I am curious how good and bad an idea guided notes are. I can see how they would keep many students on track. But I can also see how I am conforming their material processing strategies, and severely limiting it.

In addition of focusing on "I" statements regarding student misbehavior, I also like to focus on "we" statements. Here are a few examples: For us to succeed, WE all need to pay attention. To facilitate learning, WE must take this assignment seriously. I find this very effective, and "We" statements appear to culture immediacy and rapport, both which directly affect retention. Plus, instead of it appearing as if what I am asking is for my own personal needs, its worded in a way that reflects we are all in this together and all must work together to facilitate learning.

Ethics in a school, much like ethics anywhere, are hard to define. There is no consensus amongst ethics: even if everyone agrees on a rule, not everyone will agree on its application in certain circumstances. Such is the problem with vaguely defined ethics. However, ethics must be defined vaguely, else they are limited in what they can emcompass. It seems paradoxical, but it often seems ethics are more "enforceable" when the exact specifications of their enforcement are not exactly defined.