Email

Like the other posts on here, I believe that it is appropriate to email students about classroom work only. Emails should be limited to subjects such as homework assignments, grades (like what Dr. P. mentioned in her lesson about emailing out report cards or progress reports), or questions about science concepts that were taught in the lecture that week. There are tremendous benefits to emailing. Through email, students who are unable to stay after class could get the extra help they needed on a homework assignment or lesson. Additionally, email is a less invasive way for the students to communicate with the teacher outside of class. To me, handing out a cell phone or home phone number to have students call if they have any questions is too personal. I have had teachers and professors who have given out their cell phone number and told the class to call if they had any questions. I never called the teacher because always I felt that a phone call might interrupt the teacher at inappropriate time. For instance, what if I had called while the teacher was having dinner with his or her family? With email, the teacher can designate a time frame to the answer students’ emails during the day. For example, teachers can tell the students that they will answer all emails between 7 and 9 p.m. in the evenings.

The drawback of email occurs when a teacher uses it incorrectly. To avoid any legal issues, the teacher should keep all emails strictly professional. To CYA, as Dr. P would say, teachers should keep a folder on their computer that contained all of the emails that were sent out to students. That way you could always know exactly what you wrote in an email to a student!