Tuesday, September 16, 2008
After careful consideration of the question at hand, I think it would be a better idea to not have a MySpace or Facebook page because it just screams bad business. Parents are very particular about their child's teachers. Parents are like your own parents and will be analyzing your every move. For instance, you may be at the grocery store getting some milk and cookies and you are in sweatpants and just look like a "mess." By the next morning all of the parents will know of that encounter especially your "room moms." Lets take it a step further, let's say you are at Applebee's eating dinner, but while you are at dinner you decide to have a "grown-up" drink. Oh man...will the phones be buzzing!! You may only have just one but parents look at that like a "bad" thing. Teachers are under a microscope all of the time so to be on the safe side I say no to MySpace and Facebook.
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9 comments:
I would tend to agree that having a myspace page or a facebook account would only be a bad thing for a teacher. Basically only negative things could happen from your students or superiors seeing what is on your personal pages. In my experience I ahve been told byu several individuals that it is a bad idea and teachers should stay away from them.......
I don't really know... If you have one just make sure it is appropriate, just like if you were out eating, go ahead and get a "grown up" drink just don't get drunk and get out of control!
I taught nine years in a private Catholic school. We had to sign a morals clause. They could fire us for anything against church beliefs. So for that it would be grounds to be fired if we did anything inappropriate. I don’t think it is a good idea for public or for private schools. Anytime you are in the public eye you have to remember what you do will be judged.
Having a Myspace or Facebook account is very tricky for potential teachers. I think it is not wise for future teachers to have any of these accounts. For teachers being out and about in sweat pants or having a drink, well I feel that has no bearing on teachers outside the classroom. Teachers are humans not machines. Teachers need time to rest and relax.
I agree that Myspace and facebook can take away the privacy of the teacher but there are settings that can limit the information that is avaialable to individuals not listed as your friend. There does need to be some care and caution on the end of the teacher to help prevent anything from happening.
And this is why you are better off not living in the district you teach in. All of those things have happened to me to me last year. I have seen parents in a store and was wearing sweatpants and t-shirt. I have also seen parents out at a bar before. The way you handle these situations has an impact on how you are proceived. As for having a MySpace or Facebook account, you can set privacy blocks so only people you choose to view your profile are allowed. Don't put anything on your account that is inappropriate.
I believe that facebook is much better than myspace. However, I do not believe that having a facebook account is necessarily bad. I agree that you need to be very careful about what you post on it and what kind of comments people make on your profile. However, strictly using it to stay connected to people is perfectly fine in my opinion since you can select who you are friends with. I could see in the near future students in classes along with the teacher having a facebook profile so that they can easily keep in contact. However, as the teacher I would warn my students about what they put on it! I think it could be a good tool to get to know your students and their interests outside the classroom!
I am torn on this subject. I currently have an "appropriate" facebook account that I keep in touch with tons of high school friends and relatives all over the world. I "ignore" requests for students to befriend me because I feel that this is inappropriate. I am also friends with tons of teachers that I teach with daily through facebook...so, I feel that if it's appropriate...it works!
Thank you for all your responses. In summary, better to be safe than sorry. Myspace and facebook accounts depending on their privacy settings can still be accessed through a google search...go ahead and try it...even if your page is set to the highest setting of privacy, google will still find it for your potential bosses.
Just make sure it's appropriate!
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