The Connected

Educator

Suzi Van Steenbergen, Ed.D.

CSUSM Teacher Orientation, August 2018
Welcome to the Best Profession!
● Being a teacher is the absolute best.
● You are also becoming a semi-public
figure, a mini celebrity if you will.
● This brings with it some important
responsibilities, and opportunities,
both of which start now, not when
you get hired.
● That is what we’re talking about
today.
Why does this matter?
● Think back to our discussion of professionalism.
○ You’re working with minors--that carries with it some specific responsibilities
○ Perception is almost as important as reality
○ You’ll be building relationships that will last for years.

● Our goals today:

○ To consider our responsibilities as educators in and outside the classroom
○ Become digitally aware as educators
○ Learn about some social media best practices
○ Begin to create those professional communities
The Cautionary Tales
“Ohio teacher in trouble over SnapChat Post.”

● What were some of her mistakes?

● What could she have done differently?
● Let’s look at the substance of her statement. What was she really saying
about her students and their parents? Why might that message, regardless of
the mode of delivery, be problematic?
#dontberacist

● What are some of the

lessons here?
● Was the district right to ask
the teachers to resign?
● What about first amendment
rights? Why is “free speech”
a dubious defense here?
Some Local Flavor
● Where did this teacher go
wrong?
● What are some better
ways to cope with your
frustrations?
Know Your District’s Policies
Activity:

● Information is the best defense

against silly mistakes.
● So, go to your assigned
district’s web page, and the
school’s web page, and locate
any relevant media policies.
● Read through them, taking
notes on things that surprise
you.
● Be ready to share 3 tips/rules
you found.
Side Note: It’s Not Just Online
● The law is not always on your
side, even when on your own
time.
● What does it mean to live to a
higher standard? What does
that look like in practice?
● Does this mean you can
never joke and have fun? Of
course not! But be aware of
your surroundings and use
common sense.
Bottom Line: Separate the Personal from the
Professional
Activity:

● Right now, open up your social

media accounts. Check your
privacy settings. If your posts are
not set to private (“friends only”) do
so.
● In addition, check to see that your
old posts are also hidden from
anyone except your friends.
● On your own time, go through your
social media and delete old posts.
Ask yourself, “would this be bad if it
was on the local news?” Delete
accordingly!
The Opportunities: Building a Professional
Network
● Now, the good news!
○ Teacher side tip: When delivering “bad” news to students,
“sandwich” it between two positive things. It makes the tough
news (bad grade, discipline issue, etc.) go down easier.

● You now have the opportunity to develop a

professional network of educators, within and
outside your school and district, that will help support
you in so many ways.
Professional Organizations
AAHPERD, American Alliance for Health, Physical
Education, Recreation and Dance (www.aahperd.org)
ACTFL, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages (www.actfl.org)
AECT, Association for Educational Communications and
Technology (www.aect.org)
AMLE, Association for Middle Level Education
(www.amle.org)
ASCD, Learn, Teach, Lead (www.ascd.org)
CCSS, California Council for the Social Studies
(www.ccss.org)
CEC, Council for Exceptional Children (www.cec.sped.org)
CABE, California Association of Bilingual Education
(www.gocabe.org)
CATE, California Association of Teachers of English
(www.cateweb.org)
CSTA, California Science Teachers Association
(www.cascience.org/)
IRA, International Reading Association (www.reading.org)
ISTE, International Society for Technology in Education
(www.iste.org)
NAEA, National Art Education Association
(www.arteducators.org)
NAfME, National Association for Music Education
(www.nafme.org)
NAGC, National Association for Gifted Children
(www.nagc.org)
NCSS, National Council for the Social Studies
(www.ncss.org)
NCTE, National Council of Teachers of English
(www.ncte.org)
NCTM, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
(www.nctm.org)
NSTA, National Science Teachers Association
(www.nsta.org)
PTA, National Parent Teachers Association (www.pta.org)
Excerpted from:
https://www.districtadministration.com/article/list-professional-
organizations-k12-leaders
Activity
● In your subject area groups, browse the organizations that are relevant for
your field.
○ Remember--all content teachers also teach reading, so check out the IRA!
○ Remember--all teachers work with technology, so check out ISTE!
● Report back!
○ What did you learn about what the organizations do?
○ What resources do they provide?
○ How might the sites help you in your teaching practice?
Using Social Media Professionally
There are LOTS of ways to use social media to your advantage in a professional
context. Here are some beginning tips:

● Create new, professional only accounts that use your teacher name (“Dr. Van
Steenbergen”). Those can be public, as long as you ONLY post about things
you don’t mind parents and reporters seeing. Like what?
■ News articles
■ Lesson plan ideas
■ Great videos or other teaching resources
■ Other ideas?
● Follow folks you know, and those you don’t! Look to see who your colleagues
are following.
Twitter
● Follow other educators
● Follow education organizations
● Participate in hashtag “chats”
○ Eg. #edchat

For your students:

● “Live Tweet” events for your students

○ Presidential debates
○ Class activities
● Other ideas?
Facebook
● Join educator groups. There are tons!

For your students:

● Create “closed” (not “secret”) groups for your classes

○ Students can see the posts
○ You can’t see students’ personal posts and they can’t see yours
○ Have a strong policy for how students should comment
○ Before doing this, create a professional account that you use
only for this purpose.
● Other ideas?
YouTube
● There are millions of educator friendly videos on
YouTube. Use them!
○ Technology
○ Writing
○ Language
○ Subjects (math, science, history, etc.)

For your students:

● Post instructional videos (keep them short).

● Create a channel for your classes that
aggregates student work
● Curate helpful videos from the internet that your
students might like
● Other ideas?
Instagram
● Follow other educators
● Find lesson plan, classroom decoration ideas, etc.

For students:

● Live videos: Instructional/explanatory; live stream events for students.

● Share student work or summaries of classroom activities (check for policies
on posting photos of students, or just don’t post photos of students).
SnapChat
● OLD LADY ALERT! I’m not on Snap and I don’t
totally get it. So, how might it be used for
instructional purposes?