Edustange

There is always an artificial distinction between personal and professional identity. If you have worked in close communities you quickly accept that you likely won’t achieve an insulated private life. I worked in small villages for twenty-five years. There was essentially no privacy beyond the front door of your house and often little within. My children brought their friends into the house in the same way family entered my classroom with each year I taught my own children. There was always a single store, single church, single recreational facility, or community hall. Perforce, family friends were drawn from the school community.

In those circumstances, you come to understand that privacy is family and only exists to the extent that the family members maintain discretion. Ultimately, you understand that you are human, frail and imperfect. You act with intent and self control at all times, always mindful that assumed anonymity does not influence your behaviour with others, nor do you generally expect to achieve it. There is no time out zone you can really retreat to safely in life.

I have often shared my conception that the web in general and social networking in particular is like a mall. Keep that in mind at all times. Conduct yourself accordingly. I never avoid students in a mall, box store, recreational facility or network. We share the public moment mindful of our relationship, respectful of privacy, acknowledging each other as unique individuals with lives beyond the classroom. We do quite well it seems.