Teachers and Social Networking

Teachers and Social Networking
Karen Craig
EDU 533W Micaela Boesche

Here are the 3 main links that came up when I entered my maiden name, Wiedmann, into google:

http://www.washingtontrack.com/1989girlsaaa.htm
http://www.reunionswithclass.com/asp/public_report.asp?rid=1247&tid=3
http://www.kentmeridiantrack.com/Track/State_Results.htm

When I entered my married name into www.pipl.com, only my address and phone number appeared. I was surprised to see how many Karen Craig’s there are right here in Vancouver. Now I know why I get AARP mail every other day. There is nothing embarrassing I need to change on the internet regarding my background or what students might find out about me that I know of. This may be one positive of being a “Digital Immigrant”; I haven’t been on the internet enough to reveal anything embarrassing!
I do think teachers should be held accountable as far as community standards and how they portray their personal lives on the internet. What a teacher does on his or her own personal time is their own business. There may be a student or parent out there who does not agree with those choices. A teacher needs to realize this, and unless they are ready to deal with that kind of conflict, they should not broadcast these choices on the internet. They are personal.
I believe the same holds true for speech. A teacher should be held to community standards. However, I have a hard time with teachers losing their jobs or being exploited over some information found about them from their past. People change, and their views change as they mature. They may have made some unwise decisions in their past that they have learned from. This does not include illegal activity, in which case the school would probably already know about that.
The most interesting fact I found in this article is the story of Tamara Hoover, a teacher in Austin Texas. She was reprimanded for nude photos found on her partner’s website, who is a professional photographer (p.683). It appears the photos were professional, and I think she should have won the lawsuit. I am a mother with children in elementary school, and my initial reaction to this story would be that it would not bother me. On the other hand, I would choose, as a teacher, not to post this type of photography if it meant my students or parents may find it.
I think a teacher should use social networking, both for their students and for their personal lives. I really don’t foresee any problems in having to protect myself. I am a somewhat private person, and have always used my Facebook just to share some photos or drop a note to someone I haven’t talk to in awhile. I don’t see that changing, unless I set up a network for my students, in which case it will be all school related.

References
Carter, H. L., Foulger, T. S., & Dutton Ewbank, A. (2008, May). Have You Googled Your Teacher Lately? Teachers' Use of Social Networking Sites. Phi Delta Kappan, 89, 681- 685.

Marc Prensky reflection

Marc Prensky Reaction
October 21, 2009
Karen Craig
Because of my age I am a Digital Immigrant, and actually pretty close to an alien, if I compare myself to kids in school today. I don’t have an iphone, I don’t play video games, and up until a few days ago, I had never written a blog. Not because I think these are bad things, I just don’t have the desire to do them. Marc Prensky says in Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, “Those of us who are Digital immigrants can, and should, laugh at ourselves and our ‘accent’”. I am not ashamed of my accent, and I do laugh at it, right along with my kids.
Thinking back to my high school days, the only technology I remember was the simulator cars in driver’s education. Technology was not part of my learning at all. In college, I had a typewriter! We had designated times to show up to Mac Court to register for our classes by waiting in long lines. I know this information dates me, but it doesn’t mean I “have very little appreciation for these new skills that the Natives have acquired and perfected through years of interaction and practice”, as Pensky states on page 2.
What I have no appreciation for is the destructiveness brought on by hackers, predators, identity thieves, and just mean spirited people on the internet. I know that thieves, predators, and mean spirited people are out walking the streets too, I just feel like it will be more difficult for me to protect my kids from it when they are on the computer.
Prensky says on page 6 of Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, “So if Digital Immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives – i.e. all their students – they will have to change”. I ask; does everything have to change? Does everything have to be digital? How about PE? Do I need to come up with a computer game that will teach my students the bench press?
No doubt these kids’ lives are different from the way I grew up, and we need this technology and absolutely should use it in the classroom as much as possible. But does every curriculum have to be turned into a game?

Introduction

Karen Craig

Middle School/High School PE and Health

Favorite Animal - a horse, because of the movie Black Beauty