Chapter 8: What are the Ethical and Legal Issues Facing Teachers? by Coral Tigert

As the English poet John Donne once said, “No man is an island”; therefore everyone on this planet has some kind of connection with his or her fellow humans. The systems of ethics and laws are a critical part of these connections. Ethics, the code of morality by a specific group or person, and laws, written rules that members of a society must follow, make civilized society and coexistence between people possible. It is a teacher’s responsibility to convey to their students the essential moral message that we are all legally and ethically bound to each other. Ethics and legal obligations are incorporated into teachers’ work every day.

In dealing with issues involving ethical judgment, teachers need to demonstrate six characteristics: appreciation for moral deliberation, empathy, knowledge, reasoning, courage, and interpersonal skills. With appreciation for moral deliberation, the teacher needs to see the complex moral dimensions of the problem and appreciate that care must be taken to protect the legal rights of all parties. The teacher also needs to be empathetic by feeling what the others in an ethically troublesome situation are feeling. A teacher needs to have impeccable knowledge to effectively deal with ethical issues; meaning he/she needs to be able to formulate reasonable approaches to the problem and from experience, anticipate the consequences of each approach. To go along with knowledge, the teacher needs to have sufficient reasoning skills to reflect systematically on an issue. In reasoning, the teacher will move through the issue step by step and compare a specific event or action with some moral principle and come to a conclusion. To act on ethical issues, a teacher needs to be courageous. Anyone can feel, know, and reason but it takes courage to take action on those feelings, knowledge, and reasons. Finally, the teacher needs to be able to use interpersonal communication skills to act with sensitivity.

These six characteristics are vital for every teacher because not be a day will pass in our teaching careers where we will not be faced with ethic and legal setbacks.

Chapter 6: What Makes a Teacher Effective? by Ivie Williamson

The Attitude of the Effective Teacher

There are four categories of attitude that affect teaching. They are a teacher's attitude toward his or herself, their attitude toward the children, their attitude toward their peers and their students' parents, and their attitude toward the subject matter. Along with having positive attitudes in these categories, it has been found that teachers who possess warmth, empathy, sensitivity, enthusiasm, and humor in their personalities are much more effective than those who don't.

First, teachers need to know and understand themselves before they can know and understand their students. They need to realize their strengths and weaknesses and be flexible in their methods of teaching.

Second, in order to treat students fairly, teachers need to treat each one differently. This might seem contradictory at first, but think about it. Each child is different and each one has needs unique to them. Each one learns differently, each one comes from different racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as different types of families.

Elliot W. Eisner said, "If teachers pretend not to see students' racial and ethnic differences, they really do not see the students at all and are limited in their ability to meet their educational needs."

Teachers need to believe that every student can learn and achieve academically. The key and challenge are finding and filling these needs. If all children came from the same dough and were cut by the same cookie cutter, it would be easy to teach them all by a certain set of guidelines to meet all the standards. But they don't. Just as different types of cookies need to be formed and baked at different temperatures, children must be taught using different strategies in order for them to learn and be successful.

Third, teachers need to cooperate and share ideas with each other in order to benefit the staff and the students. When teachers work with those in authority, they will be able to more easily overcome anxieties and avoid situations that cause anger. Teachers ought to value and be sincere with other teachers and parents, showing empathy as well as having realistic expectations.



Finally, teachers should have enthusiasm for their subject matter. After all, if a teacher isn't excited about a subject, why on earth should a student be?

Ch.4 - What Social Problems Affect Todays Students?, by Edith Mendoza

Bullying is defined as the act of intentionally causing harm to others either by physical assault or verbal harassment. I consider bullying to be the most serious social problem in schools today. Bullying is a serious issue because not only is it a common occurrence in most schools; it can also lead to other social problems like school violence, adolescent suicide, or even drug abuse by those who are being bullied.
Bullying can be as simple as name calling,gossiping, and nowadays can be done anywhere, including the internet, which is known as cyber bullying. Cyber bullying has recently grown rapidly because of the popularity of the social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook. Kids who are being bullied show certain signs of stress. Their grades begin to drop and they refuse to go to school. Some kids just exclude themselves from socializing altogether.

I believe that with the implementation of zero-tolerance policies in schools, bullying can be reduced significantly. Another way to lower the amount of bullying incidents is to simply educate students. Students need to be aware of the consequences of bullying someone and of the damages done to someone who is at the other end. In regards to cyber bullying, I believe that parents should monitor their children’s internet use and make sure that there is good communication between child and parent.