When I did the Google and pipl search for my name I was tempted for the first time in my life to thank my parents for giving me such a generic and common name. I found absolutely nothing about me personally, I found links to Bryan Smith, but none of them were me or anything I am affiliated with. When I used my handles, just my email addresses without the @ and the stuff after them, all I found was a YouTube profile with nothing on it, and photo bucket account with nothing on it, and to be honest I am not exactly sure if those were mine, I can’t remember if I have a You tube profile or not. There were links with those handles with content on them but again nothing of them actually had anything to do with me, it was just a coincidence. So for anyone who wants to use Google or other search engines to find dirt on me good luck, they won’t actually help you.
The only thing I would change when it came to finding information about me on the internet is finding a handle that’s original enough so if I ever put something on the internet that needs to be found students or people can find it. I do have a Facebook profile but it is set to the highest privacy settings there is, and on top of that there is nothing on it that students wouldn’t be allowed to see. There are a few pictures on there that might be considered a little questionable, but unless you are my friend you cannot see them.
I am not sure how I feel about teachers being help to higher standards within a community; I see both sides of the issue as a community member and future teacher. I see nothing wrong with teachers living the same lives outside of their job that everyone else is entitled too, but I also see how parents would be uncomfortable having their children being educated by someone that they know is not of the highest morale character. I guess teachers should come to a compromise, live the way you want too, but live in a different community than you teach. People are always going to judge teachers differently because in some ways people are entrusting you to help raise their children, and because of that they are going to hold you to a higher moral character, not unlike someone holds a priest in regards to character. In regards to social networking, you can also come to a compromise, Facebook has amazing privacy settings so you can have a personal one where you post anything you want (just make sure your main profile picture is appropriate), and then create a another profile that your students can have access to, but you only put things that you want your students to see on it.
As for teachers getting in trouble with their speech, it’s all a matter of compromise as well. You can say whatever you want about your job, co-workers, students or school, but control who you say it around. Don’t start bashing your all those things in the middle of your classroom, because if you do you should be fired. If you have a public social network profile that anyone can read and you say things that are in appropriate that is your fault as a teacher, because you can take steps to monitor who can read or hear what you say about your job. If you read the article the teachers who got in trouble for writing or saying things, said them in public forums, and that’s where they want wrong. When I’m with my friends I say a lot of things that would get me in trouble if people heard them, but I don’t because I say them around people I trust. Teachers for better or worse are held to higher standards than most people, but it is something that they should be aware of and can take steps to ensure to make inappropriate things public information.
Some of the stories of teachers getting fired for stuff found on the internet were a little ridiculous though. The woman who got fired because she posed naked for art shouldn’t have been fired, because teachers should be allowed to have a social life. That women did nothing wrong, she posed for art, which is protected by the first amendment to the constitution. I would understand if she was fired for having nude pictures posted on the internet that were in a sexual manner, but those were art and I think that was ridiculous. Still though she could have taken steps to make sure that those pictures were not able to be linked to her, she did make a mistake there, but in her defense she probably wasn’t thinking about it, because it was for an art project.
When I am teacher I will protect myself from the community holding me to higher standards by being smart. I won’t post anything on the internet that anyone can see that is inappropriate for my students to see. I won’t go to bars and get absolutely hammered inside the community where I teach at. I won’t publicly say anything or post in on the internet that can get me fired. Is it fair? Probably not, but I am aware that I will be held to higher moral standards than everyone else, and I will take steps to make sure that people don’t perceive me breaking there superimposed codes.
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