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I never knew how old my elementary teachers were. It seemed to be a big secret what their first names were. Many years later, it was a long time in the teaching world before I met someone who shared their age with their students. It just wasn't done when I first started teaching. Now I have no qualms about telling them my age and they all know my given name. However, in many ways I still have 2 identities. 'Trish' and 'Ms. Morgan'. Personal and Professional. I keep and am told to keep many personal views to myself, such as political and religious. I respect this because I know I am a role model for my students. Whether I want it to or not, what I believe would influence them. Curriculum and professional ethics guide me to model positive character traits, such as, respect for people and environment, honesty and truthfulness, compassion, open-mindedness and patience. Most of the time, I have no trouble distinguishing between what I should share with students and what I shouldn't. And then along came online Social Media. 'Trish' soon had a Facebook account and a Twitter account. As I was setting them up, I thought to myself that perhaps I should not make myself easily searchable. So I played with my name a bit, added numbers, switched letters around and decided not to share this with my students. They know I have accounts. I'll refer to information I learned through Twitter or refer to a 'chat' I had with my daughter through Facebook but I don't show them the accounts. They know we have a class Twitter and websites but those are monitored and used by 'Ms. Morgan'. While I feel pretty comfortable with my decisions, I love to continue the discussion and have found a link with perspectives I agree with. I also found the guidelines for Nurses in New Brunswick that has two useful charts that address benefits/risks and do's/don'ts. I found it very interesting because of some of the similarities in our professions. I wonder if we should create something similar for teachers?And finally, I attend many ETFO events and have heard about cases (no names) of teachers who have not used technology wisely. This Voice magazine article shares our union's advice. The most common advice seems to suggest that common sense will guide us best. Both of me think it's a good place to start.
You have been in the "Tech" circle for a long time and have used Social Media throughout. I wonder, now that more and more people are using it, more and more principals, SOs are using it, the circles are getting larger and larger...is the impact changing? Should people be more cautious then then once were? Is there risks of conversations have less depth? We are often encouraging new teachers or even more experienced teachers to use social media..how are we guiding them through the risks (explicit or implicit).
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