Search “Steven Huynh” on Google and you get 11,800 results. You won’t find anything about me though, unless you narrow your search. Instead you’ll find information about the hundreds of other Steven Huynhs in the world. Though there’s really nothing bad, I don’t want people to confuse me with any of my “imposters.”
I’m glad that I don’t have to change anything about me on the Internet. If anything, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t come up anywhere in the first twenty pages of results. That'll be my goal.
To a certain extent, I believe teachers should be held to community standards, even in their personal lives. Teachers work with impressionable students. Therefore, we must exercise good judgment and be aware of everything we say and do. I think a teacher's speech should be held against them, depending on the circumstances. I’d exercise caution and recommend using common sense.
I like that the article highlighted the potential benefits of social networking sites. As we’ve learned, technology can enhance the learning experience and help teachers relate to Digital Natives. Social networking is a part of that, providing opportunities for communication outside of the classroom. The story that I found most interesting was the one where the principal forwarded the superintendent's e-mail. We can control what we put in an e-mail, but not what others do with it, and therefore, shouldn’t automatically be held accountable for everything outside of our control.
I’ve always been careful about how I conduct myself in person and on the Internet. You never know who’s watching. I’ll be a little more aware of how I use privacy settings on social networking sites to control who can access my information. I’ll probably also “Google” (or "Google Pacman") myself occasionally, if for nothing else, to check to see if I’ve cracked the first twenty pages.
You and I had similar experiences in that I found a bunch of other "David Volke" people in my search. I like the fact that your goal will be to make the top twenty pages in a search for your name. Hopefully that will be for teacher of the year or something like that. I totally agree with you in the fact that you think teachers should be cautious in what they do, how they conduct themselves, and that we should all use common sense. Nice work my friend.
ReplyDeleteSteven, my search was a lot like yours. With Google I did not show up anywhere in the first bunch of pages. And, thankfully, nothing that showed up from other people could be mistaken as me in a negative way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it is not a good idea to hold people accountable for things that are out of their control. Because of this I am going to be extremely careful what I write, say or do because you never know what people are going to do with what I do.