Today we had a great speaker named Jesse Miller come in and speak to us about social media awareness and what an eye opener this was.  I had no idea to what extent our digital footprint goes out into the world without even being aware of it.  He spoke to use about digital identity,   digital rights, and digital literacy which are all very important topics especially since all of us are entering into the teaching career.  We must be aware of our presence on the internet and how we must be accountable in our social channels, especially in connection to our work and our professionalism.

One of the topics Jesse spoke to us about is privacy and how teachers must be aware of the use of personal phones in the classroom for documenting and representing students and their work.  A point that I took home today is the importance of using a camera that is not part of the school network or hooked up to the internet in any way for uploading images to applications such as FreshGrade.   We must be accountable and realize that the parents may not have given us permission as a teacher to upload that students photograph to Icloud, even though your intention was only to put it on to  FreshGrade.  We must also asks ourselves if the students name is in the photograph of the artwork and how that can also be a breach of privacy, especially if the school address is disclosed with the photograph.

Technology for kids provides opportunities for success and conflict.  This is an on going conversation, but at the end of the day we must realize that technology is a part of our future.  Jesse asks us to question our thoughts of addiction around screen time, and whether or not it is an addiction or a comfort.  Technologies provides a platform for opportunities that would not exist without it.  Schools can connect with low income families via social networks available online, where as without it those connections would be lost.

We must be aware that anything we do online is accessible, and can be tracked.  If we delete a photo on Facebook, it isn’t really gone.  If we look up someone on Facebook or Instragram it can be tracked.  Our digital footprint follows us where ever we go and as a teacher we must be willing to look at ourselves and be accountable for what our presence is online because parents and employers, or even creepers will look us up and try to find out what ever they can about us for good or for worse.