This document provides scenarios for analyzing potential ethical dilemmas teachers may face and instructions for how to respond to them. Students are asked to analyze 20 scenarios representing ethical conflicts and answer questions about each. They must discuss how Florida's Code of Ethics relates to their field of study, determine if any principles are at risk, identify disciplinary procedures, and provide scripted responses demonstrating how they would respond to parties involved. The scenarios cover issues like handling money, responding to personal crises, student rights, academic freedom, and interactions with supervisors and colleagues. Students must complete 10 of the odd-numbered scenarios alone and will discuss the even ones in class.

1. Analysis of Ethical Dilemmas
(FEAP 6a, 6b, 6c, 6e)
Description:
Problem solving is one of the most important skills that a
teacher can develop. As a teacher you will be presented with
many situations that require a quick decision. You will need to
consider how you can avoid potential ethical violations while
still supporting the needs of your students. You will analyze
case study scenarios and apply the Principles of Professional
Conduct of the Education Profession of Florida and the Code of
Ethics in written reflection format.
Directions:
You will be presented with a set of 20 scenarios that represent
potential ethical conflicts. You need to describe what you would
do in each situation by answering three general questions. The
product is a report that answers the questions for each scenario
and describes how you would react if you were faced with the
decision to be made.
1. For each of the scenarios provided, answer the following
questions:
· Briefly discuss the purpose of Florida’s Code of Ethics and
Principles of Professional Conduct as it relates to your
major/discipline/program of study.
· Determine if there is a potential violation of the Principles of
Professional Conduct, and, if so, which principle(s) are at risk
in this scenario and why?
· Identify statutory grounds/procedures for disciplinary action,

2. the penalties that can be imposed by the Educational Practices
Commission against a certificate holder, and the appeals process
available to the individual if applicable.
· What would you actually say to the parties involved that
shows that you are responsible, dependable, and concerned
about your students? Or what precautions would you take to
protect yourself and your students? (Write a scripted response
or a procedure/strategy.)
· In a scenario that requires you to respond verbally, assume
that your first response is not "accepted" by the party involved'
and he/she tries to convince you to do what he/she wants you to
do. What would you say next? (State what you think the person
would say to convince you to do what he/she wants, and write
your second scripted response.)
2. You are responsible for analyzing and writing about the odd
numbered scenarios #1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19. We
will discuss the even numbered scenarios in class.
3. Remember that this task will be scored. Although there are
some activities in which it is acceptable for you to share work
with other pre-service teachers; this one must be completed
alone.
4. Use the following web pages to complete this assignment:
http://www.fldoe.org/edstandards/code_of_ethics.asp
The Code of Ethics and the Principles of Professional Conduct
of the Education Profession in Florida
SCENARIOS
1

3. Money
: As the band pre-service teacher, you are in charge of
collecting monies from student sales of chocolate bars. The
students are counting on this sale to go on a field trip. You are
being asked to be responsible for about $ 1,000. What do you
do?
1.
Advice:
One of your students shows up alone at your home and wants to
discuss a situation from school. He claims that a gang is
bullying him and he can't tell at school or he'll be attacked. He
has several bruises. That's why he came to your house. What do
you do?
2.
Alcohol:
During an over-night field trip with students, one of the
chaperones brings a cooler of alcoholic beverages to share after
the students go to bed. You check the field manual, which does
not mention alcohol, but you are not sure if you are responsible
for the students after they go to sleep. You would sure like one
glass of wine or bottle of beer. What do you do?
3.
Rights:
One of your students tells you that he/she is LGBTQ. The
student confession conflicts with your own personal and
religious beliefs, and makes you uncomfortable. The student
wants to talk to you for guidance, because the student is having
trouble "fitting in." The student is crying. What do you do?
4.
The Press
: Your principal is running for superintendent and a local

4. reporter asks your opinion about the principal. (Assume two
different scenarios here. In the first you think the principal is
excellent; in the second you think the principal is incompetent.)
What do you say to the public?
5.
Videos
: Your students have worked hard preparing for an examination,
and they are asking that you reward them by showing the movie
Bad Teacher
during class time. One of them has rented it for you and shows
up in class with it. What do you do?
6.
Internet Pornography
: Another pre-service teacher sends you e-mail containing funny
but pornographic cartoons on the school e-mail server. What do
you do?
7.
Collegiality:
You become aware of a possible moral/ethical problem
involving a colleague, but you have no proof and you are not
directly a witness. What do you do?
8.
Public Role
: You are a member of a civic group, club, church, or
organization, and you are asked to speak representing that group
on a controversial matter as a teacher. In your role as a teacher
what do you do?
9.
Classroom Policies:
You have a new student who is diabetic. You have a rule posted
at the front of the class that says, "No food in class." Another

5. student catches the new student eating candy in class and tells
you. What do you do? What do you say to the student who told
you?
10.
Equal Opportunity
: There is a state drama contest and you are the advisor for the
drama team. You have a population of mostly Hispanic and
Black students in your school and club. This year's selection for
the contest is a scene from Shakespeare. You need six parts and
have eight majority White Non-Hispanic students in the club.
You are sure that pronunciation is one of the major criteria for
judging. How do you pick the parts?
11.
Academic Dishonesty:
Your students are talking with each other about an FSA
administration given the previous day, and you hear them
mention that your colleague who was proctoring the
examination gave several students "clues" that assisted them in
answering some questions. What do you do?
12.
Self‑Competing and Personal Crisis
: You have always had a normal life, but after the death of your
brother in a car accident, you can't help dwelling on how short
life can be. You have no energy for teaching and go home and
sleep all afternoon. You don't grade papers or make lesson
plans. A psychologist tells you that you are depressed. Your
annual review is coming up, and you're afraid of a bad report.
What do you do?
13.
Due Process:
You attend a football game at your school, and sit beside some
students in your science class who have a bad reputation. When

6. you start to leave, you notice your wallet is missing and you're
sure you had it when you sat down. You're sure the students
took your wallet, but they left early. What do you do?
14.
Free Speech and Equity in the Classroom
: Your eighth grade class is studying earth science. You assign
the class a science fair project with grading criteria. They are
supposed to set up a poster display on a project related to the
course content. One student comes in on display day and sets up
a religious scene of God creating the world in seven days. You
explain to the student that the display isn't consistent with the
criteria ‑ it's not from a topic in the book. The student insists
that his parents approved the topic after reading the science
book and encouraged the project. Another student doesn't have a
project. He is from a very low SES family. How do you grade
the two students?
15.
Zero Tolerance
: After a shooting, your district passes a strict regulation:
weapons of any kind at school will result in expulsion for the
rest of the year ‑ no exceptions. Several letters are sent home
and the students are given assemblies where examples of knives,
guns, and other weapons are displayed. You have a third grader,
normally a good student, who shows you a bullet and asks you
what it is ... he doesn't seem to know. He says he found it.
You're afraid that turning him in will result in expulsion. What
do you do?
16.
Supervisor Interactions
: Your school has an assistant principal who constantly makes
"adult comments", dresses provocatively and, occasionally,
winks or waves at you. This makes you uncomfortable but
nobody else seems to mind. You report to this AP for an annual

7. review and for permission for several educational requests. Do
you say something to her, "go over her head" to the principal,
ignore her, or file a complaint?
17.
Student Rights
: A student is absent from school every Monday for several
weeks. You ask about it, because the student will soon be in
violation of the district attendance policy. The policy states that
students are to receive a failing grade if they miss more than ten
days a semester. The student typically completes all work
despite the absences. You ask the student why he is absent so
often. He explains that his parents are divorced and Monday is
the only day the court allows visitation with his father. His
father helps him with schoolwork, but he lives too far away for
the student to come to school. The parent and child ask for a
waiver of the school attendance policy. What can you do?
18.
Confidentiality
: You are in the pre-service teachers' lounge and cannot help but
overhear several other pre-service teachers discussing student
performance on examinations, including student names and
scores. The pre-service teachers' lounge is not very private;
office personnel wander in to get coffee, and the door often
stands open even though students pass by regularly and can
overhear anything said. Should you say anything to the talkative
pre-service teachers?
19.
Academic Freedom
: You teach high school social studies. The School Improvement
Team decides your class would be perfect for the new sex
education program. You don't think it's part of social studies,
don't agree with the sex education curriculum, and have no
training in the topic. The principal says that training will be

8. provided, "everything fits in social studies", and social studies
is not on the FSA, so you're the one to teach it. What do you
do?
For your School of Education Portfolio Reflection, use the
following to guide you in writing your reflection for this
assignment:
· For whom did you develop and/or implement the artifact (#
students/ grade/age/ subject/classroom setting/LEP/ESE)?
· What theory/concepts/best practices did you use to develop
and/ or implement
the artifact?
· What did your students learn, or what will they learn as result
of the artifact being implemented / utilized by you?
· What did you learn as a result of creating/implementing the
artifact?
· What would you do to improve the artifact and student
learning?
· How did the assignment address the FEAP?