Vanity Search

For my class assignment, I googled  my full name in quotes to see what’s out there when someone looks me up. I wasn’t sure what I’d find  and the results gave me something to think about.

First up was my LinkedIn profile, which makes sense since I set it up. It shows my current role as a 1st grade teacher and cheerleading coach in Dallas ISD, plus my Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University-Commerce. It was good to see that stuff  since it shows my work life in a good  way. 

After that, I saw my Pinterest profile, with all my saved collections like my hair inspo, meal prep ideas, and classroom decor . While it’s more of a fun hobby personally, it’s still public. It made me think about how even “non-work” sites add to who we are online.

I was also surprised to find something from a site called ZoomInfo. I’ve never seen or used it, but it had my name, where I am, that I teach in Dallas ISD, and some hidden contact info. It was like a mini-resume I didn’t even make, haha. I’m guessing it pulled data from my LinkedIn profile or another public directory. It reminded me that other sites can grab and share our  info, even if we don’t know about it. 

I also saw there was also a TikTok account associated with my name, but it was not mine. It showed me that names aren’t always unique and we should know about mistaken identity online. Our students should know about this possibility as well. 

I also found an old Prezi I made in 2016 for a high school history class, titled Federalist Paper 70. I laughed a bit, but it showed me how long stuff can hang around online. I also saw I was mentioned in a Dallas ISD recognition when I received the “Teacher  of Promise” award this year along with an AAEAHP scholarship I received in high school,  which I’d almost forgotten!

For an extension of the assignment, I was tasked to see what ChatGPT could find out about me by searching for “Chelsee Gibson from Glenn Heights,Tx , who works for Dallas ISD”. It created a summary using some different sources it found online. Basically, it said my online information is pretty accurate and mostly professional. It showed my LinkedIn, location, and my career in education. It also said I don’t have much of a presence online and nothing that is unprofessional or inappropriate, so that was very reassuring for me. It even mentioned that sites like ZoomInfo gather information from things like resumes or LinkedIn, which is something I didn’t know before. 

This assignment made me think about how careful we need to be with what we post and do online. Our digital stuff isn't just what we post… it’s also what others tag us in or share with our name. As a teacher, I need to know what my digital identity looks like, mostly so I can show my students how to be good online citizens. 

Overall, this activity was helpful. I saw how much our digital presence is made on purpose or by accident. As teachers, we need to protect our own online identity and show our students how to make a safe, good digital presence that they can be happy with.