Support

I would like to thank all of you for your support both through discussion and the blogs. I have enjoyed on how you approach the different ways of communicating with your colleagues and your students. Your thoughts and perspectives have been valuable to me, and I am looking forward to learning of your success in the Early Childhood Studies. To ones who are going in a different concentration, I wish you the best in your field of concentration. I am looking forward to my classmates who have chosen the same concentration as I have to working with you on the completion of our studies. Dr. McCarty, I want to thank you for your valuable insight and knowledge that you have provided. Your feedback have been invaluable, and I will use the knowledge that you have provided in my future teaching. If any of you would like to contact me, I can be reached at larry.manuel@waldenu.edu

Adjourning

I think high performing groups are the hardest to leave because of the success of the group, the team building skills that each member have brought into the group, and the friendship that have been formed among group members both personally and professional. Groups with clear establish norms have roles which each group member has been assigned for the success of the group. If a group has established norms, then each group member knows her/her role in the group to make the group successful. One of the hardest group that I had to leave was with the Special Education Department of a school where I was a substitute teacher and a para-pro.

I had formed relationships with the administration, teachers, staff, and students from elementary, middle, and high school of the Special Educational Department. I had formed professional relationships with my coworkers who were very supportive in working with the students. I was working with a middle school class of special education students with a musical recital. However the recital was for the whole special educational department for students K-12. I have been at this school system for three years so I knew most of the students and had formed friendships with them from k-12 grades.

The middle school students that I worked with for the recital did a great job in coming together to perform a song by Taylor Swift called Shake, Shake, Shake, Our team consisted of the teachers from the special educational department of the middle school and their teacher aids, a musical professor from a local university and her student teachers, and the students from the special educational department. We met every Friday for three months to practice for the recital. Each was assigned roles. I got to work with the students on the drums. The two university professor student's aids helped the students with the tambourines and the vocals, and the professor was the lead vocal and guitarist.

The recital was a success because all of the parents of the students with disabilities were their and their family members, After the recital there was a luncheon where all of the participants were fed, and the students were given awards. The recital was recorded, and pictures were taken of the event. I knew that I would not see some of the high school students because they would be leaving the program once the school year was complete, so I made sure to speak to them and to wish them well.

When I adjourn for my colleagues in this Master Program, I hope that we as a group will keep it contact with one another to share ideals and experiences as we grow in the Early Childhood Educational Field. Adjourning is an essential part of teambuilding because you can take what you have learned into your next group to help build a team that will work together for the betterment of the team.

Conflict with Colleague

The conflict which I am presently having is with a colleague. She is an administrative assistant, and she has a tendency to interrupt the class during classroom discussion for paper work or personal issues. My colleague has been at this site for five years, and I have been here for 18 months. Last week one of my students was opening a GED account to take a practice exam. We have two classrooms with one having a computer lab in it. The student was supposed to open the account and take the GED practice test. On Wednesday my colleague informs me that she had the student finish a questionnaire after the student had open his GED account and to wait to take the practice test.

My colleague is an assistant office administrator, and her title is not instructor. On Thursday morning when the students were taking their twenty minute break. I had a discussion with my colleague. I asked her not to interrupt the classroom discussion for personal matters or paperwork issues because the students have an hour of individual work between 12 P.M. TO 1 P.M, and she can have personal discussion with the students then. I asked her not to pull students from an assignments which I have directed them to complete without informing me first. I did not argue with her or confront her about her actions.

I informed her that I am open to any of her ideas as one of my strategies, and another strategy was to acknowledge her of her duties and that they are important to the education of our students as well. In conclusion I asked her how would she feel when she is during her orientation with a student if I would interrupt her and have the student to join the classroom discussion before orientation is completed. I wanted to put her in my shoes to see how her actions were disrupting to the class.

Similarities and Differences in Communication

The one thing that surprised me the most was the scores of my two colleagues who observe my communicating skills in the classroom with my students. The scores were similar in all three categories except for one. They had different scores in the Community Anxiety Inventory. One scored me low in the Communication Anxiety Inventory while another scored me in the mild category. I asked my colleague who had scored me in the low category as I my score were also low, and she stated "I see what you see." She told me that I have great communications skills with my students, and she have not seen me uneasy in communicating with my students while a second colleague scored me in the same category, and she concluded that I may feel a bit uneasy in some communications situations with my students and somewhat more confident in other communication situations.

One insight learned is that I respect other people viewpoints. I must be open to other people views even though I might disagree with them. When I disagree with other people viewpoints, I do not attack their viewpoint. Another insight is I do not attack people personally or verbal if my views are different than their views. I disagree that I would back down in a persuasive conversation out of respect. I would hold to my confixtions if I do not agree with that person viewpoint.

I think these two viewpoints will help me become a better communicator in my professional and personal life. I will agree to disagree if I can not get my viewpoints across to a colleague or personal friend and vice versa. I must learn to watch for people non verbal clues when communicating with them. Eye contact, facial expressions, hand gestures, personal space are non verbal clues that I must learn to pay more attention to when communicating.

Aspects of Culture

Yes, I have found myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. In my workplace, we follow formal communications. Communications are both verbal and non verbal. We are considerate of each others personal space, and we follow the state mandated curriculum when teaching our students. When communication with my peers, I maintain eye contact with them, use hand gestures, and I let them finish speaking before I respond if they are asking for a response.

When I am at home in my community, my communication is more informal. There is no cultural diversity in my neighborhood because we are all African Americans.  There is more slang talk between me, my family members, and the neighbors. I find myself correcting my nieces and nephews on their speaking skills. When speaking with them or to them I don't use the N word, and I strongly encourage them not to use the N word either with each other or their friends when communicating.

I have friends who are in the LBGT community. They do not being called homosexuals, and rather be called gay or lesbian. I try to talk with them about their subculture in their neighborhoods. In Atlanta, GA where I lived before I moved back home to my hometown the perception of the LBCT community is astonishing. In Atlanta, GA there is a more accepting of the members of the LBGT community, but here in Middle Georgia the LBGT IS more closeted, fearful, and afraid of a physical confrontation because some people are not accepting of their sexual orientation.

The students that I have taught in special needs just want to be accepted as normal. I had a talk last year with one of my nieces who was 11 years old at the time. She was speaking to me on the special needs children who were in her physical educational class. She commented to me was that they was slow. I told her that special needs children brains does not process information as quick as people with out special needs do. My example to her was to think of your brain as a rabbit when processing information and a special need person brain as a turtle when processing information.

Three strategies which I have learned is in order to live with people from different cultures are that we must begin to learn to appreciate our differences instead of ignoring people, suffering because of them, or wishing they would disappear. Another strategy is to put yourself or walk in that person shoes before you form perceptions of that person of their culture. Next strategy is to learn not to prejudge people on my stereotypes, but get to know them and their culture, and then form my own opinion.

Assingment 2: Blog Assignment

This assignment was very interesting. What I thought when I was watching this Just Shoot Me Episode, A Divorce to remember about the characters was different. The opening of the show Dennis is lying in bed, and he wakes up, and he found out that he was dreaming. In watching this episode without the volume in the opening the male and female characters scene was in the bedroom, I thought the female character and the male character were boyfriend and girlfriend. The next scene switched over to the office where you could tell these people were colleagues and coworkers. There is conversation, and the characters would made eye contact when talking to one another. Hand gesturing was another clue where the characters seem to get along.

The female characters would comfort each other through hugs. In another scene these two coworkers were in the office and by their body language I thought they were man and wife, but when watching with the volume turn on this couple had gotten married by accident in a mass wedding. In the first scene where the guy was dreaming it turned out they were the married couple and not boyfriend and girlfriend. The guy who I thought was married had a one night stand, and it turned out that he had a real date, There were humor between the characters with the volume off, and you could tell that they cared for one another.

If I was watching a show that I knew well then my assumptions would have been more correct. The character roles would have been known to me. The plot would have been revealed by watching the body movement of the characters, facial expression,, and personal space between the characters, tone, and language. I have learned that what you thank you know in communications is not what you know until you have open communication by watching people body language, movement, facial expression, hand gestures, and actually hearing the speech of the communication, and the tone in which the communication is spoken in.

Assignment 2: Blog Assignment

My parents were my first teachers of communication. Older people were to be addresses as mam or sir. When giving a handshake you are to give a firm handshake and to look the person in the eye. I was taught to speak with clarity and not to interrupt or speak over other people during a conversation. There were no talking back to your parents or elders or there would be consequences. There were little diversity in our community with a Caucasian population over 80% and African Americans 19%. Yet my parents taught me to treat everyone with respect even if someone disrespected you.

My parents did not raise me and my siblings to be racist, but we were taught to stand up for what is right. My father taught me how to be a man and to be respectful to women. My mother taught me not to rely on others but to make my own way in life. I was taught not to look down on people, but I was to help people if the resources were available. There were no phones allowed in the kitchen during dinner. My parents were strong and assertive, and yet they both took care of their ailing parents while providing for us at the same time.

I model communication skills from both of my parents. I let peoples personalities and character traits decide if I will allow that person into my inner circle. I don look down on people. I say hello to strangers. My colleagues are treated with respect on the job. I agree to disagree with them, and yet we work together for the good of our students because their education comes first. We share different teaching strategies, and we respect each other.