Missouri Law: Teachers Cannot Be "Friends" With Students

[Clyde]

I wonder if the new law will allow students and teachers to talk one on one in public out of earshot of anyone else. :sssh:

 

Someone equated this limitation to the same as you as a teacher not being allowed to lock yourself in your classroom with one student. Fair?

[True blue (and gold)]

Someone equated this limitation to the same as you as a teacher not being allowed to lock yourself in your classroom with one student. Fair?

 

No. Inside a classroom is an issue of physical proximity. Facebook inbox messaging is not.

[Clyde]

No. Inside a classroom is an issue of physical proximity. Facebook inbox messaging is not.

 

They weren't equating it to proximity. They were equating it to being transparent if you will.

[Clyde]

I'd invite folks to check this out. I read about a teacher/student "FB type" site in this morning's paper. It's being used by some local school districts.

 

http://www.appappeal.com/app/edmodo/

 

IMO this does everything (and maybe more) that a student/teacher can do on FB WITHOUT all of the negatives.

 

Thoughts?

 

TB&G?

[True blue (and gold)]

TB&G?

 

I work with a few teachers that use it. The problem with it is that the students don't use it.

[Clyde]

I work with a few teachers that use it. The problem with it is that the students don't use it.

 

Any reason why they do not use it?

 

Why do the students get to decide what is used and what isn't?

[True blue (and gold)]

Any reason why they do not use it?

 

Why do the students get to decide what is used and what isn't?

 

Because they use Facebook. I'm really tired of beating a dead horse. Tell me what you believe would be a worse case scenario Facebook catastrophe for a teacher that has done nothing but act professionally.

[Clyde]

Because they use Facebook. I'm really tired of beating a dead horse. Tell me what you believe would be a worse case scenario Facebook catastrophe for a teacher that has done nothing but act professionally.

 

I'm not sure what you're asking.

 

Unless you believe there are simply no downsides to teachers being friends with students then I'd argue your "that's where the fish are " logic is not sound.

 

Your contention is that you use FB because that's where the kids are. That seems to indicate that your students are so stubborn that they would not go to another site if that's where you told them they had to go to have the same "conversation" with you. I don't buy that. Do you really truly believe that if you laid down the law and said "here's where you can go online if you want to continue to receive help from me outside of class" that your students would not follow?

 

Simply put I don't believe your students would not follow you to wherever you wanted them to go for help.

[Getslow]

Any reason why they do not use it?

 

Why do the students get to decide what is used and what isn't?

 

Just look at it. It's a homework message board that someone designed to look like Facebook. It's not social media; it's a class web page. The benefit of using Facebook is the ability to integrate educational resources into social media that students are going to be on anyway. You're looking at a special application that kids aren't necessarily going to look at whereas integration using Facebook has the potential to place classroom information in front of students at a place where they're already going to be. It's this integration of classroom materials or information into the larger space of a social network that's important. Having them use a specialized app or website isn't necessarily any more useful than a stack of handouts at the end of class.

[Clyde]

Just look at it. It's a homework message board that someone designed to look like Facebook. It's not social media; it's a class web page. The benefit of using Facebook is the ability to integrate educational resources into social media that students are going to be on anyway. You're looking at a special application that kids aren't necessarily going to look at whereas integration using Facebook has the potential to place classroom information in front of students at a place where they're already going to be. It's this integration of classroom materials or information into the larger space of a social network that's important. Having them use a specialized app or website isn't necessarily any more useful than a stack of handouts at the end of class.

 

Let's take this back to pre-computers (back to when I was in school). Your argument along with others like TB&G would be something like this:

 

Me: Mrs. Teacher, I need some help with my science homework. I need some more info on osmosis.

Teacher: No problem. The library upstairs has a great book that can help you understand it. You can check it out and read it at home while you're doing your homework. Heck, I'll put it on hold for you so that you can easily find it and check it out when you get there.

Me: Library? Upstairs? I don't go to the library. I want the book to be right here in my classroom because that's where I usually am. Why would I want to go somewhere else to get help? I want it right here.

Teacher: OK. I'll go to the library and bring it down to the classroom for you since that's where you always are.

 

Seems odd, doesn't it?

 

Getslow- you are preaching the positives of integrating social media and school. I'm on record as being all for that creative and collaborative approach. I'd be all for it on FB IF there were no downsides to teachers friending students. However, we've already seen examples of where that can lead to trouble. So if we know the potential is there AND we can easily avoid it by going somewhere else that doesn't have the same chance of problem why in the world would we not take that path? If we tell the students the help is "in the library" they'll go to the library.

[Clyde]

For those that disagree with me let me ask you this.

 

Do you believe there are potential downsides to teachers friending students on FB? POTENTIAL is the key word.

[madman]

Because they use Facebook. I'm really tired of beating a dead horse. Tell me what you believe would be a worse case scenario Facebook catastrophe for a teacher that has done nothing but act professionally.

 

TBG, I totally agree with you. That horse has been beaten way too much. FB can be a very good, easy, and quick means of communicating with your students. For those of you who do not agree with using it, I guess we better take away cell phones and computers (outlaw texting, talking, emailing) because there might be some pervert lurking out there who will do something inappropriate and create a law suit for the school district. If an employee is using any of these inappropriately, deal with him/her. It's pretty simple.

[plantmanky]

I have sat on this thread for a few days now to see what others thoughts were before I posted anything. As someone who works within a school system and coaches mutiple school and club teams I can tell you this is a hot topic. We have not been told in any way that we can not be friends with our students & players on facebook, but we are warned to be very very careful on what we put on our facebooks.

 

Spin this to being a coach for a second. What is the best way to keep players and parents informed on what is going on. Phone calls to over 40 kids? very time consuming. Emails? but what if they don't check them. letters and paper forms? Most of the time they don't read them. Text message? can work if its little bits of information, but if there is a lot of information its not ideal. Facebook? If I make sure that the parents and players are told to check it every day at say 4pm before practice or events so they know what is going on, I can make sure the info is out there, if there are any changes/practice is cancled etc. It's a great tool to use for those type of things.

 

With that said, I don't want my parents and players/students on my personal facebook page there is really no need for that. What I did was create a second facebook page for myself (unable to set up a TEAM PAGE per school policies) that is student/player friendly, this way all of those that want to be friends with me on facebook can be, and I can get the information I need to get to them, they can contact me if need be. Now, I don't post anything personal on there, only status updates are for informaiton only, it is strickly used for information and contacts from parents, players and students.

 

Now, this does not solve the issue of what the kids do with their own facebook pages, and IMO that is a parental issue, but it does create IMO a way to use facebook as a tool with the students.

[Getslow]

Getslow- you are preaching the positives of integrating social media and school. I'm on record as being all for that creative and collaborative approach. I'd be all for it on FB IF there were no downsides to teachers friending students. However, we've already seen examples of where that can lead to trouble. So if we know the potential is there AND we can easily avoid it by going somewhere else that doesn't have the same chance of problem why in the world would we not take that path? If we tell the students the help is "in the library" they'll go to the library.

 

My point is that this "alternative" isn't an alternative at all. It's just another resource. It might look like Facebook, but it doesn't function like Facebook. It's just another thing to register for and then never check.

[CatsCatsCats]

I have sat on this thread for a few days now to see what others thoughts were before I posted anything. As someone who works within a school system and coaches mutiple school and club teams I can tell you this is a hot topic. We have not been told in any way that we can not be friends with our students & players on facebook, but we are warned to be very very careful on what we put on our facebooks.

 

Spin this to being a coach for a second. What is the best way to keep players and parents informed on what is going on. Phone calls to over 40 kids? very time consuming. Emails? but what if they don't check them. letters and paper forms? Most of the time they don't read them. Text message? can work if its little bits of information, but if there is a lot of information its not ideal. Facebook? If I make sure that the parents and players are told to check it every day at say 4pm before practice or events so they know what is going on, I can make sure the info is out there, if there are any changes/practice is cancled etc. It's a great tool to use for those type of things.

 

With that said, I don't want my parents and players/students on my personal facebook page there is really no need for that. What I did was create a second facebook page for myself (unable to set up a TEAM PAGE per school policies) that is student/player friendly, this way all of those that want to be friends with me on facebook can be, and I can get the information I need to get to them, they can contact me if need be. Now, I don't post anything personal on there, only status updates are for informaiton only, it is strickly used for information and contacts from parents, players and students.

 

Now, this does not solve the issue of what the kids do with their own facebook pages, and IMO that is a parental issue, but it does create IMO a way to use facebook as a tool with the students.

 

That would be my solution.