Saying Goodbye

This is usually the hardest part of the program--the saying so long or goodbye to those who have made an impact on the lives of others. I have been fortunate enough to meet some great people online and I look forward to meeting many more. I hope that each and every last one of you have enjoyed working with me as I have enjoyed working with you. Take care and I hope to see you all in future classes. If there is by chance anything that is needed, please let me know. After all, we are in this together. Online classes are hard when you are not skilled in the area, but I am glad that I had the luxury of working with a great team of individuals. Again, it has truly been an honor.

Five Stages Of Team Development

Are high-performing groups hardest to leave? I don't think that high-performing groups are the highest to leave because it doesn't necessarily matter the rating of the group's performance because the close relationship that one feels when working along side of people can't be measured. Even in a low performing group, there are people within these groups who might not bring much in the area of job performance but they bring a lot to the table in other areas such as mediation between group members, an open-mindedness, a willingness to work, and a level of respect for group members. Which of the groups that you participated in was hardest to leave? The groups that I have participated in that was the hardest to leave were the ones where the people were responsive to my needs, and allowed me a chance to express myself. In a group, in my opinion, there has to be a give and take of information and ideas presented, otherwise, group members will become a little discontented. Everyone wants to feel valued and they also want to feel as if what they have to say matters. What sorts of closing rituals have you experienced or wish you had experienced? Th rituals that I have participated in were ones that involved a potluck. Everyone would get together over a dish/meal and just interact with the people that they have worked with. There was once a time where we had an assembly where we got a chance to express or give well wishes to those that we were leaving. As far as class is concerned, we usually just choose a few class members to express our gratitude to and let them know how much we enjoyed working with them. How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master’s degree in this program? I think that we will do what we normally do and just let them know how much we enjoyed working with them and why. Why is adjourning an essential stage of teamwork? Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because just as something begins, it also has to end. Adjourning allows each individual to evaluate the effectiveness of the group and group members. Within this stage, the members can have a moment to reflect on what worked and what didn't work and what could be done differently the next time.

Conflict Resolution Strategies

In the past, I have had countless problems with co-workers who weren't able or didn't want to carry their workload. I am not the type of person who prefers to work in groups because I tend to be the one doing all of the work anyway so I just prefer working alone. I was in a situation where I had to team teach. I was under the impression that team teaching required two people who worked as a team. I was wrong. The lady stayed on her phone the whole time; she never wanted to teach; she never made any copies nor did she want to take the students to their bathroom breaks or to lunch when it was time. I kept getting mad at first but then I tried to put myself in her shoes and I decided to change my tone. Some of the conflict resolution strategies that I have learned are as follows: 1. Listen to the person as they are talking so that you can try to understand their point of view. You might not agree with their view points, but we can always listen. 2. Attack the problem or the conflict and not the person. I found this to be beneficial because I have a tendency of talking about the person and not the problem which causes more of a conflict. 3. When the confrontation is over, don't dwell on it. Move past it. It is counterproductive to keep dwelling on a problem once it has been resolved because you could quite possibly open past wounds. Although I am not an expert on this topic, I have tried these strategies and they have worked for me. They have worked for that particular co-worker as well because now we are able to get along and get the job done.

New Insights Into Communication

Knowing how to communicate will help us in the workplace and in the classroom. After doing the assessments and evaluating how others saw me, I was fascinated because we never know how people view us while we are having a conversation. I never knew that I was as aggressive as I was when dealing with people through conversation. Now that I know, I will try to be more understanding. Some other insights that I have gained this week is to try to match my body language with my mode of speaking. Sometimes your body language says one thing and your words are saying something different. They are contradictory of one another. I also need to show that I am interested in the conversation because I have a tendency to drift off. People can tell if you are bored just by looking at how you conduct yourself while speaking. One way of showing that you are interested in conversation is to nod and smile. Overall, I believe that through conversation, we can build bridges to other worlds, but without knowing how to conversate, you can alienate many people.

Communicating Among Different Groups of People

The question is whether or not I find myself communicating differently with different groups of people. For the most part, I do communicate differently with different groups. The truth of the matter is, I believe that everyone does. When with friends or people who have a few commonalities, the conversations are more relaxed. It is not tense and it doesn't feel as if you are walking on egg shells the whole time the conversation is going on. Not only that, there are certain topics that you can discuss with friends, relatives, or people that you have something in common with. People of different cultures or nationalities might not share in some of the things that you think is funny. There is also a chance that you might offend someone without even trying to. If I am dealing with my boss or co-workers, my whole attitude and personality is different because these are people whom I work with. As a teacher, I have to present myself in a more professional and dignified manner. When I am dealing with parents, it too, is a situation where professionalism is a must because after all, the parents expect us to exhibit the right type of behavior, have respect for them and their children and make the right decisions for all people involved. In order to be sure that no one is offended by your nonverbal cues or conversaitons, I would suggest using a few strategies such as respecting all parties involved (their opinions matter, keeping an open-mind when dealing with those that you come in contact with and last but not least, be sure that you do not have any preconceived notions about people before coming in contact with them.

Television Show Activity

The show that I chose to watch was "House of Payne." This is a show that I don't normally watch because of the time which conflicts with the day to day running of my household and night time schedule. When I turned the sound off, the character (Curtis) seemed to be this type of guy who was always yelling and trying to exert his male domination or energy onto the people that he came in contact with. Basically, he waved his hand a lot, and he pointed his fingers at everyone as if to delegate the jobs or tasks within the household. His nonverbal cues suggested that those around him knew that when he pointed and waved those hands, that whatever he wanted them to do had to get done. When I turned the volume up and I was able to hear Curtis's voice, I realized that my assumptions had been wrong. Curtis does yell, but the yelling is actually humorous to those around him because they appear to be used to him doing this. Also, I found out that Curtis is one of those animated characters who uses his hands to express his feelings, whether it is to demonstrate happiness or sadness. Overall, after turning the volume up, I realized that Curtis's sense of humor and animated gestures were the basis of the show. My assumptions would have been correct had I been watching a show that I normally watch because I would have known what to expect and who to expect it from. I also would have had background knowledge of the characters involved. I think that this activity opened my eyes to a lot of things. For the most part, it is preparing me to be more objective within the classroom because there are a lot that is going on within the classroom that is based on my perceptions. Perceptions can be wrong which is why we should investigate the matter before going on what we perceive to be true.

Competent Communicator

After carefully thinking about the characteristics of a good communicator, I chose my friend, Tarneca. I think that Tarneca is a great communicator because the type of person who listens to the person that she is speaking with, whether she agrees with them or not. She also maintains eye contact in the middle of a conversation to show the other person that she is being attentive to what is going on or what is said. Another thing that she does is she doesn't entertain any negativity. There are some people who try to invite her to conversations that are not productive to anyone involved (gossip); she is very subtle and polite when she maneuvers around the negative conversation. I think that these are things that I need to learn to become a great communicator because unfortunately, I find myself being very snippy when people try to invite me into negative talk about something or somebody else. I don't have a poker face. I am very animated when I am bored out of my mind of listening to someone else. It would be nice to pretend that I am a great communicator but I am not. I know that there are things that I have to and need to work on in order to be successful in and outside of the classroom.