In my opinion the more you use social media and the more personal information you share, the more vulnerable you make yourself to possible criticism. From today’s lecture I now understand how newspapers (such as the Daily Mail) take great interest in the mistakes teachers make in sharing too much personal information and pictures on social media sites such as Facebook.

One challenge that teachers may face when marrying personal and professional presence on social media is knowing what is professional and what is unacceptable. It think that it is good to have guidelines like the ones found in the GTCS code to ensure what you are sharing on personal/professional accounts is appropriate. Another issue may be finding a balance in professional and personal status’ when using a joint site. Personally I would prefer to keep a separate page for the two, as this way I could be sure that I was using media in the most appropriate way without people who you do not know being able to access information about your personal interests. I have also learnt that it is important to make sure your tagged photos are not on public display, as if your friend uploads an inappropriate photo of you, it is out of your control and once something is online it will never be unseen. I think that incorporating social media into lessons can be very valuable, but it is of extreme importance that we teach children how dangerous social media can potentially be.

The videos we watched in today’s lecture, and some of the others I have found online are extremely eye-opening and show how vulnerable children can be when not taught how to use media appropriately. Although it is important to teach children the correct way to use media, it is also important that as teachers, we follow the correct codes of conduct and do not use media in any way that may be deemed unprofessional or risk our position as teachers.