Week 3: Help I’m a New Teacher Posted on 20 September 2016 by Grant Reeves - NQT Induction Manager in EdTech | General Firstly, I should explain why I have decided to change the name of the post from 'Help I’m an NQT' to 'Help I'm a New Teacher'. It’s an easy trap to fall into especially as you will often be told you are not supposed to know everything as you are just starting out. However, the reality of life is that you are a teacher just like I am, the only difference is you are new to the role. It does not matter to parents or should I say they do not need to know you are newly qualified, what does matter is that their children get the very best education. Other teachers may have been teaching for more years but how much of that time has been progression and how much of it has been repetition. It’s been a busy couple of weeks and this week we need to take stock and look at some housekeeping and I don’t mean the dusting type. Every year during our round of “guide to successful induction” sessions, we mention the perils of social media and the need to ensure that sites such as Facebook are secure and limited to friends only. Despite this, I am still surprised about how many new teachers fail to take some relatively simple precautions to ensure that their social media sites are secure and safe places to post information. A good guide can be found here. Remember that the internet is a great place to surf but everyone does it, look out for those friend requests from parents and in some cases students (who will try every trick in the book), if you were friends with parents before entering teaching you may need to consider restricting what they can see. The phrase “I’ve had a bad day” has a whole different meaning to those of us in education to people outside of the role. Social media is great for networking and learning but don’t let your use of social media impact on your induction. Next week the Primary programme starts in earnest in Dartford so if you haven’t booked a space it would be great to see you. Get in touch! Here are more resources on social media use:Social Networking: A guide for Trainee Teachers and NQTsSocial Networking for Teachers – Practical TipsIs your Facebook Profile Set to Private?3 Simple Steps to Protect your Twitter PrivacyHow Private is your Instagram Profile?Are your WhatsApp Settings Private?