VERY OT: Facebooks and teachers

[notsosnowwhite]

Ahhh, but couldn't this be done through email, without FB being in the middle of it all????

My thoughts exactly. The parents of my students have my work e-mail, no need for my personal life and school life to be intertwined any more than it already is. I feel that separation is very important. However, I have colleagues that friend parents and students. Our district is currently writing policies regulating "appropriate" use of social networking sites.

 

[Mulan82]

My boyfriends sister is a high school English teacher. Her rule is that she doesn't request any students. if a student requests her, she will only accept them if they have already graduated.

 

[katieandemismom]

A friend of mine teaches middle school. He actually changed his facebook name b/c his students and their parents were trying to friend him. It took me a while to figure out what had happened, but once I knew who he "was" on fb, I could totally understand why he did it.

 

[Snow Shoe]

As a teacher I don't have a Facebook account, or any other public social networking account that I can be reached at on a computer by a parent or student, and tooboot my telephone number is unlisted for the same reason. Call me old fashioned, but if a parent needs to reach me with a question, that's what calling me at "work" is for. We can discuss it over the phone or make an appointment for a parent/teacher conference to deal with it. When I'm at home, that's "my time, with my family". I've been a teacher since 1974 and I've seen a lot of crazy things over these years, but this takes 1st place!

 

[disney_family_1247]

As a teacher, I would never have wanted to be "friends" with the parents of my students, but I did give out my email address. For a lot of people, being able to send a quick note is less pressure than a phone call when they are concerned about something

 

[2binak]

I've been a teacher since 1974 and I've seen a lot of crazy things over these years, but this takes 1st place!

A little off topic, but my father was the head of facilities for a school system and our telephone number was not unlisted. We would get calls at all hours of the night from parents wanting him to unlock the school so that Susy or Timmy could get homework or a book that they forgot to bring home.

ETA - he never did open the school for anyone, but that didn't stop parents from having the nerve to call and ask and then beg when he said no. I think it showed that parents are willing to blur the lines between the person's job and their personal life.

 

[dinatwin]

I have looked out of pure curiosity to "see" what stuff they may be upto but I would never request to be friends. I just don't feel it's appropriate. It would be appropriate if the teacher had a facebook acct as "the teacher" not related to his or her personal life.

 

[onelilspark]

I have a few friends who are teachers. All of a sudden their names changed and I couldn't figure out who all these people were...what a bunch of them did is change their names from their first and last name to their first and middle name so students (and I guess parents?) couldn't search for them. (i.e. Joanne Smith became Joanne Marie and I went, "I don't know a Joanne Marie...oh! it's Joanne!!" )

 

[laceemouse]

Ahhh, but couldn't this be done through email, without FB being in the middle of it all????

FB is not some big hairy deal like many people think it is, it really IS just like an e-mail account. I can send my FB friends private messages on FB that no one else sees, or I can post something for all of my friends to see. If an account is closed (and most are) only friends of that person can see what I post.
I think people worry that everything on FB is open to the public and it isn't.

 

[stace1214]

Another teacher here..... I definitely do not become facebook friends with parents. I like to keep my personal life personal just as I'm sure they don't want me to see everything that they do on weekends. I just keep myself completely blocked, if anyone looks me up they can see my name but can not click on me to request as a friend. It's a whole lot easier than explaining why I ignored a friend request.

 

[Laurabearz]

Our school requires all communication to go through their email system, so there is no He Said She Said issues.

 

[Mermaid4me]

FB is not some big hairy deal like many people think it is, it really IS just like an e-mail account. I can send my FB friends private messages on FB that no one else sees, or I can post something for all of my friends to see. If an account is closed (and most are) only friends of that person can see what I post.
I think people worry that everything on FB is open to the public and it isn't.

I agree. I am a first grade teacher and I am friends with a few parents- with who I have good friendships with. I am careful about what I put on it and I am not really on it alot. I have some pictures of my kids and I really use facebook to occasionally update what my kids are up to. If I have something to say to someone, I sent them a private message!!

 

[SLK1]

I think "friending" a teacher on Facebook is incredibly inconsiderate. It would make them feel obligated to accept you, and then they have to be careful what they say, their pictures, etc. It's just not cool. If you want to communicate with your child's teacher, you use the school e-mail system, not a social web resource like Facebook (unless they have set up a specific class page). I would bet money the parents use it to "status update" cutesy things their kids do, or say strange things to "score points" with the teachers. Please people...let teachers have their private lives!!!!

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

I am so glad I do not have this problem, I have been friends with all of the boys teachers for 20+yrs....

 

[03badger]

I just friended her teacher and now I think that it was a huge mistake. She's already had statuses on her "page" that have given me pause. The fact of the matter is...she has every right to put whatever she wants on FB..it's none of my business. Her "normal" friends wouldn't care or probably even sympathize with her-but being the fact that my daughter is in her class it bothers me. She has a "life" outside of being my DD's teacher and she should be able to live it without me looking over her shoulder.

I am going to send her a private message this week and explain that I'm going to "unfriend" her because of the reasons I listed above.

 

[dougsmom98]

I teach high school and I do not accept friend requests from students unless they have already graduated. So far, I haven't had any parents request me as a friend, but if they did, I would not accept their friendship until the school year is over. My twin boys' second grade teachers have Facebook accounts and I did not ask to be their friends because I wasn't sure it was appropriate even though we work in the same district. They ended up asking to be my friend before the school year was over, and I did end up accepting their friendship and it has been fine.

 

[aestapa]

I love my FB account for keeping up with my friends and family. However, as pp mentioned, there is a distinct line between personal and professional. I do not accept requests from current students or parents. FB is not an official form of communication for my class, so there is no need. In my opinion, it would be like giving a parent my personal cell phone # or inviting them to a party I was throwing. (not that my FB is a party...pretty boring in fact)

In Georgia, the ethics code is written so that a teacher may not date / associate with a graduate until August after the kid graduates. I use that as a guideline for accepting graduates as friends. I do have several who graduated 8 - 10 years ago as friends and it is great to see what they are up to and hear all about their kids etc.

Everyone should be aware of how prevalent FB and other social networking sites are becoming in the corporate world. I just saw a report about how many companies look up someone's profile before interviewing that person for a job. I think the statistic was something like 66% of companies asked had dropped a job candidate after searching their profile.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I am a parent of a 3rd grader and would never think to friend or search for my daughters teacher on facebook. I just find that very shocking and really am without words.

What in the world do you find shocking about it? I am Facebook friends with all of my kids teachers. I was Facebook friends with all of their teachers last year. I am President of the PTO at my oldest daughter's middle school and Vice-President of the PTO at my three youngest children's elementary school and I'm Facebook friends with pretty much all of the teachers at both of those schools. Most of my kids teachers I have become personal friends with. What is so weird or shocking about that? It's awesome to have that kind of open communication and glad they feel they can contact me anytime about anything.

I also have PTO Facebook pages for both PTOs - it's an awesome communications tool.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I think "friending" a teacher on Facebook is incredibly inconsiderate. It would make them feel obligated to accept you, and then they have to be careful what they say, their pictures, etc. It's just not cool. If you want to communicate with your child's teacher, you use the school e-mail system, not a social web resource like Facebook (unless they have set up a specific class page). I would bet money the parents use it to "status update" cutesy things their kids do, or say strange things to "score points" with the teachers. Please people...let teachers have their private lives!!!!

Oh please, give me a break! What a ridiculous statement. Each of my three youngest children's teachers all "Friended" me this summer before I had even gotten their teacher assigment letters in the mail this summer. I love having this open friendly format with the kids teachers, not "scoring points."

 

[PolyndianPrincessJes]

How's this for confusing...

I'm friends with my former teachers (some of whom are now my colleagues), former colleagues who are now DS's teachers (at his CDC), the husband of a teacher at DS's new school (pre-k) and parents of my students.

However, I knew most of these people before DS was around, so none of it had to do with him. Two of my former teachers friended me (from high school), and a couple of my professors from college friended me once I was out of their classes. I was friends with my students' parents before they were my students in most cases.

I don't think FB is that big of a deal unless you make it out to be. That being said, my students aren't old enough to use FB, but I wouldn't deny their parents' requests (assuming I didn't know them outside of school). I keep pretty G on what I post, and if they want to read my long list of lost items (which was my status last week), not a problem. I don't share the good stuff on FB, anyway.