I have an AIM screen name that I give my students to use when they want to ask me school-related questions after hours. Some of my colleagues have expressed concerns about my doing this, but I’m careful to log everything and make sure to keep the conversations school-appropriate.
Last night, I got an IM from one of my students’ mothers. We had a wonderful 90-minute conversation about her son over IM that was in-depth, insightful, and in short exactly the kind of conversation that I wish I could have with each of my students’ parents.
The student IMed me separately to wish me a happy Thanksgiving, so I was briefly messaging with the student and his mom in separate windows. Needless to say, I took more than the usual amount of care not to mix up what I was typing to whom!
