Two very interesting, thought provoking articles this weekend in the Boston Globe and Herald about what some school districts are considering as social networking policy for their teachers. Recently, some teachers in New York have been terminated or face disciplinary measures for inappropriate relationships with students that included contact on social networking websites.
This is a great opportunity to ask your students what they think about this. Do they think that it is appropriate to be friends on Facebook with their teachers? Why or why not? Please comment!
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3 comments:
Personally I won't become a friend on Facebook of any of my students untill they are a Jr or Sr in HS and I am no longer teaching them. Even then it might not be good.
This is a tough subject for me. Facebook is all around us now and a great deal of people have page on this website. I don't believe it is professional for teachers to be friends with their students on facebook. This can only cause problems for the teacher. I have experience with this because in high school one of my teachers was really into being friends with her students. She tried hard to keep a professional,but friendly, relationship with all of us. Therefore, she refused to be friends with any of us on facebook until we graduated and were no longer attending that school. I think this is the best idea for teachers!
I teach 7th grade students and have had many students friend me on Facebook. I always answer this question by asking this: If you see one of your students at Wal-Mart do you purposely ignore them and walk the other way? I hope your answer is no. My point is this: in 2011 we communicate electronically with those that we are familiar with (or friends with). So how is saying hello to them on Facebook any different than if you were in a public setting? As long as you can keep the conversation on a professional level there should be no reason to worry about who you "friend".
At what age should we make it ok to friend your teacher? You don't think college professors have had relationships with students? We've seen many instances of this happening in the evening National news - so where does he cutoff point begin and end? The point is, at least to me, if you can't understand how to properly communicate with your students (whether that's online or offline), you should find another profession. But, don't punish me because I understand how to be a professional and am also capable of communicating in a professional manner with the students I teach.
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