Possible Effects of Social Media Use on Careers

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title: Principles of Teaching

  Career Cluster: Education & Training

  Program Name: Principles of Teaching

  CIP Number: 0713129900

  Course Name: Introduction to the Teaching Profession

  Course Number: 8909010

  Course Type: Career Preparatory

  CTE Standard(s) or benchmarks:

  02.06 Recognize the impact social media and your personal digital footprint has on your career and explore rules/regulations about social media use in a classroom environment with minors.

  04.04 Discuss the implications of ethical/unethical behavior.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Digital Dangers: The Impact of Your Personal Digital Footprint in the Workplace.” See CPALMS resource ID# 210214.

• Career Connection

  
  

  Based on this lesson, students will develop an understanding of the significance of social media posts and digital presence in shaping one's professional reputation and career opportunities.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Recognize the impact that social media posts and digital footprint can have on a career in education.
  • Reflect on the implications of ethical and unethical behaviors in using social media on a career.
  • Research rules and regulations about appropriate social media use for education professionals.
  • Write a narrative outcome for the case study that includes a universal theme and clear perspective.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with:

  • Writing multi-sentence paragraphs.
  • Social media platforms.
  • The concepts of ethical and unethical behaviors/actions, universal themes, and digital footprint.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What information can employers gain from a person’s social media use?
  • What impacts can social media posts and digital footprints have on careers?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. To introduce the lesson, pose the questions, "How do you use social media? Have you ever considered how your online presence can affect your future career? Why or why not?"

  • Students will then discuss in small groups or pairs. Have students from each pair or group share their thoughts to the whole class.

  2. Before distributing the case study, encourage students to be objective when reading this scenario and not pass judgement. Explain that the purpose of the activity is to engage in critical thinking about the consequences of actions and choices related to social media.

  3. Distribute the case study, “Digital Dangers: The Impact of Your Personal Digital Footprint in the Workplace,” (see CPALMS resource ID# 210214).

  • Project the following suggested questions onto the board or provide students with the handout Case Study Guided Questions (see attachments)
  • Have students reflect on and discuss during the reading of the case study.
  • • How would you describe Mark’s approach to using social media and his online presence?
    • Do you think Mark’s extensive online activity has any relevance to his new role as a teacher of digital marketing? Why or why not?
    • How might Mark’s online presence influence his credibility and authority as a teacher, especially in a subject like digital marketing?
    • Why do you think Mr. Saavedra emphasized that Mark represents the school system both in and out of the classroom?
    • What are some ethical implications of Mark’s online behavior, including his use of language and content in his podcast?
    • How might Mark have approached his online presence differently considering his new teaching role?

  4. Allow students time to read, discuss the case study with their groups or pairs, and answer the guided questions.

  5. Debrief the questions with students after they finish reading. Review theme (a big idea or abstract idea about life in writing) and ask students what themes they saw in the case study (see Teacher Notes).

  • Provide students with a list of universal themes to think about while reading the case study. These can be displayed on the board. Examples are personal responsibility, community impact, consequences, society and individuality, self-identity, etc.
  • Teacher can address any questions students may have about the themes to clarify student understanding.
  • Students can share their own themes that relate to the case study to be added to the list.

  6. Explain that students will research and list 5 rules or regulationsabout social media uses by education professionals responsible for minors.

  • Teacher can pass out Social Media Research handout (see attachments) for students to record their answers.
  • Explain to students that these will be incorporated into their next activity.

  7. Allow students time to research and discuss social media rules and regulations.

  8. Introduce the next activity to students. They will write an outcome scenario in narrative form of what happens to Mark. Suggested requirements for the outcome scenario are:

  • Demonstrate ways Mark was not compliant with the rule/regulation and ways that he can become compliant.
  • A rule or regulation that they researched to address in their outcome scenario.
  • At least one universal theme into their scenarios.
  • Select the perspective of Mark, the principal, a parent, the student, or one of Mark's colleagues.

  9. Students will then write a short narrative for the chosen scenario, describing how events unfold based on the choices Mark makes for each situation. Students can handwrite or type their scenarios.

  • During the writing of the scenarios, keep the universal themes displayed on the board as a reminder for students to include one in their writing.
  • Students should also have their 5 rules and regulations with them.
  • Allow students time to plan and develop their outcome scenarios.

  10. To close the lesson, facilitate a brief discussion focusing on the guiding question: What impacts can social media posts and digital footprints have on careers?

  • Ask students to reflect on what they’ve learned from this activity and whether it has changed their perspective on the importance of a responsible digital presence. This can be done as a whole group or shared in small groups.
  • As an exit ticket, students will reflect on their own digital presence and write a brief response discussing how their perspectives on their own digital presence has changed after reading this scenario, considering their future career aspirations.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • This can be done over 2 classes if necessary.
  • To simplify the lesson, for students in grades 9, 10 and 11, the teacher can choose to eliminate the universal theme part of the procedure.
  • The teacher can provide students with the following options for the outcome which can be displayed on the board and suggest that students consider the potential consequences and implications of each scenario, both for Mark and for the school community.
    • Scenario 1: Mark continues with his current approach to his online presence and doesn’t make any changes.
    • Scenario 2: Mark takes steps to align his online behavior with his new role as a teacher.

• Optional

  
  

  Formative Assessment Ideas:

  • The social media rules and regulations research can be used to assess student understanding of the ethical implications of a person's digital footprint.

  Extension Ideas:

  • Students can share their outcome scenarios with another group, or the teacher can select groups to present a scenario to the whole class.
  • Students can also role play and record their scenarios to share with the class.