Team Building

While thinking about the adjourning phase of the groups that I have worked with in the past, I have to focus my attention on the importance of working in a positive manner with all of the people in my group. The aspect of the groups that made for the hardest good bye would have to be the forming and storming part. Due the fact that each member of the group had a different problem or issue, I found it hard to end the activity. I believe that the groups that are high-performing are hardest to leave. I feel that a good group is so hard to find and keep. I would have loved to keep together my group in that class and continue work in this class.

I wish that I had experienced working a more positive group during my first group/team project at Walden University. I feel that if I would have had a positive experience I would have engrossed the opportunity in the future. Working on my master’s degree and taking similar courses had gave me the opportunity to learn more about the positive methods of teaching and working in a team. It has shown me how to think outside of the box and work with a different variety of people in the filed of education. I am so thankful for this program.

I think that adjourning is an essential part of teamwork because this is a method of concluding or ending a project. It is the most important part of the teamwork process.

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

I have a positive work environment and I love my job, however, I have recently ran into a speed bump. Due to the economy, my non-profit organization is experiencing funding challenges. Due to these challenges, we are requiring that teachers take pay cuts and still continue to do the same amount of work in the center, if not more. I feel that this has created a harsh, yet tolerable situation. Georgia is one of the cities with the highest unemployment rate and I am happy to have a job.

I am the person that collects the fees and I am required to ask and request families to pay their fees in a timely fashion. With this in mind, I often have to take a stand and require that families pay their fees or withdraw their child. This is one of the hardest things to do in my job. I recently had a conflict with a parent that felt our fees were too high and she could not afford the program. She is receiving assistance however, she needs more assistance. Even though I felt her pain, I still had to require that she paid her fees no matter what.

With this situation in mind, I would use the win-win method to solve this conflict. I would also use mapping method. I feel that these methods would help us to come up with a plan of action and write down a plan. We could use this as the payment plan to assist with paying her fees, without withdrawing her child. Even though I came up with a payment plan the parent was required to pay the same fee amounts.

Classmates if you were in my situation, what would you do differently?

Erica

My Evaluation of my communication skills.

I often view the ways that people look at me. It is important to know that people feel that I am an effective communicator and I help solve problems. I feel that my boss is a great communicator. I try to mimic the ways that she works with staff and handle certain issues and challenges. When my boss evaluated me, she stated that I need to acquire firmer leadership skills and stand my ground. I feel that this is helpful information that will help me in my professional and personal life.

I personally feel that I am a people person, and I am aware that I need to work on leading people to move in the right way. This is one major skill that I am currently working on. In order to gain these skills, I created three goals that will assist me through this journey. The three goals that I created are:

1. Be firm and stand your ground when desiring to influence others to accept my point of view. Do not back down.
2. Continue to be respectful to others and their view points. Argue fairly by arguing the facts instead of opinions and gossip.
3. Be confident in my decision making. Become comfortable with discussing topics and concepts that I may not be familiar with.

I feel that these goals will help me to stay focus and strive for my goal.

Communication in a culturally diverse world!

When I think about diversity I often refer back to my current program. I work in a program with a huge variety of families with different backgrounds, culture and income levels. I find myself having to act and conduct myself with some families in a different way. I feel it is important to give every family the same respect at all times. I know that certain families expect a certain amount of respect and they feel that they should be handled in a different way than other families.

For example, I have families that are high income families and they feel that they should receive more services and individualized just because they pay more and they are in the highest category. I feel that this is so untrue. I try to treat each family the same, no exceptions. I also have some families that are low income and they feel they should receive free childcare just because they are low income and it should still be the same quality as every family. Again, I saw that all families should be treated the same way. The last example is the families that we have in our center that are from another country. We have some families that feel that they are exempt from following certain rules because of their diversity. I feel that we have to have a happy medium. All families should follow the rules and regulations of our program.

The three ways that I feel that I should use to help me communicate more effectively are to :
- Listen to the families and give them my undivided attention.
- Respect each family and request and cultural decisions while the child is in my care.
- I want to be more aware of the ways that I react and look at families. For example, I want to be more conscious of my facial expressions when dealing with families’ issues and concerns.

Being a great communicator!

For your blog this week, think of someone (e.g., family member, celebrity, politician, friend, or professor) who demonstrates competent communication within a particular context. What behaviors does this person exhibit that make him or her effective? Would you want to model some of your own communication behaviors after this person? Why or why not.

I believe that communication is key to sending a message or explaining exactly what is on your mind. I feel that some people express themselves through communication better than others. It takes some skill to communicate to large groups of people effectively. I feel that one person that I know that communicates in a positive manner is my good friend and boss. She has a way with words. Being her assistant I often try to duplicate some of the tactics that she displays and uses with our staff. I try to imitate her savvy method of disciplining staff and solving critical issues with parents. I feel she is a great communicator because she gets her point across no matter what and the staff and parents respect her and follows her wishes. This is a great skill that I would love to learn.

My Family Culture

A description of the three items you would choose
With this assignment in mind, I though carefully about how I could capture my family’s identity and culture with only three items. I often contemplated about the items that I would take. After thinking long and hard I would have to take family photo albums, the bible and my laptop (with Internet). The photo album would be books that had my family’s history and events that were captured by camera. I would also take the bible so I could often refer to the bible for comfort and spiritual guidance. The laptop is an item that would allow me to refer to major works of art, books about great black inventors and achievers and my African history.

How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you
I know that these items are important to me because they describe who I am. I was raised reading the bible and I need to have mementos that reflect upon my family and those who are no longer with me. The laptop would allow me to show others and explain how my culture has made me into the person I am today. I would use all of these tangible items to show others about me and my history through time so it will not be forgotten.

Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you
I would be devastated to discover that I could only keep one item after I have thought so long about what items I would pick to take with me on this journey. If I had to give up the other two items I brought I would keep the laptop and give the bible to another person who needed spiritual guidance and I would give someone my photos so they would have an opportunity to see how my family lived and cultural events that were very important to my family.

Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise,
This activity has really had me think about items and their importance in my life. I know many families that have been misplaced due to emergencies or tragic events in their life. This assignment has opened my eyes and showed me that I need to reevaluate myself and my culture and think about things that are of importance when a major tragedy occurs.

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Share a positive example of the effects of research on children and/or families: Perhaps you can provide real-life examples of research benefits to children and/or families; maybe you are familiar with stories of people who have been positively affected by research; or you came across a published research article concerning children or families which you find exciting and would like to share with your colleagues.
When I think of an uplifting story about the effects of research on children on children I often think back to one of my son’s friends. This child is the same age and grade as my son. While the children were in the 2nd grade I begin to notice certain behaviors and things that lead me to believe that my son had some challenges in school. Due to the fact that I am an educator, I was able to see the signs and get my son help as soon as possible. I notified the teacher and we had him evaluated immediately. After his evaluation, I noticed some of the same challenges and issues with his friend. I immediately gave the friends parents research based articles that expressed some of the concerns that they did display. The parents met with the teachers and they began to understand what was going on with their child and the issues that were affecting the child. The parents received a referral from the child’s teacher and he was tested and the results revealed that he had challenges that needed to be addressed.

After the parents understood the information that was given, they expressed their overwhelmed joy that their child was going to receive the help that he needed to be successful in school. I truly believe that my expertise and research helped me to help families be their child’s first advocate.