IN REGARDS TO ONLINE ISSUES-In doing this exercise, I notice that we can sometimes loose our anonymity in cyber world quite quickly. While there are always things I wish I could do differently, there are also many things to be proud of as well. Should all these things be part of public record? I am not sure about that. As teachers, as has been discussed in several classes, we are already held to a high standard, and even a higher standard here on the Northwest than we might be in the South, or Midwest. However, I am struggling with this as we learn about it because there seems to be an infringement on our rights by the way some of this scrutiny is done.

The article "have You Googled Your Teacher Lately" Brought to light the complexity of this notion. While, clearly, public servants need to be more ethical than the "dude" who works at a tile factory, it is quick to point out that the line of what is misbehavior relating to social networking sites, is hard to nail down. Some teachers feel it is absolutely not alright to "friend" students, and to publish things that have anything to do with work, while others see it as am embracing of current tool and technologies, and connect about class content in a meaningful and non-chronological way

Of course, there are implications for those that try to control others as well. For example, in one case an art teacher was fired for posting images of work he had created, that the district( or other entity) found unprofessional and inappropriate. He is not suing them in Federal Court for infringing on his rights to free expression. It is not known in the article what the outcome will be, but the fact that it went that far indicates to me that there is not a universal understanding of the implications of these sites and our expression on them.

For my part, I am now very careful about what I say, who I friend and, what I do on these sites, such as Facebook. I also am not willing to do much in the way of "edgy" art at this time, until I am sure of my own rights and convictions regarding this new realm.