Friday, October 22, 2010

Any Thoughts About Facebook and Teachers?

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With the recent news about teachers being fired for inappropriate actions on Facebook, I wanted to see what you thought. I have attached one of the articles below.  Another teacher was fired recently for posting negative comments about her school.

Of course most teachers have the integrity and common sense not even to establish any contact with their students on Facebook or any other social media outlet for that matter, and this is not about the majority of teachers.  There are always going to be a few bad apples in the bunch, in every profession.

However, as Dr. Phil would say, "What were you thinking?"  What happened people?!   I am a Registered Nurse by profession, I do not "friend" my patients!! That would be unheard of, at least in my mind!  

So as you can imagine I can not understand why in this case they felt that they could do such a thing.  Do I think they should be fired, well yes.  Do I feel a teacher can use Facebook, yes.  I think anyone can use Facebook for personal use, but do not "friend" your students, simple.

I live on the west coast and my sister is on the east coast.   I have asked her to create a page so that we can share our updates all in one place.  She is a teacher, she has said several times that she does not want her students knowing anything about her private life.  Even with Facebook's "privacy" settings, she doesn't feel comfortable having one.  So we resort to email and phone communication!

When it comes to communicating with your students online, the only place I feel is appropriate is on the school website.  At least here in our school district both parents and students can communicate with their teachers on that site.

Of course these cases are extreme, and Facebook would not have been an issue if the teachers would have just not added their students as "friends"!

I would love to hear your thoughts!
  • Do you think the teachers should have been fired?
  • Should teachers have a Facebook page? 
  • What actions should teachers or the school take when using social media?
  • If you are a teacher, do you feel you should "friend" your students?  Why?



5 comments:

  1. Flirting is flirting, in person, on FB, on text, on email. Wherever. If they did it, they should be fired. And friending students = asking for trouble. IMHO.

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  2. I think the actions of the three in the article would have been inappropriate with or without facebook. Some people lack character.

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  3. As a former teacher, I think it would be a mistake to "friend" students...I taught second grade, and some of the younger kids join FB to play games like Farmville. I agree with your sister...

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  4. hi lisa! i have a surprise for you on my blog!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yep Definetly think its a bad idea to friend Students as a teacher.I plan on teaching little kids so I don't think I have to worry about it. I have college professors who tell us they will friend us after we graduate, so its best to leave those interactions alone. Also those teachers were just inappropriate, facebook just provided a new outlet for their behavior.

    ReplyDelete

Not what we give,
But what we share,
For the gift
without the giver
Is bare.
~James Russell Lowell

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