Perhaps one simple sentence captures the whole idea of ethics in my personal philosophy, “In teaching, ethics means putting the satisfaction of the needs and good of students before those of anyone else” (Banner, The Elements of Teaching). This all-encompassing sentence equips a teacher to adequately provide all of a student’s needs. A selfish teacher is likely to struggle with ethical teaching since the core requirement in most ethical beliefs is selflessness.  Although the very idea of “morals” or “ethics” more recently has taken a beating by those who consider it subjective and an enemy of our freedom of rights and action, it would be rare to find anyone who would oppose a teacher’s goal of “putting the satisfaction of the needs and good of students before anyone else”.

This call to action first requires a teacher to be a protector. The satisfaction of a student’s own needs surely requires them to be free of physical, social, and emotional harm. A teacher should constantly be aware of his or her student’s welfare and the provokers of that welfare, which is often (yet over-looked) the teacher himself or herself. However, the line of a personal relationship with a student as a protector should not be blurred with an intimate relationship with the student. A teacher must distinguish themselves strictly as a guardian and must be humble enough to realize the impairment an intimate relationship could cause to the student’s own good.

Another key point to ethical teaching is being able to teach, or rather, exemplify ethics. Unethical students often reflect an unethical influence in their life. In many situations, a teacher may spend more waking hours throughout a school year with a student than his or her own parents. In such cases, a teacher should be sensitive to their influence on the student’s moral conduct. A classroom should be a place of justice, fair treatment, social equality, respect, and integrity.

As a Teacher-on-call, I have come across many revelations concerning the importance of order in a classroom. First of these main idea is that discipline is part of order. Though some consider the negative connotations of the word “discipline”, it is not simply rule making and punishment. Discipline is something that should be both imposed on a teacher and by a teacher. It requires careful scheduling, conduct expectations, clear instructions, and a system of penalties as well as rewards. Discipline in this sense, is only established with the use of authority, which as discussed in previous entry, can be skewed with power. Authority replaced by power likely causes discipline to be replaced with abuse. Though physical abuse is long considered taboo in the education system, emotional and verbal abuse can be reflective of a teacher who ineffectively disciplines a student.

Another fundamental idea of order is that students should welcome discipline. Like the displeasure of a board game without rules, so should a student’s displeasure be with a classroom without rules. Like anything being taught, students often need to hear the relevance of discipline to their own lives. The idea of discipline and its invitation is, of course, only enduring if the teacher maintains his or her standards.

Standards are one of the first things to be set by a teacher and should not alter throughout a school year. These standards should always be slightly beyond student’s capacities but not too far that is causes discouragement. The “carrot on a stick” technique helps student’s constantly strive, keeping their focus, all awhile creating order and discipline in the classroom.