Appropriateness of Social Networking as a Teacher

[Kelley Pounders]

I was wondering if ya'll had opinions about whether or not it is
appropriate to be Facebook (or MySpace or Twitter or whatever) friends
with students. I have a friend who teaches high school in Mississippi
and she is Facebook friends with her whole class--they have a Facebook
page and everything. My sister is a principal in Georgia, and they
have a very strict policy of absolutely NO social networking with
students. What do you think is appropriate?

I, personally, think it would be a very, very precarious thing. If I
had a Facebook dedicated to my class, perhaps I would be comfortable
with that--keeping my PERSONAL Facebook page seperate. (For the
record, there is nothing "scandalous" or off-color on my Facebook
page--I'm "friends" with my nieces and nephews, so I would never be
inappropriate there, even if I were so inclined to misbehave on a
public forum). However, it is my space, and I joke around and might
not always behave in a way that would be conducive to maintaining the
appropriate image in front of students. In general, I think I'm
against it.

What about being "friends" with your students' parents or other
teachers? Do ya'll think that's appropriate?

[Branda Stewart]

I think you would have to be very cautious with this. I do not think
you should be facebook friends with your students. This could cause
some very serious problems, especially with younger ones who might get
upset if you are friends with some and not others. As for as parents
go, I have friends whose kids were in my class or whom I have become
good friends with. Now I talk to them as friends and I may tell them
to tell their child hello, but I do not discuss anything school
related. I believe there is a time and place for that and Facebook is
not it. First of all it would not be confidential as others can read
it. Nor is it very professional. I also have known some teachers
getting in trouble of what they put on their facebook, as they were
"entertaining" their high school students and posted pictures of it on
Facebook. I really think there should be good judgement in the
situation.

[Sherleen Thibodeaux it465]

[Lisa Parker]

I do not think teachers should facebook with students because it is on
a personal level, more for family and friends. However students can
contact teachers by email. I think there is a fine line between
keeping personal information personal in front of students.

On Jun 28, 5:46 pm, Kelley Pounders <kelley.pound...@gmail.com> wrote: