Assesments

This assignment was very interesting. It was cool to see how others evaluated me based on my communication skills. I chose my brother and my co-worker, to my surprise they both had similar results. Their results showed that I have situational anxiety when it comes to communicating with others. I tend to get a little nervous when I have to communicate with a large group of people verses a small group of people. It showed that I am an active listener or people-oriented, I try and listen to others and be as empathetic to what they are telling me as I can.

The insights that I have learned this week is that I have to try and put my anxiety to the side when communicating with people in a large group. Also because I am a good listener I realize that this is the reason people always come to me when they need to talk. This was a fun assignment is was good to find out how others assess me based on communication.

Week 3 Blog

I do sometimes find myself communicating differently with individuals of a different culture. I think it is because I am more comfortable communicating with others of my culture because I believe that they can relate to me. I think that for the most part people who share the same culture kind of grow up with similar traditions and other things that govern their family. As far as for individuals that are of another culture not similar to mine I tend to communicate with them differently especially if their home language is not English. Usually in order to communicate effectively with them I listen and I let them take their time and not interrupt when they are talking. I think that effective communication is give and take between both parties you have to listen in order to give effective feedback.

Sound and no Sound

The show that I chose to watch was the Big Bang Theory. I have never actually sat and watched this show before but I have heard that it was a really good show. Watching the sow with the sound turned off was interesting, there where six individuals sitting around a table having lunch. The relationships of the individuals seemed to be a friendly one, the non-verbal behavior that they where displaying seemed happy because there was laughter, eye contact, and their body movements where done in a joking way. The individuals all seemed to be friends. When I turned the sound on my assumptions where correct. It was a group of friends having a good time at lunch laughing at one another and joking with each other.

This assignment has taught me that non-verbal as well as verbal communication is very strong. You don't always have to verbalize in order for someone to realize what you are saying, basically actions speck louder then words sometimes.

Competent Communicator

A competent communicator to me is someone that can get there point across in an effective manner. The company that I work for sends us to training classes every summer, and this one particular summer there was a guest speaker. This was the best presentation that I have ever sat though, the speaker was very engaging. The topic of his presentation was being your best self being all that you can be reaching your best potential. The speaker had eye contact with the audience he was very knowable on the subject that he was presenting and he even had crowd participation. He spoke with authority and I could tell he was loving his job. The communication behavior that I would like to model from him would be the non-shyness that he had. I tend to be shy at times when talking to people, that would be the main behavior that I would take away.

Hopes and Goals

My hope that I have when working with children and families that come from diverse backgrounds is that I build a relationship with them. I want them to feel comfortable with our interactions and I want them to feel like they are welcome and that their children are in a safe environment where learning is important.

One goal for the early childhood field is that we as educators are sensitive to other cultures. I would like we as educators to realize that it is difficult for families that come from other cultural backgrounds to feel welcome and comfortable.

To my colleagues it has been a pleasure reading and responding not only to your blog's but to your discussion posts as well. My hope is that all of you reach your professional and personal goals on life and thank you all for this opportunity to learn with you. Good Luck!!

Families Around the World

A new family is coming into my classroom and they are from India. There are some things that I will do in order to prepare for their arrival into the program.

1. I would read over the child's file in order to learn about allergies if any, if there was something that happened significantly at birth to the child or mother, and nutritional needs if any.
2. Upon the families entry into the classroom I will have the mother fill out and individual care plan for the child, which ask things about siblings, sleeping habits, eating habits, just anything about the child that was not mentioned in the file.
3. I would sit and have a conference with the parents to try and build a relationship with them, because this is new to them as it is for me.
4. I would invite the parents to come into the classroom to discuss any traditions or customs that they may want to share about India to the other children in the classroom.
5. Lastly before the child arrives I would educate the other child about India, things like the food, the way some may dress, the customs that they have, just anything that I could think of to prepare the other children.

Hopefully these preparation will help the family feel like they belong in the class just like the other children also in hopes that a positive relationship will be built between us and them . Also it will educate others in the classroom as well as myself about their home life before they came to this country also about  the traditions and customs that they have.

Week 6 Blog

An incident that comes to mind happened years ago. My family and I where in Arkansas for our family reunion and we stopped at this diner to get something to eat. Immediately upon walking in I noticed we where the only black people in the dinner we where seated a our waitress came to take our order. Long story short there was a couple of white guys seated near us and one made it clear that he did not care for us being there, well when the waitress was bring our drink orders the white customer stuck his foot out and the waitress lost her balance. She didn't fall but the drinks spilled all over a few of my family members and the floor. The staff was very apologetic and our food was free. This happened to me when I knew what prejudice was but I hadn't really seen it until this incident.