Teacher Candidates are entering the professional field of education. Part of that responsibility includes adjusting some practices from “college student” to “professional educator” appropriate. Teacher Candidates must review various aspects of life with a new set of eyes – those of a teacher, Principal, parent, or potential employer. Be mindful of “Friending” students in the classroom and/or colleagues.
Teacher Candidates are advised to remove pictures and social media posts which do not represent them as developing professional educators. Teacher Candidates have a very visible presence in a conservative field and should represent themselves as upstanding members of this profession. Teacher Candidates should review pictures and posts in their text messaging, instant messaging, email, blogs, chat rooms, video-sharing Web sites, editorial comments posted on the Internet, and social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, Flickr, and YouTube. This also includes photos that friends of teacher candidates may post on their own pages, as everything is linked and easy to navigate.
Additionally, socially visible areas that may require attention are voicemail greetings, email signatures, and social media or email user names. For example: Do callers hear loud music and a very “informal” greeting? Is the teacher candidate’s email address or signature business-like or one which might raise eye-brows (i.e. hotmamma@gmail.com)?
Teacher Candidates are educators and role models for the students in their classrooms. While in a classroom the Cooperating Teacher may utilize social media for instructional purposes. Most School Districts have an electronic media policy available to read. All teacher candidates are required to obtain permission from the Cooperating Teacher prior to teaching the lesson employing technology or social media tools for educational purposes.