In your "lesson", you saw many different uses for email in your classroom. My question for your discussion is:
Is it appropriate to email students? What would be the benefits? The drawbacks? Any legal or ethical concerns? How might you address any issues?
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I believe that there are certain circumstances in which it is appropriate to email students. Especially at the high school and middle school level, student-teacher relationships need to remain professional. This is especially important for many of us who have just graduated and will be very close in age to high school seniors upon beginning our careers as educators.
ReplyDeleteI think appropriate situations to email a student include reminders for tests/quizzes/project due dates (especially for science fair participants), for reminders to bring in certain materials or out of class materials, or to provide electronic notes/websites/study materials that may be beneficial to class.
I think this would be beneficial to students if kept professional and purely academic based. It would let students feel connected to the classroom, allow them to use technology in a new way, and provide them with additional materials related to the content area.
I think some drawbacks of emailing students could come in the form of inappropriate feeback. Students may feel as though email is an unprofessional way to address their teacher and use this avenue to send jokes, pictures, or personal information that would not be appropriate. Also, not all students may have email so it may give advantages to those who do and to those who have 24 hr access to a computer.
I think the legal and ethical concerns would come from making the email interactions inappropriate for school and that deal with personal information that should not be shared with a teacher or visa versa. I think these issues could be addressed at the beginning of the school year with a signed contract between student, teacher, and parent so that appropriate action may be taken if issues arise later in the school year. That way specific actions are already set in place to either remove the child from the listserve or any other disciplinary actions to resolve the problem at hand. I also think a teacher could have a website of his or her own or a blog that could post announcements and other reminders that parents and students could access to get the same amount of information.
Alexandria- I like the idea of just having the website available to students to get updates instead of using email. I think I probably share a lot of concerns with others that you just don't want to set yourself up for anything horrible to happen. I have seen too much teachers get into situations that they could not get out of with students. I think the more precautions we can take to protect ourselves the better.
ReplyDeleteI teach middle school and I am very uncomfortable emailing them. The kids at this age can easily perceive you as their buddy, and emails can be forwarded around between students and there is no way to control it. Occasionally a student will email me a cool picture or link they find....something they think I will find "ccol" or sciency...but I don't respond via email. When I see them in class, I thank them for the info...that's it.
ReplyDeleteReviewing the lesson on blackboard I was concerned about emailing my students. After thinking and reviewing some of the benefits of emailing, brought up by Alex, I do believe it is beneficial and is something I will use in my classroom. Ultimately student emailing will give them another way of getting in touch with the teacher and receiving extra reminders and help. Some students also might find it easier to communicate through email if they are too embarrassed or feel threatened in class. However one disadvantage of this is that students and teachers will lose personal interactions. Though, I do believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The biggest thing I can do to protect myself is to use a professional email through the school and not my personal email, such as yahoo or gmail. This will help provide extra security and the ability for school administrators to review and protect my own security.
ReplyDeleteI think all depends on the reason for emailing students. I teach elementary school so I really have no need for it, but I do coach HS girls basketball as well. When I do email the girls individually I always bcc their parents just to be safe. I agree with what was posted above about the benefits outweighing the negatives, but again you need to be careful. The information you put in the email is not totally secure when you hit send and whatever you said is now in writing...good or bad.
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