Last school year I had an irate parent approach me about a private phone conversation her daughter had with another student in our class. She demanded that I find out what the students were talking about. I went to my principal and asked her how I should address this issue. She gave me this advice, "We can only do so much." I thought and thought about it. This question came to mind: when does our responsibility as teachers end? In my mind my classroom is my domain. What I say there goes, but when a student is at home, in public, or online I feel that my responsibility ends. Of course I encourage them to be kind and responsible at all times to all people. At some point their actions and their words are none of my business. If one of my students ended up committing a crime would that also be my business to get involved? I don't feel like it is. As far as professional development goes, social media can be a powerful tool. Just this morning as I engaged in a Twitter Chat you could observe education professionals from all around the country sharing ideas and giving advice to complete strangers. Something I would take into consideration is keeping my professional and personal accounts separate. While educators can band together for the sake of the students I don't think that everyone would be so respectful when discussing religion, music, or other subjects. Even reading through the comments on my local teacher union page the members are not always cordial with one another. Just as in a classroom you would want to establish some talking guidelines to keep everyone's feelings safe. Holloway, Kalli Internet Troll scroll.in.article
2 Comments
Scott Marsden
3/9/2019 06:50:54 pm
Catie,
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Caitlin Mitchell
3/12/2019 12:20:43 pm
I totally agree there has to be a line drawn where our duties as educators is drawn in the sand. Students need to be allowed to make mistakes and learn lessons about the world with out being scolded or reprimanded by parents or teachers. Which leads me to your other important comment about keeping your school and personal social media platforms separate. They each serve a very different purposes...one for business and one for pleasure!
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