In googling my name I quite pleased with the results. Many of the sites that popped up brought back a lot of nostalgia. The only concerning thing was how many people have my parents address. I sure do hope that no creepy stalkers decide to show up there. Although I am pretty pleased that I have apparently managed to fly under the radar since I have moved to Portland. The majority of my search results involve my work in Panama. Some examples are an article that was posted in my college newsletter: http://www.salisbury.edu/henson/newsletters/hensonnewsfall07.pdf
There are also a handful of pictures associated with my name from Panama but they are all animals. I have nothing on a google search that I am ashamed or embarrassed about. I am proud as a future teacher to have links associated to my research in Central and South America. The weirdest result that Google yields is that I am apparently a variety of pickle:
http://www.gujaratplus.com/00-01archive/arc310.html
I suppose I should be flattered....go figure.
I believe that teachers should be held to some sort of community standards in terms of their personal lives, because we are working with children. Obviously parents would be concerned if they knew that the person spending all day every day with their children was a stripper who has cocaine for breakfast. At the same time, I do not believe a teacher should live in fear of being seen having a good time on a weekend. We are all adults and if we conduct ourselves accordingly, that should be the end of the story. One of my teacher friends no longer goes to have even a single beer at a bar for fear of running into parents. I am not saying that it is ok for a teacher to be crawling in the gutter blacked out drunk, but I should not have to feel ashamed for drinking beer at a tailgate and running into a student and their parent(s). I also do not think that it is reasonable for teachers to be judged based on their dress outside of work. If I chose to wear a miniskirt or halter top on a sunny weekend, that is my choice. I would never wear that to class, but I should not have to dress like a "teacher" 7 days a week just because I go out in public. I think the biggest thing for teachers to keep in mind is "what would a principal or my student's parents think of this?" Because word travels like wildfire and I am not trying to get caught up in any of it. As far as things like Facebook goes, don't post wildly inappropriate pictures or slander your school or the school district, that should be common sense. Keeping your facebook page private or not even searchable will avoid even more drama as well as not 'friending' your students.
Some of the stories in the article flat out hurt my head while some of them were pretty troubling. The teacher Tamara Hoover who was fired because nude photographs were found on her partners site... this bothers me. I don't know all of the details of the story, but if we assume that the teacher did not broadcast or make her partners website publicly known within the school, then someone went searching for it and discovered the pictures. I do not think it is fair that this teacher was fired. They were professional photographs not being distributed or published anywhere. She most likely didn't say in class "hey you should check out my parnter's website." This goes back to my 'teachers shouldn't have to live in fear' philosophy. She is an art teacher, and her partner is a photographer, nude photographs make sense to me. I wouldn't want my students to see it, but my partner shouldn't have to hide their work because people are going to snoop.
As far as Anu Prabhakara goes, I think she was asking to get canned. First, I think not talking badly about your school, the parents, or students should be a no-brainer. ESPECIALLY on a social networking site, ESPECIALLY if you are 'friends' with your students. If you are with your friends or family, bash away, everyone needs to vent. But venting on a social networking site, come on. That is asking to be found and fired.
References:
Carter, H, Foulger, T, & Ewbank, A. (2008). Have you googled your teacher lately?. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(9).
Hello! I would like to comment on your blog post. So here it goes: That is nice that you didn't find too much stuff about you. I too only found a few things, and as well, its all good stuff! Just work I've done in school. And I was also bothered by the fact that pipl.com knows my whole family and where they live and how old they are. We all realize that it's all public info anyways, but it is still shocking to see it all in a nice list. That is a good thing that you don't have anything on the internet that you are ashamed of, I don't either (that I know of at this present moment). I totally agree with the clothing and dress issue. If I wanted to wear a halter top and mini skirt on the weekends, I would, and people just need to deal with that, or I will deal with them. However one thing I don't agree with you is on the nakie pics. I would say (read: *assumption*) that most parents don't want their kids looking at nudie pics of their teachers, art or otherwise. I would say its only poor judgement if she knew they would go on the net. (Stuff about you) + (on the internet) = (Your students will find out about it) -- regardless of where it it, when it was, or what it was. Anywho, your blog post was enjoyable to read. I hope my comment is equally enjoyable, but your post is still awesomer, because this is your blog, and it would just be rude to say that my stuff is awesomer. Ok thanks, bye.
ReplyDeleteGREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY!!! Yes I love that, and am pretty jealous that I did not think of that. Who are the Chefs?
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