Beyond the Classroom

There is some controversy about pedagogically sound methods of incorporating 21^st Century technology into the classroom.  Some of my colleagues are more daring than I; others, even more reserved, especially when it comes to social networking with students.  My particular school district hasn’t outright forbidden its teachers from participating on social networking sites, but there have been plenty of cautionary tales bandied about with the prevalent message of covering your backside.  (By the way, that was an early lesson for me, as my supervising teacher during my internship pulled out a manila folder, wrote CYA on the tab, and proceeded to tell me how documentation is protection.)

Still, the students themselves use popular social networking sites regularly, and quite often, I receive invitations to connect with students on such a site.  My general rule has been that I won’t accept invitations from current students at my school, and seeing as I teach seniors, graduation day has my notifications page full of requests.  I’ve added to my contacts students from my very first year of teaching—back when I knew everything and nothing, all at the same time—as well as from my most recent graduating classes.  One perk to this set up is that I get to hear from students as they prepare for and begin college.  I also read about their pranks, parties, and procrastinations, but I just skim that part and remember why it’s a good idea not to accept invitations from current students. 

Recently, I chatted with two former students, in two separate conversations.  One let me know that college wasn’t working out for him right now, but he’s going to get back into regular studies next semester.  Another spoke with me about recent events in the news and about my upcoming departure from my current school.  Neither one of them said anything pointedly about my class in particular, but just spending the time to have a five-minute internet chat with a former teacher speaks to me.  The maturity and social consciousness I glean from the questions they ask or opinions they offer make me proud of the individuals they are growing into.  If I choose to project into such conversations the belief that my class must have been significant to them somehow for them to want to share their lives with me beyond the time that they must, well, who can blame a teacher for finding encouragement from wherever it comes?  Within the social context of scapegoating teachers and over-reliance on high stakes testing to label teachers as effective, there’s some inherent value to hearing from the students themselves that they’re pleased with what they got out of my class.  It might not be as objective as testing data or as well-rounded as student surveys, but it can heal a teacher’s soul of the end-of-the-year despair that descends this close to examinations, reminding me that there’s more to this education thing than can be determined by a two-hour test, and that I don’t merely teach content, but rather, I teach people.