Who am I as a communicator?

This week we were asked to take three quizzes. The quizzes evaluated communication anxiety, verbal aggression, and listening style. When I took the communication anxiety quiz I scored in the mild range. This is at no surprise to me. I find it easy to speak in public situations. I have also found that when I am in a group I usually end up being the group spokesman. Taking the listening style quiz I scored in group 1. Group 1 means that I am a people oriented person and a good listener. The only thing that surprised me was the results from the third quiz for verbal aggression. When I took the verbal aggression quiz I scored in the moderate range, but when one of the people I asked to judge me took the quiz I scored in the significant range. I found that I am very verbally aggressive toward that person. I hadn't realized that I act differently toward him. I feel that I need to pay more attention to how I treat that particular person. As a teacher I always want to make sure all of my children are being treated with the same respect. Maybe I should apply this same rule in all of the other parts of my life.

Communication in Culture

When communicating sometimes I find myself changing my personality depending upon the person or group of people I am talking to. When I am speaking with my family or friends I am very direct. I speak to people telling them my full opinion. When I am communicating with parents I have to say negetive things in a positive way. I have to be careful in the way that I say things.  I've also found that my tone and body language change when I am upset. I recently had to communicate with a sales associate at a car rental office. I spoke calmly, without yelling, but the tone in my voice communicated that I was upset. I know I showed that I was upset because the manager was walking by and stopped to see what had happened. When angry I know that cursing and yelling will get nothing accomplished. You have to get your point across without losing your cool.  Everytime you communicate with someone I believe the way you communicate changes even if it is just a little bit to fit the type of person you are talking to.

Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

I was asked to watch a show that I don't normally watch and look at it once without sound and then again with sound. I decided to watch a show called the middle. When the show began it has random pictures of people climbing things. Then a lady walked in a room with a  torch. I thought that it meant she had climbed like the people in the pictures. She was talking to man whose faced looked confused as the woman talked to him. A girl came in the room and talked to the woman and the man. She seemed very excited, because she had a large smile on her face and started jumping up and down. The show then showed which seemed like flashbacks of the girl at school. The girl then went into the the school attendance office (there was a sign on the door) she talked to the lady behind the counter. As she talked you noticed that she was getting upset. Her smile left her face and she shook her hand up and down. When I turned the sound on I found on that the pictures at the beginning were comparing the great moments to overcoming the hurdle of the last week of school to start summer. The woman bought a torch as a sign of summer. The girl was excited when she came into the room because she was to receive the perfect attendance award from school. The flashback showed how the girl went to school no matter how she was feeling. When the girl went to the schools attendance office she found that the school had her absent on one day so she would not receive the attendance award.

Watching a show with no sound was very interesting. I never noticed how much people move their hands when they talk. A persons face and body movements tell you a lot about how they feel. I found that I was guessing correctly about the feelings of the people in the TV show. A persons body language can really help you understand how they are feeling.

What is Communication?

Having good communication is an essestial part of any job. I expecially learned this from working at the parking office at Louisiana State University. Students, faculty, and visitors would come to this office to get parking passes, pay for tickets, and get their car out of impound. When a person is involved in this type of work they have to be able to have good communication skills. A person that demonstarted excellent communication skills was my superivor Mrs. Debeorah. She showed me how to let a person vent if they come to the office upset. You let the person get out what they have to say first. Once the person has expressed what they want to say, you then restate what they told you. "What you are telling me is...... Is that corret?" Once you know what the person wants you can proceed in helping them. An important rule of communication is to remain open minded and calm. Sometimes when a person is feeling a certain way they can come off as harsh or mean, but you have to put yourself in their shoes and think about what you would want done. Staying calm is essential because nothing happens when everyone is shouting at each other.
When I talk to parents or anyother adult I keep these skills in mind. They really do help you make the best of any situation. Using these skills also shows parents that I am here not help not to destory what they are trying to do. I want them to know that if we work together we will get better results.

Professional Hopes and Goals

This school year I have began to truly understand diversity. In my school district they have choosen to stop busing students who are English Language Learners to certain schools and make them attend their neighborhood school. With the district choosing to do this several teachers at my school have children in their class from various backgrounds who don't speak Englsih at all. Being put in this situation has caused me and many others to pay attention to way that we do things so that we are including and not offending these children and their families. I hope that we can all learn to work together to do what is best for the children and their families. We all need to find ways to adjust and accomidate so that everyone feels welcome and a part of something. A kindergarten child that speaks only chinese started at our school. Her parents knew that it would be hard on her as well as the class. So the parents made cards that have things like "I have to go to the bathroom" in English and Chinese so that the girl can read them and show them to the teacher to rell her what she wants. 
With the people at my school learning to work with diverse families I want to make it a goal for the early childhood field to be more willing to learn parts of the families lanuaguage and culture. I have found a program online that when I type in something in Englsih the program will say what I typed in a different language. This way I know the family is understanding what I am trying to tell them.

I would like to say thank you to all my classmates and collegues from this semester and class. You all have helped me stay on track and keep things together. I know that all of us started this journey togehter and we are all going to make it to the end. We are almost the end and I know we can all see the finish line.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

I am an elementary school teacher. We recently went back to school this past Wednesday. I have a little girl in my class name Seetha. Her family is from India. The father speaks little to no English and the mother speaks some English. Seetha is also deaf. She has a cochlear implant so she can hear in her right ear. To accommodate the family I welcomed them in English and with a traditional Hindu greeting by bowing and saying Namaste. In Indian culture the father is the head of the household. I made sure that when I was talking I tried to address the father most of the time, even though I knew he really didn't understand me. To accommodate Seetha the mother requested I talk to her on her right side. So I made sure she sits to my left so that she can hear me. I also requested a speaker system for my class. This system comes with a small speaker and a microphone I would wear around my neck. The speaker helps to magnify my voice so that Seetha will be able to hear me no matter where I am in the classroom. I hope to learn more about her family and culture as the year goes on. I think this will be an interesting experience.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

In high school I worked at a restaurant. We were not busy one day so the manager asked to take out the trash and clean off tables etc.  I had no problem doing it until I noticed that no one else was cleaning. I was the only African American girl working that day. When he asked me to clean the bathrooms I questioned him and asked him and said aren’t we all suppose to share the work? He told me that he was in charge and if I didn’t like what he said then I could clock out and go home. Well I went home. It made me mad that he thought he could treat me that way. I had no problem doing my share, but I was not about to do all the cleaning while the other girls stood around and talked. He was being racist.  If he had changed his mood then I could have turned the situation around. When I brought it to his attention that I was the only one cleaning he could have said oh I didn’t mean to let me get someone else to do it. The fact that he got so upset when questioned proved to me that he was being racist. Later when I informed the head manager of the situation she didn’t seem all too pleased. I was fired a few days later for “poor performance”. It is funny that I never had a problem or got a bad review until I complained. That just told me that this restaurant was not the place for me.