Don't make teaching a lonely profession!

I think the number reason for why there is teacher burnout is when teachers lock themselves behind closed classroom doors and just "feed" students information. Why should teachers feed information anymore when students can simply look it up on their own? I believe the way to success for lonely teachers is by first opening that classroom door for more possibilities and then by bringing in more opportunities for creativity and inquiry for students. If you are a lonely teacher and you want to break away from isolation, you must start by building a new paradigm that reaches out for technology and for other 21st century tools. To do this you have reach out to other teachers in the school, to people in the community, and ultimately to people in the world. We live in a high-tech environment that makes connecting to the world as easy as a click of a button. Teachers have used global collaborative projects to make learning meaningful and purposeful for students. Some of these projects include the "Flat Classroom Project" and the "Horizon Project" which have been shown to engage students in the U.S., as well as students in other countries. By giving students the opportunity to work in teams that have a global framework we are encouraging them to develop problem-solving skills, collaborative learning skills, research skills, and professionalism. These skills are what we want our students to have a feel for so they are ready to apply them in the future. Why should we let our students wait to experience the "real world" when we can bring that experience in the classroom today? If you think its going to be "too messy" or frustrating, I have to agree it might be at first, but you have to at least try and see if students enjoy it. Yes, it is rather difficult to organize a project and collaborate with other teachers, but if we try we might be gaining much more than sitting behind the classroom door and teaching with our notes. I say be an agent of change in your classroom, so you don't make teaching a lonely profession.