Blog Post 2: Esponsibility

I do think it is fair to scrutinize teachers’ private lives that they display in public. Teachers are community members that represent the school system they work for, the community itself, and the values they are trying to instill in their students. This representation does not end once they step outside of the school. Furthermore, teachers are always on duty when it comes to mandatory reporting and handling emergency situations that arise. This constant responsibility requires a professional manner in every public setting. As teachers, we will spend up to eight hours a day working with young, impressionable children. The job requires trust and trust is earned through our behavior both in school and out of school. That being said, public is public. I believe that a person’s own living room that lies behind closed doors, and their online accounts only accessible by close friends, are not public. This boundary is a hard line to draw, which is why it should be tread carefully and all efforts to ensure limited access to both places need to be taken. Any time a student, parent, or professional colleague enters either of these areas, they become public once more.

Social networking sites are convenient when it comes to keeping in touch with old friends and family members far away. They can actually be incredible tools. A teacher who is friends with her peers from her education program can post questions regarding, for example, curriculum choices, and receive responses from dozens of sources within a short period of time. Teachers who choose to use this tool, however, should remain cautious because the Internet is a place where the feeling of anonymity is largely false. We leave digital footprints wherever we travel and whatever we post. Teachers should make these footprints as difficult to follow as possible. They should NEVER accept students, parents of students, or even faculty members they are not close with, as their friends on these sites. They must ensure all settings are set to “View only by friends.” Also, care must be taken to refrain from posting things that could later be used against them. This may be difficult to foresee, but teaching requires good judgment and this is another time it must be utilized.