Who am I as a Communicator?

For my blog this week, I had to think about the similarities and differences between how I evaluated myself as a communicator and how 2 others evaluated me. Therefore for this experiment I chose one of my sons, someone that knows me very well, and a co-worker that I know but do not have a very close relationship with. However what surprised me the most was that my son, and a co-worker who I chose to evaluate me said that I like to talk in small groups and in large crowds. I found this very interesting because I myself feel somewhat intimidated by others whom I think have a strong sense of confidence when I have to follow them in communicating important information.

Furthermore through doing the assessments this week on communicating as a communicator I learned that we may see ourselves as communicating in one manner or method, but others may view us as communicating in a completely different style. Another insight I had was that others view me as showing confidence when speaking to others. I found this interesting as well because I feel if my co-worker, and my son see this strong ability in me to speak with others I feel this is encouraging and will help me be more open when communicating with other staff and the families I work with as an early childhood professional.   

 

“Communicating Differently”

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

In answering this question I had to put it to the test to see if I really did or did not communicate differently when interacting with colleagues from work, my neighbors or even my family. The outcome gave me a greater insight of how unknowingly without thinking I really did communicate with others differently based on who they were as people in a particular environment or situation, but not by culture or race.  

In communicating differently with the school director I communicated more professionally as an employer to employee relationship. When I communicate with co-workers, and some colleagues and seeing that the center is a small environment, and that we have become very close I communicated with them on a more casual level. On the other hand the wonderful lady that does all our cooking is from India. When communicating with her I use a more simple clear language and I speak more slowly because she is still learning the meaning of some of the English language spoken even though she can communicate in English. Also some of my neighbors in my community are somewhat older. When communicating with them and other neighbors my interactions are simply, hi, bye or how are you doing today? Our conversations are never very long unless we have time to sit, and even then our communication is only about what’s going on in our neighborhood or health problems they may have. But when talking with my family we talk about everything, and even all at once. I communicate personal information about myself that I would not normally talk about with my co-workers, neighbors or my director.

Therefore based on what I have learned this week about effective communication, and the new strategies I could use to help me communicate more effectively, I believe may help me overall become a better communicator.  I believe when communicating with the lady that does the cooking for us, I could take more time in explaining words that she does not understand of the English language which I believe would help her in comprehending the English language more easily, and when communicating with others. When communicating with the older neighbors in my neighborhood I could communicate with them on a more of a peer level. I believe when people get older, and we as adults ourselves begin to talk to them more slowly like they do not understand on an adult level, which is not true for all older adults. And last the strategy for effectively communicating with my family members is simple, just listen when others are speaking.

Communication Skills, and Styles

 

First watching the TV show with no sound

First of all the TV show I watched was called, “Baby Daddy”. I watch it on Netflix so I could view it as much as I needed. I had never seen this show before therefore I had no presumptions about the TV show itself. However watching the show with the sound off I thought the three guys were maybe friends. Then when the baby appeared I thought it could have been one of the men’s. As the show continued a female appeared I assume that the baby could have been hers, therefore having had a relationship with one of the men.  When two of the men first entered the apartment the one man (#1) has his hands out as to say, this is my place come on in. The second man (#2) is shaking his head as to say the place is not so bad. However as this is occurring another man (#3) comes in carrying a large suitcase with a frown on his face as he throws it down and makes a gesture at man # 2. Nonetheless based on all three men after looking at the door as if someone was there, their expressions showed confusion and a look of surprise when man # 1 open the door and they saw a baby left at their door. One man even waving his hands as to say, it’s not mind. Then they looked at the door again in a happy way I think, thinking it was the mother of the baby. Then after answering the door man #1, and the women embraced and this made me think maybe she was the child’s mother. But when the women saw the baby she too looked surprised, and puzzled to see the baby but she still walks over, pauses and then picks up the baby, and comforts the baby. So at this point I do not know if the baby is hers or not.

Now, watching the show with the sound turned on.

 

 When watching the show with the sound turned on I assumed before that the men had some type of close relationship when watching the program with no sound. However the two of the men were brothers, and the third was a best friend. Man # 1 who shares the apartment with his best friend, man #3 was inviting his brother, man # 2, to move in with them for a while. Also the father of the baby was man # 1. The women that appeared at the door was a childhood friend of the two brothers, not the baby’s mother.

 

I do believe if this had been a show I watched more regularly I would have been more familiar with the program, and if watching the show on a regular basics I would have known what I was looking for in their non- verbal communication, and more familiar with the overall program itself.

Through this experience I learned that I was trying to read the characters lips to see what they were talking about when watching the TV show with the sound off. On the other hand after watching the TV show with the sound on, I saw I had misinterpreted many parts of the characters conversation. I also learned that through hand gestures, and facial expressions you cannot always know or tell what someone is thinking or saying. Therefore I think verbal communication is more easily understood than non-verbal communication. For that reason we have to be more aware of how we voice our opinions on a person’s body movements, gestures, and facial expressions through non-verbal communication.   

Finally the TV show looks pretty good and I plan to watch more episodes since this was the first one I ever saw which was the pilot, S1 E1, and they have three seasons of shows to watch. I can’t believe I missed what appears to be such a good show.

 

“Demonstrating Competent Communication”

 

The person who I feel that demonstrate competent communication would have to be my oldest brother. I feel my brother when communicating any type of information or just telling us something that happen to him or someone else he would always do it with confidence, and clear speech. He could hold our attention even if what he was saying took a long time to get to the ending. I also believe this skill in effective communication is what helped my brother be a successful salesman in selling cars. Also his appearance, and being well groomed made people want to listen to him. He also took time to listen to us and others without interrupting with his opinion. In addition he always made eye contact with whoever he was talking with giving them his undivided attention.

 

Therefore I would be honored in displaying the effective communicating skills as those of my brother. I believe a simple skill such as listening, but hard to do some times is one of the most effective skills in communicating. Listening make people understand that you care about what they are saying, and I also believe it allows for the other person to take note of listening to what you have to say as well.

 

But the one skill I find hard to do is to keep eye contact with the people I am talking with. However I have found myself developing this skill of making, and keeping eye contact through working with children, and their families. Also keeping myself mindful of this is what I should do when talking with children’s parents.   

 

“Professional Hopes and Goals”

The one hope I have when working with children and their families is to make a positive connection with the families while having an understanding that they are different, and that is okay. Therefore I want to learn about what they expect of me and what their needs may be in order that I may help assist them in all ways possible. Furthermore I want the families to feel comfortable working with me while showing that their culture or diverse background will have no effects on how the family or their children will be treated any differently than any other family when it comes to showing full respect for them, and their culture.  

 

Additionally the goal I would like to set for the early childhood field and others about diversity, is that being different is okay and because of your differences, whether by choice or not, does not mean that you should be treated any differently than any other group of people because of your dissimilarities. Moreover, as early childhood professionals we have to make sure that the families that enter their children into our early childhood programs feel that there is equity for them and that all within the program will be shown social justice no matter their culture background or any other differences they may have within their family.    

 

Last of all I would like to thank all of you I have worked with, and learned from with your countless insights, and views on diversity, equity and social justice for all people. I have enjoyed your experiences you have shared, and your help in guiding me to having a better understanding of the overall course through your questions and answers share on our discussion boards. Therefore I thank everyone and look forward to working with you again in the near future.   

 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

 

The name of the child family’s country of origin is Bolivia. In preparing for the child’s arrival, and her family that will be arriving from Bolivia I had to first find out what the child’s family background culture was and their language, understanding that in Bolivia the Spanish language is dominate but there are other spoken languages as well. Therefore working in the social service agency it gave me the benefits of searching out information about other cultures and their backgrounds. However in preparing myself to be culturally responsive towards the family I first found out that the family’s main cultural language was Spanish speaking. I found that the family is a close knit family, and that more than just the mother, and father may live in the household and this is considered to be normal. Also that the mother stays at home and takes care of all the home and family matters, while the father is the one that works in the family. The mother also use her maiden or along with the husbands last name which sometimes both last names are passed on to the child or the child will have the fathers last name while the mother still use her maiden name. I also learned that the family when meeting people prefer a handshake and direct eye contact. The culture also use a specific greeting for the time of day when meeting people. Moreover in understanding that there are many classes and groups within this country I would find out about the family’s cultures beliefs, and values in order not to offend them.

 

In preparing for the child, and her family I hope these few facts about the family will help me and the family form a beginning relationship that will help the child settle in comfortably and allow the family to build some type of trust with our agency, and the early childhood program.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

 

On Tuesday of this week I was standing in the customer service line at Walmart and overheard a young lady being treated unjustly by a manager and another worker. The line at customer service was backed up with at least 10 people in line and I was the sixth person in line. The young lady was the only person working behind the counter at this time, but what upset me most was I overheard the manager say to the other worker, “she need to be working by herself because she can get some exercise” and they both laughed. Of course it was obvious the young lady had more weight on her than some people, but this was no reason to attach her in such a way of not giving her some assistances with the customers in line.

 

This incident made me feel not only did the manager not care for the young lady, but nor did she care about the customers standing in line. Therefore I made sure the manager, and the other worker heard me say to my son, “this young girl is doing a great job in being polite with the customers even though she has all these people in her line”. Then a lady in front of me said, she sure is. I then stepped over to the manager and said, could you tell me who I can call and tell them about how well this worker is doing under pressure with all these people in her line. At first they just looked at me, then the manager said you can call the 1-800 number but am about to get her some help. I said that would be nice since we have been standing here for about 20 minutes and still have a way to go before we reach the counter. I wish you all could have seen the look on their faces. Lol!!

 

But the main thing is the young lady should have been treated fairly in the first place. However in order for this to have occurred the manager should have given her help right away and not judged her by her appearances. Furthermore for all the manager and the other worker knew the young lady could have an unknown reason for her weight. Nor should they have assumed that a person that look overweight is a person that does not exercise.