Social Networking

With the internet today, your "private" life does not always stay "private". Sometimes your personal information is just one Google search away. When I Googled myself, nothing too shocking came up (thank heavens!)---my facebook profile was the first thing, then came my Myspace, then came a Cheerleading Safety Workshop I attended. There were even news articles from when I was in high school. The first was a Rose Festival article (I was on the Rose Court) and the other was regarding the "gang wars" at Parkrose throughout my senior year (This is an interesting forum that you should check out). After browsing the "web articles", I decided to do an image search and a video search. The images were all just profile pictures of my friends' facebooks and/or myspace. The videos were pretty great though! My last name means "hamster" in Czech so I discovered things like this :.

I became very aware of "social networking issues" when I started coaching HS cheerleading. Immediately all the girls on the squad started "friend requesting" and I had to turn them down and explain why I would not be their friend. Also, I took the time to delete all my pictures that were "inappropriate". Every picture of me holding a red cup, beer can, shot glass, etc. was removed. Even though the girls probably wouldn't ever see my pictures anyways, I did not want the window of opportunity to ever arise. Drinking alcohol is fine. It is a personal choice and as long as you do it in moderation I do not think it is that big of an issue; however, I do not want my girls to see me, their role model, in pictures with alcohol or any other harmful substance. One thing that makes this harder to control is the fact that I cannot control what pictures my friends or other people post. I could be in an album on someone's page and not even know it. This fact has made me much more modest about the pictures I'm in at parties.

As teachers, I think our personal life automatically becomes less of a personal concern and shifts more into the public sphere. Recently, I was at a bar with a bunch of my friends and had consumed a few drinks. Then I heard this woman say, "Miss K?" (which is what students call me at the elementary school where I work), I turned around and it was the mother of one of the 5th grade boys at the school. She had been drinking WAY more than I had but I still felt very embarrassed. She came up to me and we had one of those terribly awkward "bar conversations" and I kept thinking, "Oh God, I hope she doesn't tell her son she ran into me at a bar!". Even though we, as adults, have the right to a personal life, we still need to be aware of our position in society. We are molding the minds of children and acting as their role models and in some cases, we are the ONLY positive adult role model in their life. So I say "yes!" we do have an obligation to hold ourselves up to "higher moral standards". If I had children and saw one of their teachers at a bar and he/she had obviously been drinking more than a couple drinks, I would be concerned and wonder if it is a "regular" thing or if it effects how he/she is as a teacher. I would be uneasy about the kind of influence he/she had over my children. I know this may sound semi-hypocritical considering the fact that I work in a school and frequent bars often; however, I am trying to put it into the perspective of a parent.

I think the article we read by Carter, Foulger, and Ewbank revealed some interesting points, "whether we like it or not, teachers are held to a higher standard of moral behavior than the general population" and shall not "engage in conduct which would discredit the teaching profession" (Carter, p. 684). This is just a fact that we had to accept. Also, I do not think teachers or coaches should be "friends" with students on any social networking site. I understand that some teachers may use these sites as a means to "get to know their students" or "develop deep relationships" but really, this is the same as a teacher inviting students over to hang out. Teachers need to build their relationships in the classroom and confines of the school. Once you take it beyond the walls of the campus, you are just asking for trouble.

In conclusion, as teachers in an ever-changing, ever-dynamic world full of technolgy and resources, we need to be cautious and thoughtful in the ways in which we "expose" our personal lives. Never jepordize the opportunity to positively impact the lives of your students.