Virginia Board Of Education May Ban Teachers From Texting, Facebook 'Friending' Students

Newser:

Teachers Facebooking students: Usually not a good idea. And soon, in Virginia, it may not be allowed.

Read the whole story: Newser

Comments

[SpreadthePanic]

08:35 AM on 01/21/2011

My wife is a high school teacher and has also taught middle school (all in the state of Virginia). She has a separate FB account that is just for her students. (At the time she created this, I don't think she would have had the option to create a page for people to like... currently that might be a better option)

With both Facebook and cell phones (texting), teachers are finding themselves pulled in two separate directions. It is true that FB may provide an avenue to unprofessional interactions blurring the distinction between teacher and student, but it is also true that the students are already interested in FB and the more you can integrate what they are interested in with what you are trying to teach or even just to interact with them can be a way to bridge the communication gap. In the case of cell phones, distracted students are simply not going to be paying attention, and the phones tend to be a distraction - most schools have banned them outright. But there are many teachers or even entire school districts that have found that by actually using cell phones or ipads or laptops in the classroom as part of the instruction, the kids are actually engaged in both the device they want to use AND the material of instruction. Rather than banning the devices (which to be honest, they all still have them and use them in class), those who embrace the technology are more successful.

[GreenTeacher]

01:56 PM on 01/10/2011

This has been my personal policy anyway. Just because of the insanity of Facebook, friending a student is kind of like taking them to a bar with you: NOT appropriate for minors.

As a teacher, if you need to use FB for an actual educational reason (you don't, but if you think you do), create a page for people to fan, and then use that for your communications.

[dmherb]

12:34 PM on 01/10/2011

I can't see the downside to this. There is no reason a student in public school would need to friend a teacher. They can easily e-mail them if they have questions.

[bryanzth]

12:33 PM on 01/10/2011

This is easy.

Friends? People with hundreds of friends. Not a chance. Rather, they are acquaintances, or friends of friends. Not necessarily friends.

Hence: Facebook needs to deal with this problem.

There are (not in any order):
1. Best Friends of smo
2. Friends of smo
3. Acquaintances of smo
4.Classmates of smo
5. Teachers of smo
6. Neighbors of smo
7. Colleagues of smo
8. Advisors of smo
9. Business Partners of smo

Make categories so teachers don't have to friend students, but rather can be there as "TEACHERS".

That would be easy.

BZ.

[O K Ali]

12:24 PM on 01/10/2011

If I were a teacher, I could see opening an account for my students, relating to classwork only. Other than that, there is no need to "friend" students.