My Collaborative Learning Community

     Building relationships and in some cases friendships is very important in any career field. Healthy relationships provide positive reinforcement. For example, I have a friend who is also a coworker of mine and every time I want to have a meltdown she always have some encouraging words to say. After I talk to her I feel better and I excel in my work. Positive feedback is very important with everything that we do. I have experienced that in this class with my colleagues. 

     I appreciate all of the positive feedback that I have been given throughout this program from the instructors and my colleagues. I tried my best to make sure that I returned the favor to some of my colleagues as well. Having a support system is very important in achieving your goals. I wish all of my colleagues well as they continue their professional path. Good luck and well wishes!!!!

Erica 

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Team Development

I have been involved in many group some professional and some personal. When the group ends it is always bittersweet. Adjourning a group means that it is time to reflect and celebrate. I am currently working together in a group now and we have until October 16 to make sure that all of our component areas are at 100%. I am so looking forward to the celebrating part and unfortunately I will not miss this group. We had some struggles, verbal exchanges, and bad body language. I do not like the fact that there is no trust in this group and everyone is out for themselves. There is nothing wrong with a little competition at work, but these people I work with have taken it to a whole new level.

The hardest group adjournment I was in was in undergrad. I really enjoyed working with my classmates and when it was time to end the group it was difficult for me. I had made some good relationships and we had very good communication with each other. We went out to dinner to celebrate and talk about the outcome of our project. Some of us promised to keep in touch and to communicate with each other outside the group. We exchanged phone numbers and email addresses. There is one person from that group that I still talk to and we have became best of friends. I was named her child's godmother and she is my child's godmother since she is the reason I met my child's father. We have been through some ups and downs, but we remain friends.

I imagine that I will adjourn this group of colleagues with clear communication. I have learned to communicate with my colleagues and I will miss the positive and support feedback I have received in the discussion questions and blogs. Some of my colleagues I have been grouped with since the beginning of the master's degree program. I truly wish all of them well and I am going to miss the interactions we have had during this course.

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Conflict?

Conflict is something I deal with on a daily basis. I have conflict with my supervisor, colleagues, and parents. There is not a dull day at my job when I do not have conflict. It is either because I disagree with something or someone has lied on me. I tell people all the time that it is like being in high school at my job. A bunch of unhappy women trying to hurt each other. I do not understand why, but I know that I do not like it and I am trying to get out of that place.

 An example of conflict in my professional life:
I had planned a trip to Chuck E Cheese for the end of school year celebration. I had submitted a requisition to our finance department for the number of children enrolled, staff, and parent volunteers. On the day of the trip there were some children who did not come to school, so we had extra money left over. With the extra money I took it upon myself to purchase food for the staff. As I was taking care of business another teacher decided to help me by passing out the cup of tokens to each class. She went up to the teachers and asked how many children do you have? All the teachers told her their correct number of children except 1. Because this teacher was dishonest and wanted to keep tokens for herself I had to purchase tokens out of my own money for the children who did not receive tokens. I was so upset and I wanted to kick the teacher behind, but I waited until we got back and I informed my supervisor who did not do a thing. I did not talk to this teacher for a week. I was trying to let it go, but I could not believe that this teacher would lie and steal from a child. The teacher finally came to me and we talked about it. I told her that I was more disappointed than upset. She is suppose to be a teacher, a leader, a educator. I told her what kind of example does she think that set for the children and parents who volunteered on this trip. They saw a whole other side and they were not pleased. The parents got together and gave me my money back and some even took their children out of our program. I should have did like the text said I should have discussed the issue with the teacher and arrived to a solution. This is what O'Hair and Wiemann calls a win-win situation. The fact that my supervisor did nothing also showed me that I was in this thing alone.


In my personal life I try not have any conflicts. Even though I have disagreements with my family and friends I try to avoid having conflicts by changing the subject. I try to turn the situation into something positive. I always make jokes or make light of the situation. I feel that my family deserve respect instead of arguing with them over something small. I chose alternatives instead of having a conflict.

Do anyone have any suggestions on what I should do about my job?

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We are different, We are the same

Communication

For this week blog we had to choose 2 people to evaluate us a communicator. When I first asked people to evaluate me I chose my sister and a colleague. After reading their scores I decided to pick to other people. I decided to pick my mother and another colleague to evaluate me as a communicator. The first colleague I picked was not fawn of me, so her scores were skewered. My sister and I really do not communicate well with each other, so her scores would not reflect me as a communicator. I decided to pick to new people who have seen me talk in one to one situations and talk in public with small and large groups. I found it interesting the my mother, colleague and I both scored in the same group for the listening style profile evaluation. All of us scored in group 1 which means I am people-oriented. I believe this to be true because in my position I have to build a relationship with the families I serve. In the verbal aggressiveness scale evaluation all 3 of us scored in the moderate level. I have a good level of respect for others when I communicate with them. The one that shocked me was the Communication Anxiety Inventory. My mother and I scored in the same level, but my colleague scored me differently. My colleague scored me in the low level. When I read to her what each level means and she said that she thinks I do well in group meetings and when I have to speak in public. She also stated that I do not look or act anxious at all. I was pleased to hear her say that and it gives me confidence to speak more in public. I usually shy away from speaking in public, but I try to do a good job if I have to.



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Communicating Differently

Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

I find myself communicating differently all time even with people of the same culture. I work with people of the same culture and I communicate more professionally than they do every day. I try to make my families feel comfortable when I am talking to them. They try to make me come down to their level, but I remain professional at all times. I have parents who come in fussing and cussing and I never loose my composure. I do not fuss and cuss back, I always escort the parent to my office and allow them to finish venting. Once they finish I always ask them, do you feel better now that you have gotten all of that out of your system. They laugh and say yes. They always tell me you don't let nobody change you and I said no I do not. I have a very good relationship with all of parents and we are able to communicate well.

Based on what you have learned this week, share at least three strategies you could use to help you communicate more effectively with the people or groups you have identified.

Three strategies that I feel that can help me communicate more effectively are:

• Give them the impression that I am enthusiastic about talking to them. People want to feel that you would rather be talking to them than anyone else. This will make people feel better about themselves.
• Listen attentively to everything they say. I try not to focus on what I am going to say, but what the person is saying who I am talking to. This shows them that I am interested in what they have to say. 
• Give them the right amount of eye contact. Eye contact communicates to the other person that you are not only interested in them and what they have to say, but that you are also trustworthy. People will communicate better with you if they know that they can trust you. 

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Communication Skills and Styles

This assignment was a little difficult for me because I watch a lot of television and a lot of different television shows. The television show that I chose to watch was Master Chef. I do not watch this show often and so I thought it would be a good choice. When the show first came on I had the television muted. The contestants on the show walked out with smiles on their faces and the judges were standing at the front with smiles on their faces, so I took from those facial expressions that everyone was happy. As the show went own the judges were talking to the contestants and the contestants were smiling and looking at each other. From the body language and facial expression I believe that the judges told them something good. There were 4 contestants (2 ladies and 2 men). The ladies started laughing and they were putting on the same red colored apron. The men did not look so happy and they were putting on the same blue colored apron. I am going to assume that the judges separated them into groups and that the women were happy to be paired on the same team and that the men were not happy about being paired with each other. Each group was given a crate and when they opened the crate the facial expression of the woman were of concern and the facial expression of the men was happy. I am assuming that the women were not happy and that they were concerned about the items they had to use for the challenge in the crate. The show went to commercial break after a contestant on the show looked like he cut himself, his nonverbal behavior expressed that he was in pain and he might need medical attention. After the commercial break I turned the sound back on. My assumptions were correct the contestant did cut his hand and the medical team came to check him out and patch him up. I was also right about the contestants feelings about the contents in the crate. The women were confused about what to cook and the men were happy about what was in their box. The men were not happy about being paired together, but they were going to make it work to make to the final 3 competition. This show is very interesting I think I am hooked now, LOL! It was easy to read the nonverbal behavior on this show because they were very expressive on this show. They did not hold back their feelings at all. The contestants goal is to make it to the finals and become the master chef.
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"My Brother The Communicator"

My brother demonstrates competent communication within his career. A company my brother previously worked for funded the program I currently work for and I got to see him action quite a few times. I saw how he communicated in meetings and when he presented at training's. I did not know my brother could capture people attention so well. He is funny and he knows his stuff. I have seen him be serious in meetings and make sure he get his point across respectfully and professionally. He amazes me and I did not know I would look up to my brother the way I do. He gave a workshop on home visits for my company. I did not know that he would be so interesting. He had the audience attention and he was really fun. He engaged the audience through activities and the information that he was sharing. He made jokes and he made some crucial points about the importance of home visits in Head Start. I really enjoyed my brother's workshop and I was amazed at the end he had a line of people waiting to talk to him. When I presented my first workshop, I contacted my brother on pointers how to communicate when I present. He told me to be clear in my speech and listen as well as talk. He told me the key to a successful workshop is to make sure that I listen to any comments or questions that my audience may have and be respectful when responding. He also told me to watch the audience and make sure they are engaged, if not he said tell a joke to wake everyone up or do an exercise that will get people up and moving around. He told me that the information that I am presenting is very important, but know one likes to sit and be lectured to for hours. I took my brother advice, I did an icebreaker, I told jokes, I had an activity to get everyone moving around, and I made sure I answered every question to the best of my ability. When my workshop was over I got good reviews and positive feedback. I love my brother and I believe his method of communication is effective and I would love to follow in his footsteps!

"My brother and my daughter"

http://www.waldenu.edu