The Teacher-Student Relationship

[Mencken]

Your post is well thought out and you have made many valid points.

I am simply stating that FB (which I loathe honestly) is something that imo every employer should be checking throughly. It is a kern insight into yhe type of person you will be placing in a classroom, with children. In the US and UK employers routinely scour the Internet for an applicant's bad behaviour. Schools do not have the ability, but it shoulf well be part of any agency's process.

Teachers in the west are subjugated to very rigorous background searches,

The way I look at is also this...what are these 'teachers" doing here and why are they here? If it is not a celebration of a life abroad and new experiences, travel, friends, activities - you have a problem. This best manifests itself in the modern fb page - or maybe even a blog.

If the person has no Internet presence (no addresses from pre Internet now online, past addresses pre Thailand), no FB, G+, blog, etc...you have a problem. In this day, with all the creepy people flittering around the world, a fireign teacher should be as public with his life as possible. For myself, anyone not celebrating his new, exciting life in a foreign land has none - and possibly no friends or family to share that with either.

Fake FB pages are ez to construct, but also ez to identify. Check resumes carefully, I have looked at many on the Internet thru the years and they are full of questions. One I viewed appeared to be an entire fabrication, fifteen years.

Finslly to you and your family. I view that as pretty solid proof you are a stand up guy. In fact, Thailand should give married men, especially tjose with families blanket approval for teaching.

Thailand spends a great deal of time verifying degrees, it needs to verify the quality of the character of the teachers. Drunks, creepers and assorted unstable peopme need to be moved out..Id say, of the past three schools I've been at 60% are flotsam and at least one teacher at each school a potential danger.

I agree, if anyone has spent a lifetime in horrible little public schools witbout a reason (such as living in Issan, or teaching at solid schools), they are a waster. Anyone that makes a career teaching in Thai public schools as well, instead of it being second career or activity or whatever.

The stereotype of the average 25-30k broke ass teacher fits, unfortunately. I'm just very worried at the teachers I've seen placed in particular by agencies on the schools. There are tons of burn outs and creepers in Thailand.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Mencken

[jbauer]

Your post is well thought out and you have made many valid points.

I am simply stating that FB (which I loathe honestly) is something that imo every employer should be checking throughly. It is a kern insight into yhe type of person you will be placing in a classroom, with children. In the US and UK employers routinely scour the Internet for an applicant's bad behaviour. Schools do not have the ability, but it shoulf well be part of any agency's process.

Teachers in the west are subjugated to very rigorous background searches,

The way I look at is also this...what are these 'teachers" doing here and why are they here? If it is not a celebration of a life abroad and new experiences, travel, friends, activities - you have a problem. This best manifests itself in the modern fb page - or maybe even a blog.

If the person has no Internet presence (no addresses from pre Internet now online, past addresses pre Thailand), no FB, G+, blog, etc...you have a problem. In this day, with all the creepy people flittering around the world, a fireign teacher should be as public with his life as possible. For myself, anyone not celebrating his new, exciting life in a foreign land has none - and possibly no friends or family to share that with either.

Fake FB pages are ez to construct, but also ez to identify. Check resumes carefully, I have looked at many on the Internet thru the years and they are full of questions. One I viewed appeared to be an entire fabrication, fifteen years.

Finslly to you and your family. I view that as pretty solid proof you are a stand up guy. In fact, Thailand should give married men, especially tjose with families blanket approval for teaching.

Thailand spends a great deal of time verifying degrees, it needs to verify the quality of the character of the teachers. Drunks, creepers and assorted unstable peopme need to be moved out..Id say, of the past three schools I've been at 60% are flotsam and at least one teacher at each school a potential danger.

I agree, if anyone has spent a lifetime in horrible little public schools witbout a reason (such as living in Issan, or teaching at solid schools), they are a waster. Anyone that makes a career teaching in Thai public schools as well, instead of it being second career or activity or whatever.

The stereotype of the average 25-30k broke ass teacher fits, unfortunately. I'm just very worried at the teachers I've seen placed in particular by agencies on the schools. There are tons of burn outs and creepers in Thailand.

Thank you for your response. I made some bad assumptions at the start when reading your posts, for which I apologise. I can't say I agree with all of your points, but I do appreciate your stance and your commitment to, and reasoning for, it.

Edited February 6, 2015 by jbauer

[Water Buffalo]

Well, just to update.

I am starting to gain better control of the students with the appropriate punishment (motivation to be respectful) of detention . They are significantly more respectful now, lol. Or at least the Prathom 5 boys.

Still trying to figure out an appropriate method of discipline for P3 and P4. However, P3 aren't so bad anyway. There probably isn't much need for me to develop a punishment for them, but it would be handy to have a plan for the occasional disruption from a few students.

P4 is more of a struggle. I found out many teachers over the years (different nationalities, including Thai) have complained about that level. Particularly the girls becoming mean and nasty at that age. They were even described by my (Thai) head of department as "mafia" LOL. Apparently, a difficult age for them.

We will see. But i have had a few victories.

About Facebook. I had it for many years. I found it to be a great way of keeping in touch with family and friends. They loved to see all the pictures of Thailand and my life here. But after too many arguments with the girlfriend about what pictures were suitable to post online (she didn't like ones that made her look like an Isaan farmer....only favored the hi-so ones), i decided my life would be easier to just cancel Facebook, rather than have her vet every single picture before i put it online.

Frankly, since quitting Facebook, i have much more time to do other things. I can't believe how much time i spent on it before reading nonsense posts. It'll be 2 years this rainy season, and there's no going back for me!

I think criminal background checks are a much better way to weed out the "creepers", as you call them.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Water Buffalo

[Scott]

I know a teacher who has a facebook account specifically for his students. If they don't complete their work in class, they are required to complete it at home and can take a picture of it with a mobile phone and post it. There is also some questions and answer items on the account.

I am not a fan of facebook, but it works well for him and the students and it gets a lot of use. These are Prathom students, so I am surprised there English is good enough to navigate this in English.

Apparently, the students all love facebook, so it's a handy tool for him. I don't think it would work for me, but to each his own.