Thank you to all my colleagues for a great semester. Through this course I was able to wnhance my communication skills and grow professionally as an effective twam leader and communicator. I intend to use these practices inside as well as outside the classroom to better interact and convey/share ideas with other individuals. It was great reading all your blogs and sharing experiences.
My goal is to reach as many young hearts and minds as possible and bring change into our world to be better than it is currently. I am a huge advocate for diversity and inclusion and believe all children shoukd be celebrated and loved and the classroom is the perfect place to do that. These past few weeks have given me opportunity to learn how to be a better team player and utilize my strengths while also understanding where I lack and how others have the ability to fill in those gaps if needed.
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Saying Goodbye in a Group
Leaving well-established groups can be difficult and sometimes emotional. When everyone in the group collaborates as a team and shares the same vision, magic happens and thinga run smoothly and efficiently.
There was a group I was part of that was hard to keave during my time teaching in France. We were a team of labguage counselors/teachers from all parts of The United States with a director native to France. We all had a single goal and that was to give our very best to the children we encountered in our classrooms during their time with us. Every single member if the group felt valued and felt their strengths were properly utilized in different arenas whether it be planning activities or creating daily lesson plans. Eventually, friendships formed as well and we would celebrate by taking weekend vacations to nearby cities in southern France to decompress from the crazy week.
When it was time to leave and go back to our respective states, tears were shed but not before we broke open a bottle of wine and danced the night away to celebrate a great spring season of teaching. Being part of quality groups builds professional and personal interpersonal skills that allow you the ability to communicate and interact in a clear and effective way. Sometimes its hard to adjourn from these groups because relationships, trust, and loyalty eventually are built in response to the bonds created.
Its been two years since my team and I worked together but we stay in contact via social media and make plans to try and see each other when we are in each others cities.
There was a group I was part of that was hard to keave during my time teaching in France. We were a team of labguage counselors/teachers from all parts of The United States with a director native to France. We all had a single goal and that was to give our very best to the children we encountered in our classrooms during their time with us. Every single member if the group felt valued and felt their strengths were properly utilized in different arenas whether it be planning activities or creating daily lesson plans. Eventually, friendships formed as well and we would celebrate by taking weekend vacations to nearby cities in southern France to decompress from the crazy week.
When it was time to leave and go back to our respective states, tears were shed but not before we broke open a bottle of wine and danced the night away to celebrate a great spring season of teaching. Being part of quality groups builds professional and personal interpersonal skills that allow you the ability to communicate and interact in a clear and effective way. Sometimes its hard to adjourn from these groups because relationships, trust, and loyalty eventually are built in response to the bonds created.
Its been two years since my team and I worked together but we stay in contact via social media and make plans to try and see each other when we are in each others cities.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Being a better communicator
With me recently starting a new position as t a new company, my interactions with my new colleagues and peers have been great thus far. Everyone ia transparent, professional, and very personable in communicating with one another.
As I have continued this course, I have often reflected on my communication skills in my personal life and how I wish I knew then what I know now. In earlier posts of my blog, my child's father and ex-fiancee is iften referenced. He and I were engaged to be wed and unfortunately, we separated. Its been a rough few months of my breakup but I have been getting through. One thing I iwish he and I would have done was communicate more effectively and maybe it could have saved our relationship.
The 3 R's- Responsive, Reciprocal, and Respectful- were something we did not utilize in communicating and it wedged more distance between us. I would often give him tbe cold shoulder, yell and scream, or use vulgarities and he would either shut me out completely or lie. Neither one of us were really commited to communicating effectively because we subconsciously did not want to hear what the other was going to say from fear.
This course has taught me better forms of interacting with people while also teaching me how to use verbal and nonverbal cues to convey my message in a healthy way. My next relationship will definitely benefit from my enhanced communication efforts but I do sometimes dwell and reflect on how things would have been if we knew these skills then as opposed to now.
As I have continued this course, I have often reflected on my communication skills in my personal life and how I wish I knew then what I know now. In earlier posts of my blog, my child's father and ex-fiancee is iften referenced. He and I were engaged to be wed and unfortunately, we separated. Its been a rough few months of my breakup but I have been getting through. One thing I iwish he and I would have done was communicate more effectively and maybe it could have saved our relationship.
The 3 R's- Responsive, Reciprocal, and Respectful- were something we did not utilize in communicating and it wedged more distance between us. I would often give him tbe cold shoulder, yell and scream, or use vulgarities and he would either shut me out completely or lie. Neither one of us were really commited to communicating effectively because we subconsciously did not want to hear what the other was going to say from fear.
This course has taught me better forms of interacting with people while also teaching me how to use verbal and nonverbal cues to convey my message in a healthy way. My next relationship will definitely benefit from my enhanced communication efforts but I do sometimes dwell and reflect on how things would have been if we knew these skills then as opposed to now.
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Communication and Me
During this week, we were challenged to analyze ourselves as communicators. After taking the quizzes that analyzed my anxiety, verbal aggressiveness, and listening skills. The quizzes confirmed what I already knew and perceived about myself based off self-reflection and feedback over the years from close friends abd family.
I am great at public speaking and a true extrovert that has low anxiety in moments of expressing my opinions or beliefs to another individual or group. However, I sometimes can come off a little brash in my communication based on tone, body language, and language utilized that makes me somewhat verbally assertive/aggressive. This impacts my listening skills as well because until recently, I listened to respond and not to understand or expand my personal beliefs of opinions.
My two best friends of 10 years took the quizzes as well as rated me almost exactly as I did whennit cammto anxiety and verbal aggressiveness. However, I was rated much lowet in listening skills from them because they saw me as not truly showing empathy or understanding to people that conflict with my personal belief systems. This definitely has been an eye-opening experience as to how I communicate with others and how I can be percieved in both personal and professional settings.
I aim to use reflective listening tactics and reinforce the platnium rule when speaking to others that may not always agree with me in both personal and professional settings. I am not perfect and it will take time but I aim to make strides to being a better person that listens to obtain a message and not to respond.
I am great at public speaking and a true extrovert that has low anxiety in moments of expressing my opinions or beliefs to another individual or group. However, I sometimes can come off a little brash in my communication based on tone, body language, and language utilized that makes me somewhat verbally assertive/aggressive. This impacts my listening skills as well because until recently, I listened to respond and not to understand or expand my personal beliefs of opinions.
My two best friends of 10 years took the quizzes as well as rated me almost exactly as I did whennit cammto anxiety and verbal aggressiveness. However, I was rated much lowet in listening skills from them because they saw me as not truly showing empathy or understanding to people that conflict with my personal belief systems. This definitely has been an eye-opening experience as to how I communicate with others and how I can be percieved in both personal and professional settings.
I aim to use reflective listening tactics and reinforce the platnium rule when speaking to others that may not always agree with me in both personal and professional settings. I am not perfect and it will take time but I aim to make strides to being a better person that listens to obtain a message and not to respond.
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Modes of Communication
I can definitely say that I "code switch" my communication with different cultures and communities. As a Black woman, I identify with the Black culture and community and adpat my behavior to the accepted cultural mannerisms and behavior for given situations. I tend to uae low-language, slang, profanity and illustrators that are very eccentric and culturally appropriate to my background.
However, how I communicate with members of my community is much different than my communication with other cultures. When I code switch with other cultures, I use "proper english" or high language, limited illustrators, and generally acceptablel cultural illustrators that are not percieved as aggressive or too eccentric. As an African-American, I am constantly trying to remain cognizant of how I portray myself on the general public. With many stereotypes that are portrayed through the media of African-Americans, I definitely do my best to not live up to thise perceptions through my behavior in public where I am not familiar.
I find it easier to communicate with other minorities, however, due to unspoken feelings of being the "other" in Eurocentric culture and the conversations are more lax, playful, and personal. When talking to more White Americans, the need to be more formal and politically correct is apparent in my verbal and nonverbal cues and language.
However, how I communicate with members of my community is much different than my communication with other cultures. When I code switch with other cultures, I use "proper english" or high language, limited illustrators, and generally acceptablel cultural illustrators that are not percieved as aggressive or too eccentric. As an African-American, I am constantly trying to remain cognizant of how I portray myself on the general public. With many stereotypes that are portrayed through the media of African-Americans, I definitely do my best to not live up to thise perceptions through my behavior in public where I am not familiar.
I find it easier to communicate with other minorities, however, due to unspoken feelings of being the "other" in Eurocentric culture and the conversations are more lax, playful, and personal. When talking to more White Americans, the need to be more formal and politically correct is apparent in my verbal and nonverbal cues and language.
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Communication and Television
Earlier this week I begam watching "Friends". I have never been a fan if the popular show until recently and figured with all their drama and hilarious adventures, watching "Friends" to evaluate the communication and nonverbal cues would be interesting.
Watching the show without the sound on was a bit weird and aside from taking me in a time warp to the age of silent movies, it was a bit of a challenge to really understand what they were saying EXACTLY but due their facial expressions, mannerisms, hand gestures, and location of scenes, I could infer whether the situation was serious or not. The nonverbal codes, emblems, and intermediacy assisted in me deciphering information as to which character had a role in what scene.
With the volume back on, I was actually impressed with myself that I was relatively correct. This was the episode where Racheal found out Joey cheated on her when they were on a break and everyone was in Monica's bedroom eavsdropping. There was a lot of euphemisms, connotation, slang, etc (low language). A lot of the language was fueled by emotion and not semantics. It was interesting that although I was not spot on on the precise language utilized but how each situation based on the nonverbal cues was emotionally driven and who played roles of importance on each scene.
Watching the show without the sound on was a bit weird and aside from taking me in a time warp to the age of silent movies, it was a bit of a challenge to really understand what they were saying EXACTLY but due their facial expressions, mannerisms, hand gestures, and location of scenes, I could infer whether the situation was serious or not. The nonverbal codes, emblems, and intermediacy assisted in me deciphering information as to which character had a role in what scene.
With the volume back on, I was actually impressed with myself that I was relatively correct. This was the episode where Racheal found out Joey cheated on her when they were on a break and everyone was in Monica's bedroom eavsdropping. There was a lot of euphemisms, connotation, slang, etc (low language). A lot of the language was fueled by emotion and not semantics. It was interesting that although I was not spot on on the precise language utilized but how each situation based on the nonverbal cues was emotionally driven and who played roles of importance on each scene.
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Best Communicator
Happy New Year and welcome to the start of a new semester!
The question posed this week asked who would I like to emulate aa far as being a great communicator and why. This question is simple and the person that immediately came to mind was my uncle, Henry Taylor. My uncle is the president of a major health organization in Illinois and well-known throughout health care within the midwest. For over 20 years, my uncle had dedicated his life's work to bringing underserved communities of color access to affordable, quality health care.
With my uncle being one of the only few administrators of color on staff, there have been personal and professional challenges that he has encountered that has lead him to not only grow professionally but personally as well. One thing he has learned is to communicate effectively will all sorts of audiences whether it be a diagruntled patient or a corporate stakeholder. My uncle uses reflective listening-repeating what the other person says as an affirmative or a question/statement. He also is conscious of his body language, tone, and environment to which he is speaking to his audience-his main priority making sure his message is clear and delivered in a amicable way that is percieved in a safe enviornment that is non-threatening. My uncle also uses various forms of exchange where it is not always a transactionary dialouge or internal but a dialouge that is ankle to have multiple viewpoints and perspectives that lend hand to decison making.
Overall, my uncle is one of the best communicators I know. Personally, I try to embody those traits in my personal and professional life to better convey my thoughts and relay more than just message but a perspective that has the ability to inspire and persuade.
The question posed this week asked who would I like to emulate aa far as being a great communicator and why. This question is simple and the person that immediately came to mind was my uncle, Henry Taylor. My uncle is the president of a major health organization in Illinois and well-known throughout health care within the midwest. For over 20 years, my uncle had dedicated his life's work to bringing underserved communities of color access to affordable, quality health care.
With my uncle being one of the only few administrators of color on staff, there have been personal and professional challenges that he has encountered that has lead him to not only grow professionally but personally as well. One thing he has learned is to communicate effectively will all sorts of audiences whether it be a diagruntled patient or a corporate stakeholder. My uncle uses reflective listening-repeating what the other person says as an affirmative or a question/statement. He also is conscious of his body language, tone, and environment to which he is speaking to his audience-his main priority making sure his message is clear and delivered in a amicable way that is percieved in a safe enviornment that is non-threatening. My uncle also uses various forms of exchange where it is not always a transactionary dialouge or internal but a dialouge that is ankle to have multiple viewpoints and perspectives that lend hand to decison making.
Overall, my uncle is one of the best communicators I know. Personally, I try to embody those traits in my personal and professional life to better convey my thoughts and relay more than just message but a perspective that has the ability to inspire and persuade.
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