Communication Perception

As I began this week, I thought my communication skills would not surprise me. However, I was wrong. While myself, my mom, and a colleague rated my verbal aggressiveness and listening style in the same manner, each of us rated my anxiety about communication differently. I myself scored in the moderate range, while mom scored me in the mild range, and my co-worker scored me in the low range. I believe this could be because the only place my colleague sees me communicate is at work whereas my mom has seen me communicate in various places. It gives me comfort to know that my colleague has faith in my communication ability on a professional level. My mom, who has seen me in professional and personal situations, knows I will communicate and make my point when necessary. Through this exercise, I have learned that, especially based on the perceptions of others, that I may be more comfortable communicating than I give myself credit for at times. It has also made me more aware of areas in which I hope to improve.

Intercultural Communication

I have to admit that yes I communicate differently with people of other cultures, especially those who speak a different language. I often find myself speaking slower, drawing pictures with my hands to attempt to assist the other person I am speaking with to better understand. I know from past experience working with families whose primary language was Spanish , however, that they often understand us better than they can communicate with us. Using one of the resources this week, I would like to be more mindful and thus take more time to get to know the background of the family. I also like the idea of 'creating a third culture' which the common ground would be the child in my classroom giving us a 'bridge' between my culture and theirs. Finally, I would like to become more creatively flexible which may be easier said than done. As I continue on this educational journey and this course on communication, my goal is, as is in any other course I have taken, to learn more to become more effective both inside my classroom as well as outside my classroom.

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Sound Off

As I completed this assignment I have to admit it was a struggle. I have the shows I like and watch and the shows that don't interest me. With the way my cable is set up I was unable to record a show but I have something called on demand which allows me to watch episodes of shows repeatedly. So I began to complete the task for this blog, watching an episode of Cougar Town.

As I was watching I could not get over that in almost every scene there were glasses of wine. As one who does not drink this caught my eye. Additionally, the facial expressions at times said serious, agitated, happy, no expression gave me a feeling of disinterest. As I proceeded to continue watching I realized that I was also reading lips and with the words I was catching, I figured out what was taking place in the episode. There was a house for sale and a couple interested in buying the house and the group reflected back to when the character Courtney Cox played first moved into the neighborhood. However, I was not completely correct in all aspects of the plot, I thought the girl stretching was getting ready to work out, so watching it a second time with the sound on filled in the blanks and corrected my interpretation mistakes.

I also watched, to compare for myself, a show, The Big Bang Theory, I am familar with without the sound. What I found in doing this is for someone unfamiliar with the show, it could be interpreted as a serious show. However, it is a comedy and I find it to be hilarious. For me the serious facial expressions combined with what is spoken makes it even funnier because the spoken language is not meant to be funny but to the audience it is.

What I learned from this is how important the verbal communication when combined with the nonverbal communication can be. When I watched the show I was unfamilar with had I not been able to read lips, I would have had a completely incorrect interpretation of the show. The same could be said for the show I have watched, if I did not know it was a comedy, the scenes and seriousness of facial expressions are misleading. Nonverbal communication alone can provide one interpretation while verbal communication can provide another, but when combined together with the use of listening skills a complete picture is created.

Competent Communication

As I thought about the question for this week, I could not help but think of my dad. He is in the education field in regard to transportation and food service. We have had many conversations over the years, especially since I have begun teaching about having to be 'politically correct.' My dad does a nice job at being 'politically correct,' professional, and effective when communicating with colleagues, families, board members, and community members. I have learned a lot from him about removing emotion and opinion when communicating on a professional level. However, it is not always something I am able to do.

I hope that through this course and the experiences my dad has shared that I can learn how to better communicate with others so that I may become an effective communicator as I advocate for the earlcy childhood field.

Professional Hopes and Goals

This course has taught me a lot that I thought I knew. It has definitely given me a new outlook and approach. My hope is to create a classroom that is always culturally diverse, not just one that becomes diverse because of a new child coming. Having different books in the library in different languages or portraying people from other cultures or having pictures and posters around the room displaying differences are simple changes I can make. I want to take it beyond that and learn specific things about the families I have in my classroom and include them daily. Additionally, I was thinking of taking a week at Christmas to learn about how different countries celebrate the holiday (I used to do this but for no reason I can think of haven’t in the last few years). Not only within my classroom, but my hope extends into the goal I have for early childhood.

            My goal for the early childhood field is that we become more open and understanding of the diversity around us and we embrace it. While we as educators may not come to be fluent in all languages we encounter, if we create open classrooms where all children feel safe, secure, loved, and accepted that will ‘speak’ to them and their families. If we learn about the different cultures in our classrooms and apply what we learn (not just tuck it away in a file) we will ‘show’ we are open to the differences.

There is more I could say but words are escaping me so as yet another course comes to a close I cannot believe how much I have learned, not just from the resources but from each of you as we have shared our thoughts and personal experiences. I cannot get over how much I thought I knew about diversity, but did not. Given the new insights I have gained, I hope to change my classroom and my approach. So thank you all for sharing this journey with me and teaching me through your experiences. I hope you can say that you have learned from me as well. Thank you and I wish each of you the best as you continue on your individual journeys.

Welcoming Families from around the World

Since I was once a child sponsor for a child from Haiti, I decided to research that country since I know very little about it other than what little information I obtained as a sponsor. Through the website, http://facts.randomhistory.com/haiti-facts.html, I obtained interesting facts about children and families in Haiti.

With these given facts, I realize that if a child from Haiti were to move to the United States and be a part of my classroom, I need to understand the child may be malnourished and could have been an orphan. They may also have never been in a school before. Additionally, in Haiti voodoo is practiced alongside Christianity which is something I am unfamilar with. French is an official language and most Haitians speak Creole. While there are many others I could mention, these here from the website above will allow me to attempt to prepare for the arrival of my new student(s).

So I will make sure there are books in my classroom in Creole and/or French alongside the English materials. Additionally I need to make sure the pictures and posters in my classroom are culturally diverse. I would hope to make picture cards with a picture, English word, and Creole or French word for common objects to make connections for both the children in my room and myself. My classroom environment is one that I always strive to make warm and welcoming which I hope would help any child feel safe, loved, and secure while at school. Finally, finding someone to translate materials for me so parent information can be sent home in all languages.

While these changes may seem to be easy and not too 'in-depth' I have found that first and foremost a child needs to feel safe and comfortable in their environment. Once this is established the parents will feel comfortable in bringing their child to school and even if there is a language barrier, facial expressions and body language in a positive manner is encouraging. My goal in learning more about any country would be to learn more about the background of a student in my classroom to accomodate when and where needed for language, family culture, religious beleifs, and abilities. While this 'simulation' has been done based on the notion that a family with at least one child has moved to the area, these are the same elements I have placed in my classroom all the time.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The personal experience I have had with this topic some would probably consider minimal compared to others but for me as a child growing up, wearing glasses was not considered a 'cool' thing. I was constantly made fun of called names like "four eyes" by other children on my school bus, in my classroom, or at my school and it made me feel horrible. I can remember going home on numerous occassions crying about the things the other children had said to me at school. I did not feel like I 'fit in' with some of the other children because I wore glasses. Even once I got contacts the fact that I was smart, followed the rules, and did what I was asked without question got me made fun of too; other children, not all, but quite a few of them growing up always made me feel separated from the rest.

I hear of instances where similar experiences still happen to other children today. I am not sure exactly what could or should be done to prevent it because it seems like these experiences occur when someone is different. We as a society need to be more accepting, even if we don't always agree, with the differences among us and teach the children who may cross our path to do the same. Teaching the children of today to be more accepting of the differences among us will make for a better tomorrow.