Question:
Some teachers create their own MySpace and FaceBook accounts. Some have personal blogs. A recent article in the Washington Post details indescretions by teachers in such public spaces. If a teacher wants to have a personal web presence, what guidelines or advice would you give to him or her about what should/should not be shared online for the world to see, and why?
Replies:
Maria - Albany, NY
Keep it professional...projects, field trips, review of sites, etc.
Teresa Messing - Port Orchard, WA
My advice would be: Don't have one. Many of my students want me to sent up a webpage so they can talk with me, but I do not want to take any chances of anyone thinking that any unprofessionalism is going on. My students speak very frank and open to me sometimes(with the knowledge that if I suspect something, I squeal) and I believe if those same conversations took place online, it could be misconstrued as something that it is not. We have a high profile image to uphold and with that we have to give up some of the personal freedoms that others have.
WI
Teachers are, like it or not, role models. It doesn't work to say "Do as I say, not as I do." If we want to be respected as professional educators, we need to conduct ourselves accordingly, both in public and private. Many of the examples cited in the Washington Post article inexcusable. If I were an administrator, those teachers would be dismissed. Would you want YOUR child under the influence of those people 6-8 hours every day? Not me!
FL
Teachers need to remember that they are always teachers no matter where they are or what they are doing. They must always act as a professional when they are in public. This carries over onto the Internet. Never put anything on the Internet that you wouldn't show to your class or your administration. Once something is online it is out there forever and you can't take it back. Use common sense!
Dee Martin - Paris, TX
Having a presence on the web is like having a picture window into your life. Anyone driving by will form an opinion of you by what they glimpse through that window. If you are dancing around with your lampshade on your head - they are going to make a snap judgment. Every picture, every post, every song playing on your website creates a picture of you for someone who visits. If you are a teacher and have not learned what is and is not appropriate in public then you have bigger problems than the internet.
It doesn't matter if it is correct, the opportunity to make an impression has passed and if it is a bad one it will be very difficult to change even if you get the chance which in most cases you won't.
If you are the type of person that sweeps the floor, dusts and straightens up for company then do that on your website as well because company will be coming and going most times without you even knowing it.
In education this is even more crucial. Whatever is on your website may as well be on the principals' desk, the school board meeting, the local newspaper, or a students iPod. This doesn't mean we shouldn't use it. We should just use it for what it is - a tool to communicate. It is not and never has been your private diary with pictures and sound.
Our students are now creating content on the internet. We have a wonderful teaching opportunity if we choose to utilize that capability. That means we have to get on the bus with them - not stand on the sides wringing our hands. We just need to have a destination in mind and plan accordingly.
MrMcK - Los Angeles, CA
Such accounts should be treated as if you are standing in front of someone. Anything you wouldn't do in public you shouldn't show in your profile.
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