The Thorny Issue of Teachers and Social Media

Here's a post that is sure to set tongues wagging -- teachers and social media.

Before I even say anything more, disclaimers:

• I am a pretty involved social media user.
• I am not a social media expert.
• I am not a perfect person -- I am a mere human like everyone else.
• I am not anyone's boss.
• I am not anyone's parent (except for Becky).
• I make lots of mistakes in life.
• I am very good at learning from my mistakes (it is actually my favorite way to learn).

I may not have my own classroom full of kiddos, and I may not have loads of papers to grade, but I am still a teacher. I am a teacher who uses social media both personally and professionally. I work pretty carefully to keep the two separate -- that's not to say that there isn't cross-over (like this Tweet I put out recently from my work Twitter account of my dog after I drew eyebrows on her -- I laugh at it every time I see it).

My dog looks like Joan Crawford 😂😂😂 #Eyebrows pic.twitter.com/Y8VhEpPCVR

— Renee Bogacz (@mrsbogacz) January 30, 2018

Even though I try to keep my personal and professional life separate online, I still try to be conscious of the fact that my personal accounts need to be used thoughtfully.

Before I go any further, let's get this out of the way: it is not fair. I know it's not fair that teachers seem to be held to a higher standard than people in other professions, maybe even an unreasonable standard, but that's the way it is and I don't know how to change it. So I do my best to work with it (keeping in mind bullet point #3 above).

So if you are a teacher who also uses social media, here are some of the most common guidelines we should follow when it comes to our social media accounts, especially the ones we use personally:

• Use privacy settings. Your personal accounts should be limited to viewing by only your friends and family. This gives you the best level of control over your online appearance. One caveat: even with privacy settings at their tightest, nothing is private. Anything can be screen shotted or printed out and shared.
• Avoid the risque, controversial, and provocative. Whether it's language, photos, or something else, or if it involves a lack of clothing or offensive language, try to avoid it. Remember bullet point #3 above? Yes, I know I've posted pictures of the drinks I've had at dinner. Yes, I've posted pictures of myself at parties where other people have drinks in their hands. Yes, I have a colorful vocabulary. But I also make sure I don't have pictures taken of me looking like some kind of wild party animal (mostly because I'm really not -- I think I'm just too old and boring). My friends and family are cognizant of the fact that I'm a teacher, so they make sure they are thoughtful about what they share about me on social media, too. I always imagine whatever I am posting online being on a bulletin board in my classroom. If I don't really want it on the bulletin board, I try to avoid having it online.
• Don't complain about your job, employer, students, parents, or coworkers online. It's one thing to say, "I had a rough day today and I'm exhausted." It's quite another to say, "The little monsters were in rare form today and I am glad to be rid of them until tomorrow." Even if you're not naming names or speaking in generalities, it might land you in hot water.
• Don't post pictures of your students on your personal social media pages. This is a big line blur. Even if you don't use their names, it just shouldn't be done.
• Don't "friend" or "follow" students or parents through your personal social media. Again, this can really blur lines. These last two points can be tricky if your students and parents are your friends and neighbors in the community (I live AND work in Channahon, so this something I am face). If you are going to interact with those students and parents because they're your neighbors, just make sure that you're conscious of the fact that they are also students and parents.

Ultimately, this post this week is just to help teachers be aware of where some of the possible pitfalls are when it comes to social media use -- it's certainly not any kind of lecture (see bullet point #3 at the top of this post). Certainly, there are exceptions to all situations. All we need to do is constantly remind ourselves to be thoughtful about our own online behavior and it will be all good.