250 business cards for “free”, but you do have to pay $5.45 s/h. I got mine in about three weeks, and the quality is much better than I’ve been able to generate as a graphic here. The entire time I was designing and ordering these, the company kept suggesting add-ons and other amenities for an extra charge.
All in all, it’s not a bad product. It’s a nice change from what our local ESD prints up for us.
Note: I’m unable to make our practicum meeting this Wednesday, so these are my summaries and personal reactions that would normally be presented in class discussion.
Ethical Leadership: ERIC digest, published June 1996. School leaders make moral decisions in the educational setting on a daily basis. Indeed, they have a responsibility to “create an ethical institution.” The authority of the school administrator itself is rooted in morality. Staff members are loathe to fully support a principal who doesn’t demonstrate integrity in their personal and professional lives. The ethical dilemmas that principals often face generally have to do with a decision between two competing interests within an educational system. Administrators, then, should possess a set of ethical standards that they routinely live out, and be willing to rely on them in times where an ethical decision must be made. Good educational leaders should also be willing to look at a variety of perspectives before moving with a given decision, including giving a fair hearing to ideas that may be in direct conflict with their own ideals. Rather than get caught in an either/or situations, principals should be willing to look for the third alternative that creates a win-win situation for both parties. Virtues that good leaders must possess include:
Ethical leadership, then, is not just a skill set, but involves “basic human integrity”. It is practiced on a day-to-day and year-by-year basis.
Ethics Morals Values: Pinning down principles can make living by them easier. The Oregonian, March 2006. This article wasn’t specifically intended for educational leaders, but instead hits on the ideas that connect leaders of all institutions. It’s interesting that the Oregonian–perhaps not unexpectedly–begins the article with an fallacious either-or argument. Which rule do you live your life by: Do not lie, or strive to be honest? They reason that if you select “do not lie”, your ethics are somehow rooted in religion or other shame-based upbringing. If you choose “be honest”, you have a more advanced set of personal ethics. Thankfully, though, they allow the reader some wiggle room by acknowledging that it’s a sticky question, and one not easily or assuredly answered.
The article seems to spend a great deal of time discussing the crossroads of religions and values. Violence rooted in religious conviction, for example. Or the implications that religion necessarily breeds intolerance (although there is ample sociological evidence to support that idea.) My biggest criticism of this article is that it fails to adequately discuss the importance of ethics in our lives. Instead, it only attempts to explain why we Educators need to maintain a personal and professional distance between themselves and their students
I’m not completely sure why Lewis & Clark has selected this article for required reading about ethics in school administration. It seemed to be more bogged down in the effects of religion on our moral and ethical dilemmas than it does the actual process of resolving them.
OAR 584-020-0035: The Ethical Educator. The summary of this state law is:
The Corporate Mystic: How to Recognize a Corporate Mystic. Some ideas I gathered from this chapter:
I hosted our district counselors in-service today. As usual, we had good food and good professional support to one another throughout the day. Some highlights include:
I don’t know how you do it in your state, but Oregon has six standards that are addressed within the licensure process for school administrators:
So, activities that I record in my practicum log must somehow fit into one of those standards. As I mentioned before, my own professional improvement needs are in the areas of curriculum instruction. So, I anticipate my ending portfolio to be heavy in “Instructional Improvement.”
On another note, I haven’t posted in quite a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had anything blogworthy come across my life. On the contrary, I’m growing more now professionally than I have in quite a while, it’s just been tough to get my blog publisher opened up for long enough to put together a meaningful post. My blogging life has been primarily reading and occasionally commenting to some excellent posts. Most of my posts from here on out, at least for a while, will have to do with my practicum. Thanks for keeping me in your reader!
