Week 4

The one thing that surprised me the most was that my husband evaluated me different to what I perceived myself. Sometime I feel that I am having a hard time when communicating with larger groups, while my husband perceives me as a good communicator but what I need is the confidence of myself. He also believes that I need to work on improving my communication listening skills as he sees me answering other’s questions before hearing the whole story. On the other side, my friend also believes that I still need to do some efforts on developing my listening skills as she sees  me reacting  to other's behaviors and actions without giving myself the time to  think before making any decision .So this evaluation reveals that communication can be interpreted differently based on situations and people.

 

One insight that I gained was that it is very essential to keep working on communication skills, as well paying more attention to verbal and non-verbal cues to understand other’s feelings and their inputs. I also learned that to not judge the book by it is cover; it is important to get to know people before making any assumptions that most often are wrong and may lead to misunderstanding.        

 

 

Week 3

Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures? If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?


 

 It is highly important to use various ways and styles of communications when interacting / communicating with people from different groups and cultures. For example, the way I interact with children is different from the style I use it to communicate with my colleagues and my employees. Sometimes I need to be compassionate, another time I need to be more professional, even the tone of my voice can be changed based on people and culture. Thus, without utilizing different ways of communication I think that we would not succeed in developing good relationships, which is essential to understand and learn more about people and children we communicating with.

Based on what you have learned this week, share at least three strategies you could use to help you communicate more effectively with the people or groups you have identified.

1-Do not makes any assumptions or judgments about people’s behaviors and actions without understanding and learning about their differences.

2- Respect other cultures and their differences by showing people that their languages, habits, traditions and behaviors are respected and welcomed.

3- Being a good listener by giving children and their families extra time to express their feelings, emotions, thoughts, and perspectives can also help me to communicate effectively.

 

 

 

Week 2

Observing communication in Action

The show that I watched was parenthood. The show started with a little girl that seems doing laundry by putting her clothes away in a basket. She looks sad despite she was dancing because her facial expressions could tell that she was suffering from a problem. After that, she drove her car heading to the beach where she got a phone call from a woman that I guessed was her mother. They continued talking and both of them look uncomfortable just as if they are blaming each other. In fact, the show that I watched has many characters that every one of them seemed uncomfortable, frown and upset due to their facial expressions that gave us a clear picture of their tensions about something that was going on.

By watchingthe show a second time with the sound on, I found that I was not completely right about my assumptions towards some characters. I was correct about some of them and wrong about other characters based on their facial expressions that sometimes do not give us a full picture of what we think.

The assignment of this week has taught me that nonverbal communication is not always correct and may convey different message depending on how we interpreted the action or the message we received.

 

Week I

A person  Who Demonstrates Competent Communication

The person who demonstrates a competent communication is my husband. He is very influential speaker; he uses a language that is clear, concise, and organized. In his workplace, they always choose him to represent them in meetings and conferences because he can display all his organization work in a short time and in effective way. My husband can communicate with everyone despite he did not complete his education but he had worked very hard to educate himself through reading and writing which made him to be an effective speaker, writer, and poet. I remember the first time I met him he was able to present everything about his life, work, dreams, and his future in few moments and in inclusive way, which is thing that made me admired him .He is very kind, cared, flexible, responsive, good listener and everyone love him. Therefore, having these attributes had served him to be a competent communicator that can influence everyone he interacts with. In fact, he is my role model and I  really learned so much from his skills of communication that I think would help me when working with children and their families.

 

 

 

Week 8

Professional Hopes and Goals

I hope that I have gained the knowledge and skills that would prepare me professionally   to provide a positive environment where each child and family feels respected and welcome regardless of their culture, gender, race, etc. I also hope to build an effective classroom that would allow each child to have the opportunity to thrive and excel.

One goal I would like to set for early childhood field is to advocate for families and their children by helping them understanding that differences make us unique in our experiences, and allow us to learn and benefit from each other. I would seek to raise awareness about how bias and discrimination can hamper people progress and limit their capacities, without being open to other differences, we would not be able to embrace and celebrate diversity.

   Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to my professor, and all my colleagues for their feedback, and their valuable insights. I really learned so much from this class and hope to see you next course so we can continuing our journey. Best wishes for all and have a great winter break.

Blog Assignment- Week 7

Welcoming Families From Around the World

TThe country of origin I chose is Malaysia

TThe five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family

1.      I would research the country, and learning about the culture, traditions, customs and what is acceptable and not acceptable to this family.

2.      Understanding their language so that I can communicate with families about their children and how we can work together towards better future for the children

3.      I would create a healthy environment by providing the classroom with pictures, posters, and items of this country to help the child feel that his language and culture is respected and valued.

4.      I would build reciprocal and effective relationships with families to learn more about their needs, and the best ways to respond to them.

5.      I would celebrate the child and the family holidays so that no family or child would feel left out or marginalized.

I hope that these preparations will make me qualified enough to help families and their children flourishing in a nurturing environment that encourage differences and embrace diversity. I would like each child and family feel welcome and included in the classroom. Learning about this country would definitely increase my understanding and knowledge of how to create strategies and activities that meets children’s’ needs and provide them with potential opportunities to thrive and excel.

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression 

An ancient that I can recall is the one that   happened to one of my friends when we were working in a charity organization. The people I worked with are from different backgrounds and cultures, so it was a very beautiful diverse environment. My friend invited all the employees for a lunch because her daughter got her master degree. When we were sitting and eating together, one of the employees whispered something to his friend who is sitting next to him and smile. I bet they made a comment regarding the food because they did not eat anything. My friend noticed them smiling, she understood that they would not like her food. She felt embarrassed and uncomfortable.

Indeed, this incident made me feel sad and angry because all of us are coming from different backgrounds, so we have at least respect each other, and stop making comments that hurt people feelings and make them sense inferior. People should educate themselves about others culture, and learn that each one is different in his traditions, foods, background, and perspectives. I really feel that my responsibility is to raise awareness that these differences help us to learn from each other and expand our knowledge rather than passing prejudices and bias views. I would like to teach people whether in the workplace or school to embrace diversity and deepening their perceptions about the fact  that bias, discrimination, and prejudice do nothing except demeaning individual’s  experience and capacities.