Teachers on MySpace, Nice or Naughty?

Do as we say, and not as we do. Many educators discuss Internet safety with students. However, have you ever checked out My Space for teacher sites? There are a lot out there. This isn't a surprise since many teachers are under 30. What is a surprise is the content on the sites... typical of myspace, but not typical classroom discussion topics.

Kids are savvy, and know how to find the online counterpart to the in-classroom teacher -- especially since most are using real names, disclosing name of the school where they teach, and include photos.

Our local paper, the Columbus Dispatch, is running a series called the ABC's of Betrayal about the misconduct of our educators. Today's story captured the top spot in the paper, and thereby captured my attention -- Teachers' saucy Web profiles risk jobs.

The Ohio Education Association is strongly encouraging teachers to not use social networking sites, including MySpace.com all the way through Match.com. True, educators are role models. But should they really be prohibited from using social networking sites all together? Or do they just need to adapt online behaviors to reflect the basic Internet safety that they teach kids?