Thank You

Dear Colleagues,

As this course comes to an end and we all start a new chapter, I would like to take this time to say thank you for all the contributions you made in our discussion board and blogs. Although I was not able to participate as much as I would have liked, I was able to rely on my colleague’s efforts to help me get through. Thanks for all the encouragement, valuable feedback and positive comments. All these contributions helped strengthen my communication skills. We all have challenges that we are dealing with and some we may face in the future but as we continue on our educational journey I wish you continued success beyond your dreams. I commend each of you for your willingness to continue your education in an effort to change the lives of young children. I would like to give a special Thanks to Professor Hampshire for support throughout the course. If it wasn’t for caring professors like yourself, those of us who face life challenges may not have an opportunity to accomplish our goals. Blessings to all of you.

 

Teresa Goodman

Team Building and Collaboration, Part 1

In 2011 I had to leave one of the best group of employees ever. I had been working with this group for almost four years. I was acting director of a child care facility with five other professionals on my team. As director I wanted to ensure we were always in compliance with our licensing agency and ensure that we were providing the best care possible for our children. I had no part in forming this group because we had a board that interviewed our applicants but I was very pleased with their decisions. Saying good-bye to this group was hard for a few reasons. First we establish positive professional and personal relationships. We never had to deal with issues of trust. We all knew and understood that all our opinions were valued and any issues we faced we dealt with as a team. If one member was faced with an issue we all worked together to come up with a solution that would be beneficial to everyone involved. Everything was not always perfect but we did not allow anything to keep us from accomplishing our goals. I have remained in close contact with a couple of the individuals. The others moved on to pursue other careers. We always had outings as a group and we did the same when someone was leaving. This is important because this is the time when we review the success or failure of what we were trying to accomplish.

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

Conflict and disagreements will arise frequently in our lives. How we handle it will depend a great deal on our actions and our ability to deal with it. I recently experienced conflict in my personal life during the death of my husband. My children and I experienced some of the worst behaviors from in-laws during this time. They wanted and tried very hard to exclude us out of helping in planning the funeral arrangement of my husband and their father.  Because of the lack of one on one communication we were receiving communications through third parties. My only concern during this time was ensuring that my children were not hurt in this situation. This situation is definitely one that I could have benefitted from NVC.  I do believe that if I had known and understood more about the NVC I would have been more careful when I did communicate with them. It does not matter what the situation may be we have to always use effective communication strategies. This can eliminate a lot of stress and unnecessary conflict. The escapist strategy and cooperative strategy are two I could have used that may have help manage the conflict. As I look back at the situation there were times when I did use these strategies without realizing it. When I know how a person or even a situation makes me feel I will avoid them in an effort to eliminate and avoid conflict.

 

Effective Communication

To communicate more effectively I have to first know and understand what areas of communication I may lack in. We often think that our way is the right way. That is definitely not true. We all have some areas that we need to improve and there are some things about communication we were not aware of. We have to make sure we truly understand what it means to communicate effectively. The second thing I can do is to not be so grounded in thinking that my cultural ways are what’s appropriate. This is called cultural myopia. Cultural myopia is especially dangerous when members of the dominant group in a society are unaware of or insensitive toward the needs and values of members of others in the same society. Third I can apply the platinum rule when I am communicating with others. The platinum rule states, “Do to others as they themselves would like to be treated." Which goes hand in hand with valuing and respecting others. As it relates to effective communication, if we are aware of and are knowledgeable of the different cultures we can then communicate with them in a way that does not suggest we don’t appreciate who they are.

Communication skills

For this week assignment I watch a recorded episode of the reality show real house wives of Atlanta. In this episode in the sound off version there are a group of men I assume are the husbands of the wives. They are in a group talking in a bar or club atmosphere. Looking at them communicate it was hard to determine what they were talking about. Based on their body language, facial expressions, and different emotions displayed I assumed they may be talking about things men normally talk about. During the conversations there was a lot of laughing and high fiving and other hand gestures between the guys.  Based on what I observed they seem to be friendly and cordial at times and other times they seemed angry based on body language.

After re-watching the episode with the volume on I realized the husbands were communicating about their wives. They were discussing previously aired episodes of the show and offering advice to each other how they could have made certain situations or outcomes different. This explains why their communication skills varied throughout the show. They discussed instances where their relationships with their wives were more pleasant and when they were not. When the talked about or addressed more pleasant situations their body language and gestures (high fives and laughing) were more evident.

It is so obvious how we can make the wrong assumptions about a situation based on our opinions. I assumed these guys would be talking about sports or something or than their wives. Even if the show had been one that I watched on a regular basis I probably still would make some wrong assumptions if I was not fully aware of what was being communicated. I have often heard people say that they can tell when someone is talking about them even if they can’t hear what’s being said. We often make bad decisions about other people’s intentions based on our lack of properly identifying or knowing what is going on when others are communicating

Competent Communication

The person that I think demonstrates competent communication would be my Pastor. The success of our ministries and how well we operate is largely due to his ability to communicate effectively. He use various techniques and different forms of technology to get the information out.  If he is preaching, teaching, or just engaged in conversation with members he always demonstrates competent communication skills. During his messages or teachings we are often introduced to things we may not understand, but he will help us understand the meaning as it is being used. He also alerts us when he knows he is about to use improper English. The use of proper English is important when communicating with others in an effort to accomplish certain goals. He has the ability to influence others through his communication to make decisions that will be beneficial to their daily lives and the lives of others.

Because he display exemplary communication skills and has been successful at how well he exchange information I would like to model some of my own skills after him. I am intrigued that he is able to contribute to the success of our ministry through competent communication. Imagine the success we could have in the early childhood field just by being able to communicate effectively.

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I am able to create a learning experience for them that is beneficial to their needs that allows them to remain comfortable with who they are while adjusting to new backgrounds.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field would be to ensure all early childhood professionals are well trained and understand the importance of issues of diversity, equity, and social justice, in an effort to eliminate the negative impact in the lives of children and their family.

This course has brought about a major change in the way I look at issues related to diversity. I would like to thank my colleagues for sharing your personal stories, all the feedback, and comments throughout this course. The information and stories you shared along with course media and resources helped me better understand and relate to issues of diversity. This was a powerful learning experience for me. Once again thank you and I wish each of you continued success.