Final Blog Post for Communication and Collaborating in theECF Week 8

 

Hello Colleagues,

            For the past eight weeks as colleagues we have communicated, and collaborated via this on-line course in discussions and blog posts that has allowed us to learn various new insights on communication.  So many of you have come with years of experience in the Early Childhood Field and a great deal of you has learned as I have from each other.  The one thing that I have learned from communicating through the discussions and blog post is that we each have had the opportunity to voice our own opinions.   I have learned that in order to become an effective communicator I must be an effective listener.  I encourage each of you to remember the important facts, techniques, and stages that it takes to be an effective communicator.  I have enjoyed communicating with each of you in this course and I hope that I will catch up with you before we complete the last three (3) required courses. 

I will not be returning for the next class because I am expecting my first child in July.  However, I will be back in September to continue my studies and I look forward to communicating with each of you at your pleasure via my Facebook account.  Contact me on Facebook my name is Kiara Shanice Williams.  I hope that each of you enjoy the rest of your summer and good luck in your future endeavors.

Team Building Week 6

               Not all groups make the adjourning process difficult to do.  However, I remember one in particular that made me very sad when it ended and that was the planning of my 5^th year class reunion.  I can recall at the end of reunion everyone sharing stories of planning the reunion and how everyone began to laugh at the various hurdles we endured throughout the planning process.  Although they were not funny at the time, we were able to look back over them and laugh.  The entire process took about a year to plan and during that time we  created new memories that I had not realized until the last night of the reunion.  We had begun to connect not only with each other but with each other's families as well.  It was very difficult to tell my friends good-bye and watch them go back to their individual worlds after staying on the phone until early mornings, attending long planning sessions as we drank numerous cappuccinos,  and   hours and hours of licking envelopes, making phone calls and searching the web trying to contact over 300 hundred classmates. 

            I feel that high-performing groups are hardest to leave because they represent unity.  Everyone on the team was dedicated and motivated; thus, striving for a common goals.  We had an awesome leader who promoted mutual trust and respect.  She shared her vision for the reunion and was open to suggestions from all the team members.  Everyone respected what the others had to say and in the end we voted on any and all major decisions before they were implemented.  

            At the end of the reunion everyone exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses so that they could stay in touch.  Some of us hugged, cried, and vowed to stay in touch as well as visit if we were ever in each other's area. We also took photos to remind us of our time together. 

            I imagine my adjournment from my colleagues will be very emotional for me, because we have encouraged each other, shared our experiences and knowledge and supported each other’s ability to learn, grow and develop both personally and professionally.  It is one thing to express our inner thoughts on the discussion board or through our blog, but it will be another to finally meet face-to-face at graduation.  I look forward to meeting each and every one of my colleagues so that I am finally be able to put a face with the personality behind the words of articulation.  I think that adjourning is essential because of the need of closure.  The adjourning process gives the members a chance to conduct an after action report so that they can discuss what was effective and what was ineffective for future projects.  This also gives them the opportunity to say good-bye and wish each other well in their endeavors (Abudi, 2010).

Reference

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from             http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Conflict Resolution Week 5

            My conflict was with the center's director who had been running the center for some time.  I came aboard because of a merger that took place between the two centers.  The director was still in charge but I was asked to train her on some of our practices at the old center.  She was not to acceptable to my ideas and our practices and became a bit upset that I had to train her.  I explained to her that I was not there to take over and I thought that it would be in the best interest of the center if we put our ideas and goals together to reach our goals.  Although she was still very short and she was not at all an effective listener she eventually came around. 

            She had developed an inaccurate perception that I was there to take her job.  After some time she saw that her perception was incorrect and that her unproductive conflict between the two of us was making a negative impact on our relationship (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  She then decided that a productive conflict where both of us agreed and worked together would be the best approach.  In the mean time I did everything that I could not to provoke her by agression, a lack of fairness of any kind, or by being incompetent on purpose. I did everything in my power to avoid conflict with her and when there was a conflict I chose not to show an attitude.  When I avoid conflict according to the authors this is known as escapist strategies (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012). 

            The director gave up challenging me and became very cooperative so that we both could assist the center in reaching its ultimate goal which is to provide quality childcare to all of our students.  According to the authors of our course book these strategies used were challenging strategies and cooperative strategies.  I feel that I communicated effectively with the director and used several strategies that I have learned in this lesson that I was not aware of at the time to reduce and resolve conflict between the two of us.

Reference

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M.O. (2012).  Real communication: An introduction. Boston:    Bedford/St. Martin's.

 

Who Am I as A Communicator

           As I wrapped up this week's assignment for my blog post I believe that constantly assessing my competence level for strengths and weaknesses is very important steps (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012).   According to the authors there are three ways to evaluate your expectations, executions, and outcomes.  These three ways are through self-actualization, self-adequacy, and self-denigration.  In my assessment I have found that I am an effective communicator but not a 100% communicator.  I can always tell when self-actualization has taken place when I am communicating.  The feeling of fulfillment comes over me and this makes me feel great.

            There are also times when I know that I have not communicated my best and what I have learned from this week's lesson is that in these situations I am feeling a sense of self-adequacy when I have not communicated my best with others (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  The one thing that has surprised me the most about how I have assessed myself as opposed to how others assessed me is that they feel that I am a great and effective communicator.  They replied that I paid full attention to them as we communicated and that they could see me giving thought to what was asked before I answered back.  This surprised me because I know that I am a great and effective communicator but I also know that there is room for improvement.  The other two that assessed me led me to believe that I did not need improvement. 

            I believe that self-adequacy and self-efficacy are two insights that I have learned this week that may inform my professional work and my personal life.  Knowing that I may not always give a stellar performance when I communicate to others helps me with self-improvement (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012) which will always help me in my professional work and in my personal life.

References

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M.O. (2012).  Real communication:  An introduction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Communicating with Different Groups & Cultures Week 3 6165

           I have on several occasions communicated differently with people from different groups and cultures.  I have found that I have had to listen more effectively when I am interacting with people from different groups and cultures.  When I am communicating with people from my ethnic background I tend to not listen because I can understand our language, but when I am communicating with people from another culture I not only have to listen, but I sometimes have to read their lips in order to make out what they are trying to say.  Another instance of me having to communicate differently from people from different groups and cultures is when I am calling a 1-800 number for assistance with my cable or telephone service.  It is sometimes really hard to understand the words spoken from people of different cultures.  I have had to speak a bit louder at times and I have also have had to ask the person assisting me to slow down as they spoke so that I could understand their language. 

            I have even found myself using my hands and body language in the place of using verbal communication.  I have also communicated differently with people from different groups and cultures who share a different belief than I do.  Some people are Atheist and I am a Christian.

When I communicate with them I try not to discuss religion in respect that their belief is different from mine. 

 

             The first strategy that can help me to become a more effective communicator when I am dealing with people from different groups or cultures is to develop better listening skills.  Also I must be able to pick up silent messages sent with or without words from people of different groups or cultures (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010 ).  I must be able to expand my ability to pick up silent messages in ways that they are intended (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010).  The second strategy that I can use to assist me in becoming a more effective communicator is to learn more about nonverbal behaviors when dealing with people from different cultures.  The final strategy that I can use to assist me in becoming a more effective communicator when dealing with people of different groups or cultures is to practice not to judge people from other cultures long enough to gain a deeper understanding that first impressions allow us to (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010).  As educators we all must be willing to accept differences in people who are different than we are.  Our children model after us.  So if they see that we are doing everything we can to help others they will do the same.

                                                                           Reference

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). Looking at nonverbal communication across cultures. River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Week 1 Blog Assignment 6165

            The person that I have observed demonstrating competent communication is the Director of a child care facility that cares for children from 2 to 5 years of age.  I have seen her interconnecting with other parents and their children to form relationships.  Having the help of parents can always help you achieve the goals that have been set.  She exemplifies what the authors call affiliation.  She shows that she love the students that attend her center. 

            She also shows competent communication in the way that she communicates with the different diverse families and their children that attend the center.  Her actions give them a sense of belonging which makes the parents trust their children to her care.  She works really good with her staff and she influences them to work hard to achieve the goals that has been set for the center.  She makes certain that the goals for the child care facility are known throughout the center.  She has complete control of her staff and have formed great relationships with all of them.  She has truly shown me that communicating competently creates trust, accuracy, honesty, and accuracy (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012). 

            I would model all of my communication behaviors after this person.  She is clearly a competent communicator and she enjoys communicating effectively with everyone that she touches.  I would model myself at Dr. Minor because she is clearly a great effective and competent communicator.

 

Reference

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

 

Communication Activity for Week 2

           The movie that I watched that I had not previously viewed was Love and Basketball.  This movie show cased several characters and they all had various relationships which were from happy to sad, excited to not so excited, and from being in love as teens to breaking up and getting back together as adults.  From the way they communicated you could tell that the characters relationships were based on love and trust in one instance.  The two that I will discuss are the two children that grew up as friends and then become a couple before they left high school. 

 
            I believe that they felt and expressed love for each other based on their nonverbal behavior.  At first they showed that they did not like each other.  This was evident by the frowning that they did to each other.  They did not say this verbally but they did fight and look at each other while talking with their eyes to one another.  After watching the movie with the sound on my interpretations to my surprise was correct.  The two children actually loved each other even though they never said it verbally.  They actually showed friendship and unity in nonverbal ways. 
 

            I believe that my assumptions could be more correct if it was a movie that I had previously viewed.  Even though my interpretations were basically correct for this movie, I believe that with each movie or real situation that were either watch or encounter we can communicate without using verbal cues.  When the sound was turned down, I depended on the facial expressions to assist me with determining what was going on in the movie.

           This exercise was very helpful to me because t gave me the opportunity to look at the verbal and nonverbal side of communication.

 

Professional Hopes and Goals

          One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to make certain that I make them feel comfortable  in every way.  I will make certain that I plan my activities in my classroom to meet the needs of all of my students.  I will make sure that my classroom displays diverse families' cultures as well as non diverse families.  I will create partnerships with my diverse families so that I can learn more about their cultures and their goals for their children.

            The one goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to incorporate workshops that brings awareness on equity, diversity, and social justice in my school that will branch out to surrounding school districts.  I would like to use these workshops to teach parents and other educators how to advocate for equity and social justice.  These workshops will also be a learning tool of how to better serve our diverse students and their families. 

            I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all of my colleagues for your helpful discussions and blogs throughout this eight week course.  I have learned a variety of new things that will assist me in meeting the needs of all of my students.  I sincerely hope that you have learned the importance of social justice, diversity, and equity.  As educators remember that we can make a difference in the lives of the students that we come in contact with.  Good luck on all of your future endeavors.  I would also like to thank Dr. Davenna Williams for her support, feedback, and professionalism.  It is because of instructors like you that Walden University has such a great early childhood program.

 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

                My families' country of origin is  China.  The five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive to my family is by first learning all I can about their native language.  They will be more comfortable if I am knowledgeable about their language and I understand how they communicate.  Second I will make certain that my classroom's atmosphere has a touch of families in different countries, the various foods that they eat, and their cultural beliefs.  This will give the families a sense of belonging.   The third way in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive to my family  is to create a partnership with the family.  Parents will become more closer to you and they may even share some of the family traditions as to how they raise their children, what their goals are for their children and what they can and can't eat.  All of these practices are very important.  Fourth, I will make sure that there are  classroom's activities to meet the needs of all of my students.  Some students may not be able to participate in certain activities because of their religious beliefs.  I will make sure that I have other planned activities for these students so that they don't feel left out.  The last way that I will prepare myself to be culturally  responsive to my family is by taking the time out to communicate with the parents about what is appropriate and acceptable with regards to adult child interactions.  In some countries children are not allowed to speak unless they are recognized first.  These types of practices are also important.

                I believe that these preparations will benefit me and the family that I have chosen.  These preparations will definitely give the family a sense of belonging because they will know that you have gone out of your way to learn more about their traditions, and cultures.  The students will feel more comfortable and accepted in the classroom because they will see pictures of different cultures posted in the classroom.  Because of these preparations the family, the school, and the educator will benefit is ways that will make the families' transition to a new country much easier.

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

            At five years old I became a target of prejudice.  I was in line at a McDonald's restaurant and there was a Caucasian boy in line with his family.  I proceeded to play with him and he responded to me by saying leave me alone nigger.  At that age I hardly knew what the word meant but I knew it was nice by the look on my parents faces.  My mother put me in line next to my father and I asked why I couldn't play with the boy.  My mother then told me that some people were not as friendly as we were and that I could not play.  The parents of the young boy never acknowledged that what he did was wrong.  Everyone was looking really funny at the family.  Now that I am older I am really proud of my parents for not acting out of their character. 

            When we received our food and sat to eat my mother explained to me what the word nigger meant and where it came from.  She explained to me that some people are still prejudice and they teach their children to be prejudice as well.  This was the day that she also told me that I should never treat anyone different because of the color of their skin, their religion, or because they don't speak English well.  Being subjected to this kind of prejudice does diminish equity because we are all created equal.  But even today this has proven to not be a true statement.  I was judged because of the color of my skin and not the content of my character. 

            After my mother explained to me what the word nigger meant I was very hurt and disappointed that someone would actually teach their child to be a racist at an early age.  The only way that I see this type of behavior changing is that the dominant culture realizes that slavery is over and that we live in a totally different world now.  Our communities are better and for the most part there is no reason for racism and prejudice to still be a part of this world that has become so full of all type races.  In order for this situation to become an opportunity for greater equity we must learn to respect each other's differences and do away with being prejudice because we all are the world.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

         I experienced racial micro aggression from another time in my life even though the act was not directed toward me.    I was in a store that was owned by a Chinese Family.  I didn't go to the store often but whenever my mother wanted to make a club sandwich she would send me to get cold cuts from the Chinese store.  This particular day I was at the counter being checked out and a young black man entered the store.  He stood to the side and just looked.  The Chinese man stopped ringing my cold cuts up and starting talking to the young man.  You don't want anything get out of my store.  You people always want something for nothing.  I was so shocked at what I had heard.  It was an insult to me but I did not respond negatively because my mother had taught me how to react to certain situations when I was five years old.
            In my mind I knew that I would not be visiting his store again because I too am African American.  After I existed the store the young man asked me what was wrong and had he done anything to justify what had occurred at the store with him.  He stated I only wanted to get a pack of cigarettes which was behind the counter where he was.  My thought was that he assumed that all young black men would harm or rob him.   I could not believe that he used racial micro aggression because most of the immigrants that come to the United States are not always respected and accepted. 

            My Observational experiences this week has affected my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people.   I have learned that there are a great deal of people in the world that are still discriminated against every day.  I have also learned that stereotyping and insulting others can cause severe stress and harm to them, and last I have learned that what we say and how we speak to others can affect them negatively.  As educators we must choose a positive way to speak to others because this is how we expect others to speak to us.   Although we all often state  that our society is getting better with micro aggression others still experience discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotyping of some sort.

           

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

           The definition of culture was asked to a friend of mine of a different race, a family member, and a friend who has a different religion.  The definitions that I received were somewhat similar for culture.  The participants may not have used the exact same words but their responses shared commonalities.  They all defined culture as the traditions, customs, and religious practices of a set of people.  The morals and values were also mentioned. 

            The definition of diversity was also asked to the same people.  Again all of their responses shared commonalities.  Their definition of diversity was said to be based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and political affiliations.  One participant in particular stated that her definition of diversity meant understanding the uniqueness in everyone and also recognizing that we all are different.  She stated that her stand on diversity is that we should all be able to respect each other and celebrate each other’s views in a positive manner.

            The majority of the aspects of culture that I have studied in this course were included in the answers I received from the people that I interviewed.  For example the religious practices, their traditions, their behavior are all examples of what I have studied in this course.  Some important aspects were omitted during the interviews.  For example in culture the foods that are eaten are very important.  This is an example of surface culture (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  These are things that are easily seen, tasted, and defined (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  Another thing that was omitted in culture was ethnicity.  A person’s cultural group is related strongly to his or her ethnicity, which reflects the place of origin and cultural background of the person’s ancestors (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

            In diversity most of the aspects that I have studied in this course were included in the responses from the people that I interviewed.  For example they talked about race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and political affiliations.  The one thing that I thought was important was omitted in the responses and that is age.  People can be really biased when it comes to age whether they see you as too young or too old. 

            When I think about other’s definitions of culture and diversity I believe that my own thinking is influenced because although we are all different we all share some commonalities in our definitions of what culture and diversity is, and if we recognize the differences in each other and respect those differences we can overcome many barriers.

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J.O. (2010).  Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.  Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

 

                       

My Family Culture

           In the event my family and I had to be relocated to another country because of a catastrophe we would probably be devastated.  However, the three items that I would choose would be my Holy Bible, a photo album of my family, and my brother's train.  The Holy Bible represents our religion, my faith, and it is my book that I rely on through good and bad times.  My Holy Bible also includes important documents such as copies of social security cards, birth certificates, and shot records, and school report cards.  My family photo album is filled with pictures, special events, and memories that we can look back at during tough times.  My brother's train is the one toy that he cherishes over everything that he has ever owned.  I would really want my brother who is only seven years old to have something that will keep him occupied and happy. 

             Each of these items represent our life, our culture, and our faith.   If upon arrival to my new country I was told that I had to give up two of the three items that I chose to keep  I would be devastated as well as sad.    However, I would have to comply to the rules of the country that I will be living in.  Since I will have my immediate family with me it would probably be easy to give up the photo album and I am sure that I could probably find another train for my brother but I believe that I would most likely hold on to the Holy Bible because the new country may not have the same religion and I really would want to keep my faith that I have and be able to read my bible whenever I can.

            The first insight that I have gained from this exercise is that culture is embedded in our hearts.  What we eat, the clothes we wear, our religion, our political preference, and many other characteristics that define our culture.  We don't need materialistic things to keep to remind us of our culture.  The second insight that I have learned is that if the need arises I can and will be able to adapt in other's cultures.   The last insight that I have gained from this exercise is that  things can happen to us that can force us to live outside of our culture.