Get Your Own Email – Seriously

We see lots of stories about students sharing stories and pictures on sites like Facebook and MySpace that make us gasp with astonishment. Comments like, “I can’t believe they would put something like that up for everyone to see.” and “Don’t they know that anyone can access that?” are common in conversations when the topic comes up.

What’s equally astonishing, though, are the number of professionals that use their work email for personal purposes and think that their privacy is protected. It’s not. Stop using your school email to schedule doctor’s appointments, complain about your colleagues, or apply for other jobs. There is nothing private about email when it’s provided through your employer. Besides, your friends and family who haven’t worked in a school likely have a belief that teachers and school professionals are to remain at all times, well, professional. An innocent act such as forwarding a favorite recipe to a friend on your school email can give the impression “must have a lot of free time up at the school” when that recipe is forwarded on two or three times.

Some email services are more susceptible to filters and firewalls – Hotmail is an example, but others seem to have more success – Gmail, for instance. See what works for you. Remember, though, that even using school computers to send personal email can be a slippery slope, but it certainly provides you more opportunity to present yourself as the committed professional you are – in every mode of communication.

Professional Development tip for the week of August 21, 2008