I was interviewed Thursday by an Associated Press reporter who is doing a story on a bill that just passed the Missouri Senate which would make it illegal for teachers to communicate with students or former students (until they graduate from high school).
I understand the thought behind the bill, but as usual our legislators did absolutely no research into how social networking is being used by teachers to improve education, both for them and for the students.
My students have introduced me to many technological innovations and I have done my best to use these ideas to help them. It was two of my students at Diamond Middle School who introduced me to blogging. I had encouraged Michelle Nickolaisen and Alicia Bradley, two talented writers, to keep journals through their high school years and perhaps even think about writing books. A few days later, I learned there was a new way to keep journals- online where everyone could read them. To show solidarity with the students, I joined Blogger that week and what started as a personal journal evolved into The Turner Report and since then a number of other blogs, including East Middle School Roundabout (our Journalism Club website), Room 210 Civil Rights (initially set up to help my students with their third quarter research project, but it has developed into a research site for students across the nation) and my class blog, Mr. Turner's Corner.
Other students later introduced me to social networking, though I was a bit slow to grasp what it could do. When I first joined Facebook, mainly due to the opportunity to reconnect with people from my school and journalism days, I gave considerable thought to whether I should be "friends" with my students. Finally, I set my guidelines.
1. All parts of my Facebook site remain open. I do not want to leave the impression that I am trying to hide anything from anybody.
2. I accept my students (and students in the younger grades at East) as friends, but I never ask my students to "friend" me.
3. I maintain a professional relationship with my students.
4. I will read about what my students are doing on the news update, but I do not spend time frequenting their pages.
5. I accept friend invitations from all students and their parents. This use of social networking, just like the everyday educational process at school, requires all of us working together to have success.
About two and a half years ago, when Sen. Jane Cunningham was first pushing this legislation, I was interviewed by CNN, thinking I was going to be one of several teachers who would address the issue of teachers, students, and social networking sites. As I turned out, I was the only one the CNN reporter interviewed. For a brief time, that made me the go-to person for anyone who wanted to do the story. I did three or four newspaper interviews, was interviewed on the Mitch Albom radio show, and was asked to be on Dr. Phil, an offer I turned down because I did not want to miss three days in the classroom.
I told the interviewers exactly how my students and I benefited from using Facebook, and at that time, MySpace. I had students who never turned in any papers, who thought it was great that I would accept them over Facebook. When students had questions about a writing assignment or how to do portions of our third quarter research project, I could answer them immediately through a chat. These conversations rarely lasted more than a minute or two.
This has also been useful to my former students, both in high school and college, who contact me on a frequent basis to ask about writing assignments or who want someone with a critical eye to look over fiction or essays they have written.
Every year following the MAP test, I do a jobs unit for my students, in which they learn to craft resumes, how to properly fill out job application forms, and how to handle job interviews. The students go through mock job interviews. I receive dozens of Facebook messages each year from high school and college students who want advice on how to update their resumes or want to review interviewing tips as they try to land jobs or scholarships.
Sometimes, it is as simple as a student wanting information about something that is going to happen at school.
The legislation that the Senate passed last week has some commendable aspects. It is designed to stop the horrific practice of "passing the trash" in which a school district allows a teacher who has had an improper relationship with a student to quietly resign, but enables him or her to be able to land a teaching position at another school and begin preying on children once more. It also tightens up the process of checking new teachers against the Highway Patrol and case.net databases.
It is in the best interest of teachers and children to make sure that these people who have brought shame on our profession are never allowed to set foot in a classroom again. The provision to stop teachers from communicating with students does nothing to protect children.
Mrs. Cunningham constantly refers to an Associated Press investigation which showed a high number of Missouri teachers losing their licenses for improper sexual relationships with students. One reason our state's number is higher is because it is has had stronger enforcement since a law was passed in the 1990s. Many states which had lower numbers have been "passing the trash" and never stripping away any teacher's licenses.
That doesn't mean we should not be vigilant to protect our children from those who would take advantage of their position, but the social networking provision is not the way to do it. The ones who would prey on the students may ignore it anyway, but it is far more likely (and it has been reported) that these predators will communicate through text messaging, phone calls, or taking advantage of close proximity.
It is not the predators who will be punished by this provision of Mrs. Cunningham's law. The only ones who will be punished are the educators and students who have found positive uses for social networking.
Hopefully, some common sense will prevail in the House.
No comments:
Post a Comment