Social Media Perception & Professional Learning

6/18/2019

I believe social media can be a very useful tool for educators to develop and get better in their profession. By following and friending other educators you can access abundance of information about workshops, get ideas, get questions answered, networking opportunities, job opportunities. You can mentor or be mentored and help others. It's a great way to communicate with others that maybe are across the country and will never have the opportunity to meet face to face.
Personal social media and work social media should be separated period. Any page created where you are dealing with professional matters should be just that. Do not follow any friends or acquaintances unless they are in education. Do not post anything personal like vacations or opinions having to do with your family. Keep it related to your job and less problems will follow.
If I were to come across an inappropriate post from a student and it was not posted at school or from a school account having no relation or connection to my school site at all I would still notify my principal because she can contact the parents. I totally agree with Patrick Larkin's approach to the situation. Our kids are still our kids even when they are not in school and i'ts our job to teach them about the dangers of the world with the support of their parents. It takes a village. The goal would not be to get the student in trouble but a "teachable moment" for them to understand the risks and potential consequences of their actions. My suggestion would be after the principal contacted the parents for the school to host some sort of an assembly to prevent and educate other students from doing the same thing.

3 Comments

Karling Skoglund

6/19/2019 02:26:59 pm

Alexis,

I respect and completely agree with your post, specifically the portion about "it takes a village" and that it is our responsibility as teachers to help teach them, not only in the classroom, during school hours, but also outside of those hours, especially if it is low hanging fruit like reporting and following up with a teachable moment. While it might be easier for a teacher to ignore and try to forget an inappropriate post, these are the times when our students can learn in a safe environment, before they become old enough to really do damage to their reputation by posting something unwise because they are ignorant of the consequences. This topic has me really reflecting on how I acted and the stupid decisions I made as a young adult (thank goodness social media came after I developed a sense of decorum). I really hope that I can help my students with their digital citizenship and integrate lessons so they are fully aware of the responsibility they take on when communicating online.

Karling

Golden Williams

6/20/2019 08:10:26 am

Using social media to watch other teachers and your mentor is a great tool. I don’t do that now but I will start to. I will start connecting to teacher I know around the world and try now to start bring their ideas into my class so that I can have very special class. I need to start to make multiple accounts one for personal and of work. This is good to keep it sperate because it keeps your privacy. I really like how you would use the inappropriate post as a teachable moment. That if very important because we need to teach our students not get them in trouble.

Lisa Marie Smith

6/20/2019 03:28:40 pm

Alexis,

I liked how to shared about making the situation be a teachable moment. Children and parents do not know what they do not know. Therefore, we need to educate and teach them about social media etiquette and how to practice being safe, responsible, and respectful when it comes to posting stuff on various social media sites. I wonder if there are classroom or school-wide online presentations that can be used to promote safety, responsibility, and respectful use of social media.

Regards,

LIsa Marie

EDUC 702