DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Pro-fes-sion-al-ism n.
1. the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person
2. the following of a profession (as athletics) for gain or livelihood
You're beginning your career as a professional teacher and scientist, and it's a good idea to think seriously about yourself as a representative of your profession rather than yourself as an individual, a friend, a sibling, or a student. You are employed by the department and the university to teach students, to further their knowledge, to help them develop intellectual skills. You have a responsibility to work very hard to do this well and to constantly improve your own knowledge to do it even better. You have this responsibility towards each and every student in your class.
Honesty and integrity: Above all, you must be scrupulously honest in all matters, and your motives must be beyond question. Expect the same from your students.
Trust: Students must be able to trust you absolutely at all times and under any circumstances. Among other things, you should never share any information about a student without express permission, unless that information is being passed to a fellow professional with a legitimate professional interest in the student.
Fairness: Give all students every opportunity to learn and succeed. This may mean different treatment for students with different preparation, or different skills or deficiencies, but it is never based on personal, gender, racial, or ethnic considerations. In other words, it is only the characteristics relating to the profession that enter into different treatments, and even these different treatments have a common goal: maximizing the opportunities for students and increasing their knowledge and analytical abilities. Personal biases can be subtle. We must always examine and re-examine our professional conduct.
Respect: Students expect to be treated with respect, and in turn, they will respect you. You should never humiliate a student, and even telling students they are wrong is something you should do carefully and gently. Building knowledge is a delicate process, and the resulting edifice is often fragile. You can destroy confidence very easily without intending to. Very often, a student's "wrong" answer is evidence of an interesting thought process that it is your job to analyze and reconstruct.
Reliability: Students have a right to expect that you will do the things you are expected to do in a timely fashion. This means you must always be well prepared, arrive on time, complete grading and other assignments on time, and you must be always fully engaged in your teaching duties during the assigned times.
Judgment: We formulate rules and laws to help us act in the right way, but written rules don't cover every circumstance. We're human, we change, and unforeseen situations arise that we need do deal with. Exercise good judgment, bearing in mind that you are setting precedent. Seek advice, be reasonable, polite, honest, fair, reliable, and respectful.
The above are very general principles. Below are some specifics that guide you within this particular context:
¥ If illness or other unforeseen circumstances arise where you cannot fulfill your teaching assignment (lab, rec or office hour), it is your responsibility to arrange for someone else to fulfill your assignment for you. Inform the physics office that you have done so (or tried and failed to do so).
¥ Dress appropriately. The university is a more informal environment than the business enterprise or the medical and legal professions for example, but you should be neat, presentable, and tasteful. No T-shirts with logos that could be construed as offensive, for example. The way you dress tells the students something about what you think about them. Be careful of the message you send.
¥ Classroom demeanor is important. It sets the tone for your relationship with your students. Being professional does not mean that you cannot display a sense of humor; on the contrary, humor is a means of establishing a comfortable environment. Use humor carefully as it may be construed in a manner you didn't intend.
¥ Don't enter romantic or emotional involvements with the students in your classes. Many TAs are close in age to most undergraduates and have similar interests, so it is natural that personal friendships and even romantic attachments form. These must be distanced from the professional relationship. The best tactic is to request reassignment, or wait till next term to pursue the personal relationship.
¥ Arrive several minutes early for labs and recitations. Classes must start on time, which means that work begins at the advertised time. End on time, too, so students can get to the next class. Remain in the labs at all times. Safety regulations require that students be supervised at all times. After a lab is over, make sure all the equipment is safely turned off and lock the room. If you allow students into the room for the next lab, you must remain in the room until the new TA arrives.
¥ Student assignments should be graded and returned very promptly, but no later than one week.
¥ Exam grading must be done promptly and fairly. Refer to the grading and proctoring section of this handbook.
¥ Report any instances of dishonest or unethical behavior on the part of your students (or, perish the thought, your colleagues) to the course instructor, department chair, or other faculty member with whom you are comfortable discussing such issues. Seek advice from these same people if you experience or observe what you consider inappropriate behavior by anyone you encounter professionally.