Teachers on Facebook

[JulielovesDisney]

My old high school teachers only accepted friend requests AFTER the students have graduated.

Now, I am going to college to become an elementary school teacher, and I do not think I will accept friend requests from parents of students (students if out of the question since they will be young kids. I hope none of them will have Facebooks! lol) and probably not even from fellow employees. If I do, I will keep my activity to a minimum because I just don't want my boss/ heads of department to know my personal life that much.

 

[Jeafl]

Count me as not having one, as I mentioned! Us Spec Ed teachers have enough issues with socially challenged children and parents not knowing how to work within school board and government boundaries, so I can't even imagine throwing Facebook into that mix. Yikes!

Hope you have a great school year, Tiger

Thank you, hope you have a great year as well

 

[hipporina]

I am a HS teacher, and I do have a Facebook and I do accept friend requests from my students and their parents. My situation is a little unique though. I teach in a small, private Christian school and have close relationships with my students and their parents. There are only 20-30 students in high school, and I teach all of them. I give all of them my cell phone number and it is not unusual for my students to text me.

As far as Facebook is concerned, I never post anything on the internet anywhere that I would not be ok with everyone seeing. Besides that, I make it a point to live every aspect of my life in a way that would make me a good role model to my students and children.

 

[amyren]

DH is a high school teacher and he does not have a facebook. I think he just wants to keep a distance from his students and not let them into our everyday lives.

 

[monsterkitty]

I am a teacher and I have a Facebook page. I will not accept requests from parents or students, past or present. My page is set to private, friends only. If a parent or student tries to friend me I decline. If they ask me about it I tell them I do not accept friend requests from parents or students. I have not had any problems, nor has my DH who is also a teacher.

 

[gina2000]

No facebook page. It opens me up to too many problems with students and parents who want to friend me.

I have, however, created a blog page in which students will be required to participate. I will reveiw each comment via my school e-mail before it is uploaded to the page. The concept is to help middle school students learn to use blogs responsibly.

 

[PrincesCJM]

I'm a high school teacher and I've been on facebook for years. If asked, I will tell them that I have one but will not become friends with them until after they graduate. They understand and respect that. I am more worried about so many of them having little to no privacy settings. Our principal mentioned during a facility meeting that staff should not be friends with students. It starts to get questionable with FERPA.

I just recently became friends with one of my former students - he is one that I want to keep in contact with - he will go far. I am also friends with a couple of my former teachers. All of my settings are set to "friends only". The only thing that they will find is my picture and that I'm female.

 

[floridaminnie]

I have a facebook page and don't have parents or students as friends. Parents have NEVER friended me, but students have. I just ignore them. Students ask me if I can friend them and I tell them not to. They have plenty of their own friends and don't need a 30 yr old as a friend!

 

[marcyinPA]

Several of the teachers from my kids' elementary school are on Facebook. I am friends with some of them. I requested a couple and I think they turned me down. They are not friends with any of their current students, but a few are friends with former students.

I teach preschool, and I don't accept any current parents as friends. When I don't have their children anymore, I'll accept them if I'm asked.

 

[aprilgail2]

IAre you a teacher? Are you on Facebook?

Do you add your students or parents as friends? If not, how do you handle situations where a student or parent requests to be friends? Do you ever have an issue with that person getting insulted?


If you aren't a teacher, but you have kids, are their teachers on Facebook? Are you friends with them?

I have a bunch of teachers from my daughters school as my friends on facebook- they friended me--I did not seek them out. I was always involved in the school and made friends with the teachers.
One of the teachers has a facebook just for the parents of the class where they put the class news and homework assignments.

 

[teacherforhi]

I teach a middle school self-contained EC class. I've never had a student try to friend me. The only parent that has ever sent me a request was a friend in real-life as well and her children are no longer at my school.

I wouldn't friend a student until after they graduated, if at all.

 

[powellrj]

My DS who is in college has several of his high school teachers that he has friended. I am glad because they have given him very useful advice!

 

[J3nn78]

I am a teacher who has facebook. I have my settings to private and friends only. I will not friend any student or parent present or former. The only parents I have friended are the ones I knew long before having their child in my class.
I have "ignored" a few friend requests from parents. They have never said anything to me.

But, one parent of a student I had 2 years ago that has requested 3 times now (does not get the hint) is a board member-DEFINITELY not accepting that request

 

[ilovefh]

I have facebook, but no students or parents allowed. My profile is set so that only friends can view things. However, I don't post anything worth looking at really, so no big deal. What I do worry about is what my friends post on my wall or what kind of pictures they tag me in. I can't control that (I know I can have things deleted, but if I am away from the computer for a day or so it is up there until I see it) and for that reason alone no kids or parents! I tell my HS field hockey girls they can friend me when they turn 30! Until then they could still be friends with kids who are still in school.

Coincidentally, I live and teach in FL, but I won't even accept a request from our friends children who live in MA. I have no need for a 9th and 6th grader on my facebook.

 

[taximomfor4]

dh is a HS teacher. Yes, he has FB. Never friends parents, and NEVER friends a student. In fact, won't friend anyone who hasn't graduated from high school at least a year before.

 

[pattiteach]

I am a teacher and I have a facebook. I do not think teachers should ever befriend their students graduated or not or their families. I am not their friends. I have parents try to befriend me and then asked if I saw their request on facebook, I said yes and that we could not," It would be a professional conflict".

 

[daisyduck123]

Are you a teacher? Are you on Facebook?

Do you add your students or parents as friends? If not, how do you handle situations where a student or parent requests to be friends? Do you ever have an issue with that person getting insulted?


If you aren't a teacher, but you have kids, are their teachers on Facebook? Are you friends with them?

Yes, I am a teacher (1st grade). Yes, I am on Facebook.

I have never/will never add students/parents as friends.
Last year, I had a parent "friend request" me - I ignored it.
Two months later - SHE DID IT AGAIN!!!
Again, I ignored it.
I don't think she was too happy about that, because she was rather cold to me for the rest of the year, & I did not get an end of the year gift from her.

I didn't even care. I'm just so glad to be done with her...and the fact that she doesn't have any more kids coming to 1st grade.

 

[Disneyland1084]

I am a preschool teacher and I have a Facebook account. None of my little students has ever "friended" me (although you never know, FB participants seem to be getting younger and younger)

I know what you mean, and I find it so depressing. My cousin's 10 year old DS recently joined FB. ....My family didn't even get a computer until I was 15. I'm 31 now. I have a FB account, I can't say I really like it. Why? Because FB brings out people's true colors. I've been rejected a few times and took it personally. It's worse when you're a kid.

 

[JennyMP03]

I taught a university course for a few semesters. Because my students were freshmen and I was rather young myself, a few of them sought me out on Facebook. I told them I'd accept their friend requests after they were done with my class, meaning after final grades were submitted. That policy worked fine for me.

One semester, I was a bit foolish and accepted a request from a student after classes were technically finished but before I had submitted final grades. I soon learned that was a mistake! She tried to chat me up on facebook whenever I logged in (I started turning chat off) and bugged me about her grade. She wasn't rude about it, but it was a bit annoying.

I definitely would not add students during the semester, though. It's difficult enough establishing respect as a young instructor, but I imagine Facebook could cause plenty of problems regardless of the teacher's age.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

I've had facebook for like 6 or 7 years, when I was doing my teaching placements for my BEd I had to change my facebook name as students tried to add me. Since I have a not perfectly common name (First name is Arden) I had to change my facebook to my middle name with my fiance's last name.

I can't control what my friend's say on facebook so I didn't want students to see. I have alot of classmates who did placements and their names also magically changed to their first name with a random last name or their middle name... one of my male classmates suddenly became Archie Bunker (he was very curmudgeon so it fit!)

So no I don't allow students to add me to facebook etc. If its any help I did placements with Gr 7, Gr 12 Calculus, Gr 11 English and Grade 12 Writer's Craft English... I found the grade7's tried to add me more and even asked me in class "Do you have facebook?!"