CLASSROOM TECH: A.M.

EDITION
Volume 1 Issue 2

November 2012

Personal Facebook Accounts: Dos and Donts For Teachers

its members in its October 2010 monthly newsletter. Ensure your privacy settings are at the highest level for all content(NSTU 2011). (Avoiding online m isconduct, 2010). She believed that her security settings were set to private. However, they were not. The teacher stated that she wasnt sorry for the comments she made, but was sorry they went public. Ensure your posts and photos/im ages are professional and respectful (Avoiding online m isconduct, 2010). is to ensure that Again, disciplinary action could result, depending upon the nature of the information shared. To that end, a Chicago mother has launched a lawsuit against a school board due to computer teacher posting a picture of her daughter on her Facebook site. Apparently, it was picture day at the school and the little girl decided to put Jolly Ranchers in her braids.

Today, it seems that everyone has a Facebook page-from your 90-year-old grandmother to the family pet. Social media users come from all walks of life in order to make connections with, and friend one another. However, the media is riddled with stories about individuals updating their status on Facebook and then getting in trouble at work. Teachers, in particular, are being warned to use Facebook at their own risk. However, social networking has become the primary means of contact for individuals. To that end, the Nova Scotia Teachers Union offered some advice about Facebook usage to

This

information stays as private as possible. However, the NSTU warns that individuals could still disseminate information by copying it and sharing it. Depending upon the nature of the information, the teacher could be subject to disciplinary action. In Massachusetts, a curriculum fired after supervisor referring was to

residents of the town in which she worked as arrogant and snobby (H.S. Teacher, 2010).

The mother copied the page and before the teacher could delete her account. The teacher apologized before the board, but the mother isnt satisfied with this. Thus, she launched her lawsuit (Bielski, 2011). Dont have students as Facebook friends or otherwise com m unicate with students via Facebook (Avoiding online m isconduct, 2010).

2011). The Nova Scotia Teachers Union echoes this by stating, You are not your students friends. You are their teacher. Allowing personal relationships to develop with students creates the risk that your communications will be misinterpreted that you will become too familiar with that student (Avoiding online misconduct, 2010). Dont criticize your em ployer or your colleagues (Avoiding online m isconduct, 2010). This information is only private until some one else decides to share it. Again, disciplinary action could result. A quick search of Google provides many news stories of people who were fired for saying inappropriate on Facebook. things about their boss or their workplace

Dont vent about your students or their parents (Avoiding online m isconduct, 2010). The NSTU states that teachers have a duty to keep information about your students confidential, and can be disciplined for breaching that confidentiality (Avoiding online misconduct, 2010). For example, The Globe and Mail reported in its Monday, April 4th, 2011 edition A New Jersey [elementary] teacher was suspended after posting that she felt like a "warden" overseeing "future criminals" on her Facebook page (Bielski, 2011). This message was posted to her friends on her Facebook page. However, parents got wind of the posting and showed up at the school demanding that their children be removed from her classroom. The boards

In fact, the Ontario College of teachers recently banned its members from friending students on Facebook. The OCT believes that once a teacher and student become connected through an online portal such as Facebook, it permanently undermines the relationship. That can lead to discussions that are not appropriate for teachers take part in (Vardy,

superintendent received a text message about her post from various community groups. As a result, the teacher was suspended. However, the teachers lawyer said that the comments were made to her

friends on her own time. But, the teacher was suspended nonetheless.

Dont access or post on your account during class tim e (Avoiding online m isconduct, 2010). A teacher could be subject to disciplinary action because they are performing personal

tasks when they should be working. The Bottom Line Teachers need to recognize that they are, in a sense, always on the job. Things said or posted online, could have implications on the job.

References Avoiding online misconduct: Facebook do's and don'ts. (2010, October). The Teacher, 49(2), 5. Retrieved from: www.nstu.ca/images/pklot/MmbrSrvMsgOct10.pdf Bielski, Z. (2011, April 28). For teachers on facebook. professionalism trumps fun. The globe and mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/for-teachers-on-facebook-professionalism-trumps-fun/article597689/ Bielski, Z. (2011, April 04). Teacher suspended for dissing students on facebook. The globe and mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/teacher-suspended-for-dissing-students-on-facebook/article613098/ H.S. teacher loses job over Facebook posting: Cohasset supervisor resigns over remarks about school, students. (2010, August 18). Retrieved from http://www.wcvb.com/H-S-Teacher-Loses-Job-Over-Facebook-Posting/-/9849586/11284946/-/n9pjpqz/-/index.html Vardy, M. (2011, April 13). Ontario teachers forbidden from friending students on facebook. The Next Web, Retrieved from http://thenextweb.com/ca/2011/04/13/ontario-teachers-forbidden-from-friending-students-on-facebook/ Image Credits http://www.tek-lado.com/2011/07/31/senate-bill-forbids-teachers-student-facebook-relationship/?lang=en http://rossieronline.usc.edu/privacy-settings-facebook-teachers/ http://www.saferinternet.org/web/guest/blog?p_p_id=homeBlog_WAR_insafeportlet&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=vie w&p_p_col_id=column- 1&p_p_col_count=1&_homeBlog_WAR_insafeportlet_action=detail&_homeBlog_WAR_insafeportlet_articleId=183924& http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/files/2009/11/Facebook.0607-Medium.JPG http://www.randomconnections.com