After you graduate and walk into your classroom, the world has different expectations. You need to conduct yourself differently at your teaching job than you did while working in college. Read and follow your district’s guidelines for teacher conduct.
In addition to those rules, here’s a crash course in keeping it professional:
- Avoid the gossip mill. It might seem like a harmless way to bond with co-workers, but angering the wrong person can hurt your career. It will also make you look immature, and your co-workers could shun you.
- Be respectful when discussing religion, politics and other personal beliefs with your colleagues. They feel as strongly about their beliefs as you do about yours.
- Don’t discuss your sex life, the sex life of co-workers or anyone else. Most people don’t want to hear it, and it could result in a sexual harassment complaint.
- Carefully consider the situation before you jump into romantic involvement with a colleague. It may be allowed, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.
- Nothing you post online is truly private. Put nothing online that you wouldn’t want your mother, a prospective employer or your students to see.