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Karen HodgesBack to School: Tips for Teachers on
Facebook
by
Jesse Dwyer
Fri at
12:01pm
This week something great happened: two of my former students connected
with me on Facebook. Three years ago, I taught writing at a small college in New
Hampshire, and the new friend requests reminded me of how great it is to see
what your former students are up to years later, as well as how difficult it can
be to be a teacher.
Teachers work with an audience that is by definition
impressionable. This means that being a teacher comes with the added
responsibility of also being a public figure. As with most jobs, the
extra-curricular life of a teacher has professional consequences, which is
especially important on Facebook where people are more connected and sharing
more often.
Some teachers stay away from Facebook altogether, while
others — like some of my friends — have found creative workarounds such as only
accepting friend requests from students who've graduated or those who are over
the age of 18. However, it doesn't have to be that difficult. In fact, it is
useful and rewarding to connect with your students on Facebook. So, in honor of
all the people who are heading back to school this month, here are some tips for
using Facebook.
Create Friend Lists
You can sort your friends
into
lists
, without them even knowing it. For instance, if you're a
teacher, you can create a Friend List called "students" and adjust your privacy
settings to control what people in that list see. You then could allow students
to see basic information about you and maybe your photo albums from a recent
trip you took, but not photos in which you've been tagged.
You can create
a named list to organize your relationships in whichever way works best for you:
close friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, students, among others. Just
select the "Create a List" link on the left-hand side of the home page or create
a new list from your Friends Page. Each time you receive a friend request
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