A special thanks to my colleagues

This class has been a great learning source on communication and how important it is in our lives.  I have never thought about communication in-depth as much as we have in this course but I must say it was very valuable.  The amount of communication we will endure throughout not only our social lives but our professional lives will cause for us to be as effective as we can be to ensure our colleagues, students and their parents can understand our thoughts.  We will be collaborating a lot and this course has brought us several communication skills to help us in our future sessions.  Thanks for all who commented on my posts and allowed me to do the same.  We will help each other grow strong which will allow Education in general to be just as effective in the long run.

Teamwork and Communication

The group I felt was hardest to say good-bye to was my collaborating student-teaching group.  High-performing groups to me are hardest to leave because of hw well the communication is among the group.  We bonded so well together, establishing great communication in getting to know each other during our first group session.  I think we did a wonderful job forming our identity, establishing who the group leader would be and setting reachable goals.  As professional educators we understood how important group communication is because in this profession there will be tons of collaboration moments among other educators as well as board members and families.  For groups whose project or task come to an end, there is an adjourning stage (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012, pp. 257).  The groups I have encountered with in my master’s program adjourned by simply saying thank you and good-bye as well as complimenting from great ideas.  A simple thank you goes a long way for people and establishes great partnership down the line.

Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it establishes whether or not a team wants to reassemble.  The group members reflect on their accomplishments and failures as well as determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012, pp. 258).  Depending on the distance between the group members will determine how they can adjourn.  A nice barbeque or sit down dinner would be nice to reflect on how well the group communicated, which can lead to bonding friendships and encores for the future.  If I feel the group was a disaster, this is the time period to let it be known that this team should not come together for another project.

                                                                         

Reference

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012).  Real Communication.  New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

             Chapter 9, "Communication in Groups" (pp. 251-279).

Dealing with Conflicts

In life we will some time or another engage in conflict with others.  The key is to manage the situation productively.  Conflict that is managed effectively is called productive conflict (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012, pp.221).  It is perfectly fine to disagree with another person because we all have our own thought process so at times there will be some conflicts of issues.  At my current job one of the counselors seem to always bump heads with me.  We can never seem to agree with each other on any subject matter.   Something I have learned from this week that my co-worker and I can work on is to compromise with each other in conflictive situations.  With most compromises, both sides give up a little to gain a little (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012, pp.241).  We have to be willing to trade some of our needs to gain interest from our counterpart.  Another great strategy to use is probing, asking questions that encourage specific and precise answers (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012, pp.240).  In order for me to obtain information from another individual, I must ask for it.  Whenever we make requests for information, we are using the skill of Probing.  Probing can help parties explore the pros and cons of an issue, encouraging either side to consider both the positive and the negative aspects of it (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012, pp.240).  This is how great feedback and constructive criticism can be properly used.

Reference

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012).  Real Communication.  New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

            Chapter 8, “Managing Conflict in Relationships” (pp. 219-246).

Evaluation Comparison

I really enjoyed this week’s assignments because it gave us the opportunity to not only evaluate ourselves on our communication but also to allow other perspective’s from a friend, family, or colleague.  The two people I chose to evaluate me seemed to know me very well.  I honestly believed they were going to be all over the place, especially pertaining to my communication skills.  What I perceived of myself and what they perceived through evaluation went hand in hand.  I am a much laid back person who would rather listen than speak.  Not to say that I do not speak well because my verbal communication is pretty good to my knowledge, I just listen well.  I think what surprised me the most is how accurate both evaluations came to be.  I figured they would be all over the place with their viewpoints of me but I was wrong.  My fiancé told me she knew me more than I know myself and I had to give her the thumbs up because she was accurate.

           This week I was able to understand how moderate my verbal aggressiveness is pertaining to my communication.  We are all different in our own unique ways, especially when communicating with others.  I found that I am very respectful and considerate of other people’s viewpoints.  After taking the listening profile assessment I fell in group 1 which makes me a people-oriented individual.  I definitely agree with this because I do love to listen and I am very concerned with the emotions of others. 

Colleagues Cultural Diversity

Communicating with people who are different from you is something you likely do every day (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011, pg. 86).  Even our family and friends are dissimilar in things we may know nothing about.  There are things I talk about with my friends that I do not speak about with say a family member.  Things we share amongst each other come about differently depending on the setting or group of people we are with.  Being motivated to establish positive relationships with others who are different from us is a key aspect of communicating in interculturally competent ways (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011, pg. 107).  There are always going to be communicating differences, even amongst our friends and families.  On settings when I am just hanging out with the fellows, we communicate about sports, our relationship with the girlfriend or wife, and just silly things that we can all sit back and laugh about.

Three good strategies to help us communicate more effectively with people would be for starts to create an atmosphere of openness.  When speaking with an individual or in a group setting, avoid objects that create barriers such as desks or cubicle walls.  Try to sit in an open area, and elude loud places.  We should also find places where the conversation is doubtful to be disturbed.  Another great strategy is to be an active listener.  A great communicator never tries to dominate the conversation.  As communicators we should allow our listener to provide their thoughts and listen courteously.  A third good strategy could be to actively engage in conversation.  When we are communicating with someone else they can tell when our minds are in another stratosphere.  We must express honest concern for the subject matter and show complete attention.  The person or people we are communicating with need to know that we are involved in the discussion.  There needs to be good eye contact shown and good non-verbal signals such as shacking your head as if agreeing with the person or just showing great posture.     

Reference

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011).  Interpersonal communication: Relating to

            others (6^th ed.).  Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.  Chapter 4, “Interpersonal Communication

and Diversity: Adapting to Others” (pp. 85-114)

Observing Communication through Television

The television show I chose to view was “Criminal Minds”.  I have had opportunities to watch this show but did not because I thought it was trying to be much like one of my favorite shows “Law & Order, Special Victims”.   From watching Criminal Minds with the sound turned off was very tough because having volume is important when it comes to really understanding things.  I listen very well so I can actually be doing something else without paying attention to the screen and understand what is going on.  The vibe I got from watching the characters on this episode pertaining to their relationship to communicating amongst on another was very good.  No one seemed snappy or rude or bigger than another person.  Based on the nonverbal behavior I observed, seems as if they have intense feelings on cracking the case.  Everyone seems to be about business, going off of the looks on their faces.       

In this episode, the assumptions I made about the characters and plot based on the ways in which I interpreted the communication I observed are they actually communicated very well.  Eye contact was always made and body languages seem to be at a respectful stage as far as the investigation team represented themselves.  In the FBI, communication is valuable and non-verbal communication has to be used a lot in order to get the job done correctly without getting anyone hurt.  In this episode I viewed one of the agents nodding his head to another agent pointing in a direction for him to go in and the communication was picked up well.  This communication was perfectly executed because the guy was able to sneak around the side to grab the young boy before he shot anyone.  I believe my assumptions would have definitely been more correct if I had been watching a show I know well.  I say this because from past episode I would know the characters and understand how they communicate and what would possibly happen before it even happens.  I actually do that a lot when it comes to “Law & Order”, a show I watch pretty much every day.

          What I learned from this experience about communication is that we have to learn how to pick up on people’s actions by understanding non-verbal signs.  In the early childhood field children are going to come to us with mixed emotions and we have to understand what they are feeling because most of the times children will not speak about it, especially if the child is shy or do not speak much at all.  

A Great Communicator

A person who comes to mind when talking about great communication skills is my Aunt who is a professional early childhood teacher.  She always presents herself in a great manner and prides herself on being respectful and knowledgeable to make herself a better communicator.  She possess great confidence when speaking, head always held high and speaks with no stutter as well as with a strong voice.  It always seems as if she knows everything because her words are never blank.  I love that she always looks a person in the eyes when speaking, making sure that person is grasping every knowledgeable detail she has to offer.  I personally model every communication skill I can from her because she goes about her business in a professional manner.  It seems as if everyone looks up to her and she does not shy away from the center of attention.  She is the epitome of a great leader and who I would love to be like in the means of being a great leader and communicator to others.