August 30, 2008
-
Teachers and Social Networks
I was reading a post by Ktandie in which she mentioned teachers and students interacting on social network sites like Facebook and Myspace.
She wrote “There is no need for student-teacher interaction on social
networking sites. The student-teacher relationship is not social, it is
professional.”
Do you think it is inappropriate for teachers to interact with students on sites like Facebook or Myspace?
Comments (140)
yes
i don’t think it is appropriate during the time of the student still being in school. but i think once a student leaves the school building (ie. graduating high school), then it is okay for a student and teacher to interact.
I have an EX teacher of mine as a friend on facebook. He was not only a teacher but a photographer (he did a photoshoot of me, he’s a professional photographer.) I taught him some tricks at photoshop and he taught me how to photograph. We’re friendly, I still visit him. I can see it from both ways. I understand that it’s weird. If I saw him as no more than a professeur then I wouldn’t want him on a social networking site of mine. There is email for that. Or in person meetings.
No. Social networking sites are the way of the future.
…Man, that sounded cliche of me. I’m off my game.
I think as long as the student is finished with they school and no more that’s teacher’s student, its okay.
Xo
They were talkin about this on the radio too…Personally I wouldnt want my daughter associating with her teacher on a website like that. I dont really think its necessary
and why can’t teachers and students relate on a more social level?
i understand that it would be inappropriate if there was sexual advances being made or something of that nature, but that’s not typically the case.
so, why would it be inappropriate?
This is my first time being near the first commenter! Yay!
I think it’s weird until the teacher is no longer teaching the student. Other wise its fine. Why not if you liked them, right?
yes
i mean, a lot of people relate to their bosses at their jobs in a more social way outside of the offce
Agreed. If they are no longer in the teacher position and the relationship is just keeping in touch, etc, then it’s okay. I’ll tell you, my uncle works at an all girls school and has a Facebook. I tell him how sketchy that looks.
very. things get awkward when you have to reject your band teacher’s friend request.
No.
Just as teachers and students are allowed to share pleasantries or have email correspondance outsdie of class, it is fine to chat or communicate over online social sites.
It’s not as if our teachers are soulless educational automotons.
@alynn89 - I agree.
I think it would be quite beneficial to me to be past a professional level with at least one teacher or administrator at my school.
I don’t mean sexually, but merely in the way that I would have someone to talk to about things, or ask for advice from.
As long as it’s not “inappropriate” I don’t see why not.
it’s inappropriate when the student is still attending the school.
i would be a little freaked out to find out that my teachers are reading everything on facebook of mine….. though after I graduate it wouldn’t matter as much.
i don’t think it’s a good idea. actually, i don’t think anyone under 16 should be allowed unsupervised access to the internet !
i think its fine.. but of course, some might crossed over to the grey area, which could spell trouble.
Within reason. I keep in touch with a former history teacher on facebook, but I think we’ve pretty much limited profiled each other.
I think that it depends on the teacher and student. The teachers that I got along best with were also the ones who I was almost friends with. The teachers who were the most into the this is a job and a professional environment tended to be the ones that I had the least respect for and never was able to respect or tolerate.
Hey I am a high school senior and teachers only try to start blogs and get on facebook because it’s a way to reach the students! There is nothing innappropriate about it! I mean i talk to some of my teachers as if they were my friends about books, college, news, and so many other things.
teachers that show willingness to adapt to our generation are true educators.
I think it is totlally inappropriate for a teacher to use an internet site to socially interact with his/her students. There is enough time in school to interact with students which should always be in a professional manner.
Hey, let’s bring up another group of people on facebook- dun dun DUNN…. parents.
I found my dad under the “People You May Know” section last week. Seriously, scary stuff.
a little bit.
@revengeoftheturtleneck - oh my. that’s frightening.
I think it really depends on the teacher and the students. For example, various teachers from my high school have facebook profiles – with some of them, it’s just weird, with some of them it’s completely fine.
I do think it’s probably better if it’s after the student is no longer in the teacher’s class.
well.. it is all depends on the point of social interaction. if they were buddies, then what you gonna do about it? they clicked just like anyone would have.
there is a yes/no answer to this one. I would write a book on it, really… but i suppose what i would just say is that, yes it is inappropriate if they have nothing to do with each other but schoolwise, or if they have something more than just friendship going on…
no, if like i said, they hit it off and are buddies. i have had friends in teachers and bosses.. and i have known teachers i would not wanna have anything to do with, let alone seeing my personal life outside the school. Yips.
Not as long as it maintains a sense of professionalism. I’m friends with one of my teachers on Facebook, as well as one of my student teachers from last year.
if you have myspace-obsessed children for some teachers that could be the best way to communicate. its not where you communicate but what you communicate about…
I think that’s it’s ok as long as the TEACHER-STUDENT relationship remains. It’s when they become “friends” that problems start to crop up.
it IS kind of strange… a few teachers from my old school have Facebook. i think once you aren’t their student anymore it’s alright, but i personally wouldn’t request any of them.
I say depends.
As it stands now, I’d say a definite NO for highschoolers and lower grades. They indeed have a professional relationship with their teachers.
However, there’s no reason to restrict access on a collegiate level. The real reason is age difference, or lack thereof. I have had ‘professors’ that are just graduate students, just a year or so ahead of me. I have my studio professors personal mobile number and email account, and a couple of his keys. After the last day of one of my classes, half the class joined the two professors at CDB’s for pizza & beer. As it stands right now, 3 Profs and Assistant Profs are my facebook friends, & that’s 2 current and 1 past, not to mention a couple of net-savvy teachers from HS. It’s just part of life.
Can’t really vouch for myspace. People still use that?
Well as long as It is after the sutdent is graduated or leave that school, then I think it’s fine, as long as it’s non-sexual. I would love to say in contact with some of my favorite teachers.
I find it odd, but I really don’t care.
Isn’t that “fraternization”? I think it could BECOME inappropriate, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. However, as a teacher, and a mom who has glanced at my teenaged son’s facebooks, I don’t really want to know my students in that way! I would rather not know what they did on the weekend, what kind of music they listen to, all about their girlfriends, whatever…..I would rather keep it professional. The exception to that would be a student whom perhaps I have mentored and after they graduate, I want to keep up with them to see how they’re doing.
I don’t think so. Some of my good friends growing up were my teachers.
It’s absolutely wrong. Even if it is innocent interaction, it can misconstrued, and it is not professional on the part of the teacher.
Kathi
Most of my teachers have a rule regarding us students being allowed to send them friend requests. Most of my teachers don’t allow it unless we have already graduated or we have moved away and wish to keep in touch. I only have a few teachers on my facebook and I choose to have them there because they are the ones who have impacted me the most in my life and who I hold in the highest respects. So, no I don’t think it is inappropriate to keep in contact.
For those who deem it inappropriate, why (barring sexual inappropriateness and the like)?
It’s not like they’re going out to lunch or partying together or anything that could really be construed as suggestive.
It’s simple chatting online.
It depends on the age of the student and the appropriateness of the interaction. Without the unnecessary tech piece about social networking sites is “Can students and Teachers also be friends?” Sure, but think of it like being friends with your boss, and understand your role n the friendship.
not necessarily, there are a lot of teacher-student relationships that aren’t so much social, but they were friends… and some are really close friends… so interacting on social networks is only awkward if there isn’t that student-teacher bond…
It depends on your relationship with the teacher. It would be a lot more normal to be facebook friends with the art professor who cracks jokes with you in his office after class than it would to send out a friends invitation to that math teacher from high school who always glared at you from atop the podium.
In some cases I think it’d be completely normal- like if you studied abroad with a professor, got along great the whole time, shared an apartment in a foreign country for a month or two… or like when the teacher is your friend’s older sister, like my Ceramics professor.
i was just thinking about this the other day, i mean, what if teaching unit 9254310 tried to contact YOUR child outside of teaching facility 3562432. remember how teaching unit 632436 and learning unit 3672344 got into trouble that one time?
here’s the thing, teachers and students are not droids, programs, computers or any other breed of impersonal inanimate object. why i’ve even heard it rumored that on occasion a teacher will actually have some kind of RELATIONSHIP to a child, such as aunt, uncle, parent, cousin(yes age differences like that DO happen), family friend, etc. etc. now imagine the moronic outcome if we take this a step further
“im sorry timmy, i know billy is your best friend, and you and his father have gone camping and fishing on weekends for 10 years now, but now his father is a teacher at your school, you are forbidden to see them ever again, or at least until you graduate.”
”timmy, your in highschool now, since your mother is a teacher at the school we’re going to have to ask you to move out, it would be inappropriate for us to interact with you on a social level.”
or maybe we excommunicate timmy from his church because his math teacher is also a deacon there. we wouldnt want them seeing each other outside of school now would we? that would be… dun dun dun… inapropriate.
SNSes are no different than any other social medium(apart from ease of access and use). an IM is no different than a TXT conversation, or a phone call, or the ability to go to someones house and actually socialize in person. well, i guesse it could be argued that they are LESS personal than these things. the point is, if these human entities choose for some reason to socialize outside of school, so long as the relationship itself is not inapropriate the venue certainly does not make it so. for shame on the morons who think it does. engage your brains people.
as to those relationships that ARE inapropriate, i would rather catch that on face book than the back of the teachers car. but thats just me.
the whole thing is assinine.
Yes, it’s very inappropriate… until the students graduate, I guess, then it’s fair game. It’s certainly a gray area, especially opposite gender “friendships” between students and teachers.
my teacher found me on facebook.haha!
i always saw her as a little more than a teacher though
and i wasnt just her everyday student too.
she’s real young in her 20s.
i dont think its a problem
For me it depends… I am friends with my youth but as far as my professors at seminary go, I am only friends with a select few… and none of them are female. I also work in the library but do not have any of the library faculty as friends, only young staff members around my own age. One reason is.. I do not want other staff members to see me on facebook during work (though they are on it too then obviously.. lol)
i think after professional hours is fine. i have friends who are teachers, but they also have fun after work, and sometimes it gets hard cos they cant post pictures up of themselves clubbing and stuff like that.
I guess it depends on how they’re interacting, but for a lot of reasons it’s better for all involved if you wait until after graduation to friend your teachers. Even if you actually like them, it’s seriously compromising for them to potentially, say, see a picture of all their students running around with a pound of weed and a keg. Uncomforable situation much? Yeah. Don’t do it.
Fake myspace profiles for teachers will always be a laugh, though. Praise technology!
There are those teachers that students get to know in school. I graduated–so i guess i fit what’s “okay”..but one particular teacher was the head of 3 of the clubs I was in, and taught 4 of my 6 classes (science-based)…
She’s a cool person, and there is that interaction
But i think it is in the place of the teacher to decide. they’ll be able to devise if it’s appropriate or not depending on the student. This particular teacher is only ‘friends’ with about 15students (and she’s been teaching for well over 15years)
I don’t mind at all! In fact, I would love to have some of my former teachers as friends. Some of them are my favorites and really made an impact on my life. It would be nice to keep in touch.
Yes, and the teachers should have a greater sense of responsibility and propriety than to do that in the first place I think.
Yes, it gives me the goose bumps.
It’s weird, not necessarily inappropriate. I’d rather the teacher just contact me through email.
I think its fine
My History teacher is my friend on Facebook, and I see nothing wrong with it. It is an extention of professionality, and a helpful way to keep tabs on one’s students. Though, he is quite social as well. But this way, being friend and not foe, he can personally tell students when they cross apropraite lines and should tone some public online publishings down. It helps in the long run.
Between high school teachers and students that might be true in some cases, but not at all between students and college professors (and actually networking with the right professors is something that should be done).
@lovesporks - 100% what you said
I think it’s perfectly fine as long as the teacher’s myspace is specifically for students and not their personal myspace.
two of my teachers have myspace and it’s just another way to contact your teacher if you need something. nothing wrong with it.
I would have no problem with my daughter emailing her teachers. As long as it was in an appropriate manner. I would of course oversee the communication between my child and the teacher. But then my child is more willing to tell the teacher what she doesn’t understand in class via email then asking in front of her peers. I also keep in touch via email with my daughters teachers.
I think every child needs someone outside the family that they can turn to or talk to. My daughter is a little young for this but I would have no problem with her chatting with a teacher in her school as long as it was educationally themed.
Now her going to get ice cream or a movie would be to far.
For the most part, yes.
I don’t see the issue in friending your teachers on online communication sites. Yes there has to be a level of professionalism still intact, but like many have said, teachers aren’t just drones, contrary to popular belief. I have made very good friends with a few of my own teachers. I still speak with my Kindergarten teacher (she’s not on Facebook or Myspace or anything but she still visits my house every now and then)… I still talk with my 8th grade Yearbook teacher over AIM (our class was his very first yearbook class and we all still keep in touch with him)… and a couple of my high school teachers are on Facebook. A few of my college professors were very much open to me talking to them about issues that might have prevented me from doing the best in class (trust me, the issues were relevant), and I still look to one of them as someone I’d fully trust.
What is wrong with making friends who are older than you? Of course there is the issue of bias, but I assure you, there was no bias when they were grading me, as I saw less than desirable grades at times. But now that they are not my teachers, I see them as friends.Maybe it’s weird if you met your teacher and later that day you decide to add them on Facebook. But if you build a level of trust between you and your teacher, once you graduate from their class then there’s a lot of potential to gain a good friendship.
If the student is still in school, then yes, very.
I once saw a member of my HS English department get into a lovers quarrel with one of his students on Facebook. It was utterly bizarre.
“Why haven’t you been taking my calls”- teacher
“I’ve been busy, you don’t run my life!” – student
Both were old enough to know better, so I didn’t report it.
I can agree with lovesporks. It’s not very professional for students and teachers to interact socially online outside of classes on “social networks.” Social interaction in person and in public is totally different, and there’s nothing wrong with socializing with someone you know, but social networks go a little deeper into the “personal” side of people, and most students don’t know, and perhaps don’t want to know, their teachers at a personal “outside the classroom” level.
yes
I have added my professors to my Facebook friends list, but I do not interact with them much because, honestly, most of them don’t use it very much at all. I would be okay with social interaction after I am no longer in their class. It can be very interesting to get to know someone from a different perspective.
Inappropriate. Unnecessary. Strange. Odd. Bizarre. And let’s not forget: Creepy.
Everything you do on the internet is visible by anyone, anytime. If people do not adapt to the habits of the millenials, then they will not engage the end user, the customer, and that is the student. If a student didn’t come to class and a teacher sent a message on facebook, that might help the student (in the long run) which helps the school in the longer run.
The days of reading overheads and writing back to the classroom on a blackboard are over. If you don’t get with it, you are a dinosaur, and we know what happened to them. Both my mother and boss are “friends” on facebook.
I am a sadly untapped resource. It depresses me to no end. I ignore facebook invites of students in programs near me. I don’t want to interact with them online. It’s not my job.
Maybe not inappropriate but I wouldn’t do it.
It would be ok, if the site’s only reason is the contact with students.
@benjimau5 - The days of reading overheads and writing back to the classroom on a blackboard are over?
@nattata - I saw an interactive smart classroom at Newcastle Upon Tyne’s dental school that absolutely blew my mind.
When I go to see family this holiday season I will do a long video blog about this teaching lab.
It was phenomenal. Looked like a CIA nuclear control room, but it was simply a way to deliver information to students.
How do you engage someone who has grown up in media saturation?
I mean they aren’t really over. A charismatic teacher with a strong presence doesn’t need gadgets.
a lot of my teacher-student relationships are social.
I think it’s ok for the most part. As long as the teacher isn’t doing it to take some sort of advantage of the student I think that teachers should be allowed to extend their relationship with their students if they want. Sure they should be professional but a lot of kids need a little more personal relationship with a responsible adult.
I guess it’s a bit inappropriate, because it can lead to favoritism in the classroom… but some teachers will have at least pseudo-social relationships with their students, anyway, because that’s just the way they are, which isn’t bad. It makes them more likable. There is always some sort of schism between a teacher and their students, but I don’t think it should be such a big factor over the internet. Teachers are people too, and so are students. As long as the interaction doesn’t lead to grade bias, there’s nothing wrong with it really..
And by the time you get to college you need to kind of have a pseudo-social relationship with your professors and advisor/s. If you go through even high school putting teachers up on some sort of pedestal you’ll feel awkward about doing what’s necessary when it comes to discussing things with your professors and advisor. And that’s bad.
I think its ok…..in college that is how many students respond. Most students do not use regular email anymore.
YES. There is nothing a teacher could possibly need from one of their students outside of the classroom. Their job is to teach academic subjects in the classroom. Anything other than that is inappropriate.
yes
Well, I know that some teachers will set up interactive forums or websites for their students, and I don’t find anything wrong with it. So, as long as the teacher-student relationship is kept healthy at an academic level, it’s perfectly okay.
@benjimau5 - I’m looking forward to that post.
My teachers are on there and for the most part I really like it. I don’t have to add them as friends if I don’t want to, but at my small close knit school I am friends with most of my teachers. They were there for me when my grandma died last year.
I’m 50/50 on this one. I’m friends with teachers from high school now and also some of my college profs. I think there’s nothing wrong with it once you’re out of high school and in college. I think high school teachers should only befriend students once they’re out of school. I had this teacher that I adored and then ended up hating, long story, but she tries to be your friend not a teacher, and I’ve noticed on her facebook that people in high school talk to her about school. To me it’s just weird. Keep it with email.
I think as long as the teacher/student relationship lasts, social networking is inappropriate. As others have said, after graduation and especially after the student in question is an adult, building a social friendship is fine.
I had a great relationship with one of my teachers outside of school during high school. We hung out all the time. She did get plenty of crap for it from the other teachers, but we still kept hanging out. If anything, because she knew me so well, it helped our relationship in the classroom. Her class was probably the only one I put any effort into.
No; not necessarily inappropriate as long as the teacher maintains a professional attitude. Would it be inappropriate for teachers and students to greet each other in a grocery store?
it depends on what the conversations are about.
i speak to my 7th grade teacher on myspace and so do many of my former classmates. he was the best teacher most of us have ever had and we like to hear about how our school, our principals, and the new students are changing. plus, he’s a kick ass mentor.
I think its okay, as long as the networking is benign and amicable.
I’ve seen students get homework help through facebook.
I’m friends with my old English teacher from high school. She’s not my teacher anymore, and she doesn’t even teach at the school I attended anymore… so I don’t think that that’s inappropriate. But if the person is still your teacher? It all depends. High school, yeah. Probably. College? Not so much.
I take a lot of ap classes and it would be nice if I could add my teachers on myspace. If the teacher was going to go “ped” they could do this at school too and sometimes teachers are pretty cool. It also depends on how stupid the student is. This option should not be availibe to people under the age of 16. but then again I don’t really care. I can email them. O.o
shouldn’t happen, should be professional. When the student is no longer under the teacher’s care then maybe it be OK. Otherwise its just creepy
I think it’s weird for teachers and students to interact on those sites, but I don’t think that teachers should be barred from them. Those sites are really good to keep in contact with people you don’t want to lose touch with and teachers have people they want to keep in touch with every bit as much as students do.
Although I do know several people who are friends with their teachers and they want to be…so why not?
No, not at all. If students know what is correct and teachers value their jobs (and life) nothing would happen. I have two of my teachers on my myspace list. I never even talked to one of them, just checked her page every so often to look at the science fairs in the area and see the pictures. And I talked to my history teacher on there and the only comments I ever got from him on my pictures were like,” Sarah, you’re such a beautiful young lady. I can’t wait to see what you become when you get a little older. I expect great things to come from your pen.” So, no, I don’t think it is inappropriate.
-CrazyKey123
Yes. Perhaps then teachers would embrace technology instead of having no clue about it.
yes yes yes
I disagree. Some of my best friends currently are former teachers of mine. I think there’s enormous wealth to be found in befriending a teacher.
No not really. If it’s for school purposes only I don’t see why not…
I do find that highly inapporpriate
I DO think it’s inappropriate. Ben used to have students friend him all the time, and he never really declined them. To me, that’s juts a bad idea!
However, I am personally friends with a woman who used to be my teacher; she isn’t anymore, though, and she sought me out so that’s not AS weird.
This teacher Facebooks her students, but I have an eclectic group. If I were a public school teacher, I don’t think it would be wise.
Yes id their teacher is their current teacher. After high school I added my teacher because he would invite his old students out for coffee or movies with his friends. And the age different really wasn’t that big. He must have been in his 20′s. So if it’s an past teacher whose age isn’t that far from yours then it’s okay.
A 66 year old Spanish and Latin teacher from my school has one and it creeps me out.
My wife is a new teacher, and she told me that teachers are being strongly discouraged from being a part of social networking sites in any capacity. The reason is that if the profile is hacked, or (this really happened) some pictures and info are copied and then used to make a parody profile, the teacher can lose credibility or even their job. In the story my wife told, a student took pictures from a teacher’s page, set up a parody, and sent inappropriate messages to other students. The teacher was fired for misconduct. Eventually, he was able to get his job back after a court battle where subpoenas proved he wasn’t responsible, but he still lost credibilty and generated hard feelings between himself and the admin. (not to mention losing most of a year’s pay)
Dix
@ionekoa - well said
No. Teachers are people too, I don’t think that being teachers exempts them from socializing… I do think, however, that there are certain responsibilities that teachers using such networks need to recognize, just as there are responsibilities for students to recognize.
God Bless,
Chris
I find that…strange.
No. A teacher I had two years ago has AIM, Myspace and Facebook, all of which I am connected to him on. He’s human just like the rest of us, he deserves a life. He’s a cool guy. What’s so wrong with him trying to get to know who we are? It’s not like we don’t have a choice whether we want to interact with our teachers or not. Plus, it’s easier to contact them if we have a question on something about ther class.
I see no problem with student-teacher interaction outside school. Some people actually like their teachers you know.
Another note to add to this. If it is okay with the student to interact with their teacher, than that is fine. But I had a teacher back in Middle School that made a myspace and added her little “Teacher’s pets” as friends, then she would ask them to open up other student’s webpages to show her, so she could check up on us “to make sure we were okay” she said. That is wrong, I think. We should have our own privacy or at least be told that she was doing that, especially when she opened them in class.
I am Facebook friends with a few of my former teachers, actually.
Mind you, I am still in high school. They are no longer my teachers, but I still see them almost everyday.
I don’t mind it – my profs are cool.
School’s each kids window to the world the pupil’s being prepared for; to the student, it’s
seemingly daunting until their teeth grow a little and they experience the situation as they currently see fit.
…. Allot like our parents did ….
It’s not about me
here’s a slightly different scenario…
i was friends with a few of my teachers before they even taught at my school… so then when we got facebooks it was un-awkward for us to add each other as friends. then again, it was extremely weird when their tween students started trying to add them as friends…
@revengeoftheturtleneck - wow, that really is kind of… 0_o to find a parent on facbook…
but at the same time, i’m facebook-friends with several of my friends’ moms…
I think it’s appropriate if their conversations are public (the wall on facebook, or comments on myspace). This protects both the student and the teacher from any inappropriate accusations. Other than that, I think students need more adults in their life that actually care about them and their future. I also think that students would respect teachers more if they saw them as an actual person instead of someone that just gives them work to do. I will be a teacher in about 3 years and I hope to have more of a connection with my students than just lecturing and giving them work.
To me, it’s not appropriate because there are some aspects of our “out of school” lives that don’t need to be found out by the teacher or found out by the student.
As a middle school teacher I have to say DEFINITELY! There has to be a line drawn in teacher/student relationships. Social networks are just that…places you go to socialize. I don’t even really want to talk to my students when I see them out in public, because when I am out I am out as Nicole not Mrs. Leyva. You also leave the door WIDE open for types of possible scandals regardless if any wrong was committed or not. My daughter goes to another middle school here in town simply because I do not want her to be friends with the kids I teach, this would lead to phone calls and sleep overs. So, all you social-networking teachers out there…stop trying to be friends with these kids and be an EDUCATOR!
I think once the student is no longer in a position where the teacher could teach that particular student than it is o.k. to be connected on social networking sites. For example, once a student graduates from high school they should be able to network with their h.s. teachers. The same goes for college-upon graduation or a college transfer it is appropriate to connect with professors. Once you graduate you have the potential to be colleagues, so you should be able to network.
As long as there is a professional relationship existing, there should not be a personal relationship. Once they have graduated, it’s fine in my eyes.
On Facebook, I can wish my students a Happy Birthday. I can also communicate with them more quickly than via e-mail, as they tend to check Facebook more often. And since student retention at the college level depends very much on students making an academic connection to professors, I see this kind of thing as a positive.
Of course, I keep my communications through Facebook, Myspace, and e-mail professional in tone. That’s important. I find that, if I communicate through normal written sentence structure, as I am writing here, I can convey that sense of professionalism through how I am saying what I say. (At the same time, I don’t critique student spelling, grammar, etc., on Facebook or Myspace. When I’m not grading essays for class, I don’t worry about student grammar or spelling.)
I think it is totally inappropriate to interact with students via social networks.
It should be fine if the teache is no longer teaching the student.
Maybe a little.
How is the forum of any real significance? As long as the content remains professional and appropriate. I’d certainly prefer my kids chatting with a teacher I know that with who-knows-what-kinda-freak…..
As a person who might like to become a teacher myself one day, I feel that for an educational system to be successful, it is absolutely imperative that the teacher and students have an effective means of communication outside of the classroom.
I think that if she doesn’t think it is appropriate, then she shouldn’t do it.. In fact, maybe she shouldn’t have a myspace or facebook.. Anyone else, well it is their business. I agree with juliestilsis.
@julieslilsis - good point
No. I had a couple of high school teachers who were also my friends. What’s wrong with that?
I’m not sure of it’s appropriateness, but it sure is creepy.
In ancient times, teachers knew their students very well and were people of highest regard. Such a teacher is hard to find but one such as that would be far better equipped to teach students.
Only if the student and teacher are still student and teacher. Once the student graduates, they are no longer a student of that teacher. Or once they don’t have that class anymore. I have formed a great deal of bonds with all of my teachers and do keep in touch with them on Facebook and MySpace.
As a high school teacher I can see where the lines can blur. I have students that I know from church and they have to adjust to be being Mr. Ruiz and not Nas. I also have become friends with some students that help me with my classroom or other things I may need in school. They share a lot of personal information and I help them out. However, I have a Facebook and my rule is “While you are in school, you may not add me as a friend, nor will I add you.” After they graduate is fine, never before. If you blur those lines, it becomes a hassle and a very dangerous area. We had a few teachers in the district last year that were let go because of this blur. One had become emotionally involved with a student of the opposite sex. The line is there for reason and it should be maintained.
Well ,if the teacher feels that way. Why is she or he on facebook? Especially when she or he knows the fine line between it, when going on a site like facebook.
definetly not
as a teacher, I think that interacting with students on social networking sites is definitely inappropriate.
yea..thats weird and creepy.
Definitely. This one friend of mine has a Myspace with some very tacky pics of her engaging in partying and sexy poses in one album, her 7th students in another. If my kids were shown on any social networking site by any teacher (and not of a school district site) I would get pretty upset.
yes . why would a teacher need a social networking site ? if you want to talk to children , just do it at school , where you`re supposed to .
@Angelstargazer -
Teachers are people too. With actual friends. Students aren’t their only source of social interaction.
No. Sometimes your teachers actually become your friends.
While the relationship is still that of teacher and student, yes, it is inappropriate and unprofessional. From the time I was in elementary school until the day I graduated from high school and had to call the teachers Mr. or Ms. So-And-So, I insisted they give me the same respect and call me by my formal first name, Nicole. Not Nikki. If I had to give respect, they had to to. When I got to college and was allowed to address professors by their first names, I didn’t care what they called me. I think professionalism and respect is a two-way street.
no… we add our profs in friendster all the time… and leave them comments… =D it makes them more human… and helps us understand them better. but i guess it’s different cuz we’re in college.
I don’t have to worry about this…I teach primary grades.
However, I do know of colleagues who have taught higher grades (middle/high school) and have set up a site in Facebook or MySpace…not as a way to “socialize”, but as a means to spread pertinent information such as class notes, important sites, group discussions, etc. I am not quite sure if these sites are successful with the goals the teachers have in mind, but I think these teachers are trying to embrace change, branch out, and be innovative.
nope. i was friends with many of my teachers