Break Out I was impressed with David's Spark's IT Careers Center article about the importance of networking correctly in order to position oneself to get that next job. Though, I took his suggestions and changed the significance of each for another purpose. One of the essentials in staying in the education profession is networking. Teaching is an art. It is a difficult art that entails plenty of praxis. It entails the challenge of meeting the cognitive and emotional needs of the students and learning to work with your collegues in a constructive fashion. That entails either networking within ones school or district or with a professional organization devoted to professional development in general (ASCD) or in a specific area (NCTE) He had 5 suggestions.

First, make encounter. That simply means to meet other professionals. The author says, one needs to break out of one's shell or better smash our silos.

Be a part of the solution, is his second suggestion. At my first teaching job, in a small suburban school district, I remember dreading to go to the faculty room, I rarely heard folks talk about the 'practice" and talk positively about anything. Sorry, that pessisim as John Robb mentiones, doesn't work. Hook up with folks who are about improving their teaching practice.

Be helpful is the third recommendation. This sort of dovetails into the aforementioned suggestion. Be available to help others. To be continued...
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