New teachers also mentioned numerous social media modalities. These included a variety of social media types, including social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; content sharing sites like Instagram, Pinterest, and TeachersPayTeachers; and group messengers like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email listservs. New teachers often linked social media modalities to their out-of-school connections, self-directed supports, and latent supports. Induction challenges like planning and maintaining personal-professional boundaries were often discussed alongside social media modalities.
Only one new teacher I interviewed was familiar with their school’s official social media policy, and then only because a teacher had been fired recently for violating it. This means that for the most part, schools and districts were not providing guidance to teachers regarding using social media at all, let alone as a means for new teachers to access induction supports.
4.2 Social Media Modalities
New teachers also mentioned numerous social media modalities. These included a variety of social media types, including social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; content sharing sites like Instagram, Pinterest, and TeachersPayTeachers; and group messengers like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email listservs. New teachers often linked social media modalities to their out-of-school connections, self-directed supports, and latent supports. Induction challenges like planning and maintaining personal-professional boundaries were often discussed alongside social media modalities.
Only one new teacher I interviewed was familiar with their school’s official social media policy, and then only because a teacher had been fired recently for violating it. This means that for the most part, schools and districts were not providing guidance to teachers regarding using social media at all, let alone as a means for new teachers to access induction supports.