tworks Like Facebook Teachers often forget that, just because they work in a school with someone, that individual may not be their friend! A few years ago, one teacher who was frustrated by the actions of his principal took to posting critical comments about her on a social networking site. Members had been asked to keep all posts on the site private, but someone chose to download the teacher's posts and supply them to the principal. Not only did the teacher have a lot of explaining Avoiding social networking to do, but the principal later attempted to A Av can protect you to some exercise retribution by placing him on a plan of extent but is not a assistance for some trumped-up nonsense.
Johnston's My Space photos. The principal investigated and found several photos of her on a bed dressed in nothing but a bikini. Ms. Johnston was immediately placed on leave pending an investigation. In the end, her employment was not renewed for the subsequent year. While the photographs were far from lewd, the fact that Ms. Johnston J exposed po her students to the images showed poor judgment judg inconsistent with society's expectations ex for teacherstudent interaction.
perfect solution. Sometimes students will create fake sites in their teacher's names in an attempt to belittle or harm them. So, it's always a good idea to claim your identity on Face book, so your students can't. Just because you ca have hav a an account doesn't mean you have to post! Teachers should Teachers T sho remember to: avoid accepting i friend f i d requests from students or keep students in a separate list from adult friends, use private settings for most everything, join only groups that will reflect well on you as a professional, monitor the posts your friends make on your wall, remove inappropriate posts or block posts from friends who tend to make inappropriate comments, untag photos of yourself that you don't want students to see, accept only true friend or trusted acquaintances, avoid posting anything that could be conceived of as vulgar, distasteful, insensitive, prejudicial, or otherwise inappropriate, make sure jokes and other off-hand comments you post cannot hurt you if taken out of context, consider posting nothing at all
The best way to avoid trouble is to know what your school district's expectations are related to employees use of social networking. Some districts attempt to forbid teachers from using such sites. However, there are some constitutional issues when employers place unreasonable restrictions on the free-speech rights of their employees on their own time. Still, it's good to know the boss's expectations no matter how irrational they are! Use the newspaper test for social networking. If you wouldn't want your mother to see that photo of you at last Friday night's party or read your Facebook post on the front page of the hometown paper, don't post it! Once something is on the Internet, it's impossible to erase, retrieve, or d e s t r o y. U s e caution, common sense, and good judgment on your social networks!
because Internet posts are never truly private, and Erick E. Huth, Ed. D., avoid talking about your school, students, colleagues, is MNEA Vice President and supervisors.
Internet posts are never truly private. Avoid talking about your school, students, colleagues, and supervisors.
CITY EDUCATORS MAGAZINE
September 2011
9