Standard 1 states that teacher leaders will model ethical and moral behavior. EDU 6085 Moral Issues in Education helped me learn about moral agency and the role morality plays in education through reading The Bible, The Abolition of Man and All the Kings Men. This course stretched my thinking about the origin of my morality, what defined my morality, how I integrate morality into my teaching and how I ought to promote moral agency in students. I learned that morals and ethics are quite complicated and deeply rooted in personal experience and upbringing. Although I studied and wrote a paper on Religion and Elementary School, I learned that morality extends past religion and that whether I like it or not, I am influencing students’ morality simply by being their teacher and that it is my duty to make sure I’m aware of it and doing a good job of it.
One aspect of this course that has stuck with me is the topic of character education. As teachers, we open our doors and invite students in. Each of these students comes from diverse backgrounds and homes. In public education, it is not my job to teach to religion, but it is my job to help my students become constructive and positive citizens and members of our classroom, school and community. C.S. Lewis writes in The Abolition of Man on page 13, “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts.” This speaks volumes to me particularly with some of my most challenging students. It reminds me that it is not necessary to become overwhelmed with all there is to “fix” in a student; rather, it’s my duty to inspire and bring hope to kids that are desperately thirsty for love, attention and direction. Direct instruction and modeling of character education as well as providing an environment with moral values fosters opportunities for me to help “irrigate the deserts” for all of my students.
Another one of my takeaways focuses on the idea of moral standards. In my readings of The Abolition of Man and The Bible I learned about the Tao and the Ten Commandments – both of which are standards in which people can use to guide their actions and choices to be moral humans. Lewis explains that without a set of moral values, such as the Tao, our instincts are at war. In The Abolition of Man Lewis says instinct is, “an unreflective or spontaneous impulse widely felt by the members of a given species.” To apply this to my classroom, I began to think about when my students are presented with a choice to do one thing or another, I want them to be equipped to make smart choices. Some students arrive at school with instincts that guide them to make positive decisions. Other students come to school and let their impulses take over, which ultimately leads them to get into trouble. Part of my job is to teach these students moral standards to follow in and outside of the classroom. Like the Ten Commandments, classroom rules are vital to the success of a classroom. Students need to know where the boundaries lie so that they can feel safe and relax within the freedom of the given classroom parameters. When rules are broken, there are natural consequences that students know about in advance. I feel that it is important to have kids reflect upon their actions so that they can learn from their mistakes. Therefore, if a student breaks a classroom rule after receiving a warning or two in my class, they lose a portion of their recess and fill out an “Oops!” sheet. The worksheet guides the student to think about what they did, how it negatively affected themselves and/or others and what action they will take next time. To further help students make good choices I try to spend time teaching kids about honesty, respect, compassion, forgiveness, perseverance, hard work, discipline and cooperation. While I know there are other areas of focus, I find myself most commonly discussing these character traits with my students. Quite often the best time to teach these moral standards are right after a student makes a mistake. When discussing the situation with a student I like to let put them in the driver’s seat so that they feel the authority over the situation and realize the difference between right and wrong on their own. Frequently, the topic of instinct comes up and the student describes “that feeling” that told them what or what not to do. The “war” that kids fight each day with their instincts is a tough one and they need a teacher’s guidance to develop moral standards for themselves.
Furthermore, motivation was an engaging topic during this course that prompted interesting discussion. I reflected on what motivated me as an education and discovered that teaching is what I’ve been called to do. I feel “at home” when I am in my classroom and with students. I cannot explain how I knew or what motivated me other than that is what my spirit told me to do. Since I have become a teacher, I have found that teaching isn’t as glorious as how I’d envisioned it as a child. There are a lot of frustrating parts of this job such as working countless hours before and after school, unpleasant state and district mandates, and a handful of parents that enjoy exploiting their power over you. However, the benefits of this profession far outweigh all of the “thorns” that come along with teaching. I am motivated by my deep sense of fulfillment of my calling as well as all of the amazing people I interact with each day. I also discovered that I’m motivated by the responsibility to motivate my students. This is a constant challenge that causes me to appeal to both the physical and spiritual nature of students. To be an effective motivator, teachers really have to know who their students are and what makes them unique. You have to listen to what they say…and what they don’t say. You have to learn what makes them tick. You have to know how far you can push them before they “lose it.” Then, you have to use your knowledge of them in creative ways to hook students’ attention to make learning and activities relevant and meaningful to their lives. We’ve all experienced some students who are unmotivated to do what we’re asking them to do despite our best efforts. Some of my strategies to motivate the unmotivated students and keep motivated students motivated are listed below.
- Provide specific and purposeful positive feedback or praise to recognize the effort and unique ways each student adds to the classroom
- Give students a voice and/or controlled choice so they take ownership over classroom tasks
- Within a consistent structure, keep things fun, new and fresh for students to avoid mundane and repetitious routines
- Maintain high expectations to prove that you believe in each student
- Show my personal excitement for classroom assignments and activities
- Be vulnerable with students without losing authority – share personal experiences and stories to let students into my personal life
- Behavior Bingo as a class management system
- Table Points
Finally, through this course I was able to identify my own moral philosophy as seen in detail in my moral framework. I am a deontologist. According to the BBC website, deontologists are those that believe, “Some kinds of action are wrong or right in themselves, regardless of the consequences.” This definition reminds me of what my parents and teachers used to tell me, “Do the right thing even when no one is looking.” In my opinion, and because of the way I was raised, I do not believe that one should determine the morality of their actions based on the positive or negative consequences that follow. I think in the long run, your immoral actions will eventually catch up with you because essentially, most of the time, a consequentialist is looking to see if negative consequences will occur against themselves. If David and Cass in All the Kings Men had thought more like deontologists, and considered beyond their consequences, they would not have found themselves in the messes that they did because they would have determined that adultery, and eventually murder are plain and simply wrong no matter what the case.
As a teacher, this course was invaluable to me. I am more aware of my own self. I am now extremely conscious of what drives the decisions I make and consequently, this has caused me to want to instill this awareness in my students. I know what the role of a moral teacheris and I know that to be moral and ethical human beings, students need to be taught right from wrong. I will be more intentional in modeling and instructing students on what they ought to do and they ought not to do. I am convinced that leading by example is one of the best ways to effectively apply my values as a teacher because actions always speak louder than words. When kids actually see adults applying lessons and moral behaviors to their own lives, children are more able to “buy into” the importance and value of the teaching. If I am going to have any success reaching them, I need to also “walk the walk” before I can expect to see my students to listen, learn and apply my instruction to their own behaviors. I will also implement character education lessons during the school year. I believe children are the hope to the future because of their unique naïveté that allows them to have pure perspectives. To make the most of their growing minds and positive outlooks, teaching character and duty-based ethics is another way I will continue growing as a teacher. Finally, a classroom management system is an additional way for me to implement my personal values that motivate me as an educator. In order for students to successfully receive the love I have for them, to accept the power of hope they possess and to understand the difference between right and wrong, they need to feel that their voice matters and that it will be heard and accepted unconditionally. To help foster a sense of belonging for kids and also set up boundaries, I will develop classroom management systems with my students. This conversation and “contract” will help us set expectations for the entire year, which everyone will be held accountable to. Each student will be encouraged to become active participants within this management system to help support their classmates stick to these agreements so that our classroom is a happy and safe place for all. I look forward to growing into a more moral and ethical leader through these future next steps.
Resources:
Department of Education. (2005, May 31). Character education: Our shared responsibility. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/character/brochure.html
Dovre, P. J. (2007). From aristotle to angelou: Best practices in character education. Education Next, 7(2), 38-45. Retrieved from http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/5895486.html.
Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. (2004, August 3). Character education. Education Week, Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/character-education/
Holy Bible: New International Version. (1986). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Houston, P. (2008). Spirituality in educational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Lewis, C.S. The Abolition of Man. New York: Macmillan, 1947
Nord, W. A., & Haynes, C. C. (1998). Taking religion seriously across the curriculum. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and the First Amendment Center. Retrieved from http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16944
Warren, Robert Penn. 1946. All the King’s Men. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
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