Reflecting on Communication in the Early Childhood Field - Week 8

Thank you, to all my colleagues for the wonderful resources and expertise provided over the course of this class. Each class that we take together is an opportunity to learn and grow from each other’s experiences. I am grateful for having the opportunity to be part of such dedicated and professional colleagues, with the similar vision in regards to the importance of providing quality care and service to all children and families without any exclusion. I am looking forward on learning more from each other’s resources and professional experiences, that will make me a  better professional and person.

Good Luck to all,

Team Building and Collaboration (Week 6)

In my opinion the hardest groups to adjourn are the ones in which you have been a part of several accomplishments, were you have grown professionally and personally with the help of your colleagues, children and parents. A center that I had the most difficulty leaving was Head Start were I had the opportunity to have two of my children in. This center not only opened the doors for me to participate as parent volunteer, but also saw in me the potential to be part of the staff as an assistant teacher. They also motivated the staff to further their education bringing colleagues to our center to offer associates, bachelors, masters and doctors degrees on the evening and on Saturday mornings. It was nice to see how many of my colleagues were part of those program, what created a stronger bond of trust and respect among us. We would not strategies different techniques to work in our classroom, but we also worked to together in many of our class assignments. Like all jobs we had our differences and challenges but we all seemed to work it out for the better of all, because there was a sense of community we were all there to help each other which is something not often found in a job. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest decisions to make in my currier as educator, but because our commute was over an hour long after we decided to buy a home in a suburb, we could no longer afford traveling such a long distance. I think that because of all the accomplishments we made over the years as a team, saying goodbye  meant I was part of great accomplishments, that we will continue doing in any place we go after their. I left a seed that others will follow, and I'm taking with me all the experience and knowledge that others shared with me and made me a better professional and person. After 6 years I still remember the place and people that encouraged are to follow my dreams, and keep on going. I still have close contact with many of my ex-colleagues that are know some of my best friends and mentors.

As we get closer and closer to completing our Masters degree, I can also see how our communication will continue. Being able to have contact with other professionals in the field that share the same vision is a must. Saying goodbye is more like sharing our success, dreams and hopes for a better future. When closing like these exists there is a sense of accomplishment, and optimism for those that stay and for you that leave that you have an important mission to complete in different place, that you will miss that your job, colleagues, children and parents, but still have others to help and more things to learn.

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

I would like to share a personal experience I recently had with my older daughter that is know a junior in high school. I have never had any problems with her grades before, and just early this week I got a call and an email from the school that he was failing chemistry. My first reaction was to get upset and immediately think of a consequence to give my daughter, before even listening to what she had to say. Before even talking to my daughter I spoke to my husband about the problem and we both agreed that we would first hear what she had to say, especially since she has always been a good student. To not go back to our old way or handling things, as our parents did to us, but to actually continue putting in practice what we have learned from the counseling we have participated and the different resources we have used in our work. It is funny we often can help solve other families situations and we often can solve our own that are less complicated.

So what we did was to have her tell us what was the problem, and what could we do to solve it. She had a lot to say, she told us that she never liked chemistry and that she really tries to understand. That she has tried asking the teacher to explain once again, but even when he does she still doesn't understand. Then we all brainstormed on things we could do as a team to solve the problem and we came out with many good ideas. One was talking with her counselor about the problem, possibly changing instructor, tutoring.  She liked the idea of talking with her counselor; she asked us to let her to it herself which we respected. Then we told her we would inquire about tutoring and she agreed. So now she goes to tutoring every Saturday morning, until she feels confident enough, which she really looks forward to, and she did speak to her counselor and he will change her to another class next semester, which she is very happy about.

We have learned is that by actually listening to our daughter and by using the magical words such as "How can we work this out? What can we do to help?, What do you think or feel?",  make an enormous impact on how others feel about themselves and others. The feeling that they are not alone changes the conflict from defensive to co-operative which makes resolving the problem much easier.

Thank you for reading my posting, if you have any other techniques that have helped you solve conflicts, particularly with our teenage children I would love to learn more, being a parent is not easy and we never stop learning.

Who Am I as a Communnicator?

After going over each of the different characteristics of communication, I was surprise to see the similarities each one had in regards to my perception and that of two other people I I questioned. One was my husband which I have been married for more than 20 years and one of my co-workers which I have been working for a little over a year. There was very little difference between their scores and mine. For my Communication Anxiety Inventory my score was of 28, my husband of 25 and my co-worker of 26. For my Verbal Aggressive Scale I scored 54, my husband 55 and my co-worker 50 and for the listening Style Profile we all agreed that I'm in group one which is the People Oriented. What I was able to observe with these activity that I actually know a lot about myself, and how I communicate with others. That people around me share the same perception about myself and how they enjoy the time we spend together, which for me is very important. I try my best to be a good communicator, no only with my family but with my colleagues, children and families I work with. For me there is no greater reward then hearing somebody say thanks for listening, sometimes that is all we need somebody that can actually listen for a minute.  

Coomunication and Culture

I can safely say that diversity is present were ever we go, in our neighborhood, work and even within our families. I can say that because of this I have learned to observed and ask as much questions as possible in order to have a better pictures of what the needs, interest, believes and values are in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding that can create a barrio in our communication. Currently I hold a position of a Family Service Specials in the Head Start I work in, what gives me the opportunity to learn more about each families needs, by actually coming into their homes and observing as well as listening to what their struggles as needs are before  they actually come to our center. Then the information I’m able to obtain I share with the rest of the staff that will be working with the family so we can all be prepared to work not only with the child but with the whole family. I have learned with this that there is no set way to communicate with each child or family, and what may work with one or two may not work with the rest. I have also learned that we all come with our own sets of gifts and we have to try and communicate with each and a way we can be heard and respected, so it can be an exchange of mutual respect in order to better express our feelings and wants for the better of the families and children we serve.

A clear example is when we are conducting parent teacher conferences, not all children’s parents come from the same culture, race, religion, sexual orientation, economic status or have the same abilities. So we need to be able to know this in order to express our ideas in a way that the parents can understand what we are trying to say, and at the same time that we express to them how much we value the dedication and hard work they do with their children.

Communication Skills

I choose to watch one of my older daughters' favorite shows that I have not had the opportunity to watch before called, "Bizarre Foods, with Andrew Zimmern who is a chef and foodie. His job is to find the world's most unique tastes traveling all around the world. I have always found food as something you can really enjoy and share with others, the more diverse the tastier. As I was watching the program without any sound, I came to like the personality of the presenter as his facial expressions were very friendly and expressive. It looks like he was visiting India, as I was able to observe in the scenes they were showing of the city and its people. As he arrived to the city a person was waiting for him, I imagine it was his guide there was a lot of talking smiling among them as they walked among the city. The guide would point to the different scenes and Andrew's facial expressions demonstrated admiration as well as interest to learn and see more, the guide's face also showed expressions of pride as we should his pointed to the different places.  I enjoyed seeing how they would actually seem to listen to each other as they spoke by making constant eye contact as well as smiling and shaking their heads.

Then I saw the program once again but now with sound and I was surprise to see that most of my interpretations and assumptions were actually correct as I was actually able to connect their non-verbal communication with the words they were saying. There was actually a lot of good communication being done, as well as mutual respect to both cultures what made it even richer for those that were watching the program. I am a strong believer that communication can exist among all cultures, as long as we are open to learn, respect and value the believes traditions and points of view of all people, even if they differ from our own. If we are able to do this then we are capable to communicating with others in a productive and effective way.

What is Communication

I would like to share some of the qualities I have observed from my current supervisor, which is the center director of the Head Start program that I work in. When it comes to communicating with the parents or staff she is very proactive to finding various ways to communication such as notes, emails, phone calls as well as person conversations. Despite the fact that a75% of our parents do not speak English she always welcomes the children and families with a smile  in her  face and one or two words she knows how to speak in Spanish every morning. Her doors are always open for any concerns or questions parents might  have , and they know that even if she can't understand most of what they say she always has somebody that translates for them and does her best to help them in any way she can. I also admire the way she can easily influence others for the improvement of the services we offer to the families, she is very  clear and assertive at what she says as well as her expectations . Her vision and goals are very clear  and she does not  get  intimidated  when it comes to  speaking up  when there is injustice  or discrimination  towards  the  services the families receive in our program.  She is  a strong believer  that  we need to empower the parents so they can  speak up when  things to  not seem right, and not get  intimidated if  they do  not speak the language .

I have also observed the way she is able to influence all staff to work together as a team  and not just doing what is their part , but actually helping others once completed their tasks. Her phases are always we are a team, it's not just about what is our job,  we are not alone  in this.   I  have learned  several techniques  that have improved my communication over all with  my students as well as my parents,  I have also  learned to  speak up and empower my parents  with the  various resources and contacts  I have  obtained over the  years. By improving  my communication  skills  I  have influence and created  a relationship of trust, team work and  respect between other staff , parents and  children  which are crucial  elements when it comes to  providing quality  service.