Keep In Touch!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues!  This has been a wonderful learning experience for me.  I feel that I have learn so much from these courses and my colleagues.  I wish everyone the best and hopefully we will meet again either in our specialization or at the commencement ceremony.  My personal email is: chantrelljones@yahoo.com.  I am also on facebook under chantrell jones.  Feel free to keep in touch!

Adjourning

Yes, high-performing groups are the hardest to leave because you learn so much from these groups.  Groups with the clearest established norms are easier to accomplish the given goals.  I feel that once the goals have been met, it is hard to break from such a productive environment.

I was in a work group at my previous job and this group was one of the hardest to leave.  This was my very first job, besides a summer job, that I obtained on my own and absolutely loved.  I worked at Sears in the women’s section.  This department was made up of high school girls from different schools. Everyone had good grades ( a requirement for employment) and were very similar but different in many ways.  I enjoyed working with this group a lot because I was a very quiet person growing up.  This job helped be to open up to other co-workers and customers.  I learned my sense of fashion style, what looks were appropriate for different occasions, how to interact with complete strangers, how to express myself; most importantly, how to be considerate of other people I worked with.  Many of the other groups/departments had a very high turn-over rate and many of the employee’s felt that they weren’t valued and the leadership had failed them.  In the women’s department, this was far from the case.  My manager was excellent at recognizing when something wasn’t right with her employees and she was very relatable.  I stayed at this job for over 6 years all throughout high school and early college. I eventually had to leave because I was expecting my first child and needed to obtain a better income.  I always wanted to come back part time or anything just to be around the environment which had become an extended family.  However, that dream eventually seemed out of touch because I had a family and realistically, could not live off of that salary.

I really haven’t experienced any closing rituals amongst groups except once.  This was when I took a certification course in Early Childhood.  I remember the last day of class, everyone brought in a dish to celebrate the end of our journey.  We ate, looked back on projects and shared experiences.  At the end, we all promised to keep in touch.  However, I never reached out to anyone and no one has reached out to me.  However, if I saw them now, I would probably find out how their career was going since leaving the course.  Many times, either the group’s goal is met or the group just disseminated.  In learning environments, the closing rituals are normally followed with a graduation ceremony.

I feel that my colleagues established here at Walden University will be hard to leave.  While I’m on break in between courses, I feel the need to keep checking the discussion board for more posts.  I absolutely love the environment and the experience here at Walden.  I have had great communications with all of my group colleagues and I value everyone’s input, suggestions, and experiences.  Therefore, parting will be difficult.  I have already begun to look ahead at continuing education in some way or another.  I’m not sure if I will attend the commencement ceremony in person or via the internet but I am trying to come in person to meet the people who have inspired me so much.  I also hope that everyone can keep in touch maybe through our blogs.  If anyone is in the Maryland or D.C area, maybe we could meet for lunch from time to time.  I think it would be awesome to continue networking and influencing each other on this quest for excellence in the education field.

Adjourning is essential to me because it signals closure and allows people to recognize the good and bad things that happened in order to improve group communication in other groups to come.  It also gives people the opportunity to “reflect on their accomplishments and failures as well as determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project.”(O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009, p 235)

O'Hair, D. & Wiemann, M. p.235 (2009) Real communication an introduction.  Boson, MA  02116

Conflict Resolution

I feel that I will use the 3R’s more often in my personal life and my work life.  For example, I work closely with my best friend who is also my mother and business partner.  This can be difficult at times because we don’t always see eye to eye.  She has tons of experience so many times, she can make decisions about the center without communicating with me or even getting my opinion.  At times, this causes friction between us because I feel that although I don’t have as much experience as she does, I have a lot to offer.  I don’t always agree with her “plan” and we then go back to communicating and brainstorming together.  This leads to a solution we both have agreed on.  I can recall a disagreement when we were designing the center and choosing colors for the early learning center.  Instantly, my mother wanted all primary colors (red, blue, yellow ).  I wanted a softer look like pastel colors.  Every time I walk into a center or school, I see the same colors and after a while, It seems uninteresting.  I wanted to create a design that would have our center stand out.  However, my mother would not back down on the colors she wanted.  She argued that those colors are brighter which will allow the children to learn easier and create a more playful environment.  I argued that the pastel colors weren’t bright but would soothe the children which would also allow them to concentrate and feel comfortable away from their parents.  In retrospect, this does not seem to be such a big deal.  I could’ve just given in to her colors and vice versa.  However, this was the beginning of our partnership and we were both going through a power struggle.  The 3R’s could have helped both of us to respect each others opinions and come up with a solution much quicker than we did.  In the end, the compromise was that we selected both colors.  In the toddler rooms, my mother’s primary colors were chosen.  My pastel colors are being displayed in the nursery for the infant children. 

After learning about the principles of nonviolent communication and the 3R’s, I feel that we could have come up with a broader range of solutions.  Had we both been respectful of each other’s opinion, reciprocated our ideas while even exploring other options, as well as being responsive to the children’s needs; we could have explored a wide range of ideas.  However, we are both satisfied with the outcome.  The children are learning and the overall goals have been met.  I just feel that we could have resolved things better with the knowledge I now have about conflict resolution.

Week 2 blog assignment

What do you think the characters’ relationships are based on the ways in which they are communicating?

I chose to watch a show called Gina D’s kids club.  I see a man with a puppet communicating with a child around age 12 on stage.  He seems to be asking her series of questions and she is responding.  The crowd is engaged in the topic.  I see some laughter and smiles from the audience which is filled with children.  The nature of their relationship seems friendly and kid structured.  The interviewer appears to be trying to relate to things children like.  He seems to be seeking some advice from the girl on stage.

What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal behavior you are observing?

The seemed to be engaged in the topic they are communicating about.  The topic seems to be funny and interesting to children.  The audience is also very engaged and seems to be interested in the topic.  They all appear to agree on the opinions of the child being interviewed because I see laughter, head nods in suggesting that they agree, and hand claps.  The parents in the audience are also clapping after the child’s response.

Now, watch the show with the sound turned on.

What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based on the ways in which you interpreted the communication you observed?

I assumed that they all agreed on the topic when in fact the interviewer and the child actually disagreed with the adult on the show.  I also assumed that the audience were happy and agreed with the topic.  Actually, the audience was laughing at the adult on stage with the puppet.  The puppeteer was entertaining the group and using the puppet to engage the audience filled with children.

Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been watching a show you know well?

I think my assumptions would have been more accurate if I was watching one of my well known shows because I would have gone off of a previous plot.  Not only that, I would be able to predict the story line more closely because the plot of tv series normally is set for you.  The variance comes in with different episodes surrounding normally around events.  However, the character and their roles stay the same.

Write about your experience in your blog, including what you learned about communication from this experience and insights or “aha” moments you believe would be helpful to your colleagues.

I enjoyed this blog assignment.  I found it very interesting to see what my assumptions were and how closely they mirrored the actual events, story, or plot.  It also let me see how many times we can assume the wrong things and had this been on a more serious level, I would have assumed the wrong things.  I also would have missed a lot of important information that could be detrimental.  I also learned that some of the most well-known non-verbal gestures can have multiple meanings.  For example, just because someone is laughing does not mean they agree or having a great time.  It could just mean something is funny.  That was a true “aha” moment. lol

Who am I as a Communicator???

What is the one thing that surprised you the most? Why?

I was surprised to see that my communication anxiety and verbal aggressiveness were viewed by myself in the manner that it is viewed by my family members and coworker.  While the scores were different, they all fell within the same range on the scale.   I was a little taken back when I received the results of my listening aggressiveness scale.  While I was viewed by my mother the same as I view myself, my coworker saw me as more action oriented versus people oriented.  Therefore, this let me know that depending upon who I am listening to has an effect on my style of listening as well as situations.

What other insights about communication did you gain this week? Choose at least two to share with others through your blog and consider how each might inform your professional work and personal life.

I have learned that past experiences and one’s personal schema has an impact on the way we perceive others.  This may affect my professional work with children and families because I may unintentional categorize things unfairly based on my previous experiences.  This can also be good for my professional work because I can use my past experiences to help children and families avoid some situations by sharing my experiences with them.

I have also learned that everything isn’t what it appears to be.  I learned this from the discussion this week when I had to judge someone based on their appearance in a photo.  The assumptions I made about the lady life may have been completely off.  Therefore, I learned that while it is easy to judge and make assumptions of others, it is an unfair communication style that should be avoided.