[Ous-lp-rp13] EDAD 6010, Answer to Question # 2

[Sylvia, Molly]

When I think about being an administrator, the personality trait I am most
comfortable with is integrity. Strong moral and ethical character has been
a part of my life since I was a child. Having been raised in the church, my
beliefs and values were shaped early on. My father was a strong businessman
who taught us business ethics not only by example, but through discussion
at the dinner table. I was fortunate to have two strong role models in my
teens and early 20's who instilled self-discipline, a humble attitude, and
an honest spirit in me. These are traits that I work on as I pursue
integrity in my personal life, but also ones I've carried into my career,
keeping my word and attempting to exemplify honor in all I do for the
district. Interpersonal skills is a trait in which I also have some
confidence. Even though I am an introvert and a thinker, I have a strong
sense of relationships and how to work well with others. It is not
difficult for me to empathize with others and I strive to remain flexible,
dependent, patient, and diplomatic in relationship with my coworkers. One
way this is seen in my current job is how I collaborate with other teachers
on a regular basis and as I work on a variety of teams, including our
teacher, building and district leadership teams, our liaison team and as
our union vice president. Truly, these relationship skills extend into the
community as I work with a organizations across the state and with parents
in our community to oversee and coordinate our Youth in Government and
Model United Nations conferences.

The two traits that I am least comfortable with are both skill traits:
technical and cognitive skills. I believe this program will help me explore
and acquire some of the necessary technical and cognitive skills needed to
be an administrator. I'm certainly enrolled to learn about the school as an
organizational system, to understand how it behaves and changes depending
on various situations and influences from inside and out. Technical and
cognitive skills will certainly be taught throughout this program,
particularly as we study law and case studies. I firmly believe that the
best way to learn many of these skills will be through practice and on the
job learning and I am confident that I can learn anything and will do my
best to perform even new and difficult tasks to the best of my ability. Another
area that may need more attention over the next two years is stress
tolerance. I've debated and studied this trait more than the others this
week. In my initial draft response to Dr. Larson, I wrote that this is my
greatest weakness, because I carry stress in my gut and have a tendency to
get sick to my stomach after a stressful situation. After further studying
and examination of this trait, I've come to understand that within a
stressful situation, I am very capable of remaining calm, rational, and
adept to handle the situation appropriately and quite gracefully. When
going through a stressful situation, whether long or short term, I do my
best to represent my family, my students and my district honorably even in
the face of adversity and in times where quick decisions are necessary.
However, I am sometimes left with a sick stomach after the fact, something
I need to work on handling better.

As for motivational traits, I am most motivated by achievement orientation.
It is natural for me to strive for excellence, to show what I am capable of
and to succeed in tasks, especially ones I truly value. I was once told
that I would never be hired as a secondary social studies teacher simply
because I was a woman who couldn't coach. That statement provided all the
motivation I needed to prove them wrong and I have done so successfully.
Recently, someone close to me suggested that I will never be a secondary
administrator because I am a petite woman. I wouldn't mind  to prove them
wrong, as well. I am also motivated by power needs. I chose to go into the
field of education because I enjoy having influence over others in a
positive way, one that inspires others to stretch and improve themselves
through learning and intellectual growth. This is best exemplified as I
push my Youth in Government and Model United Nations students to strive for
excellence in their tasks, much because it's how I handle my own academics
and career. They compete against high caliber public and private school
students from across the state, so we discuss what it means to represent
themselves and their district through high expectations, excellent work,
and confidence. These students are the cream of the crop and bless me in
more ways than they'll ever know as I watch them dive deeply into their
research, practice endlessly, and present and debate their material with
nothing to lose. I believe this trait will carry over into my role as an
administrator, seeing the best in my coworkers and conversing with them
regularly both to learn from them and help them learn.

I found this question challenging to answer, because I possess each these
traits to varying degrees, yet humbly recognize that I still have so much
to learn and so much growing to do as I move toward administration. It's
difficult for me to conclude that I am comfortable with any of these traits
when put into an administrative perspective, not because I lack confidence
in my ability to do a job, but because many of the concepts we're learning
are still new and undeveloped. I suppose some would consider that this
intersects with a lack of self-confidence, whereas I simply see it as
character to my typically realistic perspective on life. It's important to
me to bear in mind that confidence in any of these traits does not
necessarily mean I will be a good leader. There is so much to learn through
this program, through on the job experiences, and through life in general. As
the Hoy and Miskel text says, "...experience is the best teacher."

-- 
*Molly Sylvia*
*7th/8th Grade Social Studies Teacher*
*Jr. High Quiz Bowl Advisor*
*Youth in Government Advisor*
Green High School
4057 Gallia Pike
Franklin Furnace, Ohio 45629
office 740.354.9290 ext. 3212
fax 740.354.9904
*BELIEVE*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.ohio.edu/pipermail/ous-lp-rp13/attachments/20180613/55b8f961/attachment.html>