Communication and Conflict

Communication and Conflict
 

Professionally there have been some disagreements between the administrative departments that oversee preschool in my building.  On one hand, the preschool staff is directed by the early childhood department located in another building.  The early childhood department provides professional development, a PIRT team for strategies, a master teacher for each preschool team and gives us a budget for school supplies.  On the other hand we are given directives to follow the procedure of the administrators in our building.  Often our building administrators and the early childhood department are not on the same page about the activities and teaching that is going on in the classroom.  This creates frustration, confusion and a bit of chaos during evaluation time.

During conferences and meeting with our administrators as a preschool team we bring up the fact that the lack of cohesion between our evaluators and the early childhood department is causing some confusion for us when planning and also we are concerned about the proficiency of our evaluation because of the discontinuity.

The first strategy I can use in a situation like this is a cooperative strategy.  Coming together, discussing the issues and making a plan on how to fix the issues.  A compromise would not really deal with the matter at hand.  But cooperatively, we can work out the miscommunications while also making a plan for better communication in the future. 

The second strategy would be an distinctive line of the allocation of power.  Though the administrators in the building have the last say, many of the policies that they enact are developmentally inappropriate and unachievable for preschool classrooms, teachers and students.  Through the allocation of power the two departments and the preschool team has a chain of command and we will also know where to go when particular situations arise.

References

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. Pgs. 219-245. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Communication Evaluation

I think that the variation of differences in the scores for the tests all depend on who takes which test.  Some of the tests require someone who has been with me in certain settings to have experienced situations that would show my personality and reactions.  My mother evaluated me with many more situations to draw upon.  My coworker was sometimes asking me what I prefer because she has never been in a situation were I was verbally aggressive or angry.  One thing is that I evaluated myself more harshly than everyone around me.  That is a good thing, but my parents are always telling me that I am too hard on myself. 

It is not that I did not know that I am a direct person when talking to people, but as I have gone through the courses in this program and some conversations between my family, I have become more empathetic and sympathetic to the way I approach parents and people in general. 

Personally my family and boyfriend feel that I am critical when speaking to them but I am a great listener.  My coworker feels that I am sympathetic and engage in positive conversations with colleagues and parents.  The differences speak to the my self-concept and how I view others as well as the differences in environment.

Communicating with ALL

In undergrad, the education dept. gives teachers insight to how to appropriately deal with families from different backgrounds to parents who are just difficult.  Unfortunately, some of those tactics can only go so far.  I learned through hands on experience how to really communicate with the families that I work with.  I had to realize for myself that not all parents are just thinking about what is best for their child.  Though there are only a select few who operate this way, the demands can really ruin your day.  So my first strategy is to calm them with kindness.  Dealing with frustrated parents has hurt my feelings many times, but when I look at their perspective, they are reacting to hurt as well. 

When communicating with children, there are many different strategies to employ.  It depends on if the child is sensitive, aggressive, a go getter, a child that refuses to try things by his or herself or if the student has never encountered a specific situation before.  I have received about 3 new students in the past month.  This is difficult in Pre-k because when they come in most know little to nothing about self-regulation and academic information.  I have really had to adjust my mindset and approach when going all the way back to September information about information, like colors and drawing a picture.  In this situation patience is a virtue.

When communicating with co-workers and professionals, it is important that my tone is calm and understanding.  It is imperative that professionals sense an open mind.  Many people have many different views on certain topics but sometimes as a educator you have to know when to speak up and when not to.  It is a finesse to understand how to work the system.  Sometimes you have to play the game, instead of always trying to make your voice heard when no one wants to listen. 

Verbal and Non-verbal Communication

The Housewives of Atlanta

I decided to watch the housewives of Atlanta on bravo for this assignment.  If you havr never seen this show, its about affluent wives of Atlanta, Georgia that are "friends".  Most of the show contains women arguing, hanging out, doing some type of charity and being housewives.  

As I began watching, it was really difficult not to turn on the volume.  The first scene was the women meeting at the airport on their way to somewhere.  They all seemed excited to be there.  They gave hugs, there were smiles and their husbands were dapping each other up and it seemed that they were telling each other jokes, from the way they were laughing.  The show then cut to when they were at the hotel.  One of the women, Nene, was rolling her eyes and gave another cast member a fake hug when she arrived.  The part of the show that showed the most amount of communication was at the dinner table.  All of the couples from the airport were there and two other couples as well.  The dinner received about 10 min of airtime.  For the first part of the dinner everyone was laughing and talking with each other.  Then, one of the husbands seemed to direct his questions at one of the women across the table from him.  Through body movements, facial expressions and gestures I was able to conclude that the male, Peter, was questioning the other lady, Porsha, about something.  As I looked at her answering him, she was flustered, it looked that she was speaking in a loud tone but not yelling and she was using her hands while she was speaking.   

As the dinner continued there were shots of the dinner party members making confused faces, others having side conversations in low tones voices, and hand gestures telling others to stop or to show if they were getting all worked up.  

Without the sound I assumed that everyone was friends and they were all taking a trip.  Come to find with the sound that, many of them do not like each other made clear through Nene eye roll earlier in the show.  The show culminated at the dinner at the end.  Come to find out the couples were separated from their significant other around the table to stimulate conversation and avoid conflict.  Because this show is reality TV, I feel that I was able to get the gist of the show and its cast.  If I was watching a show that I knew I would probably not have needed to turn on because I might have been able to figure out the plot through what I previously knew.  

I learned that I was mostly right about what I was viewing with and without the volume.  This tells me that non-verbal communication is a big part of communication.  It has also shown me that without listening you can miss large parts of what people are trying to communicate.

Competent Communication

The person that I know that exhibits competent communication is my principal.  She is very knowledgeable, she has many years of experience and through my 3 years of teaching she has been able to give me mentoring, without making me feel incompetent. 

The first thing I would say that she does well is, when she is listening to you she looks right at you.  She validates the conversation by answering during the conversation.  Secondly, the demeanor in which she communicates is respectful.  She thinks deeply about the words she intends to use.  There have been some situations in which I have had to communicate unfortunate news to a parent and it did not go well.  She explained to me that no matter how disturbed or irritated I am with a parent or their child that I must always be empathetic, even if the parent tries to "engage" with me.  Lastly, she has a relationship with each of her teachers.  This aspect is important the person that you are communicating with must know that though you may be delivering some bad news, you are still being respectful.

No one is perfect but my principal is respected and I feel that she has communicated well with me over the years.  

Professional Hopes and Goals

One goal that I have for myself is to have better communication with families from diverse backgrounds.  In a district where is there is not alot of diversity, it is easy to become set in your ways of dealing with young children and their families.  I have always struggled with the way I speak to people.  I often say what is on my mind and depending on the type of person they may be offended or thankful for my honesty.  As I have grown in my past three years of teaching, my goal is to keep growing, not loose my vision and become a better communicator.  I am an early childhood educator because I want to educate and help young children and their families.

My goal for the early childhood field is a local one.  I would want the EC community where I work to better address the diversity that we do encounter.  This a small step of printing notices in multiple languages, having ELL staff and translators for conferences are just the details but so important to addressing diversity. 

I would like to thank all my colleagues this semester for their insight and contributions to the learning community.  Many of you have different perspectives and I am appreciative because your perspectives have helped me to grow as an educator.  Good luck and God Bless to all on their journey!

-Alyssa Glenn

Welcoming a Family from Japan

A Family from Japan

 

I chose to have my family come from Japan.  

Ways to be Culturally Responsive:

1. Research the culture.

2. Invite the family into the classroom.  I will need to better understand the Japanese culture, when it comes to education.  I read on the CIA website that the most followed religions are Shintoism and Buddhism.  This will make celebrating holidays and events very foreign to my new student.  Christianity and Judaism are the most acceptably celebrated by schools in America and our calendar follows the events of each religion accordingly.  To be prepared I will need to know what holidays they do or do not celebrate and understand their values so not to offend them (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html). 

3.  Two-way communication in response to family's spoken language.  First I must find out if the child and parents speak English.  If this is not the case, information for the parents have to be translated.  If I must speak with parents in a conference, I will also need a translator. 

4. When in class I will have a few key words and phrases that will allow me to communicate with the child and that they will learn over time.  This will help with continually trying to integrate the student's culture in the classroom. Also, learning phrases that the child speaks it important as well.  It is key to have rituals and routines for this child to begin to understand what to do in a non-verbal way. 

5. Develop creative and alternative ways for student to show what they know and what they have learned (NAEYC, 2009).   In America, teachers single out students to make them more comfortable and develop a relationship with them in the ECE field.  In Japan, education is focused on the group and all the teachers are cohesively teaching the same thing (http://japanese.about.com/od/japaneselessons/a/061000.htm). Through observation of play and small group interactions from student to student and teacher to student I will be able to better understand how to support the student.

My preparations will benefit me and the family because they will see that I am making a concerted effort to include their child and understand their differences.  Hopefully the parents will feel supported rather than excluded from the culture of the classroom.  This will better the student's relationship with their peers and teachers.  Also, it will help the student transfer from home to school easier because their will be similarities between the two. 

References

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2009). Where we stand on responding to cultural and linguistic diversity. 

http://japanese.about.com/od/japaneselessons/a/061000.htm

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html