Social Media and Teachers
An acquaintance of mine who is a teacher had a very nice blog - one that I read regularly and enjoyed. It was clever and funny, and she often had good insights.
She has suspended it for the time being.
From what I gather, the reason she did so was that some parents complained about it in some way. I don't know how many did so, or what exactly was the nature of their complaints.
The blog was not controversial. She certainly did not dwell on political matters or social issues. But maybe she revealed too much about her personal life and her teaching experiences. Perhaps some of her students found it and started reading and commenting on it, breaking down the barrier we teachers are supposed to keep these days between ourselves and our students.
I've heard of teachers who did go to far in some ways on blogs or Facebook or other such sites. They made comments that they would not make in class or posted pictures that were not appropriate.
Teachers have been fired because of such things.
As far as I can tell, none of that was true of my acquaintance's blog. But nevertheless it's now silent.
As teachers, we have to be careful. I've been lucky in that I teach at a school where the students don't go on the internet, so some of my posts on social issues or politics have not been a problem. But if I do go to another school some day, I will have to be more careful and perhaps in some cases use less strong language.
To be honest, that's probably a good guide anyway: Don't post anything that might offend someone or get me in trouble. I cause enough problems for myself with my mouth and my sense of humor!
I hope my acquaintance will be able to blog again some day.
I hope I don't have to stop doing so myself some day.
She has suspended it for the time being.
From what I gather, the reason she did so was that some parents complained about it in some way. I don't know how many did so, or what exactly was the nature of their complaints.
The blog was not controversial. She certainly did not dwell on political matters or social issues. But maybe she revealed too much about her personal life and her teaching experiences. Perhaps some of her students found it and started reading and commenting on it, breaking down the barrier we teachers are supposed to keep these days between ourselves and our students.
I've heard of teachers who did go to far in some ways on blogs or Facebook or other such sites. They made comments that they would not make in class or posted pictures that were not appropriate.
Teachers have been fired because of such things.
As far as I can tell, none of that was true of my acquaintance's blog. But nevertheless it's now silent.
As teachers, we have to be careful. I've been lucky in that I teach at a school where the students don't go on the internet, so some of my posts on social issues or politics have not been a problem. But if I do go to another school some day, I will have to be more careful and perhaps in some cases use less strong language.
To be honest, that's probably a good guide anyway: Don't post anything that might offend someone or get me in trouble. I cause enough problems for myself with my mouth and my sense of humor!
I hope my acquaintance will be able to blog again some day.
I hope I don't have to stop doing so myself some day.
posted by A Secular Franciscan | 4:02 PM
1 Comments:
I miss here too! Cathy
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