The following is Sasha's lead-off post. She's not listed as an author for the blog and therefore couldn't post new material, so she sent me the text to post on her behalf. Enjoy!
-Matt
Like everything else in Education, all aspects of the grander technology issue need to be considered before any broad-spanning decisions can be made about how a teacher should use technology as a medium of communication from their classroom to the world. And even after that, some people may still not be satisfied, no matter who wants the issue to be permanently resolved.
The Communicating with Parents article states that “parents are only worried about their children.” Nothing could be truer. Therefore, these technology enhancements could provide a great service. Yet, so many people make this issue heavier than it is and drag it through the mud. I have a feeling this issue is going to be like the Priesthood in the Catholic Church. As 0.3% priests are pedophiles, there will be a similar number of sex scandals among teachers. This does not make the issue any better, however what should the other 99.7% of teachers do who would like to utilize the new technologies as timesavers, aesthetically pleasing means of communication, and the educational tools of a new knowledge base?
A more rhetorical question was never asked. Teachers are going to be using the new technologies such as web pages, Twitter, texting, and Facebook to communicate with students and parents. In my opinion, there are simple, common-sensical rules that teachers should follow to score brownie points with parents and colleagues. The one I like the most is the posting of credentials online. My doctor, lawyer, insurance agent, and former professors all had their diplomas hanging in their office somewhere. No less should be asked of teachers. This is in agreement with some of the issues raised by the Writing for the Web article.
Also, there should be some kind of standard that the teacher keeps. Now that all these new technologies are available, there is no need for the teacher to go all freakish. I would say “inform the parents as to what to expect.” Unless an issue arises which needs immediate and extra parental contact, communicating once a month in progress reports is: 1) more than my teachers did when I was the age of my students, and 2) plenty, in my opinion. Teachers are busy.
I thought about this and came up with a delineation of the major topics I will have to communicate to home about. An organized teacher will have all of this already outlined in a syllabus in the beginning of the year. I already know that, mainly, I will want to communicate with parents regarding field trips, laboratory information, special supplies needed, a general outline of the course, and monthly progress reports. Other communication dictated by behavior or the school (for reasons outside of the classroom) will be taken care of on a case-by-case-basis. I think the simplest way to communicate is a class website, upon which everyone can be communicated to at the same time and where class updates can be posted.
This however brings up another issue of student:teacher relationships outside of the classroom. The way I feel about this is also light. Teachers and students are both supposed to be active members of society. Students see their teachers in civic action, church groups, through athletic leagues, and just about the town in general. It is silly, stupid, and pointless for these people to pretend they do not know each other. I solely bring up the issue of student:teacher relationships in public because I do not condone in and believe it will inhibit the use of parent-sanctioned technology when using programs that are not education-specific. If there was to exist a Facebook program that was to be the TeacherTube version of YouTube, this would be much better for professional correspondence.
-Sasha Dofflemeyer
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As with some other professions, teachers are held to a higher standards than many others. Teachers who are caught committing certain crimes or participating in questionable behaviors will frequently be fired and publicly harangued that others might have scraped by. The internet makes everything much more public. There is little censorship of material and little control of content. Teachers must be aware of all of this, as any and everything can be made available for judgment.
ReplyDeleteTechnology, on the other hand, can be beneficial for increasing communication with both students and parents. First, to take advantage of this, the teacher must find out the best way to communicate with the students and parents-some may not have internet access, and teachers may be unwilling to give out their personal cell phone number. Also, individuals have a tendency to ignore or glance over material posted on the internet, so while this may be the easiest way of doing it, it may not be the most effective way for the students and parents to glean information from. Posting information on a website that students can access also puts the onus on the parents and students to look at the website and takes the pressure off of the teacher who can now use the excuse that the information was posted on the website, rather than taking the time to emphasize the topic during class time.
Once again, technology can be a tool and a hazard. The use of twitter, facebook, myspace all can be used to inform students rapidly and easily, but also increase the risks. Traditional letters take more time, and may just be thrown away as junk or passed over (just like emails/web posting). Communication must be taken seriously, and should be documented.
I'm glad that we had to read these articles, especially the last one ("Should Teachers, Kids be Digital 'Friends?'") because it brings up a good point, and one that we should consider before we ever face it. Should we friend our students? Unless you all are completely different from me, there are some things on your facebook profile that you don't necessarily want students (or their parents!) to see. As one example, I enjoy making stupid faces for pictures. I don't want my high school students to think that they don't have to take me seriously just because I like to goof around with my friends. And I can tell you from experience that students will want to see your facebook page if they find out about it. I agree with the author of the page, that it's a tricky thing, figuring out where to draw the line. I agree with John, that technology should be viewed as a tool, not good or evil on it's own, and that when you use it, it's important to document it. No one wants to be accused of acting unprofessionally or of making improper advances toward a student.
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the propriety issue of online communication has struck a nerve with everyone, and while I agree that it's an important issue, I don't think it's a complicated one. Just like face-to-face and tangible, written communication, online communication simply requires some forethought and a few special considerations before the communication takes place. The risks need to be weighed against the benefits, and a teacher needs to take some time to consider how their material might be viewed by their intended (and in some cases, an unintended audience). For example, what exactly could a teacher hope to gain from Facebook-friending a student that they cannot get in class or from a more controlled online setting, such as a class website or Blackboard? Continuing with the same example, when if a teacher does "friend" a student, that teacher needs to consider everything the student may experience as a direct result of that access? What photos, groups, posts, and messages will they see? Can the teacher screen and control how their social network will behave (i.e. other friends' pictures, language, etc.)? I say keep things as simple as reasonably possible, and make sure the risks/effort is justified by the potential benefits.
As far as considering parents go, I think it's most important to balance good, positive communication with potentially contentious or negative conversations. This has been reiterated in many of our classes and shouldn't be new information. I also believe we should make every effort to meet parents where they are. By that I mean give them as much information as they want (within reason) and make access to that information easy. One potential way to do this might be, as the second article suggested several times, to post brief bits of information on a website with hyperlinks to more in depth webpages for those parents who have the time/interest in exploring things further. Technology generall makes communication more flexible if used correctly and could help to achieve both of these goals. I'd say webpages or weekly mass emails to all paarents would be a good start.
While making students and their parents a priority is important, I also believe teachers should be encouraged and allowed to draw a line between their work and social lives. Teachers should not be 24/7 employees, and technology could easily be used to facilitate this type of situation. Creating special email addresses for work, making clear guidelines for cell phone and email communication, and creating clear boundaries for themselves will in the long run serve teachers, and as a result their students, well in the long run.
All of these articles were extremely helpful in thinking about how to use technology to communicate with parents. I love the idea of using a classroom webpage to communicate with parents from the Brown article. I think it is a great way to keep parents aware and interested and to show them how much their children are accomplishing in your class. I think it is important to remember the lesson Walbert's article though: form needs to fit function. Classroom websites need to be professional, easy to read, and BRIEF (otherwise parents might not even bother reading them). However, as teachers, we need to realize that not all parents and students will have access to the internet and/or a computer at home. Teachers must be sensitve to this and have alternative plans in these situations.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated the point that Casson made in the first article: parents should not be hearing from you for the first time in October when their children have already been "messing up" for a month. This artcile helped me think through the need to establish communication up front with parents at the beginning of the year. One idea might be to call or email (depending on student/parent access) all of your students' parents at the beginning of the year to introduce yourself and to clearly outline how you will be communicating with them throughout the year and how you plan to communicate with students. You can let them know then that you will not be using Facebook, text message, or personal cellphone/email communication and that instead, you will have a classroom website. By clarifying your procedures early and by making contact early, you can avoid alienating parents and students with vague, untimely communication practices.
While successful and meaningful communication with parents is clearly vital to creating and maintaining an effective and productive community of learning, I imagine that too much of it can be overwhelming and burdensome. E-mail alone can open up a flood of communication that may be very much hit or miss in its efficiency, relevance, and/or importance. I am fairly unconcerned with social networking with my students. I plan to stay off the airwaves and interweb threads with anything but professional discourse/writing/etc. But I think all teachers should at least wary if not concerned with the downfall of opening yourself up to much to parent interaction. How can we make sure that parents contact only happens if the issue to be discussed meats of certain threshold of significance. It is true that parents are only worried about their kids; but often times parents like all adults can be misguided, rude, self-centered, etc, etc. Maintaining a professional relationship with our students is something that we will be doing an practicing and perfecting day in and day out. Doing the same with parents armed with technology might be a tougher task than we may think.
ReplyDelete