Concluding Post

I want to thank everyone for their discussions and blogs these past eight weeks.  There were some good ideas shared and information to think about.  Communicating together about various topics has made the learning experience more interesting.  Good luck in the remaining courses.  We're almost done!

When a team comes to an end

       Other than work situations, I haven't been a part of too many groups so many of my team building has been with colleagues.  The hardest group for me to leave was at the last public school I taught in.  It was in the small town where I lived.  We had 3 classrooms of each grade level.  The 2 other teachers I worked with became my good friends as well as colleagues.  We discussed personal, as well as school related, topics.  Through the 4 years I taught with these ladies I learned so much about them as professionals as well as individuals.
      Because we were a small school, we always had going away parties for those who resigned or retired.  At my going away, I was presented with a beautiful bracelet one of my grade level colleagues had made for me that had the names of my three children on it.  It was a very special gift and one I will always treasure. 
      Sadly, I feel that adjourning this group of classmates will be a "goodbye" in a discussion or blog post.  Because this is a virtual community, I feel more disconnected than if we were in a physical classroom together.
       Adjourning is important to a team because during this time they can reflect on their experiences together.  This stage "provides the team the opportunity to say good-bye to each other and wish each other luck as they pursue their next endeavor" (Abudi, 2010, p. 4).  It allows for a time of celebration for the work accomplished and relationships built. 

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

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Conflict Resolution

I haven't encountered too many conflicts in my life, primarily because I choose not to engage in them.  I don't like confrontation and feel arguing solves nothing.  One incidence that couldn't be avoided, though, happened after my divorce.  I moved to another state to live with a friend who I had taught with previously.  She was a widow and opened her home to me.  I was very appreciative of her offer, but reluctant, because during the course of our 10+ years of friendship, I knew she had a lot of personal problems and had, at times, felt drained from trying to support her during her various difficulties.  A confrontation that led to my leaving would have been a good time to: 1) "Differentiate feeling from thinking, being able to identify and express internal feeling states in a way that does not imply judgment, criticism, or blame/punishment" (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.), and 2) "differentiate observation from evaluation, being able to carefully observe what is happening free of evaluation, and to specify behaviors and conditions that are affecting us" (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.).  My friend was obviously going through another crises but because of what she was saying to me, I felt hurt and attacked.  I left, knowing that our friendship couldn't be repaired and was over.  
My question to my colleagues is, have you ever had to remove a relationship from your life that you felt was toxic to your thinking and the way you wanted to live your life?  Was it stressful to you?  Would you have done things differently knowing what you know now about communication?
Reference
The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/