Monday, August 3, 2009
"Friending" Students
After teaching the same group of students for two years, we developed very strong connections with one another. It didn't take long for all my students to learn I had a Facebook page, and to subsequently make comments about my "funny hair" in my profile picture. As their teacher, I preferred not to be my students' online friend, despite several class discussions surrounding the many uses of Facebook. While it's true that I have given out my cell phone number to some of my students--and yes, they did call and text on occasion--it seems like giving out my Facebook is more taboo. It's as if my online identity is more restricted than my actual self because I would never withhold my cell number or my time from a student. Now that I resigned from my job in June to spend the year in India, the question of friending former students on Facebook becomes more interesting. After all they are no longer my students. An interesting side note: I am friends with my former high school technology teacher. For the past two weeks a friend request from a former student has been sitting in my request section. This brings up the larger issue of how teachers and students should interact in the digital age. How soon is too soon to be Facebook friends? Should teachers ever be Facebook friends with students?
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I say friend 'em. You can always put them on a limited access list.
ReplyDeletePS- Enjoy India!!
Do you ever remember seeing your 4th grade teacher in the grocery store when you were little and thinking, "Wow, Mrs. Granato shops for groceries, I never knew teachers did anything outside of school"? Well, I do. It is almost like traditionally teachers are just teachers to their students and not actually 'real people.' So, maybe it feels weird for us (because we thought teachers lived in their classrooms) to accept the idea that its okay for students to see a personal side of teachers, not just the professional. And while yes, you did bond with your students over the two years, it was still always in a professional setting for the purposes of education, not to actually be their BFF. But on the other hand, I think that now that you are grown and can be considered a colleague or equal to your former teachers, its okay to be friends with them.
ReplyDeleteSo, to answer your question, I think that you'll know when the time is right to develop a relationship that is based on friendship and not on the role of teacher/student with your former students.
(Hi Nicole!)
Hey. It's nice to see another Gandelman who is a blogger. I have a blog www.themoderatevoice.com (Joe Gandelman)
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