Transparency: Lessons from my Car

This is Maks:

Short for McKensie, she is a lot like me, loud, attracts attention, hard to ignore.  I love her because she is fast and helps me execute quickly made decisions.  Her big drawback, with her bright paint and orange wheels, is that she attracts the attention of other drivers (and the occasional law enforcement employee.)  So when I am driving... on the offense, I know that the other drivers will see me--and remember me.  Because of this, I am more generous and more forgiving than I would be driving a car that blends in with the rest.  She keeps me honest and in-check (although I do still make mistakes.  I accidentally ran a stop sign the other day.  I got out and apologized to the car behind me.  In my defense, I had just told myself a really funny joke.)

This is a lot like social media.  I hear teachers say they do not want to be "online".  They do not want their students or parents seeing what they do.  My question is, what are you doing that you don't want others to see?  A true leader is a model all the time, not just when he or she is at work.  It's true that it is scary.  I managed to skip Facebook, but I have Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.  I am out there.  I am open and honest.  My mother would say (she just said it today) that perhaps I am too blunt and that not everyone deserves the honest truth.

But I imagine a world much like the one in The Invention of Lying where people say exactly what they mean.  It's not always welcomed or appreciated, but you always know where you stand.

Although an extreme is not necessary (and I think most people would agree I am extreme), the basis still applies: GET OUT THERE!  Show your students how to use social media. If you don't, from whom will they learn?  Have you SEEN what is out there?!?!  George Couros would say that it is our responsibility to spread positivity on social media, to outweigh and drowned out the negativity.  

My husband hates it.  He avoids social media.  He also doesn't read my blog, so I get to say what I want.  I get his fears. He is scared of saying the wrong thing, having something taken the wrong way.  I say things that are not popular.  I overshare.  I admit I would not have wanted to grow up in the days of Facebook.  But I am open and honest and when you meet me in person, you will find I am exactly like my blog, my tweets, my pics.  I am passionate about learning, shoes and life.  I am funny, smart and empathetic.  I have high expectations of myself and those around me. And yes, I get disappointed.  And yes, I have haters (but they gonna hate.)

I do erase sentences I start and tweets I compose, but that's the great thing about social media: you can see it before it goes out!  If my brain to mouth connection worked like my fingertips to internet connection, I would get in a lot less trouble.  If I had a verbal filter like the one created when I can type out my messages ans see them before others do, maybe I wouldn't be so... blunt. 

Take the plunge.  Go for the risk.  Get out there and tell your story.  If you don't, someone will.