Scrolling through social media, as I often mindlessly do, I am repeatedly reminded of the powerful educators with whom I am in community. It is not my community. It is a community in which I am a learning, growing, contributing member. These educators inspire me, motivate me, encourage me, and remind me of the change we can be in the world. This community is fiercely inclusive and we challenge ourselves to better understand what that means in the “real world” — a world that is fiercely exclusive. We know how hard we have to work to meaningfully and intentionally include each child who struggles to meet adult expectations and each adult with whom we disagree. But we actively try. We try to make each other better today than we were yesterday, we call each other out when it’s necessary, and we celebrate the smallest victories because we know this work is so hard.
This is the community I choose. The community I grow. The community I champion.
So when, during that mindless social media scrolling, I see teachers complaining about the challenges of their job, the antics of a particular learner that day, or the ridiculousness of some new accountability measure, I am disheartened. Not because I can’t relate to the need to vent, or because I don’t understand just how hard it is, or because I can’t take a joke. But because when teachers mock kids or diminish kids on social media, I wonder how they make that same child feel in their classroom. And I wonder how the kid’s loved ones would feel if they saw their child’s bad day or bad moment posted for all the teacher’s friends, family, and followers to laugh, shame, tsk tsk, or sympathize.
I think about how I would react if I saw my own children referred to on their teachers’ social media.
Actual posts:
improvement for the day: student pees on the bathroom floor instead of in my lap #itsthelittlethings
Well, buddy, I wouldn’t give you the death stare if you were doing what I told you to do. #teacherproblems
One day I’m going to slip and tell a parent their kid is the reason I drink so much.
My sped babies loved it too! (PSA: Sped is the past tense verb of speed; sped is NOT an adjective that describes a person. And children in elementary school are not babies. Our language reflects our values.)
These are the things you say to your partner, to your best friend, to your cat. I definitely get it. I have very stressful, difficult days, too. But these are not the things you put out into the cyber. If you have a social media profile to showcase your work, it should highlight your ability to see students in their full complexity and to honor their humanity, illustrate the dynamic and complex environments of education, elevate the knowledge and skills the best teachers possess.
Part of my responsibility to the field is to support future teachers in preparing their social media world for their professional life. That means removing pictures of beer pong and spring break. It may even mean setting up new “adult” accounts. It always means many serious conversations about never ever posting about children they interact with professionally. The children you teach are not your children, despite your love and commitment to them. You do not have the right to post about them. Their faces, their bathroom issues, their annoying habits. Not. For. Social. Media. You are a teacher. It’s an awesome responsibility. A position of power. One of great influence, the potential to build a child up or tear that same child to shreds. Use your powers for good.
As we build teachingisintellectual’s profile on social media and within the education community, we remain steadfast in our commitment to the integrity of learners. Every learner has value, all behavior is communicating a child’s feelings or needs, and all educators are adults in these spaces. Let’s lift learners up, see and celebrate their strengths, and promote education as a profession.
How have your social media habits changed since you became a teacher? How do you use social media to promote your work and your profession? Have you had any really positive or really negative experiences from using social media professionally that you can share?