Because the Internet is a multimedia forum -- we can link pages together in a non-linear fashion, included pictures and video with text, have two-way public and private conversations, and download information to our personal computers -- it is the perfect forum for extending professional conversations across the globe. Educators throughout this country have been using the Internet is a variety of ways to share work, ask questions and collaborate. This week's websites extend on a past collection called "Documenting work of teachers and learners on the WWW" by focusing on the publishing and communication forums that are being set up to support professional conversations among teachers.

One potentially very exciting project (which includes a Philadelphia teacher!), I ran across is the MiddleWeb Diary Project. The descriptor reads,

"On September 7, MiddleWeb will begin publication of two weekly diaries penned by middle grades teachers. Our pair of (brave) diarists have agreed to chronicle their own efforts and the efforts of their respective schools to help more kids succeed.

Deborah Bambino, an eighth grade science teacher/leader in Philadelphia; and Susan Smethurst, a middle grades resource teacher in Toronto, both work in inner-city schools with diverse populations. Bambino's school is heavily involved in several reform initiatives, including the Johns Hopkins' Talent Development Model, and Bambino leads a "critical friends group" that regularly discusses teaching issues. Smethurst's school struggles with very limited resources and a teaching staff that is just beginning to explore the possibilities of change, but she sees some hope in efforts to build more local empowerment among parents, teachers and the community."

MiddleWeb is an overall great site which includes both Principal and Teacher Professional Development. They publish conversations on-line frequently like this one --> Principal Talk: Louisville's Middle School Principals discuss the pros and cons of using discussions of student work to help drive improvements in teaching and learning.

The National Writing Project is a teacher-centered project with teachers, from the primary grades through the university, working together as colleagues in a collaborative university-school program to improve the teaching of writing and learning. Every summer teachers around the country gather at their local writing project sites to learn from one another. The NWP is experimenting with how to promote professional conversations on-line in a cross site forum, and this summer created it's second annual E-Anthology.

The E-Anthology is a publishing forum for writing project teacher consultants (TCs). TCs send in writing that was developed during the summer institute. Each site is invited to sign up and tell a little about how they are using technology to support the work of their Institute. And then individual emails and a public guestbook are included in order to allow readers to comment to the writing published. In this way the E-Anthology is lens into the Summer Institute experience, a forum for individuals to share their thoughts and experiences, and a medium through which Writing Project sites can start to experiment with new technologies.

The NWP's E-Anthology is actually connected to a larger site called the "Virtual Institute" through which email listserves, web-based publishing, on-line live and asynchronous conferencing, are currently being developed to further extend national conversations among TCs. One such upcoming event is called "NWP Books and Authors".

There are also several sites being created to support teacher research. These sites invite teachers to talk and submit writing. These include:

Networks: An on-line forum for teacher-research. The editors write "With the help of readers and writers like you, this journal will soon provide a forum for teachers' voices, a place where teachers working in classrooms, from pre-school to university, can share their experiences and learn from each other. We have created this "sample" web site as an introduction to what we hope will become a valuable contribution to educational research.

The Teacher Inquirer is a web forum that invites teacher researchers to read and submit writing for publication.

Some other sites that promote teacher publishing and collaboration include:

Well Connected Educator is a general online publishing center and forum for the K-12 community to read, write, and talk about educational technology.

NCIP (National Center to Improve Practice in Special Education Through Technology, Media and Materials) actually has a two-way conversation forum set up via NCIPnet. They also highlight past workshops -- such as The Art and Writing Connection, Feb-Mar 1997 -- with full agendas, activities, and discussions. Everything they publish is linked to a conversation space for questions and comments.

ArtsEdNet Talk is a site for those interested in arts education to participate in organized listserves and read archives of past discussions. They often bring in guest artists and teachers to talk about their work and experience with listserve participants.

Impact II--The Teachers Network has a Let's Talk site that invites you to discuss, share, and imagine the state of education. Our Let's Talk area is our easy to use bulletin board for your ideas and input. They are promising that in February there will be a real-time discussion area available.

Teachers Helping Teachers is a larger general site that collects lesson plans from teachers, has live organized "chats" and a guestbook for general comments and questions.

Additionally, there are a ton of Educational Listserves (More Education Listserves listed here!) where you can participate in a email-based discussion with educators all over the world on a top of particular interest to you. Newsgroups too are another way to touch base with educators. Newsgroups are like electronic bulletin boards -- you post questions/comments and people respond.

Several Professional Associations support their own email lists. For example, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has many open conversation lists that you can subscribe yourself to. Instructions are included on the Conversation: Lists page. To search the homepages of other professional organizations, check out Kathy Schrocks's list.

If you are part of an professional community/communication forum on-line I would be interested in hearing about it. Please email me at ccantrill@philaedfund.org. Enjoy!