the United States and Canada on a variety of education-related issues. Excerpts from these discussions are posted on the organization's blog, TLN Teacher Voices.

Topics on the blog range from student motivation to the teacher's role in social education—and the banter is consistently thoughtful and engaging. Occasionally, fun reflections like the November 27 post on Margaret Spellings's appearance on the TV game show Jeopardy lighten the mood, but this blog is mostly filled with sophisticated philosophical musings and practical reflections.
 
Gather around the TLN watercooler at http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/tln_teacher_voices.

Ben Licciardi is a reference librarian in ASCD's Information Resource Center.