Catherine Luther
Tier I Candidate
October 17, 2008
Personal Ethics and Leadership Capacity
Reflective Essay
Standard 5- Modeling a personal code of ethics and developing
professional leadership capacity.
5.4 Sustain professional commitment and effort
5.2 Guide sound courses of action using pertinent, state-of-the-art
methods.
5.3 Model reflective practice and continuous growth
5.4 Sustain professional commitment and effort
The thought provoking course on Personal Ethics and Leadership Capacity
taught by Gail Richards was one of my favorite courses in this program. I
liked how Gail showed us several codes of ethics and then had us write our
own personal code of ethics. We also used “Data Driven Dialogue” by
Wellman and Lipton, to develop a decision-making collaborative, to
problem solve and to resolve and manage conflict. We developed ways of
sustaining motivation, commitment, energy and health by balancing
professional and personal responsibilities. Finally we became cognizant of
the impact and influence of personal leadership beliefs and practices has on
the performance of others.
5.1 Maintain ethical standards of professionalism:
Gail showed us the code of ethics for Irvine High School and a few
others as well. Then she had us develop our own. My final product is:
My Personal Code of Ethics
As a future administrator serving my community: students, staff and families; I will
strive to hold myself to the highest standards because I am a leader and a role model to
these groups. I cannot expect those who I work for and with to live a moral life unless I
exemplify one myself. Therefore I have adopted the following:
Responsibility
I will strive to do what I say I will do. I will strive to arrive at
school in a timely manner. I will turn in all necessary reports and
documents either early or on time. I accept the consequences of not
following through on my responsibilities.
Respectfulness
I will treat those I serve with the utmost respect regardless of race,
religion, economic status, citizenship or sexual orientation. I will
respect my environment and teach others to do the same. Finally I
will respect myself. I will strive to make wise choices so as not to
embarrass myself or the school community.
Integrity
Since I have been entrusted with so much I will treat everything
and everyone with respect even when I am the only school
community member in the room.
Compassion
I will be generous with my time and resources with those in need. I
will be sensitive to those who need a helping hand.
Civic Duty
I will be an active voting member in both my community and my
country. I will observe the laws of the land. I will participate in
jury duty when called upon. I will demonstrate a commitment to
the public good.
Developing this taught me to how to put down my values on paper so that I
can show myself and others what are the non-negotiables in my personal and
professional world. One thing Gail said to think about was that our Code of
Ethics will help us make the tough decisions as well as the easy ones. She
encouraged us to think about what the next day’s headlines might read
depending on the decisions we make concerning our school sites when we
become administrators.
5.2 Guide sound courses of action using pertinent, state-of-the-art
methods.
The text we used for much of this course, “Data Driven Dialogue” by
Wellman and Lipton, had many wonderful and state-of-the-art methods. One
in particular that I found helpful and that I will use is the Collaborative
Learning Cycle. It was helpful in determining what my leadership team and I
have accomplished so far and what our next steps are. As a future
administrator, I can see many uses for this tool, RtI, developing a budget,
grade level PLC’s (Here’s the scores, now what.), etc. So much of what my
principal and district are doing can be traced back to the concepts found in
this book. My district is using a program called Data Director where data is
inputted and looked at. At least one person from each school site attended a
training on the intricacies of this program. Then these individuals went back
to the various sites and trained the rest of us. We then have pupil free time at
least once a week in order to look at data and see where the greatest needs
are. Then we utilize the curriculum we have to narrow the gaps. For my
fieldwork project on RtI, our leadership team have also utilized the concepts
of “Data Driven Dialogue” in much the same manner as the grade level
PLCs but on a schoolwide level.
5.3 Model reflective practice and continuous growth
One of the skills I learned more about in this course was the use of
Reflective Conversation. This is where an individual is invited to seek
greater depth of understanding along with the help of a coach. I use this
technique in BTSA, but through this course I have gained a greater insight
into the process. This process focuses more on relationship over managerial
skills. It is more like mentoring than employee/ boss. When I use this
process, the mentee walks away with a better sense of what he/ she is doing
right and how to make it even better. There is no threat of condemnation. By
using this process I continuously learn about myself as well. For instance
when I visit another teacher’s room to observe their lesson, I walk away with
ideas I can apply to my classroom as well. In addition, when I use the
process of Reflective Conversation, I am learning about myself as a leader as
well. Do I really listen or do I just try to fix? Do I give enough think time?
Do I know what direction to point my mentee to for further answers, so that
he may explore more on his own? All of these things help me to be a better
leader and eventually a fabulous administrator. I should never want to stop
learning how to better myself!!
5.4 Sustain professional commitment and effort
In the article entitled The Power of Full Engagement, Loehr and Swartz state
that “Performance, health and happiness are grounded in the skillful
management of energy.” How true this is!! As part of this course I had to
write out my schedule for 24 hours, write three goals for healthy living, and
incorporate those goals into a 24/7 schedule. I am not quite where I want to
be on my perfect schedule but I am making strides in that direction.
Recently, I went to see the doctor about some sleep issues I’ve been having.
In the process of trying to resolve these issues, we discovered that I have
high blood pressure and high cholesterol so I am working on these things. I
will be trying to resolve all of my health issues so I can be a better wife,
mom, friend and teacher (These are the main hats I wear.) I can sustain my
professional commitment and effort better when I am more energetic (ie
healthier). I must realize that being healthier impacts and influences of the
performance of others. I am a model for them.
In closing, let me say that this course was small but mighty. There weren’t
tons of pages to read but there was a ton of learning going on. I learned how
to write a personal code of ethics. I used “Data Driven Dialogue” to help my
leadership team develop next steps for RtI. I also revised my 24/7 schedule
to help me reach my goals of becoming healthier because my practices
impact the performance of others. Overall, the importance of creating my
personal ethics and developing my leadership capacity had been an
important component of preparing to be a well-rounded administrator.