Teacher Suspended for Blog About Students

[ohiosmith]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Teacher-Suspended-for-Blog-Posts-About-Students-115655164.html


Natalie Munroe's rants about her high school students, their parents and other teachers was probably a great way to vent, but posting it online ultimately got her suspended.

Comments she would really like to send to parents include:
Seems smarter than she actually is.
Has a massive chip on her shoulder
A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities.
Nowhere near as good as her sibling. Are you sure they're related?
Lazy asshole.
Two words come to mind: brown AND nose.
Rude, beligerent, argumentaive f***.
Weirdest kid I've ever met.
I hear the trash company is hiring.

[wickerwoman]

1. Unless she was specifically identifying students

this seems way over the top to me.

What happened to employee privacy in this country?

[NoPasaran]

2. A good way to keep your opinions private:

Don't post them on the freakin' Internet!

[wickerwoman]

3. True but beside the point.

If she was posting in a support group for alcoholics, depression or abuse victims should her company have the right to openly use that against her, including making it part of her employment record by suspending her for it? Just because something is online doesn't make it fair game.

[NoPasaran]

9. Used to be, people kept diaries

Or they wrote angry letters they never mailed. Anything posted online IS fair game; it can be read by anyone, anywhere, anytime. To pretend otherwise is foolish.

[nolabear]

13. But if she doesn't identify them, anyone could think it was them.

This kind of thing is harmful to kids. I understand frustration but this is mean and foolish, and I'd not only suspend her, I'd keep an eye on her from now on.

[Bunny]

4. What a hateful person.

She demonstrates no redeeming qualities, and isn't good enough to work for the trash company. She should get the hell out of teaching, as soon as possible. Natalie Munro - you are a piece of shit.

[wickerwoman]

5. She's blowing off steam from a hard job.

I've heard *much* worse than this in every teachers' lounge I've ever been in.

The only difference is she unwisely wrote it in a place it could be traced back to her.

[Bunny]

6. Yep. Not only is she a horrible person, she's also a dumbass.

[LanternWaste]

15. You appear to be illustrating the same qualities you indicted the teacher with.

You appear to be illustrating the same qualities you indicted the teacher with. :shrug:

[Bunny]

16. Good. That's what I was trying for.

Too bad she won't read this.

[Mopar151]

7. Nice to know

Things haven't changed in the 40 years since I started high school. To be fair, the kid's comments in the same context would be about as sharp......

Has totally given up - nearly catatonic.

Needs better medication monitoring - confuses Ativan, Adderall, and Ambien.

Seems to forget he is no longer a student.

Has trouble keeping up academically while teaching honors classes.

Has been surly and oppositional since "President Beck" senior history seminar de-scheduled.

Please switch to vodka - the Scotch vapors are makin' my eyes water.

[darkstar3]

8. Every teacher has these thoughts, but most have the common sense to keep it quiet.

You don't say shit like this except to other frustrated teachers. Posting it on the internet in an identifiable way makes you stupid enough to lose your job.

Funny side note: I was once asked by a coworker if I kept a blog. I do, but I told him "no." When he asked me why I said "because when I blog I use the word fuck, and I'm not interested in having that used against me by employers."

[curiousabout...]

10. That shows a distinct lack of sense.

I am a student and I wouldn't post anything like that about my teachers...I wouldn't get suspended (most likely), but they could make my life just that harder if i posted stuff like that. Cruel things always come back to bite you in the ass in the end.

[nolabear]

12. So true. And welcome to DU!

:hi:

[curiousabout...]

14. Thank you! :]

[Bucky]

11. I used to vent back when I had a teacher blog. But I kept it anonymous.

I fictionalized the names of the schools I taught at and those of my colleagues & students. I also didn't trash talk anyone. We live in a crude age and there's enough negativity in the world that I don't feel the need to add to it. But at least part of the reason I kept my thin veneer of anonymity was in case my supervisors ever stumbled upon my bloggings.

If she's a decent teacher of her subject area, I'm sure she'll land on her feet.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

17. When I was a TA for various intro Geo classes

The other TA's and I would talk about our students over lunch and all, but I don't think I would have ever put any of those discussions on-line. That said, it has been almost a decade and I couldn't remember their names if my life depended on it and so I will share a tiny glimpse...

I had one student that couldn't use a ruler to measure the distance between two points on a map. He thought it was some serious trig thing (I doubt he could have used a compass either).

When I TA'd a Dino class, there was a test question where you had to name the pictured dinosaurs. I was grading late at night when I came across one that made me laugh so hard that I woke my upstairs room-mate. The kid gave them names - Bob, Laura, etc. He didn't get any of those right but I gave him a few points for the laugh. The other TA's agreed with me.

There is more of course - Maybe I should write a book about it all :evilgrin: