I attended the Point/Counter Point a while back on social networking. Right after their presentation I went into my myspace and made it all only viewable to my friends. It is interesting to think about the implications of these networks and how others view you. It makes me think about the different personalities that we present for different situations. I mean, I am still me when I go over to my inlaw's for dinner, but it is not the "same" me that goes over to a friends place for dinner. Or perhaps this is an every better and more related example. My mentor teacher is great. When I met him, he was very laid back and just one of the guys with a bunch of the other teachers at my placement school. Then the first day of school started, I thought to myself, "wow, who is this guy?"
I knew that I had to have a different face for teaching, but I still have not found the one I am most comfortable with. It has to be me, but modified. So I can see how myspace and other social networks could be potentially damaging. It is strange that we do not think of professionals as having a life. When I think back to my teachers growing up, I never really put much thought into their outside life. I do remember most teachers having one or two hobbies they would be willing to share, but the rest they kept pretty personal. I wonder if that is a strategy??
well, It is saturday and i need to get to the farmers market... but this is something I will continue to think about. Let me know what you think or if you have further insight.
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8 comments:
Daver-
I like your idea that we have different selves that we utilize depending on the situation in which we are placing ourselves. (The English teacher in me wants to add, kind of like how we write differently say on a blog versus in our favorite 402 paper :-))
I too often find myself thinking about how much of my life to share with my students. Obviously there are the things that you clearly don't want to share with your students, but on the other hand, being too guarded about yourself I think it can alienate students as well as prompt conjectures from students that can be a distraction in the classroom. While I would never allow students to call me by my first name, if my students asked me what it was I would tell them, something that was an issue last year when I had several students who had known me for several years as Allison and Ethan's older sister , Gillian. This Miss Drutchas thing was a little strange.
One place where I struggle with as an English teacher is when to be honest about the books we are reading. If you tell students that you aren't crazy about a work of literature it can be used as an excuse not to be engaged, if even the teacher doesn't like the book. On the other hand, if you profess to really like even the tedious books, kids don't believe you when you tell them how good a book is. I can see the same thing showing up in the sciences. If you tell students something is really challenging, it could be used as an excuse not to learn the material, but it could also provide students with a real sense of accomplishment when they do finally learn the material.
Unfortunately I don't have an easy answer to that one, but maybe we can continue this conversation when we have spent more time in the classroom.
Daver,
I too have come to that conclusion since being put into this "professional" role of a teacher. I think it is important that we maintain that professionalism in school to uphold our authorative role. I also am struggling with trying to find out how to be me while being a teacher. Just know that you can always converse with me about your struggles, I am just across the hall and probably feeling the same way you are.
Fascinating post Daver. I too have been considering the different face I have to begin to learn for teaching. It's an interesting consideration though, I think the teacher you has to be very close to the real you. If teaching is a stretch, if you have to put on an act all day everyday, there's no way you can last in the profession. I think that we all do wear different masks in different occasions, but what matters is that each one is not so much a different you, but rather a facet of personalty emphasized.
This is a really interesting conversation and an important one, too. Among the dimensions suggested herein are the fact that, as a teacher you're a public figure. Out in the world, our behavior is subject to an extra layer of scrutiny.
Then we get into one of the domain that Gillian's comment suggests, which may be the diciest one of all, especially now. I can tell you that student teachers have definitely run into problems by not thinking ahead about the kind of relationship they want to cultivate with their students and, for that matter, vis-a-vis their mentor. I think this ties into Jon's comment because, ultimately, you have find a way of being that feels genuine, and that reflects who you are, or you won't be able to make it work. If being true to yourself, and getting more comfortable with who you are in this kind of role, is the point of orientation, then (I believe) good things will flow from that. As one of the more incisive thinkers about teaching, Parker Palmer, wrote: "we teach who we are."
Dave, I recently read two interesting newspaper articles( I talk about it in my blog)that talk about this whole privacy issue. These articles say you need be really careful what you put on My Space and even in e-mails. Divorce attorneys were quoted as saying that they personally hate e-mails but they love them from the point of view of their clients because they subpoena the spouse's hard drive and use the information in them to obtain huge divorce settlements for their clients.
In terms of the social networking, these articles said that colleges are now working with students to educate them about the lack of privacy on My Space. Even if you designate your list of friends as private, it can still be seen by other people. They emphasize that you should not post anything there that could give a prospective employer or school the wrong idea about you. As a result of these education efforts, many students have "cleaned up" their My Space pages.
Daver,
I would like to take your concept of different face, different space and kind of flip it around. I feel that in this program one aspect of my life is dominant and yet these "selves" of myself still want to come out and be heard. I find myself acting in ways that I would only act in front of my wife, my family, my friends...but in an inappropriate time and place. Are these "selves" actually created or do they exist and demand to be heard so we find people, friends, spouses, careers in which these "selves" exist?
Sorry to be philosophical, but I have been wondering about this of late.
Mark
Daver,
It seems like teachers have a balancing act to cope with. On the one hand, students can smell falsehood a mile away so it is necessary to be yourself. On the other hand, as a teacher you must remain a "role model" because of the nature of the job. Most people are not excellent role models in all facets of their lives - ergo, the need to "edit" what one reveals about oneself in the classroom.
I sometimes think that the United States' high standards for teachers (concerning their private lives) are similar to the high standards U.S. citizens have for the President and other visible government officials. These figures represent so much more than just what is written in the "job description". Essentially, we look for people who are perfect in every way and if we don't like them, we detroy their "perfection" by digging around for dirt in their personal lives.
Teachers are very public figures and I think as aspiring teachers we have to come to terms with that relatively soon.
Hi Dave,
You very eloquently say so many things that I am just to frustrated to talk about. I am specifically talking about the response you made to gillian's post and your comments about how much time they spend going over assignments that are written very clearly in the novel homework packets they give to us. After our 3 hour marathon discussion about the text analysis assignment I wanted to shoot myself. I think I called five different people to vent about the incredible waste of time when I am actually a pretty proficient reader as I'm sure all of us GRADUATE students are. Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate you for saying what I feel most of the time during class. If you ever waant to vent in person you know where to find me :)
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