We Might Be Giants Teacher Magazine Published: November 13, 2007 By Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach This article discusses how education has changed slowly over the years, but recently is picking up speed and changing at a record pace. Thus far, schools have not become the learning organizations they should be. The lack of progress could be remedied by a stronger voice and sense of solidarity among teachers. This article makes much reference to another article by Roland Barth who says the weak link has been the relationships between teachers. Teachers should be in close communication with one another and develop professional learning communities. This can take place in person, but the Internet is the ideal tool to extend and enhance that community. Barth cites a few forums where a person posting a question gets an almost immediate response. By creating the community as Barth states, teachers can exercise their power to direct and contol the change that is rapidly taking place. The communal power will give teachers the voice to be part of the decision making. Teachers together can influence their administration to provide professional development that is valuable. The teachers could be leaders from school to national levels. This all depends on teachers being able to depend on each other. Barth sums up his perspective with the quote, “Think globally, act locally.” The article suggests using the Internet as a tool for communicating - as is convenient. Of course, the Internet is also a resource for researching the issues and possible solutions to these. I feel like my school is a bit unique in the fact that people do have those relationships that most schools lack. While I was at a different building, I heard about an argument between two teachers. One had done something wrong, and the other had come down on her for it. She told him, “Excuse me, but where I come from, we help each other instead of watching each other make mistakes!” Now, I am where she was, and I see the difference. Having the community we have has helped me a lot over the years. Firstly, we teach in teams. No teacher goes it alone. If there's any confusion about a student or procedure, you can easily ask your team members. Each team has about 100 kids who rotate between the teachers. Secondly, we have an excellent mentoring program which lasts two years. The teachers also have a 'new teacher' program with an administrator who runs the meetings. The results of the new teacher and mentoring programs depend largely on the mentor you have, but, personally, I was lucky to have the best mentor in the district. I do think that even my school could benefit from having the online community to enhance our communication. As much as we communicate within our teams, there is very little communication between common subject teachers at different grade levels. Also, my 9th grade classes are held in a junior high school building, and it would be helpful to have a stronger tie to the mainland, or, high school.