The next morning, I ran into the aforementioned teacher in the faculty room and I decided to tell her what I overheard. I tried to be genteel, saying "I overheard some kids talking about your personal life in class the other day. Don't worry, it was nothing bad, but I thought you should be aware. They were talking about how you are dating some guy who works at Applebee's. Anyway, thought I'd let you know." She appreciated the notice, telling me that she sometimes lets kids into her room to eat lunch because they complain about the noise in the cafeteria and they must have overheard one of her phone conversations. A likely scenario, however, this is the same girl who runs Instant Messenger during class and had her little chats popping up while she was giving a PowerPoint presentation in class. Personal information oozes out of this young lady when you speak to her. She's very outgoing, but volunteers way too much information about herself.

The very next day, a young lady approached me during the last passing period of the day and asked, "Mr. Soandso, why do you have a Facebook?" To which I replied, "What?" in an attempt to ignore her. Determined to know why I might use a social networking site, she asked again. I said, "Why are you looking me up on Facebook? That's a little weird, don't you think?" She told me that she and a classmate were looking up their teachers online to see if any of them were "creepies." My Facebook profile is private. I took the necessary precautions to set it up that way, insuring against these sorts of misguided queries. I said, "Well, I think my profile is private, just like my personal life." She told me she could only see my friends list and that she found a few of my colleagues online who weren't private and commented that checking them out online was a strange experience.

Had this sort of technology been available in my high school days, I think I would probably check out my teachers too. I would never approach a teacher about his or her habits on the internet, but I would be interested to know what they are like outside of school. Thinking back, most of my teachers remain a mystery to me to this day. I dole out little personal tidbits and stories when applicable or teachable, but I play my cards close to my chest in this information age. Sure, I've got this blog, but I've done what I can to make it anonymous, though clever snooping might reveal my identity. These are interesting times we live in.