1. Professional and Ethical Guidelines in Teaching Father Antoine J. Lattouf

2. 1.The Hippocratic Oath was created for doctors.. In like manner, teachers should be committed and conscientious in their profession. 2. A teacher should be first committed to his/her own personal growth. “Those who dare to teach should never cease from learning.”

3. 3. Be honest in your work and with your students; therefore, a. Know the methodology and the material well. b. Prepare your lessons well. You can have shortcomings towards yourself, but not towards your students. c. Aim at excellence in all you do. The quality of your work reflects your professionalism, character and dedication.

4. d. Be generous in giving and correcting homework. The purpose of homework is to reinforce material previously covered, and to practice the skill of writing. e. Be consistent in testing. One aim of testing is to make the students study material that has “accumulated” since the previous exam. f. You may have huge classes, do as you can, and keep your conscience clear.

5. g. Be moral (fair) in giving grades, and passing and failing students. Do not be biased. h. Be fair (just) in treating your students. Be “with” and “for” the students, and not “against” them.

6. 4. “TLC”, means “Tender and Loving Care”. This involves being understanding, loving and empathetic, taking into consideration the student’s personality, circumstances, academic level and stage of psychological growth. 5. Be a good relator and communicator. Reason (use logic) with your students rather than react. Give appropriate (not negative or offensive) feedback.

7. 6. Do not neglect, “label” or offend a student. The purpose of education is to build up the character, self- confidence, intellect, etc. of the learner. 7. Leave your personal problems outside the classroom. Do not let personal issues affect your performance and attitude. 8. Love is not just a feeling; it should be transformed into action.

8. 9- Motivation Psycholinguist Edge says, “The key to learning is motivation”; motivation through words of encouragement is not enough. We need to: a. apply good methodology. It is very difficult to motivate the students if the teaching procedures are not appropriate.

9. 9- Motivation (continued) b. foster the sense of achievement in the student: In the short run: tell your students they are really learning useful material, and learning fast. This will motivate them to learn more. In the long run: tell your students how much they have achieved since the beginning of the year. This will give them the incentive to persevere.

10. 9- Motivation (continued) c. Apply “active teaching”. This means being active in presenting your material, asking challenging questions all the time, and assigning relevant, stimulating tasks. d. Be disciplined and organized. Discipline and organization set a good example for students, and provide a suitable learning environment.

11. 10. Students may not appreciate your efforts; nonetheless, your excellence should never be function of others’ appreciation for your performance. 11. If you think that students are “creatures” that you need to tolerate until payday, you should not be in the teaching profession! 12. Students can easily tell if a teacher is well-organized or not, caring or not, loving or not...

12. 13. Impulsiveness, carelessness, unfair treatment, bias… may make some students dislike you; once they do, it’s not easy to make them change their attitude. They will not cooperate, they will not behave themselves, and they will not be motivated to work. They may hate the subject matter you teach for the rest of their lives. They may dislike school and their whole future may be at stake. Some may think of taking revenge in one way or the other.

13. 14. The entire future of some students may depend on the teacher’s attitude and performance. 15. Those who intend to teach should remind themselves of their primary mission: to make the learner a better individual. 16. In a way, every teacher is a teacher of morality through speech and example. He/She cannot be that unless she is moral herself.