Before I started teaching I discovered MySpace through a friend that insisted that I create my own web page. I assume that most of you know what MySpace is, but just for clarity I will tell you that it is a free service that allows you to develop your own web page. The innovative part is that you can easily link to other people thus becoming their friends and you can leave comments. Wow, wave of the future, etc. When I first heard about it, before I was a teacher, I wasn’t so impressed, but after a few short months I found myself an addict. I checked it almost everyday to see if I had any new messages or friend requests.
Well, a few weeks into teaching, one of my students asked me innocently enough what my first name was. I didn’t really have a problem sharing that type of information so I told him. The next thing I knew, I have friends requests from about five of my students. They were able to find my page with my full name. AYO!! Being a young, single teacher I didn’t want to have all of these 14 year-olds listed as “my friends.” In the past, male teachers were the ones that were under higher scrutiny, but with the recent rash of femme fatale teachers I didn’t want the administration to get the wrong idea. So, I obviously told them that I couldn’t be their friends, which hurt their feelings. They were just trying to reach out and make a connection. However, I am not their friend, I am their teacher. I like to keep the distinction clear.
My next dilemma was should I cancel my MySpace page all together because of the perceived inappropriateness of a teacher having a MySpace. (I failed to mention that often MySpace is used as a vehicle to gossip about classmates or showcase very inappropriate photos. Also, there have even been numerous law suits.) I still grapple with the idea of deleting my page, but for now I decided to keep it. There are no inappropriate photos and I have reconnected with classmates that I haven’t seen in years. So, I decided not to cancel my personal page, but I have put up safe guards like no one under 18 can contact me or request me as a friend. Also, you can only find my page through my personal email, not by searching my name. For now it is working...
1 comments:
I too had issues with Myspace. At the time I just wanted to use it as a vehicle to blog with.
However, the child-like gossip dodgy friend "requests" and all other dubious posts helped me to change my mind and finally delete my account with them.
That, and also Rupert Murdoch took it over!
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