I received the following emails from a woman I used to wrok with at my former school. The same school from which I was forced to resign:

Hey Jabiz!

I am teaching a new elective this year, called “Be the Change.”  I recently asked students to respond to the Wiki prompt: Who inspires you, and why? This was the response from (insert name of student), currently in 8th grade:

I am going to have to go with my 3rd quarter 7th grade social studies/ language arts teacher, Mr. Raisdana. Mr. Raisdana was an amazing teacher. He really made us think about how we were learning. He taught us not the skills to join the workforce of today, but the skills needed to be a learner so we can learn to be the workforce of tomorrow however different they may be. He helped us create networks of learners through blogging. He was an activist, a supporter of global peace. Sadly, he was fired. I do not want to bring into this place any discussion of whether or not he was fired justly but I will say that I miss him. We lost a creative teacher who helped make learning fun. (After all, how many teachers do you know who keep a bowl of dried fruit on their desk for everyone to enjoy?) He encouraged us to use our brains to a fuller extent, for a project on ancient Rome, a parody of the song Beautiful Girl is acceptable. And he keeps working, even with a new full time teaching position, on is own learners network. I hope I can learn from him and am able to adopt some of his qualities in my self.

This is why I teach. Period. To get through to kids. To get them to think for themselves and question the world around them. I am sharing this because I am proud of the work I do and felt the need to spread the joy!

Teachers are fighting to exclude their private lives – such as personal postings on Internet sites Bebo and Facebook – from falling foul of new serious misconduct rules. The Teachers Council wants to change criteria by which officials decide whether to refer complaints against the country’s 90,000 teachers to its disciplinary tribunal. The tribunal can censure or deregister teachers for serious misbehaviour. The council says the new clause – covering “any conduct
that brings, or is likely to bring, discredit to the profession” – would plug gaps in current rules. But teacher unions fear the “all encompassing” clause would put teachers’ personal lives under unfair scrutiny, even when it had no bearing on their ability to be good teachers.

As readers of this blog are aware, I have had my own troubles dealing with this issue of being asked to resign for my online behavior. For the last few weeks, I have often found myself saying, “This is a very grey area. Incidents like mine will occur more and more often as teachers and society at large start spending more time online.”

This problem is more than just a case of inappropriate applications on Facebook, the issue at hand is that as we enter a more open and global society with more and more people allowed to express themselves publicly on the internet, professionals especially those who work with children must decide how to best express themselves in a multi-cultural world.

Teachers already have to prove they are of fit character.

What does that mean? What is fit character is probably very different in New Zealand, or New York City, or the Middle East.

Post Primary Teachers Association president Robin Duff said current misconduct criteria were “perfectly adequate”. The new rule was too vague. “What’s creditable and discreditable these days? That sort of judgment is often based on your own social background.”

To what rubric are teachers being judged on appropriate online behavior. I think we can all agree that…

allegations of physical, sexual or psychological abuse of children; inappropriate pupil relationships; viewing pornography at school; using, making or supplying drugs; neglect or illtreatment of a child or animal in their care; or crimes punishable by at least three months’ jail.

…are unacceptable anywhere, but what about teachers who promote the theory of evolution over intelligent design, or teachers who have strong feelings about the war in Iraq? Suddenly, a teacher who is pro-active in politics can be deemed unfit by a school board, a principal, or a particular group of parents.Teachers are held to a higher standard for social behavior in nearly all cases. Which is fine to an extent. I understand the level of trust that is put in my hands on a daily basis. I will expect nothing less when my daughter goes to school, but as the 21st century really gets underway, we must move forward cautiously and not allow fear of unknown technologies dictate the level of freedoms we allow the men and women teaching our children.

The reality is that teachers are not robots. We function in the same social and intellectual spheres that govern the rest of the world. It is difficult enough to be everything to everyone else: the polite and professional coworker, the qualified and hardworking employee, the fair and kind role model for students, and the polished and respectful saint for parents.

I cannot think of another job, where a person is expected to always be on their “best” behavior. We are expected to remain blank slates that will somehow shape and build the future, without offering our own ideas so as not to improperly influence young minds, lest their parents’ opinions, or that of the school board or administration should differ from our own.

We live in an age where opinions and strong beliefs can be threatening to people in power. We are told from a young age not to discuss politics or religion in public. It is unprofessional we are led to believe. But as a language arts and social studies teacher how can I not? How are we meant to teach children that they can change the existing power structures and work towards a better world, if we are no allowed to discuss the flaws in the system?

Teachers are not meant to criticize a certain president or his policies, or question the global consumer culture, or suggest that perhaps capitalism is not the best system around. Some say this type of political criticism makes a teacher of unfit character. Don’t get me wrong. I whole-heartedly agree that this type of bias has no place in a classroom, especially at the middle school level. Teachers should not be sermonizing their religious or political beliefs in the classroom, but they shouldn’t be punished for expressing them on the Internet.

If we allow schools to start firing teachers for vague indications of inappropriateness, we are opening the door to weakened teacher’s unions and a generation of teachers afraid to take risks and be themselves.

There seems to be no place left for us teacher/activists to express our ideas. It doesn’t seem fair that we cannot feel comfortable expressing ourselves on the internet, the very space we are painstakingly teaching our students to use.

It feels very hypocritical to teach students to use the tools that we ourselves are afraid to use. I believe in education more than anything else in the world. I believe that objective presentation of facts, logical thought, honesty, love, and communication are the keys to a more peaceful world. A peaceful world is my only goal. If this attitude makes me of unfit character than I suppose I have to search the earth until I find a school that agrees with my ideals. Which is what I am doing now. I have no hidden agendas. No matter what political or religious obstacles we may face, I want nothing more than to find a path toward peace. This is why I teach. This is why I write. This is why I exist. My blogs are nothing more than maps of my journey. There may have been times I have taken wrong turns, said things I shouldn’t have said, but they are meant to be read as a whole. I do not believe in sermonizing or preaching in the classroom. While my opinions may appear to take a one-sided stand at times, I work very hard to create and maintain an objective environment to teach kids to ask questions and search out the truth. That is all.

So remember that not only are…

there’s lots of other things that happen in people’s lives that have no direct bearing on people’s ability to be good teachers. Certainly not the private life of a teacher unless it impacted on the profession itself.

Personal factors in a teacher’s life often enhance their ability to better relate to and teach students. We cannot allow these freedoms to be taken away.

As you, and maybe some of your readers know, what you discussed in this post has been a very real experience for me. I have written on the subject a bit, but since I am exposed and looking for a new job, I am a bit reserved on how I approach the subject.

But let me try and sort some thoughts out here now:

We want, I think, as educators to teach our students to be resourceful, expressive, open, honest, members of a global community that is rapidly homogenizing and melding in terms of social norms, cultural taboos etc…This is true at least in the developed world, where access to Web 2.0 is at all time high. But then as educators, we ourselves are terrified of who and what we are.

In my case it was a picture that represented my thoughts on censorship that upset a parent, but it could have been my thoughts on social justice, politics, religion, or many other things that, apparently, I am expected to teach but not think or write about.

My point is that there will always be things that will upset a group of people when we are exposed on the web. So the questions is are we trying to use Web 2.0 and all these tools to connect people and tear down walls, or are we still trying to hide behind as many walls as we can?

I honestly feel that if an employer searches me out and sees my work on the web, from my youtube videos, to my flickr pages, to my personal and professional blogs, they should see a complete picture of the type of person I am. I am extremely proud of that person, I have been working on him for 33 years now. He is more than just a marketable teacher; he is a complete human being. Isn’t that ultimately what we are teaching our students? To be able to create themselves and be fully expressive using the Internet tools to not only better understand themselves, but also the people who cohabitate the planet on which they live.

Perhaps I am too naïve and idealistic, I have been told this before, but I am a firm believer that the point of all this technology is connection and exposure. I guess my idea of private and public is fading fast…is the world ready for that? Are our schools?

I have learned the hard way, that they are not, but with things changing as fast as they are, we have to be ready for it when it does. If we as educators are overly cautious to use the web, we cannot expect our students to use it to its full potential.

So if you have never read my work please google Jabiz Raisdana and if you are an administrator and need a teacher please get in touch.

Mike Tests Suff 
Journeys 
Why Do You Ask? 
TEK
Stephen’s Web 
Remote Access 
Cool Cat Teacher
Upload 
John Connell 

I am sorry I haven’t been commenting on your blogs, but as you can imahgine life has been a bit tense. Things are settling down and I am fidiing my footing again. I hope to start writing more, taking more photos, and perhaps working on part two of my Hero films.

If you are reading this post, then you have most likely already read my cover letter, perused my resume, and now are probably left asking yourself why such an experienced, passionate teacher would resign from his current position. Below you will find my explanation:

As a Language Arts teacher, I try to inspire kids to think, reflect, analyze texts, and express themselves through writing and other media formats. I focus on these skills because I believe in the inherent power of literature and art to transform individuals and society. I believe that it is through communication and identification with other peoples’ ideas that we best learn how to become global citizens. I could go on and on, but let me just say that I practice what I teach-I believe in writing, so I write. For the last few years, I have been storing this writing on my personal blog.

The mission statement for this blog is: Building communities where information and art serve the search for truth. An organic interactive medium to forge an arena dedicated to individual/communal peace.

This past year, I realized that I was making a name for myself in the Edublogosphere, so I thought it would be a good idea to finally connect my personal and professional lives. I wrote a brief post explaining the rationale for making this connection, but have since removed the post, as well as the link, because of the trouble it has caused me and my family. I want to make it clear that I never directly linked my personal blog and the thoughts on it to a site where my students would have direct access to them, because frankly the ideas I write about- life, art, politics, and religion amongst other things- need to be made more objective for a young audience. I never invited, mentioned, or encouraged my students to read my personal blog. As far as I know, except for a few students who may have independently investigated me on the Internet, very few of them knew I even had a personal site.

A member of the parent community at my school followed the link I had supplied here at Intrepid Teacher and found some material on my blog that they considered objectionable and took the issue to the school board. I was immediately asked to resign. The administration felt that I had given students direct access to material, which they felt was inappropriate. This material was a series of works of art I had done as part of an independent online art group last year. In order to avoid further trouble, I have since removed the prints in question.

The dilemma my director faced was not whether the material was inappropriate, but the fact that I had consciously made a link, which in their eyes encouraged students to view the prints.
I have to reiterate that I never made a direct link from my student site or invited or encouraged them to view my personal or professional sites at any time. I think this fact warrants repeating, because this perceived link was the main issue for which I was asked to resign. As a matter of fact the image itself was not even on my personal blog, but on a Flickr page.

In an attempt to be open and honest with parents and administrators, I simply tried to make the connection from professional and personal, so that should they Google me or find out that I do have a personal space- where I share my writing- they would not be surprised. I shake my head as I type these words, because by the sound of it you would think that my personal site is filled with offensive material, when in fact, I am actually quite proud of the work I do there. I have never done or said anything that was not aimed toward my personal evolution as a caring and passionate human being, artist, and teacher. I actually wanted parents and administrators to see the side of me. I was a bit nervous to expose the site should someone find offense to any particular post. Unfortunately, this transparency proved to be the cause of my current predicament.

I do not feel that the question here is the propriety of the material on the blog. As proof that I have learned my lesson, I have not linked to the site in question. The issue is the linking of sites. I have learned the important lesson that we must always separate our professional lives from our personal lives.

After writing a statement and making my plea to the board, the school felt that the parent community could not handle this situation. I have since, however, received much parental support and astonishment at my predicament. I now see that this episode was a series of poorly made choices. My director has assured me that he feels terrible about the whole thing, and that he would give me a good reference. I highly encourage you to speak with him to learn more about me as a teacher and a person. I also have several parents who have said they are willing to write me letters if the need should arise.

Let me close by saying that I want to be open and honest about this episode, so I encourage you to read my class and professional blog for yourself. After this experience, I would love to work in an environment that appreciates and prides itself with the work I have done both in and out of the classroom. I have learned a very valuable lesson on boundaries, online identities, and responsibility.

I think all of my words scattered over the Internet should give you an clear idea of what type of teacher I am and what types of dynamic and innovative ideas I can bring to your school. If, however, you are still unsure please read my official statement and letter to my students. I think their comments for that post, and this one, best elucidate the power of inspiration.

In short- I love teaching. I love education. I love what I do. I want to go to a place that appreciates and encourages my ideals. If you think that your school is that place, please email me back and let’s talk details. At least let’s chat on the phone or in person. I hope this episode does not tarnish the otherwise amazing work I do with students. Please also take the time to read the comments that  appear under this post and the ones already made here, or read some other articles written by other teachers here and here.

Thank your for your time.

I hope to write more about the details of what happened in the near future, but for now you can find my official statement to my students here, and my official statement below:

Due to a lapse in my judgment regarding material posted on my personal blog, my school has asked me to resign. I want you, as the readers of this blog, to know that I am agreeing to this decision without reservation, and I understand the steps taken by the school to protect its reputation.

There are many lessons to be learned here about: online identities, teachers as role models, institutionalized education, and much much more, but please allow me to find my footing, stabilize my life and get back on track, before I get into all that. Right now, I am trying to be as professional as possible, so as I can find a new job and get back to where I belong as fast possible- The classroom!

If you have any leads or contacts for job, I would appreciate you sending them my way.