Professional ethics is a term we attach to certain standards of conduct within the teaching profession. In order for any profession to be respected and to have self-respect, its members must have and live up to these standards. A profession can only grow in stature when its members have respect for themselves and for their contribution as a profession to their society.
A professional standards of conduct can be used as a guide for people entering the teaching profession.
1. How can an individual teacher strengthen his professional organizations?
2. What different methods are there of preventing discipline problems from arising? Can certain discipline problems be anticipated?
3. Do teachers' unions differ from professional associations? If so, how?
Brownell, Samuel M. "If I Were Starting to Teach." Bulletin. National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) 52: 2-5.
Chapman, Rebecca. "Teaching Is Also Learning." Bulletin. NASSP 52: 6-10.
Morris, Jean. "Diary of a Beginning Teacher." Bulletin. NASSP 52: 23-27.
Robbins, Jerry H. "Hot Spots in Student Activities—How to Deal with Them." Bulletin. NASSP 55: 34.
It is most important to be respected by one's fellow teachers. These relationships are ones that will be important to the choral director and to the choral music department.
Be careful about the remarks you make about other teachers and their teaching. Unless you have visited their classrooms you cannot know firsthand what type of teaching other people do. You should be particularly cautious about the comments that are made to students about other teachers. Do not undermine another teacher's effectiveness by saying things about him or his teaching that will make students think less of him. Such statements will not make them think any more of you. Teachers are often misquoted by students, and any statements regarding other teachers must be cautiously made. Students tend to hear what they want to hear and will look for meanings in your words that you may not intend.
Confine the discussion of faculty decisions or school policy to faculty or department meetings. Anything but casual or general comments in the faculty lounge, for example, will cause hard feelings and will contribute to the division of a faculty. Do not sit quietly through a faculty discussion and later voice loud opinions in the lounge. If you have something to say, it should be said in the faculty meetings where it can be weighed by all faculty members during a formal discussion.
It is most important for the students to respect you as an educator and as a professional person capable in your field. Each teacher demonstrates this professionalism each day of the school year, not just at in-service meetings and professional conventions.
A beginning teacher will often have difficulty establishing himself as a leader in the classroom and in maintaining relationships that are clearly teacher-student. Often, this teacher is not far removed from the age of the high school student. The problems that result from too close a relationship will, at the very least, undermine one's teaching. The respect of the other students will be lost as well as the respect of the other teachers. There are many people entering the teaching profession after careers in other professions. The same admonition applies here as well; be a teacher-leader.
A teacher will not like all of his students and it is unrealistic to believe that all of the students will like every teacher. Although it is not necessary that all of the students like a teacher in order for him to be effective, it is necessary for the students to respect him. Remember, students are not looking for a friend in the teacher; they have their own friends. Instead, they are looking for a teacher whom they can respect and to whom they can look for leadership. Students do not respect teachers who allow relationships to become mixed. They are too young and immature to know when a relationship as a friend ends and a teacher-student relationship begins again.
It can be said that good teachers are always effective disciplinarians, but that good disciplinarians are not always effective teachers. Discipline for its own sake is of no value. Discipline for the sake of allowing the students to learn should always be maintained. The best possible method of discipline is to be such a good teacher that the students will be so busy learning that they will not be interested in anything but the subject. Some suggestions are made in the interests of maintaining a classroom attitude that is most conducive to good teaching.
1. Be consistent in the treatment of the students. Demand the same behavior from all the students. Be careful to treat the best students the same as all other students in the classroom. Appropriate, even stern discipline is accepted by all students if it is consistently applied to everybody.
2. Handle each discipline problem as it arises. Do not allow small problems to continue until they become so large that they cannot be handled by the classroom teacher.
3. Do not make threats, and particularly, do not make threats in anger that you will be unwilling or unable to back up later.
4. If it is necessary to punish students for their misbehavior, make the punishment fit the infraction. Do not demand punishments that are contrary to the policies of the school. Check with the administration regarding the holding of students after school hours and other such detentions.
5. Make only those rules that are necessary to your effective teaching. Have a reason for the rules in your classroom and explain those reasons to the students.
6. Recognize incorrigible students and have them removed from the classroom. Not every student can be a part of a classroom learning situation and not every student can be effectively disciplined by a classroom teacher. In most choral music situations this is less likely to occur because the students ask to be in the choir and are selected to be a member. However, where applicable, these students should be removed from the classroom until they are able to function in a learning situation. The learning rights of the other students should not be infringed upon by one or two persons who have no desire to learn and wish only to disturb the class. These people are most likely emotionally disturbed and need professional help beyond that which the classroom teacher is able to give.
7. Administer whatever rules the administration has made. Do not administer only those rules with which you agree. When rules exist that you believe are poor, work to have those rules changed or eliminated. However, until the rule is altered it is your responsibility to administer it. In order for a school system to function effectively, each teacher cannot make personal decisions as to which rules they will enforce and which ones they will ignore.
Almost every school has a part-time or full-time counselor. Refer students to these people who are trained to handle their problems. Whenever students have special problems, the counselors usually notify the teachers so the information can be beneficial in the classroom. Whenever teachers detect abnormal behavioral patterns in students, a counselor should be notified so the student can receive expert help if it is needed.
Be especially careful about trying to solve student problems that relate to the home. As a teacher you will hear one side of the story from the student. The side you hear may be honestly but emotionally told and may represent part, but not all of the truth. There are occasions when the teacher can be of significant help to parents who recognize a problem in their child and wish to correct it. Students can be helped immensely when the teacher, counselor, and parents work together. Understand, however, that it takes a great deal of understanding, training, and a certain ability to deal with people, to affect a student's life in a positive manner. Honest but poorly aimed attempts at counseling may create more problems than previously existed.
One of the first things a beginning teacher should learn is to go through channels. Whenever one has requests, they should be taken to the immediate supervisor. If this person cannot help, one should proceed up the line until the correct person is reached. If the immediate supervisor is bypassed, he may become antagonistic toward you and erase any possibility of a good relationship that could be advantageous to the development of the choral department.
Keep the administration informed of all plans. Any changes in the total program should be fully discussed with the administration before they are implemented. They may have far-reaching consequences of which the choral director is unaware.
If you disagree with the administration's reaction to a request or proposal, do not hesitate to present your views. You may be able to persuade the administration to reach a decision in your favor. If, however, the final decision is not what you wanted, accept it without further discussion. Under no circumstances should a teacher elaborate to the students regarding such matters, or complain about decisions that are not to their liking. If the matter is important to the future of the department, by all means do not drop the proposal. Study the proposal carefully. Perhaps you can revise it and show enough new material as evidence to bring the matter up again and get a new decision. An administrator is impressed with teachers who are well prepared and are able to explain their proposal logically.
Finally, administrators are most impressed with teachers who are able to read instructions, complete forms correctly, and return them on time. This sounds overly simple, and it is, but one would be amazed at the number of people who do not do the simple things.
The choral director is teaching in an area of the school that is often referred to as "the showcase of education." The public judges much of the school by the music ensembles, debate teams, athletic teams, and other activities that are easily available to them. Conduct yourself in the community in a manner that earns respect for you and the department as well as the school you represent.
Participate in community life whenever practical and possible. Service club memberships are often available. Such activities can be rewarding to an individual. This membership may also provide a path to a better understanding of the choral department's goals by some of the community leaders. Participate in the community as though you will raise your children there and live there the rest of your life—indeed, you may.
There are several professional organizations to which choral directors/teachers may belong. These groups provide current ideas and research that is important to the profession. They allow choral directors/teachers to contribute to one another in the form of articles in journals and as participants in workshop sessions. The professional organizations vary from those that deal with the entire teaching profession to those that deal only with a specific portion of the profession and the state and regional parts of each. Directors should explore each of these. Certainly all who are interested in the well-being of the future of their profession will want to belong to their professional organizations, and be an active member of them. Reference is made below to the several associations that serve choral directors. While MENC has a broad membership of the full range of music teachers, the information provided can be useful to church directors and others. The several choral associations are specifically designed to serve those in choral music and, no matter the area in which you serve, community, church or school, membership in one or two or all can be quite helpful. The website address for each is listed below.
The organizations usually provide a journal, which includes articles pertinent to one's teaching as well as leadership on a state, regional, and national level. Some organizations are effective lobbies for the teaching profession and their work behind the scenes has contributed to the growth and increased stature of the teaching profession. The interest of these professional groups goes beyond the welfare of the teacher however. They are interested in the future of education and the development of techniques and materials that will improve the quality of teaching. Teaching can be interpreted to mean the teaching that conductors do in every rehearsal with choral ensembles.
Several organizations are listed that a new teacher will be asked to join and with which he should be familiar. Each teacher is encouraged to investigate membership in the following organizations although it may seem a financial burden to a young teacher. The possibilities of life membership in these associations should be investigated. Substantial savings can result from life memberships if they are purchased at the beginning of a teaching career.
The Music Educators National Conference (MENC), menc.org, is the largest association of music teachers. It is a general association for all music teachers. The MENC Journal is noted for its many articles on music education and for its variety of offerings.
MENC sponsors state, regional, and national conventions that are of value to the music teacher. More information is provided to those who teach general music classes than specifically teach choral music. New materials of music publishers and manufacturers are on display at these conventions, providing music teachers with an excellent opportunity to review and compare the products of the music industry that relate to music education.
The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), acdaonline.org, was formed to further choral music in America. It is the oldest and, from a membership standpoint, the broadest association for choral directors at all levels. It offers state, regional, and national workshops and conventions of outstanding quality. In some states district workshops are available that are of immense practical value to the participating directors. The "Choral Journal" is published nine times a year and contains valuable articles on various elements of choral music. The activities of this organization are of practical use to every choral director.
Chorus America chorusamerica.org was originally formed as an association of professional ensembles is now an organization of choruses, individuals and businesses. As the membership implies the organization is appropriate for community and professional ensembles. Other directors can benefit from the organization as well. Chorus America publishes its journal "The Voice" quarterly and they also publish "The Choral Review", which was originally the journal of the American Choral Foundation.
The National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) ncco-usa.org is an organization for university and college choral conductors and provides opportunities through its biennial conferences for performances, lectures, choral clinics and workshops. NCCO publishes THE CHORAL SCHOLAR, a peer-reviewed, online journal. While NCCO is organized to serve university and college choral conductors, others interested in choral music will find its membership helpful and rewarding.