Social media outlets offer a place of expression for students at Benilde-St. Margaret’s to connect and interact with the people around them. Although it may come as a surprise, some of BSM’s very own teachers admit to having profiles on the same well-known platforms that students use on a daily basis.

Similar to students, teachers use social media to reach out to the people they know, but many of them are using these popular sites to spread the word about certain events or topics being explored in class as well. “I have Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, VSCO, and even TikTok. Some of them are just specific to families who live outside of Minnesota that I stay connected with, but I mostly use my other ones to just kind of have fun. We have an Instagram account for the American studies class I teach, so that keeps the alums connected to what the current classes are doing. I mostly try to put funny or fun things on there,” social studies teacher Megan Kern said.

Because many students use social media on a regular basis, teachers take advantage of the apps to reach students in unexpected ways. “I have both Instagram and TikTok. I try to use them to show math in entertaining or funny ways. This gets students thinking about math outside of the classroom even if it’s like a joke. Students have commented or liked some of the stuff I post too…I’ve definitely made some connections in terms of students coming up and talking to me during the day because of videos or things that I sent out,” math teacher John Groess said.

On some occasions, students have confessed how entertaining their teachers’ content can be, even if it may seem ridiculous at first. “I’ll come across a teacher’s account that makes funny videos on like TikTok or Instagram, and then I’ll show my friends the next day because they made me laugh. It’s usually about things I didn’t know or learn about in class before, too, so it’s just interesting to see those things. Honestly, it can be really helpful if it’s educational like that,” senior Izzy Garvin said.

When a teacher’s social media profile is discovered, students will often tell their friends about it or even request to follow them. This is shown to produce added conversation about topics being learned in the classroom, which makes the teacher’s work feel all the more valued. “Students have commented or liked some of the stuff I post, which is a really good feeling just getting to connect with them like that. I’ve definitely made some other connections in terms of students coming up and talking to me during the day because of videos or things that I sent out too,” Groess said.

While teachers love connecting with their students, there is a certain level of privacy that they expect with some of their accounts. Teachers believe it is crucial to establish close relationships with their students in the BSM community, but that it can be done in other ways. “I don’t post very often, and I try to make myself hard to find. I’m also more of a looker than a poster… There’s probably 25 students who are currently in the pending friends section of my Instagram right now. It’s just something I don’t necessarily want them looking at and then possibly asking me about in class because it’s my life away from school which I like to keep separate,” English teacher Paul Canavati said.