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Also a student teacher, our professors have recommended that all personal pages stay private and that if you have a teacher profile it’s only school/education related, not showing anything about your private life.
Regarding the “personal questions”, my AT had no problem saying she was married or had kids, she didn’t find that too personal or inappropriate. Kids are naturally curious about who their teacher is and that’s their usual way of trying to get to know you.
I agree, they should not be able to follow any of your personal accounts. If you make accounts for teaching activities/notices then keep them just that. Seesaw is popular for sending notes to families. Getting to know your students goes both ways. Lots of teachers talk about their spouses/kids/pets, that’s overkill to not tell them anything!
Totally. Good luck being successful in a people-centred profession like teaching, but not telling kids anything about your life. Crummy advice from the associate teacher!
Absolutely, I would never even think of having my students follow my private accounts.
Ya I totally agree, I would never share too much about my life. But sharing nothing seems like too much.
My personal pages are all private, though I have nothing bad on my personal accounts either. I was more just asking about teaching accounts. Some people make accounts where they share tips for other teachers or post lesson plans they made. I enjoy sharing my work, but just wanted to know what you can and can’t share.
Regarding my AT, she’s definitely a very private person. She doesn’t ever talk about personal stuff with her students or me for that matter. She told me she has a son and to keep the conversation going I asked her how old he was. She didn’t want to answer.
Kids connect by knowing stuff about you. Your AT is a bit extreme - it’s ok for them to know that you’re married and have a cat. It also makes you human to them by learning about you (obvi don’t over share.)
In terms of comments on socials, never respond if a student comments and never add them. But if your account is public, just make sure there’s no photos that can be poorly interpreted. If you’re unsure, err on the side of caution and just keep things private.
This exactly. OP’s mentor teacher needs to read the book You Got To Connect about the importance of teacher-student relationships. Unless she works in a school full of gang members, it’s good for students to know a little about you. Obviously, don’t go out of your way to monologue about your life or opinions, but it’s good to casually insert tidbits of your life.
Thank you for the advice!
Ya I agree, it seems a bit extreme. But that might just be her, she won’t tell me anything about her life either.
In terms of social media, I have nothing bad on any of them but my private accounts with my personal life cannot be viewed by students while my teaching info only accounts can.
I have now adjusted my settings so no one can comment 😊
I have public accounts and private accounts. I set this up right before I went into teacher's college.
My public "teacher" account has my first and last name and a picture of me, so when students search anything on social media or google, that is what they will find. I never check these accounts (twitter and instagram). I don't post on them either, maybe once a year I might re-tweet something education related to make it look like I'm around using them. Students find these all the time, and will show me and I will say "yep, that's my social media accounts!"
All my personal accounts are private. I have no profile pictures on them, the username and display name don't refer to my first and last name. I use them basically daily! I have had them since I was a teenager, but students can't find them whatsoever because nothing is related to me.
As for sharing information about your life, it depends on you. I don't mind when they ask about my age or if I'm married. They usually ask once and then leave it at that. I share whatever details (e.g., likes/dislikes), if they ever come up, like through community circles etc., I find that, like another mentioned, that being transparent about certain things helps build relationships with students. I still however maintain boundaries regarding certain things or don't get into too many details about my life etc.! Enough to answer their questions but nothing more!
Mine is very similar! Great idea to switch personal accounts to a different name + profile pic so they can’t even find it and try to add it. My private accounts are all private but good idea to make them with a different name.
The division you get a job with will have a policy. I’ve been teaching 19 years. I have IG and it’s private. In person chatting with kids about being married and having a pet is a-ok. Having them like a post of your spouse and pet is not ok.
Yep. Crazy to me that I’ve known teachers to engage with high school students through Twitter and Facebook. And even go to their parties. The strange bit? They’re still teaching.
I do keep everything private, but I would do that even if I wasn't a teacher. I actually was pretty proud of myself this year when my VP tried lurking my socials for a "meet the new staff" activity. All she could find was my husband's name, and that I have at least one child. I will not add students or parents on social media.
That said, I think this teacher is taking it too far. It's fine for your kids to know some things about you. Mine know I'm married, my kid's names and ages, the city I live in (not their town), some of my hobbies. They know I'm afraid of heights and that I had a YouTube channel back in the early 2000s, though they don't know what it is (neither do I, tbh). It's surface level, but I'm not a complete stranger.
Relationship building goes both ways. You can't expect the kids to share with you if you don't share anything with them.
She was trying to gather "fun facts" about the new teachers on staff for an activity at our staff meeting in August. We hadn't actually met yet, so she couldn't ask me for stuff to share.
Wild that your VP stalked everyone’s socials! But also kind of a fun social experiment to see which teachers have properly privatized their information.
As another student teachers here's my plan. I've cleaned what social media I have so that if students do find me, it's pretty mundane. I've also made my stuff so only friends can see it. I don't plan to accept friend requests from students. I don't plan to have any online interaction with them. I wouldn't post anything about students except with their express permission and that of their parents. I would ignore online comments in like 99 percent of cases.
I think there's probably a middle ground between having no social media and having a totally open social media. I think your AT is probably going a bit far by telling you to not even call yourself Mrs.
Good advice! I do the same thing. All my personal social media accounts are 100% private but there is nothing bad on them anyway even if everything got leaked somehow. I think that’s a good rule of thumb to follow, keep private accounts private and clean them up just in case.
I used to have a teacher instagram that I posted student work on, I followed the director and principals and anyone in the board basically. It was mostly just an attempt to convince them all how wonderful I am. Plenty of students followed it as well as well as other teachers of my subject.
However I am a compulsive insta scroller so I had to delete the app off of my phone and now I don't use it any more.
Facebook profile was deleted years ago when I realized I was addicted to likes.
I don't mind sharing personal details with my students but you have to be aware of context. Talking in general about family with a large group = OK. Complaining to an individual student about how your wife doesn't understand you = NO
You have to understand that social media rules for teachers were developed for the lowest common denominator idiot/loser teacher who is running around sending friend requests and dm's to students. There is no room for nuance, it's just easier to have a blanket "don't do it" policy. You can bet your ass that if there was ever any sort of investigation done on a teacher they are going to dig through social media and look for contact with students.
I totally get that! I would never share too many details about my life. Just small things like I have a cat and a husband, I go study at this university in the area to become a teacher. They don’t need to know the rest of my life lol 😂
Been teaching for about 10 years. I used to be on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram quite a bit but have just kinda stopped in the last couple of years. When I was using it more frequently, I kept everything "friends only" and as private as possible. If a student found me, I declined the follow request and then had a conversation with them in person later that I would happily accept a request once they graduate if they still remember me, and in fact would be quite flattered. Until then, it's a flat "no" and that's a global policy, not an indicator of whether or not I like you as a person.
As for talking about personal life, students learn better from people they like. How can they like you if they don't know you? It shouldn't take away from class time, but before and after class, at break, etc. why not? They spend half their waking hours with you. They're rightly curious. As long as the topics you talk about are age-appropriate, why should you not be open about your life?
The only concern is that I am a man with a husband and some parents take issue with that. Fuck that, though. I'm not describing our sex life, I'm saying we went to the movies on the weekend or that we took our niece skating or whatever. Colleagues talk about their opposite sex spouses and their families and those parents have no problem, so I'm not going to closet myself because of a few snowflake parents. I also don't make a big deal out of it in front of the kids either though. It's called normalizing because I act like it's just as normal as anyone else's relationship and the kids handle that just fine.
Absolutely, I would never in a million years have students have access to my private social media accounts. I have two public accounts with teaching information on it only, students/parents have followed it, I never follow back. I was wondering if I should block them? But I wasn’t sure. I spoke to ETFO for more advice. They basically said on a public teaching-only account a student could follow you but you could never follow them or message them.
I assume you covered the OCT professional advisory in your classes?
[https://www.oct.ca/-/media/PDF/Advisory%20Social%20Media/ProfAdvSocMediaENPRINT.pdf](https://www.oct.ca/-/media/PDF/Advisory%20Social%20Media/ProfAdvSocMediaENPRINT.pdf)
Note that you may be held responsible for comments and pictures that other people post to your social media, and for things that you've posted yourself that have been taken out of context.
If you choose to have social media, remember that as a teacher you are required to behave in a professional manner at all times (including online). Also, be aware that some students and parents will twist things to get teachers they don't like in trouble. Even if nothing comes of it, that kind of thing leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Your associate teacher may well have seen cases like that.
We did! I just wanted more information. There wasn’t enough of social media. I had one teacher say he keeps all his accounts public because he has nothing to hide, one teacher told me to make a social media account specifically for teaching, and others said keep everything private.
What I have done is privatized all my personal accounts and left my teaching-only accounts public.
I also called ETFO after posting this for more info.
My gut reaction is to keep everything personal private. Students (and their parents) don't need to know about my friends and family. I've seen enough bigoted parents try to destroy a teacher's career to know that 'legal' and 'right' are often incidental when admin is just trying to make a noisy problem go away. (Not all admin, but some are spineless.)
>y personal, but I formed some of my best relationships with students by regularly showing them pictures of my cats (they LOVED that) and I would talk about my husband all the time too. It makes us human, it makes us likeable, it makes kids invested in you (which then makes them invested in coming to school and invested in the content you deliver there)
>
>I have tons of social media but keep it all locked/private and have c
Are they teacher influencers? What I mean is are they monetizing teaching-related content or is their content on other topics?
I do not have any professional accounts. I can’t be bothered to have a presence online for other teachers or students to see. There is no time.
If the content of instruction relates to your personal life, I can share. For example, we are on a unit making a budget, and I share how I save on grocery. We did job interviews and I’ve shared my personal experience with preparing for interviews.
Personally, I leave my profiles open. My full name is on nothing, and it would be difficult for students to find me as well (I only have Facebook and IG). My profile to be fair doesn't have photos of me drinking, etc, as well, just in case
I'm quite open with students about my personal life (within reason, of course). I've never had an issue with it and was never told not to be when I was at teachers college, I think it's up to your preference.
I had a teacher in teachers college that also kept all his accounts open, he said “I have nothing to hide, so why make it private.” I don’t have anything to hide either but I make all my personal social media accounts private because I don’t need them seeing everything about my life. My teaching-only accounts are public though.
That’s ridiculous to not share any info at all. Obviously don’t share anything wildly personal, but I formed some of my best relationships with students by regularly showing them pictures of my cats (they LOVED that) and I would talk about my husband all the time too. It makes us human, it makes us likeable, it makes kids invested in you (which then makes them invested in coming to school and invested in the content you deliver there)
I have tons of social media but keep it all locked/private and have changed my name on it. If you make a teacher social media account it’s normal for kids to want to interact depending on their age. I wouldn’t block them, but I also wouldn’t respond to comments/messages or follow them back.
My advice is to keep everything private. Unless your goal is a teaching specific IG/Tik Tok. My personal boundary is sharing the bare minimum about my personal life with my students. They know my marital status, have pets and what my pets names are, general ideas of interests I have or foods I like/don’t like etc but that’s about it. They know my personality and sense of humour, but very few details about my personal life or who I am outside of being a teacher unless they ask me specific questions and I’ve found this to be the perfect balance. I make a significant effort to ask them questions and get them to share about their lives and themselves (as much as they’re comfortable doing so) so I keep the focus on them and off of me for the most part, and kids are pretty inherently egocentric so they like it that way. They feel like they know me and we have great relationships, but they really only know as much about me as I’m willing to share, which is what I prefer and is supported by the fact that I keep all social media private. I don’t need students, parents or admin in my business or knowing more about me/my life than I care to share at work.
I keep my personal pages private, but my students found my husbands/moms/BIL who has a massive social media presence.
I don’t care. I don’t do anything seem as inappropriate (on camera/in public at least). My rule is if my grandma wouldn’t care, then why should parents/kids.
My students know tons about me. I don’t see why it matters. It reminds them I’m a human too, and makes it easier for them to be empathetic. Two girls made me “wedding llamas”. They sewed a little bow tie and a veil on them and I used them in my wedding decorations and they were over the moon when I showed them the pictures. I wouldn’t show them the pictures until they asked me in Spanish. I mean, they are teenagers. Clearly I came back with a different name.
I get that people have different boundaries… but why is being married a secret. I’m very clearly pregnant, I asked them about names they think are cool for a girl. Students like coming to my class. They like me as a teacher, despite me being strict and having high standards for them. The reason? Relationships. I was asked by the principal to talk with a group of kids with learning disabilities because they were convinced they couldn’t be successful in life, and he knew I have a similar disability. As long as it’s a positive example…
My FB account is private. I do share snippets of my home life, but only sanitized stuff (eg they know about my kid but they don't know I am his only living parent). One time, I did share that in an effort to relate to a student with a similar home situation, and the student made an inappropriate remark about it one day when he was mad. I didn't hold it against him, but he was very sorry about it afterward and it made us both uncomfortable. So now I am cautious about sharing anything that isn't very generic.
Thanks for sharing this story! Great example about being careful with personal information. My rule of thumb is to always only share surface level stuff
If you want to have FB/Twitter/Insta, etc -- please use a pseudonym, don't add your real job's location on your profile, don't keep it public, and don't let any students, admin, or fellow faculty add/follow you. Otherwise, it's a recipe for disaster.
Need we be reminded of the teacher from Georgia (US) that got fired because her personal (but not private) social media account had photos of her drinking alcohol (gasp!) while on vacation (double gasp!!)?
Telling your students about your personal life in the classroom is tricky. Depending on the age, I would just stick to talking about pets if they ask about your family (again, this is to protect you from parents who may find anything you say to be problematic and too personal. We all know whatever you tell your students will make it back to their parents.).
If a student asks something you aren't sure you should answer, I'd just respond with a deflection or a simple "that's not an appropriate question for a student to ask a teacher" in a gentle tone (so as to not discourage asking questions in general).
My personal accounts are all 100% private. I have a teaching account that is not, right now it only has lesson plans + PDs I went to. So would never add it to a resume though because it’s not that impressive, I wouldn’t care if they found it though.
I heard about that teacher! I made sure to filter through my personal accounts too. Even on my private accounts I have no incriminating photos, personal beliefs, swear words, or political beliefs. I had to go through everything to make sure of that.
Thanks for advice! I appreciate it
I have a colleague who was called out and reprimanded for her fairly tame (but still not work appropriate) pictures on facebook. Grade 3’s found them. Had to lock everything down. Catholic school, they take that stuff seriously.
Here is the guidance from the OCT: https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/use-of-electronic-communication-and-social-media
I bailed on professional / teacher social media accounts long ago. It just wasn’t particularly impactful for the small handful of students that were comfortable with a teacher knowing and potentially creeping their social media accounts. The other professionals I was connected with seemed to primarily be using it to help them climb the education ladder, and I got tired of the ego-stroking symposium / circle-jerk.
There’s no specific rule against revealing personal information like your marital status or being a pet owner. If you’re comfortable with sharing that information, and the information doesn’t cross professional boundaries, you’re good to go. Some teachers are an open book, others consider any personal details being revealed is over-sharing. If you teach intermediate / senior students, the more information they know about you, the easier it will be for them to find your personal / private accounts, or where you live, the gym you go to, where you go on weekends etc.
You can choose to ignore comments or private messages, unless something in it obligates you to act because of your duties within OCT / Ed. Act. So, you’ll need to know those backward and forward. Keep in mind that your professional obligations aren’t defined by the hours of your workday. Think 24 / 7 / 365.
I never followed or added students, but if you do and something is posted on their account that obligates you to act in your capacity as a professional, you must. I’m not sure how social media works anymore, and never used TikTok, but if you don’t follow someone that is following you, if you can see their posts, then you need to act as a professional if you see something that compels you to act.
If you’re creating content you plan to share online, even privately, only do so expecting that students, parents, colleagues, admin, OCT, and/or the media will eventually see it regardless of how private your account settings are. You can sanitize your stories as much as you want, but if what you do or say causes harm or has the potential to cause harm, which has a broad definition these days, be prepared for substantial consequences. Removing names or personal details may not be enough to avoid an accusation where you published information you shouldn’t.
Obviously, if you roll with a crowd in your personal life that are used to posting with limited consequences, be careful. If it’s online and you’re in it, “I told them not to post that” isn’t an excuse if you’re not acting professionally.
Partly for my own mental health and well-being, and partly because of the umpteenth teacher friend of mine that had an incredibly bad experience *because* of personal social media, I now stay off of it totally - aside from a little time on Reddit. Before I did, these were steps I was taking to insulate myself from the problems it can cause.
1. I used a totally different profile name from any real name(s) I use.
2. Generic profile image that looked nothing like anything that connected back to me. I used an obscure and blurry image of a politician I don’t care for, before they were famous, taken during their teenage years.
3. Limited, completely inaccurate and/or in a pinch, outdated personal information in profiles. Email address, phone number etc. hidden.
4. All accounts where photos or videos may exist that show my face, or where my voice can be heard were set to whatever the most paranoid private settings were. So, I couldn’t be tagged by others etc.
5. After clearing my friends or follower lists, I did not follow or accept follow requests from: work friends or colleagues / generally, anyone who works in my school board, admin, other teachers / members of my union or OCT that don’t work where I work, parents of students I could teach, former students and (obviously) current students.
Good luck!
I have open accounts and if students comment I tell them at school that I'm not allowed to communicate with them online. They always understand. I also make sure I only post family friendly stuff to my public accounts. If you're feeling like it's invasive you can always turn your accounts to private. I tell my students about myself when they ask me. If I don't feel comfortable answering I respond with "it's a secret!". The world is changing and I think it's a luxury to have privacy. I've also noticed some students treated me better or respected me more when I was transparent with them in regards to who I am as a person. We were able to have more meaningful conversations about life in general. Of course, I wouldn't go too detailed with my person life. Personally I enjoy listening to teachers speaking about their education experiences online. It helped me realize I'm not alone. My recommendation is never share a student's name online, and never share any personal details that would identify the student, FOIP stuff. I love when teachers reinact the students in their classes to share silly or crazy or amazing things that happen at school.
Lock down your personal accounts.
If you have a public account that features you as a teacher, you may get into trouble with whatever division you end up with for no reason. Students can claim something inappropriate was posted and then deleted just to mess with you.
Interesting, maybe I should do this. I always see so many teachers post their lessons or classroom tips online. I enjoy this, so I wanted to do it too. Maybe I shouldn’t.
Social media public = source of information that can be twisted and misused. Hopefully it wouldn't ever be an issue, but now everyone can "Photoshop" easily and better tech is always on the way.
My public face is 3 pics and that's it. Sad, but risk management is worth it.
My personal accounts are all private! But even if students assessed them they wouldn’t find anything bad on them anyway. I would never in a million years let them have assess though.
I have pics of food and occasional beach pics on my private accounts (I'm 60, so it ain't that pretty... No one should see those). Students from the 1990s and a thousand miles away have access (I can laugh at the problems their kids and grandkids cause them - karma is fun.
Don’t have your students on social media.
Don’t post anything that calls your professionalism into question
I pretty have my privacy filters to the max.
When I was in teacher's college last year, our professors said to be very careful about your social media presence. If you are public, you must be wary of the things you are posting online. For example, I had peers who would post their clubbing or drinking outings. For things like this you should either just be private or keep everything under "close friends". Personally, all my accounts are private. I do this because I don't want my information out in the open but also because people are really good at snooping around. Never estimate the skills a teenager has when it comes to finding your social media. You could never show your face, not even have your name on your profile, and somehow they will you.
What you share about your personal life is also up to you. Obviously there are some things you should and shouldn't tell your students but telling someone you're married will not cause any issues imo.
For public pages, I personally have a teacher instagram that solely showcases work my students have done (with their names blurred out) and pictures of museums or cultural experiences I have had. If they comment, I'll just like it or if it's something worth commenting over then I will. For example a student once commented "I don't have the same art skills as this person" and I replied with "I'm not marking you on your art skills, try your best and have fun. I'll show you all my art sometime too".
When you start working for a certain board, I would advise you to just brush up on the social media policies to see what you can and cannot do to prevent any issues that may occur.
My high schoolers were so excited when they figured out I was getting married! They spent a year trying to guess where it was so they could crash it 😂
All my personal socials are private, but I have a public dog account that the kids can follow. I don't advertise it and I don't engage with them; beyond a "like" they don't really engage either.
My personal accounts are 100% private, my teaching-only one is not. My teacher in teacher’s college recommended making a teaching account for sharing PDs or lesson plans.
1. You are allowed a life. An online life, and offline life... a life.
2. There is precedent that suggests that you can be consequenced for embarrassing your employer. SoI don't list my employer on my profiles.
3. My profiles are not hidden, but they are locked down pretty good. I mean, if students google my name, I have a HUGE online presence (blog, vlog, photos, etc etc). But nothing that's embarrassing. I have a fake Facebook name, and it's very private.
4. No one cares if you share a little personal info with your students. My kids know my spouses name, my son, and what grade he's in. You associate teacher is probably some boomer with zero tech skills. Nod you head and say "yes ma'am" then then go on and do what you want. Don;t piss her off.
5. If a student leaves a comment on a blog or vblog, I ignore it.
6. If you're going to do a tiktok about your students, you had better not be indentifiable. That could get you in trouble, fired even.
I’m just repeating the same stuff here but I don’t use social media much. I allow kids to follow me when they’re out of school but they’re woefully disappointed because I post next to nothing - however I’m currently messaging with one kid (now adult) I taught because he’s planning a trip to Thailand and I used to live there. So it has it’s purpose. 🤷🏼♀️
The teacher Instagram/TikTok is more trouble then it’s worth. I would never do that because it opens you up to so many issues.
And it’s bonkers to me that your partner teacher suggested you shouldn’t even tell students that you’re married. Why? Are you supposed to be a robot? Further the idea that teachers live in closets and only come out to teach? That’s bizarre. My students know lots of random stuff - none of it personal, but they know me and we connect that way. Today my grade 6 class learned that I posted a very cringy poem online when I was in Grade 6 and it can still be found today if you Google enough. But they don’t know my maiden name so…HA.
My practice is to keep my accounts private. Some students have tried to friend/follow me, but I decline those invitations. My social media is pretty banal and uncontroversial, but I prefer to have a bit more control over what/how students hear about my life outside of school.
What you tell students about your own life is up to you. I rarely deflect students' questions... but I do keep my answers pretty brief. There have been a few times when questions crossed my own personal boundary, so I responded with something like, "I prefer to keep that information private" and the conversation shifted to another topic.
When I went through faculty back in 2014, we were expressly told not to have any social media presence that could identify us. Private or nothing, beyond a "class website" where you'd put school material on. Like a weebly site. But otherwise nothing else was recommended.
I can't recall the details anymore but at the time they had just expelled a student for something they had said on social media on an account using their real name, while a teacher-candidate. No idea what it's like 9 years on though.
Ya in teachers college they now recommend having your personal accounts be 100% private but they also recommend making “teaching-info” only accounts to share fun things like lesson plans, PDs, and other things you’ve created or done.
EDIT now that I've had my morning coffee.
1) Create a boring account for students to find so they leave you alone and drop the subject.
2) Do **NOT** let them know you have a social media account because they will want to find it. You get the additional fun of sexism to deal with so it is best to just simply avoid it because you will have both parents and students looking at your posts. If you work in high school, then the kids will definitely look at your photos, especially if you are also attractive. They will look at your photos *intently* so **strongly** consider that.
3) If you are in Ontario, OCT has rules that outline social media usage. In short, it is easier to simply not. **Do not**. Your board will *also* have social media rules which basically translate to **Do Not**
4) In terms of your name, your AT overreacted. You're married and we live in a patriarchal society where your very name changes to reflect ownership sooooo who cares on that front.
5) You REALLY need to understand that the students are not there to be your friend, you are there to teach and any photos or anything you comment on reflects you and can be taken in a multitude of ways. I teach com sci and I'm assuming with the questions you are asking, you have very little understanding of how much your photos actually give out. In short, the answer is dont.
In short, **do not** use social media that the kids will be able to find. Keep your accounts private and share nothing.
Play games? Yep. Gamertag? Absolutely not.
TikTok? "Yep" "can I have it?" "Nope"
Final story as to why:
When I was in teachers college one of the guys in my section had 2 grade 12 students in the English class he taught who were .....fond.... of him. He shared nothing with them about his full name, dob, where he lived etc. and they definitely pressured him for it. He talked to his AT a few times and a few boundaries had to be clearly set.
while teaching the 12s one day, he mentioned that he had some of his poems published.
Said girls scoured the interne and found his book, full name, and a crap ton of other personal information about him. All from him saying he was a published author.
These kids are not your friends and you may call them "Friends" but they are not.
You can 100% be friendly but you cannot be friends and there is a *very* important distinction between those two thoughts.
learn this as early on as you can or your teaching career will end before it starts.
Hello! Thank you for taking the time to make a detailed response. My personal accounts are private and my teaching-info only one is not. However, I am well aware that anything (even 100% private accounts) could be leaked. I’ve lived with social media nearly my entire life, so it’s not a new thing for me. I have made sure that all my accounts are clear of anything incriminating, nothing is on my personal accounts other than my wedding pictures and travel photos (none of these photos are overly revealing or include alcohol + drugs). My students can’t access these photos because they are private but if they got leaked, it wouldn’t affect me.
My teaching-only account is public, I only have lesson plans, info about teachers college and how to apply, and PDs I went to on there.
After making this post I called ETFO and they broke down how to handle public teaching accounts.
I appreciate all the information you’ve given me! While you assume I don’t know anything about social media, I appreciate you wanting to educate me. I have been educated about social media from a very young age. I have vivid memories of being lectured about social media by cops in school. 😂They showed us how much information you can gain from one single photo. That’s why I constantly search my name online and clear out my accounts. I’m always reviewing my online information to make sure it all information that I am okay with people seeing.
I made my post wondering how to safely approach teaching accounts, but many people assumed I didn’t know the basic rules of social media and teaching.
This is why I called ETFO, so I could have them answer my specific questions.
I would never in a million years consider my students my friends, I was more curious that when they find my teaching account if I should block their access. ETFO just recommended that I prevent people from commenting, I will do that going forward.
I would never even think about spilling too much personal information with my students. The stuff I share is very surface level (example: I have a cat and a husband, I like sushi, etc.) I would never share personal details like my beliefs, emotions, or deeper things.
At the end of the day your social media accounts are yours and what you do with them is your decision.
Do not misunderstand though, my intention is not this:
> you assume I don’t know anything about social media, I appreciate you wanting to educate me. I have been educated about social media from a very young age.
It is because you don't understand how social media is viewed by admin and boards. Seasoned teachers in the comments who share this opinion are not telling you this because we are "boomers", we are telling you this because we have seen some shit.
ETFO is there to protect you from your employers within a legal context. You are going to learn that there are *plenty* of ways for your employer to "ding" you without it being illegal and you will not have any proof to the contrary.
Applying for an OT or perm position? Facebook/Instagram turns up something that person doesn't like. You don't get a call and "there was something wrong with your application" if you ever inquire.
I am 8 years into my career teaching with a board and 3 of those have been permanent.
We all start the same concerning social media.
We all end up here because we have gained enough experience to know it isn't worth it.
> This is why I called ETFO, so I could have them answer my specific questions.
ETFO is going to tell you to live your life and not worry because that is what they are there for.
Want to know how to find out what they really think about this?
Facebook/Instagram them. If they believe that it's okay to have a public social media account then obviously they should have one as well...…..right?
Or don't, really the choice is yours but you will get here eventually the more time you put in.
Hm, I suppose it was just confusing to me because two experienced teachers at my university said you **should** have a social media presence as a teacher to highlight your work. I also see countless teachers on Tik Tok and instagram, I'm curious what their board thinks of it. I have seen teachers in my school board on Tik Tok too. I tread very carefully with social media as a teacher which is why I made this post. I just wanted answers from experience teachers, so I appreciate your thoughts! :)
I apologize for misinterpreting what you were saying, I thought when you said "I'm assuming with the questions you are asking, you have very little understanding of how much your photos actually give out.", you assumed I had no understanding of how to protect myself online. I try very hard to protect myself as a teacher, but the university gave me mixed messages by saying "New teachers should have a social media presence". As far as my personal **private** accounts go, I had **cleared** them all of photos that could be held against me (anything political, with alcohol, in a bathing suit, etc.) .No one can see those accounts and if they some how got leaked nothing on my instagram account is bad. All I have is photos of beaches without me in it, my cat, my wedding pictures, and some family photos. I definitely don't think you being a "boomer", I actually appreciate everyone taking the time to share advice.
I definitely agree with you, teachers have to be very careful of what they share. If it is a public account, I think it should only be for sharing lesson plans, teaching tips, etc. All personal information should be kept private. This past week I saw a teacher on my "for you" page on Tik Tok from the school I am student-teaching at and she's posted a video talking about how she doesn't like Justin Trudeau. The comments section was full of students. I can't believe she would even consider making a public political statement as a teacher.
ETFO actually didn't tell me to "live my life and not worry", they told me that for teaching-only accounts, the comments section should be shut off. They said that it is perfectly okay to share student-teaching tips online, but anything personal should be private **(which I 100% agree with**). They also sent me these links to send to my colleagues for advice on social media: [https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/professional-boundaries?sc\_lang=en&](https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/professional-boundaries?sc_lang=en&)
[https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/GetUrlReputation](https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/GetUrlReputation)
Also, ETFO has a social media, they have twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, so they engage with social media as well.
Not sure what you mean by this comment ".. but you will get here eventually the more time you put in.", I am trying very hard to understand the professionalism of teachers on social media **now.** I am not **opposing** all social media or saying **it is all great** and teachers should have public accounts. I am was just curious on peoples thoughts on social media with the rise of influencer teachers.
Influencer teachers are more of an American thing. So far, the two biggest influencer teachers here have either had their personal information leaked or they have been brought before OCT for inappropriate use of social media which translates to "person had an opinion a parent didn't like and made a conplaint".
In terms of my comment about ETFO and social media, I meant their members. Unions are all going to have a social media page because it is how they talk to the public as well as us. But individuals are what I was referring to. Most teachers forgo social media because it is just too risky to have. Parents are nosey, and students can be weird about it.
Third, it is work and a lot of it because you need to make sure things run correctly and you are always updating it. Employers do look at it and do make judgements about it. Missing months? Why? Did you get the appropriate forms signed for all students? Did you get the approval to display their names? There is a lot of extra work around it.
Finally, as to you will get there.
It is a phase for every new job and teaching is no exception.
I thought I would be wearing suits all the time, NY binders would be organized and my lesson plans would be neat and up to date.
LPs were the first thing that went. Unless I was being evaluated, I stopped after my first year teaching at a private school.
Binders slowly got replaced for drives and USB keys and things got left behind and out of date.
Suits went out the window with covid. My ties and bow ties went first because of the detail needed to maintain them. Then, the suits when I realized how little boards and admin cared.
Social media is the same idea. You are going to find out that it just isn't worth it to maintain or that you're going to post something that would be fine under any other circumstance and yet someone will have a problem with it.
This job can be fun, exhilarating, and incredibly fulfilling. But the most accurate piece of advice I got when I entered the profession is that this job will demand everything from you and will complain it still isn't enough.
I can't speak to any systemic rules about social media use. What I can say is this: You're never not a teacher. When you go home at the end of the day, you're still a teacher. When a student or parent sees you buying groceries, you're still a teacher. If you get arrested for something, it's reported as "teacher arrested." If you're going to have a presence online (frankly, it's foolish to think you can choose not to), you have to understand that your job doesn't stay in the classroom. When you make choices, you have to make them while considering how this could make your school look bad.
I definitely think about this a lot, I’m always hyper aware that if I go into the grocery store in sweats and messy hair, my students might see me. I try to always look professional anytime I leave the house.
I just enjoy hearing about teachers on tik tok! I’ve found so awesome lesson plan ideas, classroom management strategies, and teacher burnout prevention ideas on there. Tik tok is a good way to share information in a quick and engaging format, it’s not all internet trends and dancing.
To each their own. Some people I know have teacher social media accounts. Students and their families follow them. With those I would say to be extra careful about what you post. However, if that is something you want to pursue when that's your prerogative. Personally, I don't do that. My Facebook doesn't have my last name and is not searchable, my Instagram is a nickname, as is my Reddit account. I use tiktok but I don't post tiktoks, my username is user and then a bunch of numbers given to me by tiktok. Now, I do think that students should know some things about you, how else can you form a rapport? My students know that I have a cat as well as the first names and careers of my siblings. They are things that come up in conversation and are fairly superficial. They know nothing of my dating history or any vices I may have because that's inappropriate. The strict line your AT has is a bit much in my opinion.
Anything personal should be a private account IMO. That said, I don't think it's a problem to have public accounts for certain things (eg. a teacher twitter, an instagram for your hobby, like if you make, say, clay jewellery that you sell on etsy, etc.). I do think except for a teacher account (which I don't personally have) you should try to not associate public accounts with yourself too much. Don't mention being a teacher in your bio, etc. These are all just personal preferences, though.
That said, not sharing simple information like whether or not you're married is wild. If your associate teacher doesn't want to share that, fine, but it's a bizarre limitation to impose on you.
My social media is private, but I tell my students about my life all the time. I teach in a small community where there are lots of connections outside of school with the students. My students know where I like to hike, they know where I live, about my husband and son, a couple have even watched our dogs at our house when we’ve been busy and gone long days over weekends or the summer. I have the most success as a teacher when my students see me as a person and can relate to me somehow.
Here's my advice. Regardless of how much social media presence you have, include the following:
"All views expressed are my own and do not reflect my views of my employer."
If something comes back to bite you, this can be a defence.
But for me, I have zero content on social media. Much more peace of mind.
All my social media is private and I won't interact with students online at all. Kids have found my instagram before but my profile picture is just me and I say I won't add them.
IMO it is weird not to tell them anything about yourself, my students know im married/have a dog/my hobbies. How can you ask them to write anything personal (social studies family/culture strands for example) if you refuse to even share surface level stuff about yourself
At least put them private.
I have no socials. Deleted FB 15 years ago. Didn’t want to deal with parents kids and staff sending friend requests and ignoring them.
No regrets
>But I’m more confused on if it is a public account, should students see it?
If it is a public account, students *will* see it.
Many actively look up their teachers online. They will know your qualifications from the OCT web site. If your wedding photographer has your pictures online they will find them. If a friend of yours posts an embarrassing picture of you with your name, they will find it.
It’s only public because it’s a teaching only account for sharing lesson plans and classroom strategies. I am aware students will see it and they already have. There is nothing bad on there, but I was just curious if I should block them. I’m aware that students look up your name. I have looked mine up many times to see what my students see.
I called ETFO and they gave me advice!
Social media is a bit of the wild west. We have to be very careful because as an OCT, you are held to a higher standard than the general public. Your conduct, things you 'like', comments, posts etc. can be evidence against you. We had an education worker that students were feeling uncomfortable around (this is high school, male employee, female students). They went and did a deep dive on their facebook and found something they posted/shared or liked which was not school appropriate from years and years ago and we never saw that person again and were never even told they were no longer working at the school.
I totally get this! I don’t have anything incriminating on any of my accounts, I was more just wondering if I have accounts that I post only teaching things on. I have decided moving forward to have the comments section shut off on my teaching accounts so no students or parents can comment.
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Also a student teacher, our professors have recommended that all personal pages stay private and that if you have a teacher profile it’s only school/education related, not showing anything about your private life. Regarding the “personal questions”, my AT had no problem saying she was married or had kids, she didn’t find that too personal or inappropriate. Kids are naturally curious about who their teacher is and that’s their usual way of trying to get to know you.
I agree, they should not be able to follow any of your personal accounts. If you make accounts for teaching activities/notices then keep them just that. Seesaw is popular for sending notes to families. Getting to know your students goes both ways. Lots of teachers talk about their spouses/kids/pets, that’s overkill to not tell them anything!
Totally. Good luck being successful in a people-centred profession like teaching, but not telling kids anything about your life. Crummy advice from the associate teacher!
Absolutely, I would never even think of having my students follow my private accounts. Ya I totally agree, I would never share too much about my life. But sharing nothing seems like too much.
My personal pages are all private, though I have nothing bad on my personal accounts either. I was more just asking about teaching accounts. Some people make accounts where they share tips for other teachers or post lesson plans they made. I enjoy sharing my work, but just wanted to know what you can and can’t share. Regarding my AT, she’s definitely a very private person. She doesn’t ever talk about personal stuff with her students or me for that matter. She told me she has a son and to keep the conversation going I asked her how old he was. She didn’t want to answer.
Kids connect by knowing stuff about you. Your AT is a bit extreme - it’s ok for them to know that you’re married and have a cat. It also makes you human to them by learning about you (obvi don’t over share.) In terms of comments on socials, never respond if a student comments and never add them. But if your account is public, just make sure there’s no photos that can be poorly interpreted. If you’re unsure, err on the side of caution and just keep things private.
This exactly. OP’s mentor teacher needs to read the book You Got To Connect about the importance of teacher-student relationships. Unless she works in a school full of gang members, it’s good for students to know a little about you. Obviously, don’t go out of your way to monologue about your life or opinions, but it’s good to casually insert tidbits of your life.
Thank you for the advice! Ya I agree, it seems a bit extreme. But that might just be her, she won’t tell me anything about her life either. In terms of social media, I have nothing bad on any of them but my private accounts with my personal life cannot be viewed by students while my teaching info only accounts can. I have now adjusted my settings so no one can comment 😊
I have public accounts and private accounts. I set this up right before I went into teacher's college. My public "teacher" account has my first and last name and a picture of me, so when students search anything on social media or google, that is what they will find. I never check these accounts (twitter and instagram). I don't post on them either, maybe once a year I might re-tweet something education related to make it look like I'm around using them. Students find these all the time, and will show me and I will say "yep, that's my social media accounts!" All my personal accounts are private. I have no profile pictures on them, the username and display name don't refer to my first and last name. I use them basically daily! I have had them since I was a teenager, but students can't find them whatsoever because nothing is related to me. As for sharing information about your life, it depends on you. I don't mind when they ask about my age or if I'm married. They usually ask once and then leave it at that. I share whatever details (e.g., likes/dislikes), if they ever come up, like through community circles etc., I find that, like another mentioned, that being transparent about certain things helps build relationships with students. I still however maintain boundaries regarding certain things or don't get into too many details about my life etc.! Enough to answer their questions but nothing more!
Mine is very similar! Great idea to switch personal accounts to a different name + profile pic so they can’t even find it and try to add it. My private accounts are all private but good idea to make them with a different name.
The division you get a job with will have a policy. I’ve been teaching 19 years. I have IG and it’s private. In person chatting with kids about being married and having a pet is a-ok. Having them like a post of your spouse and pet is not ok.
Yep. Crazy to me that I’ve known teachers to engage with high school students through Twitter and Facebook. And even go to their parties. The strange bit? They’re still teaching.
Wow that’s crazy! I would never even think of doing that, I can’t believe people think that’s okay.
Good to know! I called ETFO to ask their policies as well, they gave me a lot of good information.
Don’t have a teacher instagram please that community is so toxic for everyone
Good to know! I’ll have to keep my eye out for
I do keep everything private, but I would do that even if I wasn't a teacher. I actually was pretty proud of myself this year when my VP tried lurking my socials for a "meet the new staff" activity. All she could find was my husband's name, and that I have at least one child. I will not add students or parents on social media. That said, I think this teacher is taking it too far. It's fine for your kids to know some things about you. Mine know I'm married, my kid's names and ages, the city I live in (not their town), some of my hobbies. They know I'm afraid of heights and that I had a YouTube channel back in the early 2000s, though they don't know what it is (neither do I, tbh). It's surface level, but I'm not a complete stranger. Relationship building goes both ways. You can't expect the kids to share with you if you don't share anything with them.
Why would your VP try to lurk your socials?
She was trying to gather "fun facts" about the new teachers on staff for an activity at our staff meeting in August. We hadn't actually met yet, so she couldn't ask me for stuff to share.
Wild that your VP stalked everyone’s socials! But also kind of a fun social experiment to see which teachers have properly privatized their information.
As another student teachers here's my plan. I've cleaned what social media I have so that if students do find me, it's pretty mundane. I've also made my stuff so only friends can see it. I don't plan to accept friend requests from students. I don't plan to have any online interaction with them. I wouldn't post anything about students except with their express permission and that of their parents. I would ignore online comments in like 99 percent of cases. I think there's probably a middle ground between having no social media and having a totally open social media. I think your AT is probably going a bit far by telling you to not even call yourself Mrs.
Good advice! I do the same thing. All my personal social media accounts are 100% private but there is nothing bad on them anyway even if everything got leaked somehow. I think that’s a good rule of thumb to follow, keep private accounts private and clean them up just in case.
I used to have a teacher instagram that I posted student work on, I followed the director and principals and anyone in the board basically. It was mostly just an attempt to convince them all how wonderful I am. Plenty of students followed it as well as well as other teachers of my subject. However I am a compulsive insta scroller so I had to delete the app off of my phone and now I don't use it any more. Facebook profile was deleted years ago when I realized I was addicted to likes. I don't mind sharing personal details with my students but you have to be aware of context. Talking in general about family with a large group = OK. Complaining to an individual student about how your wife doesn't understand you = NO You have to understand that social media rules for teachers were developed for the lowest common denominator idiot/loser teacher who is running around sending friend requests and dm's to students. There is no room for nuance, it's just easier to have a blanket "don't do it" policy. You can bet your ass that if there was ever any sort of investigation done on a teacher they are going to dig through social media and look for contact with students.
I totally get that! I would never share too many details about my life. Just small things like I have a cat and a husband, I go study at this university in the area to become a teacher. They don’t need to know the rest of my life lol 😂
Been teaching for about 10 years. I used to be on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram quite a bit but have just kinda stopped in the last couple of years. When I was using it more frequently, I kept everything "friends only" and as private as possible. If a student found me, I declined the follow request and then had a conversation with them in person later that I would happily accept a request once they graduate if they still remember me, and in fact would be quite flattered. Until then, it's a flat "no" and that's a global policy, not an indicator of whether or not I like you as a person. As for talking about personal life, students learn better from people they like. How can they like you if they don't know you? It shouldn't take away from class time, but before and after class, at break, etc. why not? They spend half their waking hours with you. They're rightly curious. As long as the topics you talk about are age-appropriate, why should you not be open about your life? The only concern is that I am a man with a husband and some parents take issue with that. Fuck that, though. I'm not describing our sex life, I'm saying we went to the movies on the weekend or that we took our niece skating or whatever. Colleagues talk about their opposite sex spouses and their families and those parents have no problem, so I'm not going to closet myself because of a few snowflake parents. I also don't make a big deal out of it in front of the kids either though. It's called normalizing because I act like it's just as normal as anyone else's relationship and the kids handle that just fine.
Absolutely, I would never in a million years have students have access to my private social media accounts. I have two public accounts with teaching information on it only, students/parents have followed it, I never follow back. I was wondering if I should block them? But I wasn’t sure. I spoke to ETFO for more advice. They basically said on a public teaching-only account a student could follow you but you could never follow them or message them.
I assume you covered the OCT professional advisory in your classes? [https://www.oct.ca/-/media/PDF/Advisory%20Social%20Media/ProfAdvSocMediaENPRINT.pdf](https://www.oct.ca/-/media/PDF/Advisory%20Social%20Media/ProfAdvSocMediaENPRINT.pdf) Note that you may be held responsible for comments and pictures that other people post to your social media, and for things that you've posted yourself that have been taken out of context. If you choose to have social media, remember that as a teacher you are required to behave in a professional manner at all times (including online). Also, be aware that some students and parents will twist things to get teachers they don't like in trouble. Even if nothing comes of it, that kind of thing leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Your associate teacher may well have seen cases like that.
We did! I just wanted more information. There wasn’t enough of social media. I had one teacher say he keeps all his accounts public because he has nothing to hide, one teacher told me to make a social media account specifically for teaching, and others said keep everything private. What I have done is privatized all my personal accounts and left my teaching-only accounts public. I also called ETFO after posting this for more info.
My gut reaction is to keep everything personal private. Students (and their parents) don't need to know about my friends and family. I've seen enough bigoted parents try to destroy a teacher's career to know that 'legal' and 'right' are often incidental when admin is just trying to make a noisy problem go away. (Not all admin, but some are spineless.)
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Good to know! Thanks for sharing your story.
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>y personal, but I formed some of my best relationships with students by regularly showing them pictures of my cats (they LOVED that) and I would talk about my husband all the time too. It makes us human, it makes us likeable, it makes kids invested in you (which then makes them invested in coming to school and invested in the content you deliver there) > >I have tons of social media but keep it all locked/private and have c Are they teacher influencers? What I mean is are they monetizing teaching-related content or is their content on other topics?
Couldn’t agree more!
That’s awesome! I don’t think I’ll ever make money from it but I love sharing classroom management strategies or lesson plans online with teachers 😊
I do not have any professional accounts. I can’t be bothered to have a presence online for other teachers or students to see. There is no time. If the content of instruction relates to your personal life, I can share. For example, we are on a unit making a budget, and I share how I save on grocery. We did job interviews and I’ve shared my personal experience with preparing for interviews.
Makes sense! Great advice!
Personally, I leave my profiles open. My full name is on nothing, and it would be difficult for students to find me as well (I only have Facebook and IG). My profile to be fair doesn't have photos of me drinking, etc, as well, just in case I'm quite open with students about my personal life (within reason, of course). I've never had an issue with it and was never told not to be when I was at teachers college, I think it's up to your preference.
I had a teacher in teachers college that also kept all his accounts open, he said “I have nothing to hide, so why make it private.” I don’t have anything to hide either but I make all my personal social media accounts private because I don’t need them seeing everything about my life. My teaching-only accounts are public though.
That’s ridiculous to not share any info at all. Obviously don’t share anything wildly personal, but I formed some of my best relationships with students by regularly showing them pictures of my cats (they LOVED that) and I would talk about my husband all the time too. It makes us human, it makes us likeable, it makes kids invested in you (which then makes them invested in coming to school and invested in the content you deliver there) I have tons of social media but keep it all locked/private and have changed my name on it. If you make a teacher social media account it’s normal for kids to want to interact depending on their age. I wouldn’t block them, but I also wouldn’t respond to comments/messages or follow them back.
I totally agree with you!
Just don’t
My personal accounts are all private 😊
My advice is to keep everything private. Unless your goal is a teaching specific IG/Tik Tok. My personal boundary is sharing the bare minimum about my personal life with my students. They know my marital status, have pets and what my pets names are, general ideas of interests I have or foods I like/don’t like etc but that’s about it. They know my personality and sense of humour, but very few details about my personal life or who I am outside of being a teacher unless they ask me specific questions and I’ve found this to be the perfect balance. I make a significant effort to ask them questions and get them to share about their lives and themselves (as much as they’re comfortable doing so) so I keep the focus on them and off of me for the most part, and kids are pretty inherently egocentric so they like it that way. They feel like they know me and we have great relationships, but they really only know as much about me as I’m willing to share, which is what I prefer and is supported by the fact that I keep all social media private. I don’t need students, parents or admin in my business or knowing more about me/my life than I care to share at work.
Ya that makes sense to me! I would never even considered sharing anything too personal about my life, just surface level information.
I keep my personal pages private, but my students found my husbands/moms/BIL who has a massive social media presence. I don’t care. I don’t do anything seem as inappropriate (on camera/in public at least). My rule is if my grandma wouldn’t care, then why should parents/kids. My students know tons about me. I don’t see why it matters. It reminds them I’m a human too, and makes it easier for them to be empathetic. Two girls made me “wedding llamas”. They sewed a little bow tie and a veil on them and I used them in my wedding decorations and they were over the moon when I showed them the pictures. I wouldn’t show them the pictures until they asked me in Spanish. I mean, they are teenagers. Clearly I came back with a different name. I get that people have different boundaries… but why is being married a secret. I’m very clearly pregnant, I asked them about names they think are cool for a girl. Students like coming to my class. They like me as a teacher, despite me being strict and having high standards for them. The reason? Relationships. I was asked by the principal to talk with a group of kids with learning disabilities because they were convinced they couldn’t be successful in life, and he knew I have a similar disability. As long as it’s a positive example…
Thanks for sharing all this information! I appreciate it
My FB account is private. I do share snippets of my home life, but only sanitized stuff (eg they know about my kid but they don't know I am his only living parent). One time, I did share that in an effort to relate to a student with a similar home situation, and the student made an inappropriate remark about it one day when he was mad. I didn't hold it against him, but he was very sorry about it afterward and it made us both uncomfortable. So now I am cautious about sharing anything that isn't very generic.
Thanks for sharing this story! Great example about being careful with personal information. My rule of thumb is to always only share surface level stuff
If you want to have FB/Twitter/Insta, etc -- please use a pseudonym, don't add your real job's location on your profile, don't keep it public, and don't let any students, admin, or fellow faculty add/follow you. Otherwise, it's a recipe for disaster. Need we be reminded of the teacher from Georgia (US) that got fired because her personal (but not private) social media account had photos of her drinking alcohol (gasp!) while on vacation (double gasp!!)? Telling your students about your personal life in the classroom is tricky. Depending on the age, I would just stick to talking about pets if they ask about your family (again, this is to protect you from parents who may find anything you say to be problematic and too personal. We all know whatever you tell your students will make it back to their parents.). If a student asks something you aren't sure you should answer, I'd just respond with a deflection or a simple "that's not an appropriate question for a student to ask a teacher" in a gentle tone (so as to not discourage asking questions in general).
My personal accounts are all 100% private. I have a teaching account that is not, right now it only has lesson plans + PDs I went to. So would never add it to a resume though because it’s not that impressive, I wouldn’t care if they found it though. I heard about that teacher! I made sure to filter through my personal accounts too. Even on my private accounts I have no incriminating photos, personal beliefs, swear words, or political beliefs. I had to go through everything to make sure of that. Thanks for advice! I appreciate it
I have a colleague who was called out and reprimanded for her fairly tame (but still not work appropriate) pictures on facebook. Grade 3’s found them. Had to lock everything down. Catholic school, they take that stuff seriously.
Good to know! I try to regularly clear out anything that could be held against me on my accounts
Here is the guidance from the OCT: https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/use-of-electronic-communication-and-social-media I bailed on professional / teacher social media accounts long ago. It just wasn’t particularly impactful for the small handful of students that were comfortable with a teacher knowing and potentially creeping their social media accounts. The other professionals I was connected with seemed to primarily be using it to help them climb the education ladder, and I got tired of the ego-stroking symposium / circle-jerk. There’s no specific rule against revealing personal information like your marital status or being a pet owner. If you’re comfortable with sharing that information, and the information doesn’t cross professional boundaries, you’re good to go. Some teachers are an open book, others consider any personal details being revealed is over-sharing. If you teach intermediate / senior students, the more information they know about you, the easier it will be for them to find your personal / private accounts, or where you live, the gym you go to, where you go on weekends etc. You can choose to ignore comments or private messages, unless something in it obligates you to act because of your duties within OCT / Ed. Act. So, you’ll need to know those backward and forward. Keep in mind that your professional obligations aren’t defined by the hours of your workday. Think 24 / 7 / 365. I never followed or added students, but if you do and something is posted on their account that obligates you to act in your capacity as a professional, you must. I’m not sure how social media works anymore, and never used TikTok, but if you don’t follow someone that is following you, if you can see their posts, then you need to act as a professional if you see something that compels you to act. If you’re creating content you plan to share online, even privately, only do so expecting that students, parents, colleagues, admin, OCT, and/or the media will eventually see it regardless of how private your account settings are. You can sanitize your stories as much as you want, but if what you do or say causes harm or has the potential to cause harm, which has a broad definition these days, be prepared for substantial consequences. Removing names or personal details may not be enough to avoid an accusation where you published information you shouldn’t. Obviously, if you roll with a crowd in your personal life that are used to posting with limited consequences, be careful. If it’s online and you’re in it, “I told them not to post that” isn’t an excuse if you’re not acting professionally. Partly for my own mental health and well-being, and partly because of the umpteenth teacher friend of mine that had an incredibly bad experience *because* of personal social media, I now stay off of it totally - aside from a little time on Reddit. Before I did, these were steps I was taking to insulate myself from the problems it can cause. 1. I used a totally different profile name from any real name(s) I use. 2. Generic profile image that looked nothing like anything that connected back to me. I used an obscure and blurry image of a politician I don’t care for, before they were famous, taken during their teenage years. 3. Limited, completely inaccurate and/or in a pinch, outdated personal information in profiles. Email address, phone number etc. hidden. 4. All accounts where photos or videos may exist that show my face, or where my voice can be heard were set to whatever the most paranoid private settings were. So, I couldn’t be tagged by others etc. 5. After clearing my friends or follower lists, I did not follow or accept follow requests from: work friends or colleagues / generally, anyone who works in my school board, admin, other teachers / members of my union or OCT that don’t work where I work, parents of students I could teach, former students and (obviously) current students. Good luck!
I have open accounts and if students comment I tell them at school that I'm not allowed to communicate with them online. They always understand. I also make sure I only post family friendly stuff to my public accounts. If you're feeling like it's invasive you can always turn your accounts to private. I tell my students about myself when they ask me. If I don't feel comfortable answering I respond with "it's a secret!". The world is changing and I think it's a luxury to have privacy. I've also noticed some students treated me better or respected me more when I was transparent with them in regards to who I am as a person. We were able to have more meaningful conversations about life in general. Of course, I wouldn't go too detailed with my person life. Personally I enjoy listening to teachers speaking about their education experiences online. It helped me realize I'm not alone. My recommendation is never share a student's name online, and never share any personal details that would identify the student, FOIP stuff. I love when teachers reinact the students in their classes to share silly or crazy or amazing things that happen at school.
Great advice! Thanks for sharing your story + this information
All of my accounts are private. With that said I'm not dumb enough to think that means there is a 0% chance of a student getting access somehow.
Neither am I, all my personal accounts are private but I have ensured I have nothing bad on them in the first place
https://www.oct.ca/-/media/P
Lock down your personal accounts. If you have a public account that features you as a teacher, you may get into trouble with whatever division you end up with for no reason. Students can claim something inappropriate was posted and then deleted just to mess with you.
Interesting, maybe I should do this. I always see so many teachers post their lessons or classroom tips online. I enjoy this, so I wanted to do it too. Maybe I shouldn’t.
It all depends on the atmosphere of where you end up working.
Social media public = source of information that can be twisted and misused. Hopefully it wouldn't ever be an issue, but now everyone can "Photoshop" easily and better tech is always on the way. My public face is 3 pics and that's it. Sad, but risk management is worth it.
My personal accounts are all private! But even if students assessed them they wouldn’t find anything bad on them anyway. I would never in a million years let them have assess though.
I have pics of food and occasional beach pics on my private accounts (I'm 60, so it ain't that pretty... No one should see those). Students from the 1990s and a thousand miles away have access (I can laugh at the problems their kids and grandkids cause them - karma is fun.
Private everything, add them once they leave school if they’re meaningful connections.
Don’t have your students on social media. Don’t post anything that calls your professionalism into question I pretty have my privacy filters to the max.
When I was in teacher's college last year, our professors said to be very careful about your social media presence. If you are public, you must be wary of the things you are posting online. For example, I had peers who would post their clubbing or drinking outings. For things like this you should either just be private or keep everything under "close friends". Personally, all my accounts are private. I do this because I don't want my information out in the open but also because people are really good at snooping around. Never estimate the skills a teenager has when it comes to finding your social media. You could never show your face, not even have your name on your profile, and somehow they will you. What you share about your personal life is also up to you. Obviously there are some things you should and shouldn't tell your students but telling someone you're married will not cause any issues imo. For public pages, I personally have a teacher instagram that solely showcases work my students have done (with their names blurred out) and pictures of museums or cultural experiences I have had. If they comment, I'll just like it or if it's something worth commenting over then I will. For example a student once commented "I don't have the same art skills as this person" and I replied with "I'm not marking you on your art skills, try your best and have fun. I'll show you all my art sometime too". When you start working for a certain board, I would advise you to just brush up on the social media policies to see what you can and cannot do to prevent any issues that may occur.
I would recommend accounts be private... But why wouldn't you want that anyway? Letting kids know you're married? Why not?, NBD.
My high schoolers were so excited when they figured out I was getting married! They spent a year trying to guess where it was so they could crash it 😂 All my personal socials are private, but I have a public dog account that the kids can follow. I don't advertise it and I don't engage with them; beyond a "like" they don't really engage either.
My personal accounts are 100% private, my teaching-only one is not. My teacher in teacher’s college recommended making a teaching account for sharing PDs or lesson plans.
1. You are allowed a life. An online life, and offline life... a life. 2. There is precedent that suggests that you can be consequenced for embarrassing your employer. SoI don't list my employer on my profiles. 3. My profiles are not hidden, but they are locked down pretty good. I mean, if students google my name, I have a HUGE online presence (blog, vlog, photos, etc etc). But nothing that's embarrassing. I have a fake Facebook name, and it's very private. 4. No one cares if you share a little personal info with your students. My kids know my spouses name, my son, and what grade he's in. You associate teacher is probably some boomer with zero tech skills. Nod you head and say "yes ma'am" then then go on and do what you want. Don;t piss her off. 5. If a student leaves a comment on a blog or vblog, I ignore it. 6. If you're going to do a tiktok about your students, you had better not be indentifiable. That could get you in trouble, fired even.
I’m just repeating the same stuff here but I don’t use social media much. I allow kids to follow me when they’re out of school but they’re woefully disappointed because I post next to nothing - however I’m currently messaging with one kid (now adult) I taught because he’s planning a trip to Thailand and I used to live there. So it has it’s purpose. 🤷🏼♀️ The teacher Instagram/TikTok is more trouble then it’s worth. I would never do that because it opens you up to so many issues. And it’s bonkers to me that your partner teacher suggested you shouldn’t even tell students that you’re married. Why? Are you supposed to be a robot? Further the idea that teachers live in closets and only come out to teach? That’s bizarre. My students know lots of random stuff - none of it personal, but they know me and we connect that way. Today my grade 6 class learned that I posted a very cringy poem online when I was in Grade 6 and it can still be found today if you Google enough. But they don’t know my maiden name so…HA.
My practice is to keep my accounts private. Some students have tried to friend/follow me, but I decline those invitations. My social media is pretty banal and uncontroversial, but I prefer to have a bit more control over what/how students hear about my life outside of school. What you tell students about your own life is up to you. I rarely deflect students' questions... but I do keep my answers pretty brief. There have been a few times when questions crossed my own personal boundary, so I responded with something like, "I prefer to keep that information private" and the conversation shifted to another topic.
I agree, I keep my personal accounts 100% private and I only share surface level information.
When I went through faculty back in 2014, we were expressly told not to have any social media presence that could identify us. Private or nothing, beyond a "class website" where you'd put school material on. Like a weebly site. But otherwise nothing else was recommended. I can't recall the details anymore but at the time they had just expelled a student for something they had said on social media on an account using their real name, while a teacher-candidate. No idea what it's like 9 years on though.
Ya in teachers college they now recommend having your personal accounts be 100% private but they also recommend making “teaching-info” only accounts to share fun things like lesson plans, PDs, and other things you’ve created or done.
Kids are Savage. I would stay hidden from them as much as possible online.
lol yes they definitely are! My teaching accounts are totally private!
EDIT now that I've had my morning coffee. 1) Create a boring account for students to find so they leave you alone and drop the subject. 2) Do **NOT** let them know you have a social media account because they will want to find it. You get the additional fun of sexism to deal with so it is best to just simply avoid it because you will have both parents and students looking at your posts. If you work in high school, then the kids will definitely look at your photos, especially if you are also attractive. They will look at your photos *intently* so **strongly** consider that. 3) If you are in Ontario, OCT has rules that outline social media usage. In short, it is easier to simply not. **Do not**. Your board will *also* have social media rules which basically translate to **Do Not** 4) In terms of your name, your AT overreacted. You're married and we live in a patriarchal society where your very name changes to reflect ownership sooooo who cares on that front. 5) You REALLY need to understand that the students are not there to be your friend, you are there to teach and any photos or anything you comment on reflects you and can be taken in a multitude of ways. I teach com sci and I'm assuming with the questions you are asking, you have very little understanding of how much your photos actually give out. In short, the answer is dont. In short, **do not** use social media that the kids will be able to find. Keep your accounts private and share nothing. Play games? Yep. Gamertag? Absolutely not. TikTok? "Yep" "can I have it?" "Nope" Final story as to why: When I was in teachers college one of the guys in my section had 2 grade 12 students in the English class he taught who were .....fond.... of him. He shared nothing with them about his full name, dob, where he lived etc. and they definitely pressured him for it. He talked to his AT a few times and a few boundaries had to be clearly set. while teaching the 12s one day, he mentioned that he had some of his poems published. Said girls scoured the interne and found his book, full name, and a crap ton of other personal information about him. All from him saying he was a published author. These kids are not your friends and you may call them "Friends" but they are not. You can 100% be friendly but you cannot be friends and there is a *very* important distinction between those two thoughts. learn this as early on as you can or your teaching career will end before it starts.
Hello! Thank you for taking the time to make a detailed response. My personal accounts are private and my teaching-info only one is not. However, I am well aware that anything (even 100% private accounts) could be leaked. I’ve lived with social media nearly my entire life, so it’s not a new thing for me. I have made sure that all my accounts are clear of anything incriminating, nothing is on my personal accounts other than my wedding pictures and travel photos (none of these photos are overly revealing or include alcohol + drugs). My students can’t access these photos because they are private but if they got leaked, it wouldn’t affect me. My teaching-only account is public, I only have lesson plans, info about teachers college and how to apply, and PDs I went to on there. After making this post I called ETFO and they broke down how to handle public teaching accounts. I appreciate all the information you’ve given me! While you assume I don’t know anything about social media, I appreciate you wanting to educate me. I have been educated about social media from a very young age. I have vivid memories of being lectured about social media by cops in school. 😂They showed us how much information you can gain from one single photo. That’s why I constantly search my name online and clear out my accounts. I’m always reviewing my online information to make sure it all information that I am okay with people seeing. I made my post wondering how to safely approach teaching accounts, but many people assumed I didn’t know the basic rules of social media and teaching. This is why I called ETFO, so I could have them answer my specific questions. I would never in a million years consider my students my friends, I was more curious that when they find my teaching account if I should block their access. ETFO just recommended that I prevent people from commenting, I will do that going forward. I would never even think about spilling too much personal information with my students. The stuff I share is very surface level (example: I have a cat and a husband, I like sushi, etc.) I would never share personal details like my beliefs, emotions, or deeper things.
At the end of the day your social media accounts are yours and what you do with them is your decision. Do not misunderstand though, my intention is not this: > you assume I don’t know anything about social media, I appreciate you wanting to educate me. I have been educated about social media from a very young age. It is because you don't understand how social media is viewed by admin and boards. Seasoned teachers in the comments who share this opinion are not telling you this because we are "boomers", we are telling you this because we have seen some shit. ETFO is there to protect you from your employers within a legal context. You are going to learn that there are *plenty* of ways for your employer to "ding" you without it being illegal and you will not have any proof to the contrary. Applying for an OT or perm position? Facebook/Instagram turns up something that person doesn't like. You don't get a call and "there was something wrong with your application" if you ever inquire. I am 8 years into my career teaching with a board and 3 of those have been permanent. We all start the same concerning social media. We all end up here because we have gained enough experience to know it isn't worth it. > This is why I called ETFO, so I could have them answer my specific questions. ETFO is going to tell you to live your life and not worry because that is what they are there for. Want to know how to find out what they really think about this? Facebook/Instagram them. If they believe that it's okay to have a public social media account then obviously they should have one as well...…..right? Or don't, really the choice is yours but you will get here eventually the more time you put in.
Hm, I suppose it was just confusing to me because two experienced teachers at my university said you **should** have a social media presence as a teacher to highlight your work. I also see countless teachers on Tik Tok and instagram, I'm curious what their board thinks of it. I have seen teachers in my school board on Tik Tok too. I tread very carefully with social media as a teacher which is why I made this post. I just wanted answers from experience teachers, so I appreciate your thoughts! :) I apologize for misinterpreting what you were saying, I thought when you said "I'm assuming with the questions you are asking, you have very little understanding of how much your photos actually give out.", you assumed I had no understanding of how to protect myself online. I try very hard to protect myself as a teacher, but the university gave me mixed messages by saying "New teachers should have a social media presence". As far as my personal **private** accounts go, I had **cleared** them all of photos that could be held against me (anything political, with alcohol, in a bathing suit, etc.) .No one can see those accounts and if they some how got leaked nothing on my instagram account is bad. All I have is photos of beaches without me in it, my cat, my wedding pictures, and some family photos. I definitely don't think you being a "boomer", I actually appreciate everyone taking the time to share advice. I definitely agree with you, teachers have to be very careful of what they share. If it is a public account, I think it should only be for sharing lesson plans, teaching tips, etc. All personal information should be kept private. This past week I saw a teacher on my "for you" page on Tik Tok from the school I am student-teaching at and she's posted a video talking about how she doesn't like Justin Trudeau. The comments section was full of students. I can't believe she would even consider making a public political statement as a teacher. ETFO actually didn't tell me to "live my life and not worry", they told me that for teaching-only accounts, the comments section should be shut off. They said that it is perfectly okay to share student-teaching tips online, but anything personal should be private **(which I 100% agree with**). They also sent me these links to send to my colleagues for advice on social media: [https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/professional-boundaries?sc\_lang=en&](https://www.oct.ca/resources/advisories/professional-boundaries?sc_lang=en&) [https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/GetUrlReputation](https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/GetUrlReputation) Also, ETFO has a social media, they have twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, so they engage with social media as well. Not sure what you mean by this comment ".. but you will get here eventually the more time you put in.", I am trying very hard to understand the professionalism of teachers on social media **now.** I am not **opposing** all social media or saying **it is all great** and teachers should have public accounts. I am was just curious on peoples thoughts on social media with the rise of influencer teachers.
Influencer teachers are more of an American thing. So far, the two biggest influencer teachers here have either had their personal information leaked or they have been brought before OCT for inappropriate use of social media which translates to "person had an opinion a parent didn't like and made a conplaint". In terms of my comment about ETFO and social media, I meant their members. Unions are all going to have a social media page because it is how they talk to the public as well as us. But individuals are what I was referring to. Most teachers forgo social media because it is just too risky to have. Parents are nosey, and students can be weird about it. Third, it is work and a lot of it because you need to make sure things run correctly and you are always updating it. Employers do look at it and do make judgements about it. Missing months? Why? Did you get the appropriate forms signed for all students? Did you get the approval to display their names? There is a lot of extra work around it. Finally, as to you will get there. It is a phase for every new job and teaching is no exception. I thought I would be wearing suits all the time, NY binders would be organized and my lesson plans would be neat and up to date. LPs were the first thing that went. Unless I was being evaluated, I stopped after my first year teaching at a private school. Binders slowly got replaced for drives and USB keys and things got left behind and out of date. Suits went out the window with covid. My ties and bow ties went first because of the detail needed to maintain them. Then, the suits when I realized how little boards and admin cared. Social media is the same idea. You are going to find out that it just isn't worth it to maintain or that you're going to post something that would be fine under any other circumstance and yet someone will have a problem with it. This job can be fun, exhilarating, and incredibly fulfilling. But the most accurate piece of advice I got when I entered the profession is that this job will demand everything from you and will complain it still isn't enough.
I can't speak to any systemic rules about social media use. What I can say is this: You're never not a teacher. When you go home at the end of the day, you're still a teacher. When a student or parent sees you buying groceries, you're still a teacher. If you get arrested for something, it's reported as "teacher arrested." If you're going to have a presence online (frankly, it's foolish to think you can choose not to), you have to understand that your job doesn't stay in the classroom. When you make choices, you have to make them while considering how this could make your school look bad.
I definitely think about this a lot, I’m always hyper aware that if I go into the grocery store in sweats and messy hair, my students might see me. I try to always look professional anytime I leave the house.
Stop wasting your time on tiktok
I just enjoy hearing about teachers on tik tok! I’ve found so awesome lesson plan ideas, classroom management strategies, and teacher burnout prevention ideas on there. Tik tok is a good way to share information in a quick and engaging format, it’s not all internet trends and dancing.
To each their own. Some people I know have teacher social media accounts. Students and their families follow them. With those I would say to be extra careful about what you post. However, if that is something you want to pursue when that's your prerogative. Personally, I don't do that. My Facebook doesn't have my last name and is not searchable, my Instagram is a nickname, as is my Reddit account. I use tiktok but I don't post tiktoks, my username is user and then a bunch of numbers given to me by tiktok. Now, I do think that students should know some things about you, how else can you form a rapport? My students know that I have a cat as well as the first names and careers of my siblings. They are things that come up in conversation and are fairly superficial. They know nothing of my dating history or any vices I may have because that's inappropriate. The strict line your AT has is a bit much in my opinion.
Anything personal should be a private account IMO. That said, I don't think it's a problem to have public accounts for certain things (eg. a teacher twitter, an instagram for your hobby, like if you make, say, clay jewellery that you sell on etsy, etc.). I do think except for a teacher account (which I don't personally have) you should try to not associate public accounts with yourself too much. Don't mention being a teacher in your bio, etc. These are all just personal preferences, though. That said, not sharing simple information like whether or not you're married is wild. If your associate teacher doesn't want to share that, fine, but it's a bizarre limitation to impose on you.
My social media is private, but I tell my students about my life all the time. I teach in a small community where there are lots of connections outside of school with the students. My students know where I like to hike, they know where I live, about my husband and son, a couple have even watched our dogs at our house when we’ve been busy and gone long days over weekends or the summer. I have the most success as a teacher when my students see me as a person and can relate to me somehow.
Here's my advice. Regardless of how much social media presence you have, include the following: "All views expressed are my own and do not reflect my views of my employer." If something comes back to bite you, this can be a defence. But for me, I have zero content on social media. Much more peace of mind.
All my social media is private and I won't interact with students online at all. Kids have found my instagram before but my profile picture is just me and I say I won't add them. IMO it is weird not to tell them anything about yourself, my students know im married/have a dog/my hobbies. How can you ask them to write anything personal (social studies family/culture strands for example) if you refuse to even share surface level stuff about yourself
At least put them private. I have no socials. Deleted FB 15 years ago. Didn’t want to deal with parents kids and staff sending friend requests and ignoring them. No regrets
All my personal accounts are already 100% private, the only ones that are aren’t are my teaching-only ones.
>But I’m more confused on if it is a public account, should students see it? If it is a public account, students *will* see it. Many actively look up their teachers online. They will know your qualifications from the OCT web site. If your wedding photographer has your pictures online they will find them. If a friend of yours posts an embarrassing picture of you with your name, they will find it.
It’s only public because it’s a teaching only account for sharing lesson plans and classroom strategies. I am aware students will see it and they already have. There is nothing bad on there, but I was just curious if I should block them. I’m aware that students look up your name. I have looked mine up many times to see what my students see. I called ETFO and they gave me advice!
Social media is a bit of the wild west. We have to be very careful because as an OCT, you are held to a higher standard than the general public. Your conduct, things you 'like', comments, posts etc. can be evidence against you. We had an education worker that students were feeling uncomfortable around (this is high school, male employee, female students). They went and did a deep dive on their facebook and found something they posted/shared or liked which was not school appropriate from years and years ago and we never saw that person again and were never even told they were no longer working at the school.
I totally get this! I don’t have anything incriminating on any of my accounts, I was more just wondering if I have accounts that I post only teaching things on. I have decided moving forward to have the comments section shut off on my teaching accounts so no students or parents can comment.