Have you googled your teacher lately?

1. What did you find about yourself after you went through the Google and Pipl searches? Give me the actual links you found (unless you are really embarrassed by them).

For Google, I found myself as the second link. (http://skylab.org/~paranoid/biography/biography.html) the 14th (http://www.kingbeedesign.net/darinschmidt/about.html) and several others after. PIPL came up with me at the 1st two links (http://www.pipl.com/search/?FirstName=Darin&LastName=Schmidt&City=Portland&State=OR&Country=US&CategoryID=2&Interface=1)

Bluh. No, I'm not particularly embarrased by anything that comes up, but the ability to easily get ahold of my e-mail and address is a little scary. I also learned that my Google ranking has dropped from #1 to #2. Dangit.

2. Is there anything you want to change now or went ahead and already changed that may have been unbecoming of you as a teacher?

Not particularly. I'm pretty okay with what's up there right now. I might do some old blog removal and tighten up my Facebook security settings. But luckily it doesn't seem to come up Facebook on Google searches.

3. Do you think teachers should be held to community standards in terms of their personal lives? Should a teacher’s speech be held against them?

Which community? See, that's the problem with a lot of these examples in the article. I'll rant on that later. I think that so long as what a teacher is doing online is not considered outside of consensus morality then what they do or say shouldn't be held against them. They are humans with their own personal beliefs and rights that go along with the amazing responsibilities they take on as being teachers.

4. What was the most interesting fact/story you read in the article?

In the article, the teacher who was let go because there were some nude photos on the internet that were taken by her partner that got out. I find this crazy, especially with respect to the fact that they were art. Allow me to go on a screed about the Schizophrenically Puritanical nature of our society. It's okay for your kid to watch multiple R-rated movies, but if a teacher has a life where they do nothing illegal or immoral by nearly everyone's standards outside of school, they should be fired? PLEASE!

5. What are you going to do to protect yourself and your job?

Well, it looks like I'll be tightening the security so that only my most trusted friends and families will be able to have access to any social networking sites. The funny thing is that I live such a boring life that I can't imagine that I'll be saying anything that would be offensive or even close to anything that would get me in any trouble at all.