You Have to Talk About It

In the Adventures in Ethics Presentation today, Steve Elliot explained that "the best ethical decisions are the ones made by more than one person."

This statement encouraged me to take some time to reflect on the way that decisions are made on my yearbook staff. In my first few years of advising, I felt like I had to be the decision maker, and I didn't really open up the discussion to the staff beyond the EiCs.

Looking back at the way that I was doing things, I realize that I was doing my students a disservice. I was silencing their voices.

Steve's presentation reminded me of the importance of coming together as a whole staff in order to make big decisions. These are the moments where the "40 year learning" occurs. These moments are one of the most authentic learning experiences that they can have in high school.  As I reflected on the changes that I have made in the way that my students make decisions about their publication, I know that having the opportunity to watch my students go through making a decision where they had to use ethical principals was one of the most rewarding moments of my teaching career.

Last year I attended the JEA Adviser's Institute, and I went to a session where Michelle Balmeo, a newspaper adviser from California, presented on ethical dilemmas and how to handle them with your staff. Michelle introduced me to Potter's Box which was developed by Ralph Potter, a Professor of Divinity at Harvard, as an aid for ethical decision making. I have used this with my staff a few times, most recently when the students needed to decide whether to run a possibly controversial story about a prom week spirit day, and it has always helped us to come to a decision that the students feel good about.

Here is a link to the handout that I was given in Michelle's session that I use with my students:
http://michellebalmeo.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/potters_box.pdf

All of the elements that Steve presented today can be brought up when using the Potter Box Method. This tool takes the elements of ethical decision making and organizes it in a way that allows my students to lead the conversation without much influence from me.

What tools do you use with your students to help them to make ethical decisions?

Annie Gorenstein
Arvada West High School
Arvada, Colorado