cloning nodes vs. creating new() ones

In my HTML I have a dropdown list with one teacher option.  I'm using 
cloneNode() to create another <option> element and calling cloneNode() 
on that teacher's <option> to create the text that goes <option>right 
here</option>.  I'm using cloneNode() because I don't know how to go 
about creating a new object that implements HTMLOptionElement.  Is the 
way I'm doing this how its supposed to be done, by using the w3c API, 
or is there a better way to instantiate new XMLC specific objects and 
add them to the HTMLSelectElement?
  Thanks,
    -M@

                HTMLSelectElement teacherDropdown = 
form.getElementTeacherDropdown();
                HTMLOptionElement teacher1 = form.getElementTeacherOption();
		HTMLOptionElement teacher2 = (HTMLOptionElement) 
teacher1.cloneNode(false);
                teacher2.appendChild(teacher1.getFirstChild().cloneNode(false));
                teacher2.getFirstChild().setNodeValue("Mr. Snyde");
                teacher2.setValue("2");