What is the appropriate thing to be called by ex-students?

Question

I have a lot of past high school students who write me emails, etc. Whenever I write back, I always put "Best, Amanda." Is it inappropriate for me to respond back to these kids and use my first name rather than my professional (Mrs. _________) name?

Answer 1

What are you comfortable with?
When I go to college I'm thinking about becoming a teacher. To be honest, I really wouldn't want to be called by my last name. I'd rather be called my real name not even with Miss in front of it.
Where as some people need to be "respected" and don't think it's right for an old student to call them Mrs._________.

Answer 2

Going by last name shows authority and respect. I think Mrs. _______ is more a appropriate. These are still professional relationships that you have with these students. The only time I go by my first name is when I am talking (or emailing) friends, family, coworkers or other personal relationships. If I email a parent I sign it with my first and last name. I think this shows that I am not an authority figure to them, but I am also not their friend. Once these students are out of college I think you can sign things with your first and last name. Then you are both adults and there is not authority involved.

Answer 3

I would have thought I would say Mrs ____________, but since moving to Georgia, where there is a lot of Miss First Name going on, I am a fan of the more casual. I don't teach in the classroom anymore, but I do teach at several art centers, etc, and my students all call me Miss Beth. If they were older, they could then drop the Miss comfortably.

I understand the 50 year old who still calls her teachers Mrs/Mr. I worked at my old high school and middle school and it was hard for me to call my teachers by their first names, it was just how I was raised. But kids today have not been raised the the same social values and morals that we were. So, I guess I would take it on a case by case basis as far as your ex students go.

Answer 4

If your ex-students and you are corresponding on a professional level (essentially student to teacher and vice-versa), respond with your professional title. To do otherwise is a bit too familiar.

If the relationship changes - for example, an ex-student becomes a teacher and an equal in your profession, or if you and an ex-student become related via a marriage in the families, a more familiar greeting MIGHT be called for. It really depends on how friendly a relationship is.

I'm 50, and still call my teachers Mrs. X and Mr. Y. It's the respectful thing to do.

Answer 5

It really depends if they are adults or not.
If they are under 18 I think you should use the Mrs name while if they graduated from high school Amanda would be appropriate. But heck I still call teachers Mrs or Mr.. I can't remember ever calling my kids teachers by their first names to me it a term of respect.

Answer 6

There was a lot of hoopla, when I first started teaching, about respect being tied in with formal names. I think a required respect feels false. I encourage past students to use whatever name they're comfortable with. Some students try both. Keeping and sharing contact is more important for me.

Answer 7

As an ex student and a current teacher, I still call my old teachers Mr. and Mrs. ____. Some people who I went to school with are now teachers. I had to adjust to calling them Mrs. _____, even though I have been calling them by their first names for 27 years. Some of my old students are now teachers. I have to adjust to calling them Mrs. ___ even though they are 10 years younger than me!

Answer 8

My past students still call me Mrs. and when they email me, I usually just put Mrs. T or nothing at all...they know who they emailed.