I've noticed a curious thing while at institute - the crossing of boundaries between personal and professional between teachers and students. Many of the TFA staff who are either current or former teachers talk about how they have 'friended' their students on Facebook. What?! In my opinion, that's crossing the line. Of course, I have a fairly recent rule which is that I don't "Friend" anyone that I work with. So no one from TFA, my new school, students, etc. But especially students. I just think that's crossing the line from professional to personal.
I also have another issue that is bothering me: teachers who give their students their cell phone numbers. I don't know why this bugs me, but it does. It's like giving out a home address or home phone number. It seems to be that there should always a professional distance between student and teacher. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I'm not a fan of giving students my cell phone number. Parents of my students are another story altogether. I don't mind that so much because one would hope that parents will have boundaries.
As for email, I have created a new email address which I will specifically use for students and parents. An email which is completely separate from my personal email address. Again, it just seems like a smart move. So many people are willing to cross those boundaries, but I'm not one of them. Maybe it's because I have lived in the real world quite a bit longer than the under 30 crowd. The only thing I was thinking of doing with social media was creating a Ms. Smith's Class website if I feel the need to have a social media space - one where I can post homework, lessons, worksheets, etc. That is if my school doesn't already have something set up.
I'd love for some other teachers to weigh in on this issue. What are your hard and fast rules when it comes to your students and social media/email/contact info, etc.? Am I being overly cautious?
Countdown: 3 days left until I'm free from institute!
As for email, I have created a new email address which I will specifically use for students and parents. An email which is completely separate from my personal email address. Again, it just seems like a smart move. So many people are willing to cross those boundaries, but I'm not one of them. Maybe it's because I have lived in the real world quite a bit longer than the under 30 crowd. The only thing I was thinking of doing with social media was creating a Ms. Smith's Class website if I feel the need to have a social media space - one where I can post homework, lessons, worksheets, etc. That is if my school doesn't already have something set up.
I'd love for some other teachers to weigh in on this issue. What are your hard and fast rules when it comes to your students and social media/email/contact info, etc.? Am I being overly cautious?
Countdown: 3 days left until I'm free from institute!
4 comments:
=ok.. I personally do not give out my phone number to students nor do I friend them on facebook. I do have a class website... free btw on new.schoolnotes.com...... my students and parents have my email address through the county and my personal email address in case of homework questions, etc. :)
Yay! A voice of reason! Thanks, Mrs. M! :-)
Nice entry-- I wouldn't go friend my students either! Creepy!! I do tell them they can friend me after they've graduated and gone to college. Then I block them from photos...even though I wouldn't put anything incriminating up anyway! :) What if your kids found your blog? JulieA
I'm not too concerned about them finding my blog. There's nothing that I've written here that I wouldn't share with my students. Yeah, I agree that it's creepy to friend students.
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