I belong to Council for Exceptional Children Newsletter that is sent to me every day. Sometimes I keep them and other times, I decide I am way too busy to bother with what other states are doing. However, the December 23rd newsletter got me thinking.
It is under the technology trends section titled: Teacher Dilemma: To Friend or Not to Friend. It got me wondering what that was all about. Interestingly enough, the question is around Facebook and whether teachers should be communicating with students via Facebook? You can find the article at: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6174564.html
The discussion raises some interesting points. Some teachers use it to help students with their homework and are on it regularly while other teachers use it only for staying in contact with alumni.
I have put a voting gadget (yes...I remembered how to do that) on my blog. Feel free to give me your opinion about teachers/students and Facebook.
6 comments:
I do have some former students as "friends" on my facebook page. I have a limited profile for those students to see. My friends and family have access to anything I put on facebook, but students only get my bio info.
At the beginning of the year, a few students sent me friend requests. At first I thought it would be fun, but then I started thinking about not being able to control all their access to my page and the fact that parents might not appreciate my being friends with their child. I think sometimes parents have a different view of teachers being "friends" with students than we do--plus it mars the line a bit between professionalism and friends. I have learned, though, that one should have their profile as guarded as possible until you know who is actually looking!
Great post Amy! It is good to think through this with other teachers! I would love to allow all high school students access to my page...however I am not there yet. I do let alumni and a few speech kids see my very limited profile...like Sarah, but I have not let a current student have access.
Of course...this all gets a little muddy next year when I am actually in the high school, because then former students might still end up in one of my classes. Hmmmm!
This is a great post Amy. Really thought-provoking. I'm not a facebooker but I think I'm going to create one. The idea of chumming with students on a facebook gets into some terrain that I'm not comfortable with. How much of myself do I need to let students have access to? How much is appropriate? I think classroom blogs and the school email are enough. I don't need kids in my web-world beyond that. Honestly, I'm not even sure that I want a facebook, but my sister keeps bugging me about it....
We had a good discussion about your post at Monday's MILI meeting ... thanks for sharing this article! And your poll is great -- way to take advantage of blogger! Personally, I don't think I'd use Facebook to communicate with students unless it began offering more control over permissions. Like we talked about on Monday, I don't have control over what other people write or the types of pictures they post. Perhaps creating separate personal and professional accounts is the answer (Ms. Eidem & Karen Eidem) ... yes, it would mean logging in separately, but I'd rather do that than worry about the unintended consequences of combining my personal and professional life.
Interesting thoughts. I have always said no to having students be my friends on my facebook. In order for anyone to see my page, I have to okay them as friends.I like to keep my home/social life separate from my students. I think it's healthy, and like Emily said the lines of friend and teacher are not getting blurred. If I would decide to use this for students, I like Karen's idea of having a separate school account. That's an interesting idea.
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