To be a teacher is to be a communicator. It’s ironic, then, that sometimes teachers can still feel isolated. So much time is spent inside our classrooms that there are too few hours in the day to meet and mix with our colleagues, whether to share teaching ideas, give advice or just merely vent frustrations.

Luckily, the Internet has helped conquer some of that teacher isolation. There are many online teacher communities that can assist educators looking for lessons, the latest news in our fields or just a supportive ear.

There are some notable figures and “meetups” in education on Twitter (twitter.com). Every Tuesday at 7 p.m., you can join the #edchat on Twitter. Participants vote on topics to discuss every Monday, and on Tuesday night, teachers from across the world post with the hashtag #edchat to weigh in.

To follow education news, check out Diane Ravitch on Twitter; she posts often and links to articles on important education issues of the day. Eric Sheninger, a principal in northern New Jersey, tweets from an educator’s point of view. Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters is also a prolific tweeter, sharing information of interest to New York City educators.

For a comprehensive teacher website, it’s hard to beat We Are Teachers (weareteachers.com). On the site, you can find a forum for online discussions, free lesson plans, education news, information on grants and teacher discounts, and education lists and directories. You can browse most of the site without registering, but to take advantage of the new “My Binder” feature, where you can store resources from the site, you will need to create a free account.

Teachers Teaching Teachers (teachersteachingteachers.org) was started by two New York City high school teachers as a way for educators to connect and truly make professional development collaborative by teachers helping and supporting their colleagues.

Teachers Teaching Teachers describes itself as a platform for “developing teacher knowledge and leadership in our own schools and districts and putting this knowledge and leadership to work to improve student online reading and writing.”

Every Wednesday, Teachers Teaching Teachers broadcasts a video podcast on a different topic, with moderator Paul Allison and several guest educators. Viewers can participate and join the conversation at any time.

Share My Lesson (sharemylesson.com) describes itself as “a place where educators can come together to create and share their very best teaching resources.” It was developed by the American Federation of Teachers in collaboration with TES Connect, the largest network of teachers in the world. Since the site’s launch a year ago, educators have posted nearly 300,000 lesson plans; an icon indicates which ones are aligned with the Common Core Learning Standards. The site has a general forum as well as a discussion forum focused on the Common Core.

Classroom 2.0 (classroom20.com) focuses primarily on educational technology. Established five years ago, the site has an active forum, with 75,000 educators posting from 188 different countries. Not sure how to use a tool on your smartboard? Classroom 2.0 can help or they may have already solved this problem for someone else — search the archived discussions. Want to participate in a cutting-edge technology project? See advice posted in the EdTech groups. Interested in education conferences around the globe? Look on Classroom 2.0’s events page to find out about upcoming conferences.

Don’t forget about the UFT’s own online communities on Facebook and Twitter. More than 14,000 people have liked the UFT’s Facebook page, and the union has more than 5,000 followers on Twitter.

Remember, although these communities are designed for teachers, they are also public. Whether or not you use your real name, your online conversations can easily be traced back to you. We’ve all heard stories about teachers facing punishment for online misbehavior — don’t become one of them. So by all means, participate and connect with other teachers, but be careful what you share.