Teachers on Twitter - Good Idea or Bad Idea?

by Olivia Collins

It's no secret that education now revolves around technology. Teachers use computers and videos to teach rather than text books. Lectures are now power points rather than speeches. Teachers are now required to be tech savvy and able to navigate social media. Social media? Is that such a great idea? 

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At my high school, teachers are required to have a Twitter account, and also required to tweet at least every two weeks. Most teachers I've spoken to aren't fans of the policy. In order to meet the requirement, they'll simply post a picture of the classroom or a few students here and there. Students are more inclined to check Twitter daily rather than Edmodo or other sites for teachers to reach out to students electronically.

I personally think teachers on Twitter is a good idea, however many people think it's too weird. To be honest, most teenagers are total open books on Twitter, and the thought of a teacher seeing that is cringeworthy. Teachers can definitely take precautions to make it less weird. My school's policy states teachers aren't allowed to follow students back, so if a student is like me and has a private Twitter they should be in the clear.

However, those students without private Twitters may feel a bit weird. There's no guarantee that a teacher won't look at your Twitter even though they aren't supposed to. These students should avoid favoriting or retweeting teachers in order to maintain minimal contact, because if they show up in a teacher's notifications frequently, the teacher is more likely to click on the student.

And let's face it, if a teacher sees their prized pupil's Twitter picture is he or she doing something questionable, human curiosity will probably prevail. And from there, anything can happen. 

What you do you think about teachers on social media? Are you friends or followers of any of yours?