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Facebook useful, for teachers too

By: Mary Queisser <mqueisser@hilite.org>

Orchestra director Soo Han was not born into the Facebook and MySpace wave that has erupted over the past few years. He said it isn’t his generation. “Which is weird to say considering I’m not much older than you guys.” However, he said he has still merged into the phenomenon by creating his own page.

Han initially started an account when he heard rumors that his student teacher at North Central may have posted questionable content. So to verify the gossip, Han said he created his own account. Not only did he discover the rumors were false, but also a portal to keep in touch with old friends.

“When I started my account I was suddenly reunited with 40 of my high school friends and tons of college friends,” Han said. “So I’ve been having a blast catching up with them and seeing their family pictures and finding out people were married and that my high school friends have kids now.”

Contrary to popular belief, sites such as Facebook are not just student-based operations. According to Media Buyer Planner, more than half of Facebook users are not in college and the 25+ age group is the fastest growing demographic.

Though Emily Homes, one of Han’s students and senior,said she does believe that Facebook is more student-oriented, she said she doesn’t find it strange and that Han isn’t the only teacher she knows who has a Facebook.

Homes said the prospect of one of her teachers coming across her page doesn’t bother her. “I have nothing to hide,” she said. “It’s the kids who, you know, post pictures drinking at a party who have something to worry about.” Homes even said she wouldn’t mind adding Han to her friend list.

As far as Han stumbling upon his students’ pages, he said runs into them all the time but makes a point to avoid making contact for the sake of privacy. “I want my privacy and I’ve earned my privacy,” he said. “I think I spend enough time with my students during and after school and I don’t think it’s appropriate to be ‘friends.’”

Unlike Han, Brian Spilbeler, station manager of WHJE, said Facebook could be a new outlet for coaches and teachers to contact with students about their extra-curricular and academic activities.

“Their students are going to get on to Facebook more than anything,” Spilbeler said.
For example, this year WHJE started its own Facebook account and group that has now cumulated over 200 members. Students who host a radio shows now have their own group, such as Sam and Pat’s Sports Chat.

At the same time, Spilbeler said teachers need to exercise a level of caution. “It requires a lot of personal judgment,” he said.

Despite that Han’s success in joining the hype, he said he still needs to figure some things out. “I’m still not exactly Facebook literate. I just know how to post things on the wall,” he said. “It’s just been a medium to catch up with old friends.”

Just for the passion of it

By: Erin Lowe <elowe@hilite.org>

Even though he said it’s a big time commitment, Math Club sponsor Matt Wernke said he doesn’t mind not being compensated.

“Math Club meets every Friday for about an hour and outside of school we do things like go to Butler, Rose-Hulman, Franklin and Saturday competitions which are about six hours each,” Wernke, who also teaches math here, said. “ I’m okay with not being paid. I sponsor the club for the students.”
nd Athletics Director Jim Inskeep, who is also in charge of coordinating sponsors for the various clubs at this school this year, said that he depends on teachers like Wernke who really enjoy doing what they do because they care about the students.

“So many teachers have a passion to do things for the student body,” Inskeep said. “There is no certain number of hours these teachers are supposed to put in. It’s up to them (the teachers and students); they come up with the meetings. The student officers might organize the meetings.”

Even the teachers who sponsor clubs that do earn some monetary compensation said that the money they’re paid isn’t necessarily reflective of the work put in. According to Debbie Haire, NHS sponsor and science teacher, she is paid for sponsoring the club but only a small stipend, which is not nearly enough for the amount of overtime she works, she said.

“Inside of school I spend over 300 hours doing NHS, and outside of school, I probably spend over 200 hours. It adds up to about 500 hours a year,” Haire said. “I think (NHS) is a huge commitment because there are so many students. We also do fund-raisers like (carnation sales). Other things we do include Tools for Teachers, Dance Marathon, Carmel Clay Telethon, Open House, FESKs (final exam survivor kits) and other community service and school projects.”

But this workload doesn’t deter Haire. “The reason I sponsor NHS is because I enjoy working with the students and the community service projects and I really just enjoy doing everything in NHS,” she said.

Wernke spoke along the same lines. “The reason why I sponsor math club is to give students the opportunity to compete in competitions,” he said. “I also really enjoy the problem and the critical reasoning. Mostly I enjoy the challenge and the type of students I get to work with.”

As for Inskeep, he said he’s glad so many teachers volunteer their time to work with kids outside of the classroom. “I think the clubs we have here make it a great place,” Inskeep said, “and make it easy to find your niche. It’s a real tribute to sponsor these clubs.”

The psychology of impression

By: Tommy Sneider <tsneider@hilite.org>

Sophomore Courtney Bentley said that the first impression is really important in a teacher. “I usually hear stuff from kids who had the teacher the year before, and they tell me if (the teacher) is good or bad. I just usually try to find out for myself,” Bentley said.

For her, the teacher that made the best first impression was Spanish teacher Donna Gutzweiler. “She was just really excited the first day, and it just seemed to make the class more fun,” Bentley said.

Conversely, psychology teacher Robin Pletcher said that, like students, teachers also find first impressions important in their students “If a kid comes in the first day of school, loud and obnoxious, you might need to keep an eye on the kid,” Pletcher said.

“I see kids coming (on the first day) in August after 10 weeks of break. Those first impressions fluctuate even more from the first day until the end (of the semester),” Pletcher said.

Other students choose to ignore what other kids say about a certain teacher. Junior Allison Rhea said, “I try really hard to have an open mind about every teacher because everyone has different experiences depending on the class you are in.”

While students such as Bentley think that the first impression is important, Pletcher thinks differently. Pletcher said she does not put too much emphasis on it since impressions do not necessarily show what the student is like. “I would like to think at the high school level, students are still open to those first impressions not being solid, but that they can change,” Pletcher said.

For Rhea, these impressions are very important. “I think first impressions are important because it’s easy to decide how much you want to participate in a class by the way the class goes the first few days,” Rhea said.

But according to Pletcher, both students and teachers should be careful in being too quick to judge. Social categorization sometimes occurs when teachers first meet of a particular student or vice versa, she said. “Social categorization is where, for example, if a student is loud, you group (the student) with other loud students in the past. You look for that characteristic and then group them together,” Pletcher said.
However, Pletcher said it’s difficult to avoid categorizing people from first impression. “It gets to the point where you learn to get past that. You’ll always have a first impression, but after you meet new people, the more you’ll know the first impression isn’t going to last.

This occurs as well with students meeting the teachers for the first time. “(Gutzweiler) was just really energetic, and so she just seemed like the type of teacher that makes the class fun,” Bentley said.

However, there are some circumstances where first impressions could be misleading for teachers. Psychologically, something could be wrong with the student that could lead to a misleading first impression. “If someone’s really quiet in class, you might think that they are uninterested. You could get that impression externally when internally, they could be drained,” Pletcher said.

Bentley said that everyone has those days where everything goes wrong, and that it could affect how meeting someone new would look at you.

Teachers can work towards making a good first impression by being professional and fair to the students. “If a student sees a teacher preferring one student over another, it’s not fair to the other student, and you lose credibility,” Pletcher said.

While what goes appears on the outside could affect the first impression, Pletcher said to keep in mind that stuff could be going on inside the person’s head. “Sometimes (people) make evaluations on what you are given rather than what all is there.”

Overall, Pletcher said that sometimes these evaluations are right. “To an extent, first impressions tend to carry through, but that doesn’t mean that once you get to know the students more, that’s not going to change,” Pletcher said.

While categorizing always happen at one time or another, it does not mean that the impression of the person can’t change. Rhea said, “Sometimes you can catch someone who is not having the best day and then later realize that they are really nice.”

JV wins versus Noblesville, looks toward Hamilton SE

FIGHTING FOR POSESSION: Charlie Dankert, JV socccer player and sophomore, challenges Noblesville for control of the ball during the Sept. 6 game. JV soccer prepares for their next game against Hamiliton Southeastern tomorrow.

Volleyball team carries momentum into second-half of the season

Starting at Middle: Sarah Havel, starting middle hitter and senior, gets introduced before playing a volleyball match against Ben Davis. The Hounds won the match 25-14, 25-10, 25-13.

Carmel follows path of previous State champs

By: Jon Haslem <jhaslem@hilite.org>

With a record of 7-1-0, the varsity men’s soccer team is heading in the same direction as last years squad. With a State championship win, that would mark a Carmel High School record for the men’s soccer team. It would be the first time the team would win back to back state titles for the team.

“I play to win,” junior Jamie Fisher said, “State is our ultimate goal and is what we play for. This year we are very motivated to win not only to win back to back titles, but also to prove that we are as good as last years team too.”

Fisher has been involved with high school soccer for three years now, and has played both travel and rec leagues in the past.“I like soccer, and will keep it up as long as I can,” said Fisher.

The teams’ most recent win was over Wayne Canterbury with a score of 2-1. Carmel is now ranked third in the state.“We played well defensively and won our third hard fought game in five days,” said Coach Shane Schmidt.

“I look forward to finishing the season, and to see how we end up,” said Fisher.

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