The Teach For America community includes staff, corps members, alumni, donors, and supporters. Collectively, we believe in the power of social networking to create organic human networks that help communities band together to impact the issues about which they are most passionate. This document is intended to inspire action within the Teach For America community and help all of us participate in the online world safely and powerfully.

Members of the Teach For America community engage on social networks to build awareness of educational inequity, its causes and potential solutions, and Teach For America’s work to solve it. We provide one another with the tools necessary to (1) inform others about educational issues and our work, (2) share ideas for how others can be a part of the solution and (3) encourage our friends and colleagues to take positive action in pursuit of our vision of One Day.

1. Be part of the conversation: Teach For America encourages staff members, corps members, alumni, and others who are engaged in the hard work of closing the achievement gap to be active in online networks, blogs and other forums. Together, we are helping create awareness about educational inequity and highlighting the inspiring work that corps members, alumni, staff, and friends are doing to solve it. Here are some ways you can get involved:
   
   1. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter:
      1. http://www.facebook.com/teachforamerica
      2. http://www.twitter.com/teachforamerica
   2. Share news and information about the importance of education with your online networks.
   3. Start a blog: http://www.teachforus.org is a great resource for corps members looking to blog.
   4. Share your voice: Tell us what you Teach For at http://voices.teachforamerica.org
   5. Be active on TFAnet: http://www.tfanet.org
   
   
2. Be accurate and truthful: Just as you would in a face-to-face conversation, always behave online with the utmost honesty and attention to facts. When sharing other people’s posts, be sure to follow copyright and fair use best practices. Whenever possible, tag the source of your post (and expect that others will do the same if they share your posts.) If you are creating an informal online space for members of the Teach For America community, please be sure to officially note that you are not officially representing the Teach For America brand.
   
3. Own what you share: You are the owner of the information you post online, and you are ultimately accountable for those posts. There are multiple ways to protect your online content. For instance, you can find more on Facebook privacy here: http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php and Twitter privacy here: http://support.twitter.com/entries/14016. While privacy settings are an important control, nothing online is truly private. Rather, assume that your audience is everyone in the world who is online, including parents, corps members, prospective corps members, alumni, staff, supporters, and detractors. If you wouldn’t say something to someone in a face-to-face discussion, don’t say it where they can “hear” it online. For more on what is appropriate to share online, please refer to Teach For America’s online posting policy at the end of this document.
   
4. Protect the privacy of students, families, and others: Online or offline, you have a responsibility to protect confidential and proprietary information. Never reveal personal information about students online, and remember that it is illegal to publicly display photos—online or offline—of anyone under the age of 18 without written permission from his or her parents. When in doubt, don’t post information that could breach confidentiality with students, their families or Teach For America.
   
5. Value and respect other opinions: While you should always stay true to your individual opinions and beliefs, recognize that none of us have all the answers to the challenges of educational inequity. Be aware of how other members of the online community could perceive what you post. Always stay respectful of those with differing views from you, and ensure that what you post online protects the communities that you work with.
   
6. Use good judgment: If you are ever unsure about what you want to put online, the best practice is to not post it. The marketing team is here as a resource for situations in which you believe you may need guidance.
   

1. Share news and updates: We will develop a strong national presence in online social and professional networks that will act as a critical source for the latest news from and about Teach For America.
   
2. Provide training and support: We will invest regions, teams, and individuals in social media and help maximize their online impact by sharing tools, training and ongoing support. We will also provide the resources and context necessary to understand how to integrate social media strategies with TFAnet, e-mail, and more.
   
3. Stimulate action: We will work collectively with regions and national teams using social media to promote, engage, and share both locally and nationally. We will encourage our fans, followers, and supporters to engage with each other in their daily lives and use social media to promote action in other settings. Examples include: Meeting in person, running for office, and attending online events.
   
4. Highlight the diversity of the community: We will encourage a vibrant online community and highlight the many diverse voices of our organization, both through what we post, and through the conversations and action that we fuel.
   

There are many ways to connect with Teach For America corps members, alumni, staff, donors, and supporters online. In particular:

1. TFAnet.org: The Teach For America hub for corps members, alumni, and staff to communicate with each other and share resources. Don’t forget to check out:
   
   1. Terms of Use
   2. Privacy Policy
2. The official Teach For America social media locations are:
   
   1. www.facebook.com/teachforamerica
   2. www.twitter.com/teachforamerica
   3. www.youtube.com/teachforamerica
3. We are continuing to build this list of official social networking locations and have started to incorporate regional social network presence. If you are interested in connecting to your region on Facebook or Twitter, or If you have created a social networking group/page/account for an aspect of Teach For America life please reach out and let us know: socialmedia@teachforamerica.org.
   

Posting online - whether on Facebook, a blog, or another website - can be a great way for corps members to journal, share teaching experiences with friends and family, and discuss and debate issues of educational inequity. Many corps members write about their personal and professional experiences, and while we encourage you to share your ideas and experiences, we want to ensure that you consider the broader impact of online posting so that you can make informed decisions on how you share your experiences. Failure to consider these implications and any resultant unintended consequences that occur can undermine our collective credibility, injure our ability to place corps members and negatively impact your placement or continued tenure at your school, including possible dismissal from Teach For America. Therefore, it is important for you to be mindful of the following when it comes to online posting:

1. General considerations: Each of us has a deep respect and commitment to the communities we serve and to our collective work. As such, when posting online, we encourage you to consider how your words might be perceived by people in the communities in which we serve, and by the broader education community. Colleagues, administrators, parents, and others may take offense at information that they feel is unflattering, unfair, or untrue. Some may complain to school officials or even file a lawsuit if the information is particularly offensive. If you are going to write about others, you should be aware that what you write may be perceived as offensive by the people you are describing. You should also keep in mind that when people vent online —and in the process write disparagingly about colleagues or members of their communities— their comments often end up hurting them as much as, if not more than, the targets of the criticism. Additionally, being a professional—and especially a teacher—comes with responsibilities and considerations, and postings that may have been common in a college setting may now have serious unintended consequences.
2. Photos: It is illegal to publicly display photos - online or offline - of anyone under the age of 18 without written permission from his/her parents. You should keep in mind that it is easy for anything posted online or emailed to be shared widely, even if the original intent was to share with a small group.
3. Personal information about students: Internet predators and others can use personal information about students to contact them with the intent to do them harm. Therefore, while it is fine for you to write in general about your students and experiences, it is potentially dangerous to expose personal information that makes a student easily identifiable online, especially a student’s first and last name, neighborhood, or school name. To protect your students, you should not share any personal information about your students online.
4. AmeriCorps policies: AmeriCorps prohibits enrolled corps members from (1) attempting to influence legislation or (2) participating in, or endorsing, political events or activities, if they are doing so while serving as or identifying themselves as an AmeriCorps member. Corps members may exercise their First Amendment rights, including participating in the political process, on their own initiative, on their own time, and using their own funds and resources. But in doing so, it is very important to avoid even a perception that you are doing so as an AmeriCorps member. When engaging in such advocacy efforts online, in social media forums, or in person, corps members should not identify themselves as AmeriCorps members, use the AmeriCorps logo or wear AmeriCorps service gear. Failure to follow this guidance could result in immediate and permanent dismissal from AmeriCorps.
5. District policies: Many school districts have specific policies on sharing student information, including photos, with the public. We strongly encourage you to learn more about your district’s policies around online posting. It is your responsibility to make sure you understand and adhere to the specific policies of your school/district.
6. Providing feedback: We expect and encourage you to have constructive criticism about the education system, your school/district, and Teach For America. Reflection and constant improvement are crucial elements of our approach in general, and to your impact in the classroom specifically. You can best help strengthen Teach For America by providing honest, direct feedback and suggestions for improvement to corps member advisors, program directors, and other regional staff members.