My EC field Wordle

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It has been a long but wonderful journey through these graduate courses of early childhood education. I would have to say the best part, aside from the great things I learned, was the connections I made with my colleagues. I learned more from their experiences and insights than any book or article could teach me. I think it is because it is real. They speak from their hearts and they truly do care about the well-being of young children and families. I wish them all well and much success in their future endeavors as they impact the world, giving each child a chance…

The adjourning stage

This week I learned that there were five stages to developing a team: forming the team, storming through differences, norming with each other and accepting everyone for who they are and for what they can contribute, performing the actual task, and then adjourning. The adjourning stage is when the project concludes and everyone goes their separate ways. I find that the hardest groups to leave are the ones in which relationships were built between group members off of trust.

One group I participated in that was the hardest to end was when I worked as a summer camp counselor for the boys and girls club during college. The other counselors on this team were phenomenal people and we had gotten together and decided to make that summer one of the best the kids had ever had (because the majority of us would not be returning due to graduation), one they would talk about for a long while. There were tears and parties thrown at the end of the summer. We kept in touch for a few years beyond that and talked of getting back together.

One group that was easy to adjourn from was one in my former school. This team of teachers was combative and confrontational with each other, always trying to "one-up" the other, and never seemed to move beyond the storming stage.

Hopefully, at the adjourning of my Master's program, the colleagues I have connected with will be career long colleagues, no matter where we are in the world. It is nice and very beneficial to have colleagues as resources and sounding boards and partners throughout your career.

The adjourning stage is essential to teamwork for the simple fact that it makes members of the team feel successful. Chances are if one has a good experience working on a team, they will be more apt to work on a team again in the future- hoping and working toward a similar end as the previous experience they have had.

Applying Conflict Resolution Skills

Applying Conflict Resolution Skills

 In my previous year as a kindergarten teacher, a conflict existed with a parent of a student of mine. The parent refused to agree to allow for their child to receive extra assistance in the classroom. A meeting resulted in the degradation of my character. The child struggled and although I gave the help needed, it  resulted in other students not getting what they needed. With what I learned this week about conflict resolution, there are some things I would have done differently. Two strategies I would have used are using the creative response method where in conversation I try to turn the problem into possibilities by seeing what can be done about it instead of continuing on how bad the problem is. The second strategy would be the honing of my negotiation skills. I would be hard on the problem and not on the parent, focus on the need and not my position, emphasize the common ground between parties involved, get inventive about options, and make sound and clear agreements about what plan of action to take (Conflict Resolution Network, n.d.). Using these strategies may have helped to diffuse the argument before it began and definitely would have steered the parent away from attacking me. As a professional can you offer any other sound advice for how this situation could be handled?

Reference: Conflict Resolution Network. (n.d.). CR kit. Retrieved on November 29, 2013 from http://www.crnhq.org/pages.php?pID=12#skill_3   

How am I as a Commuicator?

Taking the three communication style assessments on Communication Anxiety, Verbal Aggressiveness, and Listening Styles, made me nervous initially. Then I became confident as I took them that I could be considered a good communicator. One thing that surprised me the most was how one of the people who evaluated me according to the same scale scored me high in verbal aggression. I scored myself at a moderate level. I argue fairly by making sure to only question the facts and not the character of the person giving the facts. I guess that my confrontation of the issue is perceived as an attack by other people. I cannot help if some people have a hard time separating themselves from the information they present. Knowing this, though, I will be sure to scale down my tone when questioning and watch my facial expressions and other non-verbal communication when doing so. I have learned that non verbal communication can have just as much of an effect on the delivery of a message as verbal communication can, if not more. This is an important thing for me to keep in mind while I am working with children and their families. I would not want them to get the wrong message due to my non verbal signs or feel like they are being attacked by the professional that is supposed to be taking care of their children.

How communication changes

After close examination I have found that I do communicate differently with people from different groups and cultures. I do not think, however, it is intentional. For example, with children I talk in a very simple way using examples they understand and I am very animated. With people from my culture, like my family, I am very lax in my wording and use a lot of common language known among my family. I noticed that when I visited Honduras on a mission trip, I spoke with a Spanish-like accent (quite embarrassing to admit), and I do the same when speaking with parents with a Hispanic or Latin origin. I lived in South Korea for three years and learned enough of the language to get around and converse with people. Now, whenever I am conversing  with or encounter someone from Korea, I tend to speak English like they do. My shoe repair man, Mr. Lee, appreciates this however. He says it shows I know his culture.
Some strategies to employ when communicating with others would be for me to be mindful of who I am talking to and how I am talking to them, without being disrespectful to them or their language. Another strategy to employ would be to keep stereotypes out of the background of my mind so I can form my own opinion of the person with whom I am speaking based on their personality  and not what others have said they should act like. Being competent in intercultural communication will help me to adapt my behavior toward another in ways that are appropriate to their culture.

In an attempt to see how well I could read people in their non verbal communication- I watched a show I have never seen on mute. The show was called "The Middle" and it was full of non verbal communication in the form of vivid facial expressions, over exaggerated hand and arm gestures. It was easy to figure out that it was about a family. The girl was excited about something and the brothers were not as enthusiastic and were clearly put out with her by rolling their eyes and yawning. They continued to yell at each other throughout the show. The family was obviously put out with each other in one way or another. Arms flailed, hands on hips, arms crossed rolled eyes, grimaces, and smirks, smiles, and tears filled this episode. In the same way there was just as much verbal communication that took place in the form of yelling, and very excited and fast paced talking. Turns out that the daughter was trying to plan a surprise anniversary party for her parents and her brothers could have cared less. Even though it was a huge flop the parents were happy she tried.
 It was interesting watching the show muted because it seemed so long, but when I watched it with sound, it went so fast paced and was over so quickly. I learned that more often than not the non verbal communication that you give off says way more than what you actually say.