I found that having a boring life is very helpful when it comes to protecting my reputation as a future teacher. A google search of my name came up with my linkedin profile and nothing more, though there is apparently an artist with my name who has lots of links on the Internet. The pipl search also came up with my linkedin profile as well as information about my address and phone number, but nothing more personal than that. Nothing came up for my email address in either search and my username "noelle01" only came up with my Twitter account in pipl. I've never been arrested. I've never posed for Playboy (or anyone else). My Facebook photos are wholesome and clean, should they be accessible through my friends, though an image google search turned up nothing. Clean living has its perks.
I would love it if my address and phone number weren't so easily accessible on the net, since there may come a day when a student gets angry with me and is tempted to come throw things at my house or make angry phone calls. I've worked with emotionally disturbed kids for the last thirteen years and for that reason I made sure my address and full name weren't listed in the phone book, but that's not so easy to do in the digital world. I can only hope that my relationships with my students are positive enough that none of them will feel inspired to track me down online.
I am wrestling with my opinion on how accountable teachers should be for the things they do in their private lives. My first instinct is that teachers shouldn't have to live by stricter standards than anyone else does, and that if they're doing nothing illegal then that's all that matters. But at the same time I can see why parents would be concerned about the moral character of the people who have such a huge impact and influence on the lives of their children. I do also see how a teacher's professionalism can be called into question if they live by very different rules of expression in their private lives, whether it be using profanity on a social networking site or posting photos of themselves enjoying alcohol a little too much. I can't come up with a definitive answer on this, though I'm glad teachers are challenging negative outcomes in the legal system; I hope this will help us iron out some sane standards.
One of the things I found most interesting about the googling-the-teacher article is that teachers who had negative repurcussions occur in response to their private lives seemed to be unaware that such repurcussions were a possibility. I would think they would have had an inkling that certain practices, even if done outside of school hours, might raise the ire of the community, because so many people want to believe that teachers are nun-like and pure, sacrificing their privacy and outside interests to the greater good of children. It shouldn't have been a shock to them that some might not approve of everything they did, and that those people often feel that it's their obligation to monitor certain professions.
I am not a person who does much that might draw negative feedback from the members of my community--I didn't make a conscious choice to live a clean life in order to protect my reputation--that's just the way I happen to live. But I do worry a little about my writing life eventually being open for criticism. Right now I'm unpublished, and that may certainly be a state that I remain in, but I'm an English major for a reason, and the things that I might someday attempt to find a publisher for might contain language and sexual situations, for example. Does being a teacher mean I have to publish under a pseudonym? Does it mean I don't publish anything unless it will make me enough money to quit teaching? Am I only allowed to write happy, sunny fiction for five to eight year olds? I do feel like I will have to do a bit of censoring of myself, both in my writing and in my life, and I find that unsettling at the very least.
Google Search Results:
www.linkedin.com/pub/noelle-allen/15/498/70b
Pipl Search Results:
http://twitter.com/noelle01
http://www.spokeo.com/search?q=Noelle%20Allen,%20Portland,%20OR&g=name_pipl_scd_city01#:1347489037
http://www.peoplefinders.com/search/searchpreview.aspx?searchtype=people-name&fn=Noelle&mn=&ln=Allen&city=Portland&state=OR&age=&utm_source=pipl&utm_campaign=noresults
Noelle,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points, and quandry. I too was pretty boring in my google results. I interpreted at least one the of artists in the article to have art work from before her teaching career rearing its head. But I don't think an artist ever having been nude is in and of itself a problem. And I think it is ridiculous for an artist or writer to be stifled (within reason) from the very craft they are paid to be instructing to students.
Discretion and moderation are certainly wise for teachers. But I'm not comfortable with someone losing their job for legal, reasonable, private behavior. It is indeed a lot of gray area.