Teaching Etiquette & Ethics
Essential Do's & Don'ts for Teachers
Professional etiquette is important for all professionals and it is even more important for teachers because they are endowed with the responsibility to mold younger generation.
When we talk about etiquette it becomes necessary to take about ethics too. Many think etiquette and ethics are synonymous which is not so.
Difference between Etiquette and Ethics
Etiquette is customary code of polite behaviour in society or among members of a particular profession or group. It is necessary to ensure that our social interactions run smoothly and that we don’t make one another uncomfortable in any particular situation.
Ethics refers to a set of moral principles that relates to the difference between good and bad. It provides us with ways to consider questions of morality, issues of right and wrong.
1. Avoid familiarity with parents. It has ruined many.2. Avoid being too playful with students. If they see you as being too playful they'll never take you serious and it would cause you problems. You must have some level of firmness to be able to manage your classroom. It is a sign of incompetence if other teachers come to ask the students to stop making noise when you are in the class.
3. Mind your words when you address your students.
4. Carry yourself with pride. Dress well and smell nice. Make good hairs. This will give you an edge.
5. Even if you are poor, do not let your students think so, they will look down on you.
6. Never ask your students to lend you money, it is a step to downfall.
7. Do not join parents to speak bad of your school. Do not post in social media any negative opinion about the institution where you work. Communicate clearly and ensure your communication is free of errors.
8. Do not gossip with your students. Never discuss a particular student’s behaviour with colleagues. Never annoy the admin staff. Some have the unofficial power to make your life easy or difficult. Find out who that is and never, ever annoy them, no matter what. Leave a classroom the way you would like to find it (blackboard, seating, etc.).
9. Don't give assignments you can't mark.
10. Never eat your students food.
11. Prepare yourself before going for a class. It is a shameful thing for your students to keep correcting you in your own subject.
12. Be open about what you know and do not know. When a student ask you a question you don't remember it's answer, quickly throw it back to the class and afterwards tell them how important it is that they should know it. Make them take it home as an assignment. This will give you the chance to make research.
13. Quit that act of stopping over at parents house to charge your gadgets. In most cases it exposes you to ridicule.
14. Be professional about your home lessons; teach and get out of there it is not your home. Don't relax and watch television or even eat there, you are inviting disrespect.
15. Never threaten the students on the difficulty level of a course/subject.
16. When any of your students is absent call his or her parents to enquire why?
Say: "Mommy Bukky, why was 'my child' absent in school today?" Referring to your student as your child is a professional way to earn respect from parents, not all those shameful familiarity attitude some of you put up.
17. Learn to be a time conscious person.
18. Master different teaching methods. Master when to apply each techniques. For example, story telling helps you to win the attention of your students if they are tired.
19. Build a strong personality, so that the children don't only comport their selves only when you are with the cane. Always remember that the objective is not to punish students but to correct them. Give meaningful punishments, if it is really necessary
20. As a male teacher, never entertain closeness with your female students. When they come to you about not understanding a thing, do not be tempted to teach them privately. Follow her to the class, and tell the others about her question and remember to let the other students try to provide explanation. If you are able to do this, you will be able to avoid being accused of paedophile activities.
21. Treat everyone with fairness, say ‘No’ to favouritism & never let your students think you practice favouritism, don’t discriminate students based on caste, creed, religion, sex, economic status, disability, language and place of birth.
22. Be judicious ‘use good judgement, careful & sensible’ in using regional language in the classroom.
23. Teach life lessons and do not restrict yourself only to the syllabus, teach topics beyond the curriculum and encourage communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity through questioning and discussion. Be fair in marking assignments and answer scripts; be prompt in returning them.
24. Do not read aloud to the class the bad responses of a student.
25. Learn to say 'thank you' to your boss when he/she pays your salary. It is not stupidity, It is a Logic and critical thinking. This single act keeps you in his/her top lists.
26. Be a hardworking teacher, be sincere and do not do for the sake of doing. Carry out practicals, take your students out for field work and excursions. Do not exploit them.
27. Finally, study your boss and master all that he/she considers work ethics.