Teacher Handbook Essays

that student or teachers may not use schools as a platform to exercise free speech and in the case

Teachers always have to protect themselves and the best way to do it is to follow the rules of the code of practice. Being a teacher makes me automatically an example for my students therefore I must not discriminate, abuse (physically or verbally), dress inappropriate, and be late or messy.

Teachers always have to protect themselves and the best way to do it is to follow the rules of the code of practice. Being a teacher makes me automatically an example for my students so therefore I must not discriminate, abuse (physically or verbally), dress inappropriate, and be late or turn up for teaching intoxicated.

The following cases are utilized: Pickering v. Board of Education, Mt. Healthy City School District v. Doyle, Connick v. Myers, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeir, and Garcetti v. Ceballos. The case, Pickering v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court acknowledged teachers have the right to voice personal views as they relate to issues of public concern (Cambron-McCabe, McCathy & Eckes, 2014). More specifically, “The Pickering case is one of the most influential court cases concerned with the balancing of teacher’s First Amendment right to freedom of expression against the state’s interest in promoting efficient schools” (DeMitchell & DeMitchell, 1990, p 385). If a teachers voices personal views that are damaging to coworkers, school procedures, ones’ occupational performance, and does not directly relate to public concerns there will be grounds for disciplinary actions (Cambron-McCabe, McCathy & Eckes, 2014). This constitutional rights stands both inside and outside of the classroom, as educators can utilize various methods of communication, such as social media, written artifacts, visual relics, and expressive language. In the case, Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier, a teacher’s personal opinion can be expressed within the contours of a classroom when applicable to pedagogical reasons. More specifically, “Reasoning that the teachers was speaking for the school, the court concluded that teachers are not entitled to express views in the classroom that are counter to the adopted curriculum” (Cambron-McCabe, McCathy & Eckes, 2014, p. 242). If the topic discussed within the classroom is controversial in nature it must be censored, thus deeming appropriate to a youthful audience. In conclusion, it is imperative for educators to ‘think before they speak,’ as their actions can have detrimental impacts on key stakeholders as well as their

Citizens in America are born with a various amount of rights. One of these rights include the freedom of speech and expression. However, school administrators have the ability to restrict a student’s expression. The Supreme Court Cases ‘Bethel School District v. Fraser’ and ‘Frederick V. Morse’ gave schools the right for the administrators to discipline children when they see fit. Students should be able to express themselves in any way without fearing that their school administrators will discipline

Everyone in America should be guaranteed the freedom of speech granted by The Constitution. In 1988, the court ruled in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier that schools \could limit freedom of speech in school if they had “educational concerns” (Jacobs). The problem is that “educational concerns” is too vague and school districts are able to use this as a loophole to get away with removing articles that do not need to be removed. Often, the concern is based on perception and image more than anything else. Angela Riley’s article “20 years later: Teachers reflect on Supreme Court’s Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier ruling” quotes Frank LoMonte, executive director of

Removing a teacher from his or her position is very difficult to do. “Tenure benefits the state by helping to create a permanent and qualified teaching force” (Underwood, Webb 36). This makes it difficult to let a teacher go even when it is to make the school a better environment for the students. Although teachers do have the right to freedom of speech and are able to exercise their First Amendment right, that freedom is in a way limited by the school board. Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) is a great example of this. A high school science teacher was terminated by the board of education because a letter he wrote was published in one of the community’s newspapers. The letter discussed the unequal funding between academics and athletics. After

In order to better interpret this scenario, we first need to look another case that resembles this scenario. The case related to this scenario, Pickering v. Board of Education (1983) upheld that teachers’ speech, just like that of any other citizen, is protected when the interest of the speech does not cause harm or create false statements. Overall, the

I further believe that in order to teach children, school districts need a certain amount of authority and structure to keep students safe and effectively teach them. School districts need to provide a positive learning environments that includes free speech for both students and teachers for optimum learning. However, I have concerns that school regulations could have far reaching affects not originally intended and when school's regulations are not applied equitably. I agree with the Supreme Court's descending decision in this case and the District Court's decision that the action of the school authorities was reasonable.

In the well-known case of of Tinker Verses Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court remarked, “it can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” While shedding your thoughts and freedom of speech or expression at “the schoolhouse gate” can be difficult, the district did have the right to not renew the teacher’s contract. I think that it is important to keep my mind what the judge stated in the facts above, “teachers … do not have a right under the First Amendment to express their opinions with their students during the instructional period.” The teacher gave her opinion and an idea of her political view by stating

The ‘Teachers’ Standards 2012’ state that teachers, including head teachers, should safeguard children’s wellbeing and maintain public trust in the teaching profession as part of their professional duties.

Even if they wanted to take action, there is nothing the Skyline School District Board of Education can do about the teachers’ exercising their First Amendment’s rights. Public school teachers, as public employees, are entitled to some First Amendment protections. "The problem in any case is to arrive at a balance between the interests of the teacher, as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interests of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees" (Pickering v. Board of Education 1968, in Secunda, 2010). In this case, the teachers were expressing their views and feelings more as citizens than as an employee when they published the open letter in the newspaper. The statements in the letter did not target any school official that the teacher dealt with on a daily basis, and therefore left no reason for the board of education to take any course of action.

A teacher must deal with disruptive classroom behavior throughout their career. To do so, they must not only develop their skills in handling these situations but also develop ethical standards for their classroom. These standards set forth by the teacher will help them deal with their students, those students’ parents, the school administrators and their community. There are numerous articles written that could help a teacher when researching any legal or ethical issues that may arise during their teaching career. This paper summarizes four

Teaching is a profession that is considered to be a rewarding challenging and complex role.  An effective teacher does not simply teach knowledge their students and instead aims to arm students with the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes that will prepare students for life-long learning. The constructivist theories developed by Piaget and Vygotsky have impacted on the way that teachers teach and this has changed the approach of teaching to place a greater importance on the teacher instead to act as a facilitator of learning in an open, constructivist environment and providing students with the tools to challenge themselves to develop both academically and personally.  The education of students within classrooms of today is

Walking into the first two weeks of the EDU program I desired to experience what it would be like to be a future educator and have a grasp of how to help the molding of our youth and giving them the possibility to become future leaders. Doctor dresser was able to bring in a Concordia alumni who had just begun to experience his professional education, career and is teaching multiple different grade levels as a young teacher. When he first walked into the classroom my first impressions were that unfortunately he looked very inexperienced and unsure of what was to be expected of the lecture I thought to myself in the position of a younger student in his classroom this is a person I would not take seriously. He then proceeded to communicate