Communication Evaluation

After completing the three tests this week and having my husband and a colleague evaluate me as well, I was surprised to find that each of us were pretty much on the same page when it was all said and done. I was not surprised on the verbal aggression scale that I was in the moderate level. I do feel that I maintain a good balance between respect and consideration for other’s viewpoints, and the ability to argue fairly by attacking the facts of a position rather than the person holding that position. I have always maintained that I am not a person that enjoys and thrives on conflict and I believe that this evaluation has supported this. The two that evaluated me were within 1 point of what my original score was on this test, so others must see this in me as well.

I believe that professionally and personally my listening styles profile says a lot about me and who I am. I am empathetic and concerned with the emotions of others, both as a professional and in my personal relationships. I do feel that I build relationships fairly easily and I have had to deal with the trust issue when it comes to others as well. I have always said I will trust someone until they give me reason not to. I know that this can come back to bite me sometimes, but I genuinely believe, and my husband has said the same thing as well, that I do tend to read people pretty well.

Communication Strategies

When I think about communication and if I communicate differently depending on who I am communicating with, I think that I would have to say yes. I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, teacher, and a pastor’s wife. Each of these groups that I am assembled with produces a different style of communication. I do not communicate with my students the same way that I communicate with teachers or even the parents of my students.

Some strategies that I feel will help me when I communicate with these different groups is to first of all remember the how important it is to communicate. I also need to make sure that I am paying close attention to body language and facial expressions so that I can make adjustments in our communication. Last, making sure that I am not forcing opinions on others is an important strategy as well.

I think that we must understand that people are unique and we should strive to develop communication with each person that we communicate with. It will not always be an easy task, but listening to what others have to say is very important.

Television Episode - Communication Skills and Styles

The show that I chose to watch was Friends. The characters in this episode spent much of their time with each other and due to the title of the episode, would identify their relationships as friends. It was actually very interesting to watch them without hearing what they were saying, but could by their body language that they were trying to hide something from each other. During most of the episode, the characters facial expressions could be described as looking shocked or surprised. They seemed to be focusing on something between two of the characters which lead me to believe that they were hiding something.
After watching the episode, I was correct in that there were some secretive things going on. A couple of the friends that seemed to be the two hiding something had decided to engage in a relationship and they did not want the rest of their friends to find out. They snuck around until finally, each of the friends caught on and their secret was out. Their body language was very on target with what was actually taking place in the episode – sneaking, peering, and listening while not able to be seen.
My middle son loves Friends and though I have seen a couple of these tv show episodes, I feel like I was pretty on target. If this had been a show that I watched regularly, I probably would have had no doubt of what was going on much quicker than I did. I feel that my assumptions were pretty accurate, although I was unsure of what was going on exactly.
I do believe that alot can be determined by not saying anything. Our body language and our nonverbal communication can share messages that we might not want to be shared. We need to really pay attention to these when we are communicating with others!

Effective Communication

Considering the past courses that I have taken here at Walden, I have had the opportunity to hear several professionals share through interviews their past experiences within their profession and I was impressed by the knowledge that they expressed in their areas of work. They were not only good communicators, but also were confident in what they shared. They did not give the impression that they were better than anyone else and always expressed the importance of sharing their knowledge with others, but also shared the importance of listening and learning from others as well. I remember reading an article about effective communication and about it being more than just an exchange of information. Effective communication is also about understanding the feelings behind the information being communicated. Through effective communication, we can improve relationships whether it is at home or work by strengthening connections to others and improving teamwork, decision-making, and problem solving.
One professional that I always enjoy hearing from is Louise Derman-Sparks. I love to hear her share her passion and love for learning and working with parents and their children. She demonstrates care and concern for the overall wellbeing for all involved. She also shows that she is a good listener when communicating with her parents and colleagues. I think that she models some very good behaviors that would be beneficial to all when considering effective communication skills.

Professional Hopes and Goals

It is my hope that I can provide a setting where all children, no matter where they come from, feel safe and a part of my class. I want to promote a successful learning environment and understand that this may take a little more effort on my part, but am willing to do whatever it takes to help them all succeed.

One goal I would like to see for the early childhood field would be to incorporate cultural awareness into my classroom more so that when we do acquire children form diverse backgrounds, it provides for a smoother transition for the children and their families.

I appreciate all the comments and posts that you each shared throughout this course and wish you the best of luck as you continue on this journey. It has been a great class full of information that will help us as educators in the early childhood field. Hopefully we will meet again in future courses!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The family that I will be working with is from Guatemala, which is located in Central America.
As a child care center worker, I have the opportunity of integrating and acclimating this family into our community. Some of the things that I would do to help be culturally responsive to this family are:
1. Share common vocabulary words in both our language and their language.
2. Invite the family to come and share things with our group that pertains to their culture - games, items, foods.
3. Research information about how education system is in Guatemala.
4. Research information about special holidays and have the children share about holidays as a group activity.
5. Share books in my classroom library that pertains to their culture.
I hope that by gaining a more indepth study of their country and through sharing about where they came from in the classroom, I can help them see that I am excited that they are here and that I am interested in their family both personally and culturally.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

In considering bias, prejudice, and oppression and how these have affected me personally, I would recall an incident that was reflective of my identity as a pastor’s wife. Speaking from experience, being a pastor’s wife is not an easy job. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you choose to look at it, we are often defined by what our husbands do. I remember being asked questions and thought, “I am not the one that you are seeking for the pastoral position, I am a school teacher.” Another incident directly related to being a pastor’s wife that I would share involved a group of people that I worked with. I was not invited to participate in an outing with this group because I was a “pastor’s wife.” This incident initially belittled me. It was terribly hurtful and to think that these people were supposed to be my friends. It took me some time to realize that these people that chose to not include me in their evening activities, were probably more ashamed of what they were going to be doing than the fact that I was a pastor’s wife. They were embarrassed and not inviting me to participate with them kept them from feeling bad for doing whatever it was they were going to be doing. After a while, and a few hurt feelings, I realized just how fortunate I was to have been called to be the wife of a pastor. I love my husband and my church and would not change this part of my life for anything. If others wanted to shun me for who I am, then so be it. After praying about this situation, I knew that I had to change the way that I felt about this situation or I was going to be the one who was miserable and I did not want that.