Communication Style

As I learned more about myself as a communicator it was surprising to learn that others scored me within the same range. I scored myself to have moderate communication anxiety, moderate verbal aggression and as a people-oriented listener. As I used my mother and a colleague, they scored me to have mild communication anxiety, moderate verbal aggression and as a people-oriented listener. I feel that I was scored less by my mother and colleague as they are unaware of the physical anxiety that I experience when I communicate with others; such as my heart pounding and I also begin to break out in hives. This usually happens when I speak in front of a large group of people. As I communicate better in one-on-one situations and in small groups.

Also, as I learned more about communication this week the communication aspects that I found most interesting are that our self-concept affects how we communicate and interact with other. I have been able to realize the value of self-concept. Considering the discussion assignment, I was surprised to see how much of the things that I identify with I instantly attributed to someone else just based from a picture. Another insight, that will assist me in both my professional and personal life is self-efficacy. Which is the predicting one's success based on one's self-concept and self-esteem (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012). Self-efficacy also plays a vital part in communication with others as it assists with choosing how one will communicate. Using these two communication methods will better assist me personally and professionally by allowing me to remain mindful of myself and how I behave during communication with others.

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

Communication Strategies

As I ponder on the many instances in which I communicate with others who are culturally different than me, I find that my communication styles vary. I find that the these instances are based upon the settings and/or situations that I am involved in. These settings, whether they be in the workplace, local eateries, at home; while I am communicating with my neighbors and other locations.

While I am continuing to learn about communication and while I am learning better communication techniques, I feel that utilizing the following three strategies to become a better communicator both professionally and personally:

1). Learn to be become a more action-oriented listener as I am first a people-oriented listener and less tasks are accomplished. This primarily occurs in the workplace.

2). Lessen my incidents of rudeness. I am aware of instances where I may appear to be rude and easily frustrated, which can be observed in my matter of fact speech and language.

3). Become more knowledgeable about the cultural differences of others in order to become more empathetic to help others.

Using these strategies will assist me in becoming a better communicator while building positive relationships with others.

Communication on Mute

For this week's assignment, I chose to observe the TV series The Big Bang Theory. While first observing the show on mute, I observed the relationships between the characters to be mutual friends and for some they were roommates. During most of the show, the characters were usually at the apartment of their friends having lunch/dinner and they were also at what appeared to be a lunch or breakroom eating. A lot of this show appeared to be centered around meeting up with friends and eating. The friends also appeared to be "nerds" and their love of food, science and video games their friendships appeared strong. By spending a significant amount of time with one another, eye contact, close body promixity and postures the friends are like family. During their interactions, I observed their feelings of disgust, annoyance, happiness and embarrassment especially by their facial expressions body movements.

A few assumptions that I made while observing this show include: all of the male characters were roommates and all of the characters were extremely intelligent. The assumption of the plot that I made was that two of the male characters when one became upset in regards to his roommate waking him up early for work. This cause so much friction in their friendship to were they only gave each other a head nod during most of the episode.

During this assignment, I found that my assumptions would have been a bit more accurate had the series I watched was a show I know well. However, I do feel that my assumptions were correct in the relationships with at least two of the characters. My "aha" moment was finding out that this episode centered on the selfishness of Sheldon and his need to have his roommate do everything for him. I found that it is not always the external factors that make-up who people are but more importantly what is on the inside that makes up who someone is.

Competent Communicator

As I began to think about those who I feel are competent communicators, I thought about the upcoming Presidential election. As I viewed both the speeches of the Democratic and Republican nominees this past week, I felt empowered by the speech of President Barack Obama. His honesty, intonation, direct eye contact, motivation and the clarity in not only this speech but all of his speeches have provided a standard for me to follow. His love for God, his family and the U.S. is evident in his speeches and the passion in which he exudes during his speeches are quite motivational.

I have a great fear in public speaking but as I watch how great of an orator President Obama is, I would like to model his intonation and the clarity with which he speaks. His abilities to persuade and motivate others are attributes that I would like to have.

Professional Hopes and Goals

Throughout this course, I have acquired knowledge about the many ways in which I, as a professional can support children and their families who come from diverse backgrounds. This support will allow me to:

• build better professional relationships with families
• foster equity and social justice
• develop partnerships within the community
• create a welcoming and diverse environment

By utilizing these perspectives, my hope that my classroom is one that provide inspiration parents, children, community members and others as it relates to diversity equity and social justice.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field in relation to diversity, equity and social justice is to continue to foster change as rapidly as society changes.

I would like to thank my colleagues for their words of wisdom, encouragement and for sharing their personal and professional experiences. I wish you all success and good luck in the future.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country I found that piqued my interest in is Malawi. Malawi is located in southeast Africa that is encompassed with beautiful land and wildlife. With a population of 13,603,181 natives, who speak the native tongue of Chichewa and also English, this country maintains its rich African culture and heritage.

If I was working in an early childhood setting in a hospital and a family emigrated from Malawi, I would prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards the family by: 1) conducting personal research on the country's deep culture as well as surface culture 2) begin to learn the native language of Chichewa to have effective communication with the family 3) communicate with the family about their wants, needs and expectations from the hospital as it relates to their culture and heritage 4) create a training for those working with the family to provide an understanding of the culture and 5) create an environment that will be welcoming to the family by labeling the hospital in both Chichewa and English.

By preparing myself and the hospital for the family, I hope that I will be able to assist the family, myself and the hospital by providing an environment that encourages cultural differences. I also hope that the family would educate both myself and others to increase our knowledge on their native land and daily activities to decrease the instances of microaggressions and any form of an "ism."

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

Being an African-American woman entails having countless incidents of bias, prejudice and oppression directed towards you in both overt and overt ways. One particular incident involved myself and some childhood friends of mine. We were walking to school as we were all middle school-aged children. During the early to mid-nineties there was an influx of skinheads in our area and increased racially motivated violence. Skinheads are a subgroup of youth that make their stance of white power known through violence and antagonizing other races of people. As we were walking and talking we head a car speed behind of really fast and the dreaded "n-word" being used numerous times. Our initial reaction was to run to a safe place, which we did but we never left one another's side. Safe to say we made it to school without further incident and reported the information to the proper authorities and school personnel.

As I think about this incident feelings of anger, frustration, fear, relief and trust pop into my mind. Anger and fear come to mind as I remember being fearful for what may happen to a group of children from black, white and bi-racial ethnicity's. The feelings of relief and trust come about as I am thankful and blessed that we were safe. I also say trust because that incident brought us pre-teens closer together. My feelings of frustration as it is 2012 and I continue to hear about incidents such as this and some incidents more graphic and violent that involves bias, prejudice, oppression and some form of an "ism."

This incident diminished the diversity that is prevalent in this country and in my local neighborhood by continuance of the overt use of white privilege, the use of power over others, racism, and superiority. At that time, I believed that the rights that my ancestors and other fought and died for were in vain. This incident also taught me that anyone can be treated in an unjust and unfair way. In order for such as incident to changed for an opportunity for greater equity, the mindsets of both the skinheads and even the group I was with would have to change. These mindsets and beliefs include:inferiority and superiority, power, and so on.