Googling Myself

After searching for my name in both Google and Pipl.com, I was surprised with what I found. Although none of the information that was pulled up is inappropriate, a lot of the information was very personal. On Pipl, my address, birthdate, family members, and other personal information was available for anyone to find. I do not really want members of the community, or my future students, to be able to access all of this information. I know another young teacher whose personal information got into students' hands, and she received many prank calls as well as house visits. I also found that my MySpace page is pulled up through Google. Nothing on this my page is raunchy, but there are some pictures of me on vacation, in a swimsuit, that I would rather future employers and students not see.

Because I found myself relatively easily with this search, I am going to be changing a few things. At the start of this program, I made my Facebook page private so that only friends can view my content. However, I have not untagged myself from other people's photos, or even checked to see what pictures are actually tagged. This is something that I will be doing to prevent unflattering photos from becoming public information. I had already planned to delete my MySpace page because I rarely use it anymore; that will be a very simple fix. In regards to my other personal information that was retrieved by Pipl, I'm not sure there is anything I can do to remove it from the web. It is unrealistic for me to cease using the web for purchases, communication, and even voter registration (which is where my information was pulled from!). It's scary to find that anyone could find my address and phone number, but I don't know how to prevent it or fix it.

I do think teachers should be held to community standards to an extent. Choosing the teaching profession means that teachers take on an automatic role model status, and therefore need to live up to that status. This means that there should not be raunchy nude, drunken, or explicit pictures of teachers posted on the web. It also means that teachers should refrain from using obscene language in their posts. With that said, I do think teachers have the right to live responsible, adult lives, and for others to know that they do so. For example, I believe teachers should have the right to post a picture of them having a drink at Beaches with some friends. As long as the teacher is over 21, having a beer is not a crime and does not make them a poor role model. I've found that often teachers are held to standards that are above and beyond those that other citizens are held to. This is a mistake. I also think teachers should be able to express themselves artistically, including nude artwork or photography. The one restriction I would put on this is that the work needs to actually be art. I don't think anyone would consider pornography to be "art", and yet people try to pawn it off as such.

After reading the article on social networking, I was most shocked to read about the education student who voluntarily submitted their personal MySpace page which was covered with referrences to suicide and violence. Why a teacher would consider this to be appropriate is beyond me. Professionalism is a necessity in this profession, and you always have to ask yourself what parents would think if they found a certain picture, quote, page, etc. If the answer is questionable, you probably shouldn't post it.

To protect myself and my job, I plan to think carefully about everything I post on social networking sites. I generally only post appropriate content, and will be revising anything that seems debateable. In addition, I will keep all of my pages private so that only those that I approve will be able to access them.