"I do it for the money," said no teacher ever.

I read a blog post on the Teaching Channel website stating that according to a MetLife Survey, teacher job satisfaction is at a low (see official and beautifully-colored diagram below):

How sad and disheartening! While there are many possible reasons for this, the blog post and survey suggest it is because of: 1) Heightened expectations for teachers 2) Budget reductions 3) Reductions in opportunities for PD and collaboration - (there is a nice-looking chart that corresponds, see below):

While I question if these are really the full reasons or biggest reasons for declining job satisfaction for teachers, I think that this post does highlight a need for possibilities of teacher collaboration. Where are the spaces in which teachers have the opportunity to collaborate, discuss, and brainstorm together? I think that the internet has great potential in this area. The Teaching Channel Website in many ways addresses this in that it is an active place of documenting, sharing, and discussing. Maybe if dentists had something similar...