I'm Not Trying to Be Famous on Instagram

When I first started @basicgirlteaches, I had no idea what I was doing with my business. I wanted to grow a large following and take cute pictures and be like what I thought everyone else was doing. I had this idea from looking at all the popular teachergram accounts that that was how to be a good teacher and that that was how to use Instagram for my business.
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It turns out that I was 1000% wrong about Instagram. In the years since starting this account, I have made a lot of intentional changes to make this account into something that I'm proud of. Instagram should be about more than liking perfectly edited photos. Instagram should be about the relationships you make with other people. Teachergram should be about more than cute fonts, trendy activities, room transformations, costumes, coffee, and advertising our resources. Don't get me wrong: there is a space for those things in the right moments, but teachergram should be about encouraging each other, sharing best practices (supported by research), advocating for strong pedagogy, asking for support, honest reflection, and authentic relationships.⁠
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As I've shifted the focus of my account to incorporate these kinds of principles, I've had to ask myself some hard questions.

• Am I using my students/classroom/job as a medium for fame or money?
• Am I following the law and the terms of my contract?
• Am I trying to connect or am I trying to be famous?
• Am I sharing things because they are trendy or because I actually care about them?
• Would others viewing my account consider me to be a professional? 

At the end of the day, the teacher Instagram community is going to be what we make it. 💛So let’s make it about more than pretty things and let’s stop using our students and our classrooms as tools to acquire fame.

A few weeks ago, I posted this statement: “Instagram should be about more than liking perfectly edited photos. Instagram should be about the relationships you make with other people.”

Instagram has plenty of staged selfies and popular graphics and repeated quotes and trendy fonts. If that’s your jam, keep on sharing. But if that’s not your jam, don’t get sucked into the trap of thinking you have to fill your feed with those kinds of posts in order to connect with people.

You don’t have to be like everyone else. People who come to your account and view your posts want to connect with YOU. So post things that matter to you. Share images that you connect with. Be your own very real and very interesting self.

Instagram has the potential to be a space or connection and conversation - if we let it. It also has the potential to be fluffy and homogenous - if we let it. There is room for you and your ideas and your perspective and we need what you uniquely have to offer.