OMG. — you have a myspace? But you are a teacher!
Steve Dembo posted today about a Washington Post article about young teachers and their Facebook pages. It got me thinking, and I left a lengthy comment, which I thought was worth developing into my own post.
The gist of the article is familiar to everyone who reads a newspaper, cable news network, online news service. There are teachers who do bad things, or stupid things. Fair enough, I guess it's a news story if it is a teacher; I for one, strive daily to avoid ending up on the front page of the paper. An article with the title. there are people who do bad things, or stupid things, seems much less newsworthy. It's not a point I wish to argue, as a teacher I accept that there is a higher level of public scrutiny regarding my professional and personal conduct.
In the fall of 2006 I saw Steve Dembo's ‘permanent record talk’ at the TRETC 2006 conference. I began to rethink my online persona and thought about how what I make public could represent who I am, what I believe in, and the direction I want my career to take. I used to hide behind privacy options when using social networks, but I changed that, figuring that a policy of thoughtful publishing and openness can only improve my relationship with colleagues, and the many 'clients' that I serve. It means thinking about what belongs in my private life, and what I am unafraid to share. Instead of fearing the changes in social interactions, I hope to show my own positive example, and I hope to model mature behavior online.
I’m a middle school teacher, but I view my online presence as one facet of the persona that I would like the public, in this case students, colleagues, families, the community, to see of me. I’m more of a Facebook user than myspace, and have a personal policy that I do not ‘friend’ anyone who I am currently teaching. Middle schoolers shouldn't be on Facebook anyway. That being said, there are plenty of former students that like to say hi and don’t get a chance, it’s like the new version of the stop by the classroom that the older kids always do (usually at the beginning of the year.)
To the right you see my contact information on my website. I rarely have issues with students abusing these avenues. Sometimes student might IM me (although I'm rarely on IM anymore) just to say hello, but the novelty value soon wears off. The worst problem I have had in 5 years was entirely offline. Somehow some students got my cell phone number, and repeatedly prank called my cell phone. They thought they were blocking their numbers, but a discussion with my local police department confirmed that by keying in a code directly after the call, I would add that call to a log of harassing numbers kept by the phone company (whether they block caller ID or not) When I've had enough of it I can call the police department, and it will be easy for them to serve a Harassment by Communications charge. Luckily after I revealed this little fact to a small number of students the phone calls dried up.
Facebook has changed the way our kids interact, keeping in touch with alumni [critical for the club I run] is easier than ever, kids are talking to each other, even across the borders of rival districts, a mere 2 miles that seemed like the iron curtain when I went to the universally reviled ‘neighbor to the north.’ Why shouldn’t Facebook change the way our kids interact with us?
The biggest reaction I get is from my middle schoolers who, among other fantastic notions believe that the internet is created for them (perhaps for the sole purpose of evading their parents notice when they get into mischief) , and that someone of my advanced age (27) has no business using online networking sites.
My only concern is when my personal life, mundane as it may seem, spills over onto my Facebook, blog or other aspects of my online presence. The persona I take on when blogging the wondrous events of my new daughter on our family Wordpress.com page are tempered by the thought that it is linked to my Facebook. Posting my twitter to Facebook means that I may not be able to be as candid as I might like about conditions in my school, problems, frustrations, and other aspects of my professional life that may be misinterpreted.
Final note: I strive to represent myself well no matter where I do it, be it online, in the grocery store, if I go out in the South Hills of Pittsburgh with my wife, and in my online life. This isn’t really a new phenomenon, teachers have always been held to a high standard, and there have always been teachers who do foolish things as there are in every profession. Today we just have more opportunities at our disposal to act stupid.