California Educator

April 2014

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N O W A D A Y S , an increasing number of teachers are becoming friends with their students on Facebook. Some educators use Facebook to make them- selves more accessible to students. Others use it to strengthen relationships or to connect with former students. Many classrooms even have a Facebook group for students to connect with and help one another. Facebook is a wonderful tool for teachers, but even though most teach- ers do not use Facebook inappropriately, unrestricted access to a teacher's personal life is not always wise. While your Facebook profi le is your own, permitting students access to your page requires discretion and responsi- bility. If parents or students are upset by something they see, the teacher may be reprimanded. Even if it's your policy not to be friends with students on Facebook, you should understand that nothing posted to Facebook is ever completely Facebook privacy Where to begin By Tiff any Hasker private. Your posts can be forwarded and changed and could potentially refl ect poorly on your career or school. A good adage to live by: Don't post anything on Face- book that you wouldn't want a school district offi cial to know about, your grandmother to read, or your 7-year-old daughter to see. Following are common privacy-related questions about Facebook and our best attempt to answer them, under- standing, though, that Facebook changes all the time. I never friend any students (former or current) or their parents. Two reasons: 1) I donʼt want them to get a biased view of me outside of the offi ce, & 2) I donʼt want to know about any illegal or crazy actions by them. I donʼt want to be privy to any pics or info about drinking, smoking or inappropriate behavior. —CTA memberʼs Facebook post Know & Tell Tech tips 10 A P R I L 2 0 1 4 Educator 04 Apr 2014 v2.5 int.indd 10 4/15/14 2:21 PM

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