TASK 5a: My Ethics

I don't think I have ever sat down and thought to record ethics within my practice, I don't even know how or when I began to gather the set of ideas I call my ethics. However be adhering to them, I teach different children five days a week. Working in education obviously has is code of conduct in place and a very tight one if that. This brings me to the idea that ethics aren't just something you learn, you don't do a short course in it for example. It's about a feeling or a sense. I guess i have my ethics in place because of my community of practice, it's the people within my networks that inform me of the do's and don'ts with my work. It will be interesting for the first time to sit, reflect and discover what ethics am i actually aware of and what do I just subconsciously do because that's the way it's done - for the moment, until it changes...

Teaching Drama Ethics

Behaviour: I should lead by example. I should bring the same commitment and dedication to the classroom that I expect back from the students. There needs to be a balance between behaving relaxed enough to create a comfortable learning atmosphere, but not so relaxed that students feel they can break boundaries.

Language: Again lead by example. My language needs to be that of a teacher and not a friend. I say teacher, not in the traditional sense but as an informed professional person who demands authority and respect. Any personal words such as mate or darling I steer clear from and I wouldn't expect any of the students to give me an informal 'nickname'.

Personal life: Whilst drama is a personable creative subject, it's important that I keep my personal life and my opinions of the way life should be lived to myself. It could be dangerous to force any kind of personal insight into a professional atmosphere.  Any picture students create that is something other than professional of me, can mare their perspective of teacher/student relationship.

Discipline: Physical contact should be kept to a minimum within the classroom. Discipline needs to be productive and fair. Rather seen as punishment, it needs to focus on fixing the problem. Secrets should not be promised and any information that is deemed as dangerous should be reported.

Creativity: Each student needs to feel comfortable and have the means to excel through drama. There should be no negativity or disruptions that breaks the creativity. Every student needs to feel able to grow and explore their ideas.

This have been a difficult task, I feel like there must be so much more that happens without me knowing. Next step is to look at one of my schools code of conduct details to explore this notion further.