Council for Exceptional Children Ethical Principle

http://www.cec.sped.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ProfessionalDevelopment/ProfessionalStandards/EthicsPracticeStandards/default.htm

So, I am reading a textbook this semester that asked me to read the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Code of Ethics.  It was an option to read it or not, but I want to read it.  I hope that it will help me become a better teacher so that I can help students.

It starts right out with putting an awesome statement that basically says "Expect great things from the students, because they can do it, but keep in mind to expect great things that are appropriate to the student's culture, language, and dignity."  I think that this is a very important thing because too often, teachers believe that students with disabilities or English Language Learners (ELLs) or at risk youth can't do very well.  I believe that they can, they can do more than many teachers expect of them.  There is a quote that I quoted earlier in this blog that says "My teacher expected me to be smarter, so I was smarter."

When I first read that statement, it angered me, because some students can't be smarter.  But experiencing two field experiences last semester, one in a fourth grade classroom and the other in an ELL classroom, I believe that that is true.  What we, as teachers, expect of our students will be what we get.  We need to be cognizant of the student's abilities and once we understand the abilities, we need to challenge the students.

Another principle that stuck out to me was F, which said that as teachers, we do lots of research in order to remain a good teacher.  The research that we do is in the new practices of the day for how best to teach students with disabilities.  This stuck out to me because I agree with it and it is true, but I think that many teachers fail to succeed in this principle.  Because what happens is we teachers know what worked for our students in the past, so we think that we don't have to research the new stuff.  And once we have done that, we have slipped into complacency and stop trying to be a better teacher. 

A quote from the first class that I had of Behavioral Theories and Practices in Special Education with Marc Markell.  He said that a student does not have true freedom until we have given them all of the choices to choose from.  In applying this to what I just talked about, it seems to me that we are not teaching our students best if we are not trying to teach them in any and every way possible.  How do we know if the student doesn't work or respond better to a certain way of teaching as compared to the way that you typically teach?  You will not know and they will not know (Or realize their full potential) until you have taught them that style.