My Communication Assessments

I had my daughter and a male friend evaluate me for this assignment.  We all placed me in group 1 for listening style and in the moderate category for verbal aggressiveness.  I was surprised, though, that they both scored me with slightly higher communication anxiety than I did.  I suppose that is because they have never seen me speak in public and are possibly using their schemas to evaluate how I would do.  I feel quite comfortable talking in front of people but they are both 20+ years younger than me and have done little to no public speaking. 
An insight I gained this week is how accurate these assessments can be if a person is willing to answer the questions honestly.  Self-improvement is not possible if a person is not willing to evaluate themselves in an authentic way and take off their rose-colored glasses.  I think this goes hand-in-hand with our self-concept and self-esteem. It's good to see and value our strengths but they must come from an honest place.  Pretending to be something you're not can get exhausting.  In my professional life, if I don't know the answer to a question a parent or child has, or how to deal with a situation with a colleague or child, it won't do to just make something up.  I need to be open to finding out the right answer and relate it to the parent or child or for my own knowledge.  I don't pretend to know all the answers but I am more than willing to try and find one.
Another insight I learned this week is that my daughter and friend view me very similarly as I do.  Our scores were very close.  I think it is good feedback for anyone to have.  Knowing how others feel about our communication skills will help us be clearer when interacting with others.  It gives good information about areas we may need improvement in.  Personally and professionally, I can see that I am in a pretty good place when I am using any/all of the communication styles.  

Communication

I am fortunate to work on a college campus where diversity is everywhere.  The families that send their children to our lab school represent many countries.  I don't find, though, that I communicate any differently with them than I do with people from my culture.  Most of them have been in the United States for a while and many of the children have been born here.  With the exception of their accents, talking with them is very comfortable and the same as speaking with my own family.  I have been able to form a friendship with a graduate assistant in our department who is from Malaysia.  We have had many open conversations about her Muslim religion, my Christian religion, and our individual viewpoints on other topics.  I have not yet had any difficulty communicating with people from other cultures.

If I were to share three strategies to use in communicating with diverse individuals, I would continue to take or make opportunities where I could have conversations with the people I interact with.  I don't believe you can promote understanding and acceptance if an effort isn't made to know the people who are different than ourselves.  The second thing I would do do as much reading and research on other cultures as possible so a foundation of knowledge can be built in my mind.  During conversations with people from these cultures, questions can be asked to clarify cultural beliefs and/or practices and if the person you are speaking with adheres to them.  The last thing I would do is continually evaluate my attitudes towards other cultures.  If prejudice and discrimination come from fear, ignorance, or misunderstanding, then the only way to overcome those things is to gain more knowledge about different cultures.  Being open to the potential to learn about other people will widen my views of the world and make the world a little smaller place. 

Observing Communication

For this assignment, I watched an episode of Modern Family.  I haven't ever seen an episode of this show but have a friend who watches it so I decided to give it a try.  Some of the assumptions I made while I watched it were close to the actual way things were happening after watching it with the sound on but a few were not.  I figured out who was with who in a relationship, while the sound was off, but couldn't figure out how they all were related.  I figured out that part of the storyline was about an ex-boyfriend of one of the partners in a gay relationship but couldn't place which partner he was the ex of.  There were two children who I couldn't place with their parents.  I didn't have any idea why one of the women was upset during part of the show. 
It was easy to name the emotions the characters were feeling based on the nonverbal facial clues they were exhibiting, as well as the hand gestures they used.  The assumptions would have been a lot easier with a show I typically watch because knowledge of the relationship dynamics and past events of the show would be helpful in assuming how the characters were interacting with each other.  
An insight I would share with my classmates would be to remember that nonverbal cues are not always accurate.  Watching the show with the sound off, and not knowing how the characters were related or fit together, made it hard to know why one of the women characters was upset during the show.  I wrongly assumed she was angry because of a situation with an older man (I thought it was maybe her father) and a younger women that appeared to be his wife.  It turned out she was not angry but unsure how to tell her father she didn't want to work at his company, as he had asked her to do, and didn't want to disappoint him like she felt she had done several times while growing up.  Knowing details of a situation well helps an observer to be able to read communication cues more accurately.

Communication Behaviors

A person that I feel is an effective communicator is the administrator of our lab school.  Her communication style is direct without being offensive.  She speaks professionally no matter what she is dealing with in her duties and can also interact appropriately with the children.  She keeps eye contact with the person she is talking to, speaks loudly enough to be heard but does not shout, and when she speaks with staff, professors, practicum students, or undergraduate employees she presents a confident, knowledgeable image.  She also has a funny side and can present this personality effectively, also.

 I would like to incorporate some of my administrator's traits into how I speak to those I supervise.  Even though I am confident with the responsibilities of my job, and relaying that information to the practicum students who are in my room, it's not always easy for me to provide constructive criticism to a student on areas they need to work on or with colleagues I disagree with.  I am getting better as I get older, but I'm not there yet.    

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have for working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I can always learn something new to broaden my knowledge about the world.  I want families to feel comfortable when interacting with me and I hope by showing a desire to learn about them and their culture, a wonderful relationship will develop.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field that is related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is for every educator, child care provider, administrator, director, and parent to develop an awareness of their perspective and attitude when they think about people from diverse backgrounds and become enlightened enough by that process to desire to become more open-minded about others different than they are and share those thoughts with children.  Children need positive statements about persons coming from a different background from as many role models in their life as possible.

I would like to thank my colleagues for great interaction during the past eight weeks.  I feel we have grown to know each other even better than before.  I wish you all well during the remaining classes of your program. 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country I chose to have my new family come from is Croatia.  In preparing for their arrival to my room I will:
1.  Read up on the history and current events of the country to learn about issues the citizens have faced in the past and current issues they are experiencing.
2.  Find out the religions practiced in the country and how I might need to accommodate the family's religious preferences .
3.  Search the community to see if other Croatian families live here and talk with them about cultural practices and beliefs.
4.  Invite any community members from Croatia, or surrounding countries, to come into the class and talk to the children.
5.  Ask community members from Croatia, or surrounding countries, if they would be willing to be a liaison to the new family as they settle into their new life.

I feel these preparations will give me the base knowledge of the family's country of origin and will give me ideas of how to include their country into the room environment.  A community member as a liaison may help with any language translation that may be necessary and will give the family someone they can rely on for any questions or directions they may have.  Taking these steps will prepare me by increasing my global knowledge and possibly learn some basic vocabulary to use when welcoming the family.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

An Incident of Bias, Prejudice, or Oppression
I'm sad to say that a conversation I had with my mother recently revealed some biased comments from her.  She was talking about a news segment she had seen where the local Salvation Army was giving out backpacks filled with school supplies to the children who needed them.  She unfortunately stated that most of them were black.  I'm sure the story was about the help available with the high cost of going back to school but my mother had to point out the color of the skin the majority of children receiving the supplies had.  It was an unnecessary comment to the new story.

This comment diminished equity because I'm sure the Salvation Army did not discriminate against anyone who showed up for the backpacks but were happy to offer assistance to any family needing it.  My mother, with her comment, was not seeing the bigger picture-that children needing supplies were getting them-but went to specific lengths to point out their race.

The comment left me feeling disappointed but I then realized I had heard comments like this all the time I was growing up, but mostly from my father.  It is through this class that I have learned crucial information so that I can monitor my thoughts and words to avoid making a similar comment.

I will need to have a discussion with my mom about her comment and share with her my thoughts on equity for children.  Then, maybe she will be able to look at other similar new stories with a new viewpoint.