Social Justice Issues...which one to choose

Hello Everyone.

Poverty, family, children, literacy, equality, math, diversity, anti-bias, self empowerment, community, ......the list goes on!

I wish everyone luck in advocating for a specific social justice issue during the two month period of this course. Working directly with children and families in low income communities can bring up various issues and as educators, can face these issues a hand full at a time. I cannot stress the importance of teaching families about advocacy. This term is too broad for this course so I have thought of incorporating advocacy in the importance of family involvement. Due to lack of financial resources, centers sometimes only do the minimum to address this issue. They would rather focus on the child and sacrifice the factor of self empowerment with the home.

Making the most of the Adjourning Stage

As some groups disband and disassemble in this stage, others will take on another projects (O' Hair, D., & Wiemann, M., 2012, p.258). in the adjourning stage of my current groups at work, I am keeping an eye out for members who's trust I have felt. While others are reflecting on their accomplishments and saying there farewells, I am  using this time to also commence the forming stage of my next team project. I introduce ideas of new projects and use our successes in our current team to strengthen the bond and belief that we as a team can accomplish great things. I plan to do the same with my colleagues in my masters program as well. I have kept the links of my past and present classmates so that I may be able to understand their passions on a frequent basses. As we enter new job positions with our new held degrees and/or to just grow as a professional, I would hope to one day travel the country and meet with them to discuss issues in our field years down the line.

Resources

O' Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Strategies for Effective Communication

I have found that the principals of the center for nonviolent communication have aided me in my wanting to become an effective communicator. People who practice NVC have found greater authenticity in their communication, increased understanding, deepening connection and conflict resolution. (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.).

I communicate with many people on a daily basis at work and half of those  people I work with , I have meet for the first time. For example, different cultures and perspectives add to the conflicts that I must think of when I talk t them. I have used the NVC  main principle of the natural state of compassion when no violence is present in the heart. Even if I am faced with a dispute, practicing this ideology has cleared my mind. Cleared my mind of anger and hatred. Both factors that can blind any positive communication skills that I could engage in.

My colleague at work. We have had many conflicts as far as misunderstandings since I have worked in my current job. Now, we are very close as we have become a very great team. I feel that not only I, but she also just put her guard down. I had to put all our past differences in the past and engage in effective communication with an open mind and heart. I also try to show my enthusiasm to others at work with a smile, something that I did not do as often. My non verbal communication skill of showing a smile has made me more approachable as well.

 

References

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from www.cnvc.org

Effective Communicator?

I evaluate myself as a good communicator because I have a good memory, listen well, and always speak my opinions. One type of my personality is to multitask so I tend to multitask on listening different conversations at once because I want to be aware of my surroundings. This usually helps me to communicate with my colleagues to bring information and/or ideas that I gathered from our clients. 

Others will perhaps hopefully view me the same way I evaluate myself. My friend and my boss views me as a person that has a good memory and a very sarcastic person. They always say that to stop reading their mind because I already guessed what they were going to say before they get a chance to say it. For me, that’s because I listen and remember past conversations and/or events that helps me predict the next conversation.  Sarcastic can be a funny way to have a conversations with people to bring a good laugh, but I tend to respond sarcastically when I am getting a vibe of hypocrites. Even if it’s a question someone is asking me, if I get a sense of sarcasm, I will respond that way, but without disrespecting them.

Remembering that I do not only communicate with colleagues, young children, and their families but, I also work with foster youth that are in high school and in college. I have to work with school based social workers, department of social services, high school tutors, psychologists, law enforcement, foster families, legal birth parents,  and the culture of the staff at the five high schools and many college/universities I work with. The assessment tests for the week made more of an impact because I had never been evaluated by others. It was good to see what communication skills I should reconsider and focus on my unintentional gestures that I do that can hinder effective communication.

People From Different Groups and Cultures

One of my assignments at work is to work with high school foster youth. I have to meet with them and finds ways to communicate with them so that they can openly discuss their passions, questions, or dreams about attending college. One strategy that I have found effective when dealing with students that are from another generation is that I listen to what their interest are and I try to find something that we would have in common to gain their trust. For example, if a student is interested in a particular television show, I will try to watch a few episodes to get an idea of the characters. Then I would have found a commonality when talking to that student during the following meeting session. If they are not talking, a second strategy that I use is my sight. I look for any logos, sayings, or designs on their clothing to find something to say in relation to it. Just last week I meet with a girl who has a tattoo of a music symbol. I am a musician myself so I decided to introduce myself like I usually do when I meet a new student, but this time I added that I am a musician. As I talked about my musical experiences, I saw her nonverbal gestures. Her eyes widened and she began to smile more. That broke the ice between us. My third strategy is to focus on not just verbal gestures but also on the non verbal. Whether a person is no talking due to their religion, gender, age or whatever, I learn a lot about a person based on how they physically act around me.

I-Carly with and without sound

This is what I see when I muted the television show, i-Carly.

I see a young couple walking down a hall which looks like a school hallway. The young male is in crouches and has a cast his left foot. Their relationship looks to be that of high school friends. A girl with blond hair approaches them and with a big smile on her face, she directs her attention to him. The other girls facial expression changes from a smile to a frown. It seems as though she is not liking what the other girl is telling the male. The male looks flattered as he raisins his eye brows and pouts his chest. The girl that was with the male takes a step away from them and shrugs her shoulders. She then grabs the male in crouches and kisses him until the blond girl leaves. I guess I was wrong. Their relationship has changed from high school friends to high school sweethearts. The male smiles and the scene changes to another location.

Side note-I am glad I have cable that allows me to rewind live television. I don't know how I would have been able to complete this assignment. Now with sound.

I sure was wrong. I feel that I made assumptions that were incorrect just based on the non verbal gestures of the characters. My assumptions would have not been wrong if I had been watching a chow I know well because certain characters are made to be predictable. That's what makes a character popular. They are expected by the viewers to do and say similar things. After I heard the dialog of the scene, I realized that the couple were not high school sweethearts. The girl just wanted to get rid of the blond girl who was trying to ask the male to a party. She did kiss him but she was talking in a sarcastic tone  and made her jealous with the kiss. The plot of the scene was totally different.

This assignment reminds me of what children that come from other countries feel on their first days of school in another country. Know that I think about it, there are children in the same country that can feel that way.  

Assignment 2 - Week 1

A person that I deem as a competent communicator is my good friend, boss, and educator, Julie Benavides. Five years ago, I never thought that I would be a child development major and be an educator. I had the pleasure of listening to Julie lecture in one of her classes at East Los Angeles College. The behaviors that I saw were honesty, energetic, and passionate. In my teachings, I have tried to model the energetic part and I say try because it is hard. It doesn't matter if Julie has a presentation  at 8am or 10pm, she seems to always be energetic. Through my experiences in and out of the classroom, I have gained tremendous passion for what I do. To be able to communicate to others about what I am passionate about has helped me transmit my message across to many individuals. Another trait that I feel makes Julie an effective communicator is her wiliness to talk to many different types of audiences. She has addressed little children, parents, high school children, college students, teachers, teacher assistants, program directors, and family child care providers. She has been effective in communicating to these different age groups. I have been there when she does so and a behaviors that I always see is honesty. She uses real life examples and relates  her audiences. I was surprised to have seem her talking about diversity in a few of our Masters courses at Walden University. Surprised as she did not even tell me that she had recorded videos. Her trait of being humble is also a trait that I wish to carry as I communicate to others.