Why I want to advocate.

I have always been out spoken. Even as a child I had a big mouth, and for the most part I used it for good (even if I was a little annoying).  When I was little we used to have dinner every Saturday at my grandparents’ house. This would include my entire family.  Now my mother and father did not smoke, but it seemed like all of my aunts and uncles did.  When I was about 8 or 9, I protested going to my grandparents for Saturday dinner. I told them that I could not breathe with the smoke in the house and that it was hurting my body. I even went as far as to make a sign and hang it on the front door.  It took a while, but I was persistent, and finally one day my grandmother said if you smoke you have to do it outside. This is when I realized how influential a voice could be.

From that point on I always fought for what was right and just, even if it got me in trouble. I did this at school and in the work place, which eventually ended in me quitting a job of 8 years.  This was a sad moment in my life , but I was not going to work for a company who did not respect their employees.

This year was an exciting one for me. I had a baby this year, and he has helped me realize the true meaning of life. With him came a new set of responsibilities and new passions. While I was pregnant with him I participated in our local Advocacy day. Making my rounds to government officials stressing the importance of quality early childhood education.  This was an exciting moment in my life, because I was doing something I had always dreamed of. I was at the state capitol and I was confessing my concerns to the people who have the power to change things.

This field needs a voice, because we are speaking for those who cannot do so themselves. It is important that we get people involved in advocating for early childhood education, so we can better the lives of children who may not have the same advantages as other children. I think that as I gain knowledge in this field I can strengthen my advocacy skills, and become more confident.  I have the passion, and that is important when working in this field. If you are numb to the environment that surrounds you, you will not do anything to change it.  I try to be aware of everything, and I have learned that some people do not like that.  Where I worked before it seemed like everything was great if we just stayed quiet about certain situations. The minute I voiced my opinion, it was like it was too much of a hassle to fix things that were not working, so they just stayed the same.

I am at the point in my life where I do not care if it is too much work, or too hard to do something that is right. I want to do the best I can to enhance the lives of the children I work with, and I will do that as long as I am able to.

 

coming to an end.

First off, it has been great getting to know everyone the last 8 weeks.  Doing these blog assignments allowed us to become a little more laid back and get more personal. It was nice reading about every ones experiences and stories. I wish everyone the best in the rest of their studies, and career. We are here to educated ourselves, so we can educate others, and make a difference. Good luck girls!

Anna

One of my hardest good-bye moments was when I left my job. I had been at my job for 7 years. I started right out of high school and made many friends there. I worked my way up from a floater position, to the program coordinator and head preschool teacher. All of my early childhood education moments happened there, all of my experience was gained from this one place. These people guided me in my career. My boss became a very close friend and mentor. I was surrounded by women who were encouraging and powerful.  As the years passed I became one of them. I was helping the younger staff, teaching them and mentoring them.  Closing this chapter of my life and leaving this group of women was probably one of the hardest times in my life. But with the pain came joy and a new chapter in my life-motherhood. If I did not have my son, I would still be there working, growing and learning. But it was time for me to part ways, and take all my knowledge I gained from there and apply it to my own life.  And use this to further my career in the early childhood field. 

 

When I left the center to go on maternity leave they threw me a baby shower. This was very special to me and everyone involved, because even though it was never said people knew I may not be coming back.  There was a sense of joy and also sadness from my coworkers.

 

It is hard for me to say I will feel a sense of sadness when finishing up my Masters. I never really got a chance to connect with anyone in this program. Maybe I did not put myself out there enough. Or maybe it was because I stopped going to school when I was pregnant, so I lost contact with some of the girls I started the program with. Needless to say it will be hard to end this chapter in my life, because it has been a long time coming and I am ready to start a career.

 

I think that adjourning is essential in teamwork because it provides an opportunity for closure. If you leave something without ending it, you feel a sense of emptiness.

  For this weeks assignment I had my Fiance Casey and a coworker of mine Sara, evaluate my communication.  In comparison some of the results were a little shocking and others were right. Casey evaluation of me was pretty similar to my own. He rated me high in anxiety, which is true. I have a lot of anxiety when it comes to public speaking and meeting new people. He was aware of this because I often discussed it with him. The results from Sara's evaluation of me was a lot different from Casey. She gave me a very low score for anxiety. I thought that I always seemed anxious at work if I had to talk to the staff at a meeting, but according to her I seemed relaxed. This is a good thing though, maybe I am not showing how nervous I really am,  that makes me feel better about public speaking. Next was the aggression assessment, I rated myself as having significant aggression when communicating. Casey gave me a pretty low score, I think he was being generous because I feel like I do take a lot out on him people I am always around him. Sara's results showed me having higher levels of aggression. I hope that I do not display an aggressive communication style while at work. I have learned from this that maybe I should be less passionate at work about certain topics, because that can be seen as aggressive. Lastly was the listening assessment, I was put in group one for this test. I have always considered myself a good listener so the results of this were not surprising to me. Casey and Sara results also showed that I was in group one. This made me feel good because I had always hoped that people thought I was a good listener, and it is good to see that the results hold true.

 

 

 

Think about the cultural diversity you see in your colleagues at school, in your neighborhood, in your workplace, and also, possibly, within your family. Consider all the aspects that make up culture, including race, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, varying abilities, and so on.

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

I have worked in childcare for a long time, and throughout that period I have interacted with many people from different cultures. Every time I have a family come to the center where I work that speak another language or do not speak English well, I get a little nervous. I think this nervousness comes from lack of experience, and just not knowing how to interact with people who do not speak English. I know this is something terrible to do but I always talk a little slower. I also use more gestures, because I assume that if they can not understand what I am saying at least if I pair it with a gestures help them figure it out.

I had this child in my classroom last year that was from Russia, her father was fluent in English but the mother was not at all. The child spoke no English at all. I dreaded communicating with them everyday, because the mother usually picked up the child, and I had a hard time talking with her. My coworkers would make fun of me because my face always got bright red when talking to her. I could not understand her so I would try my best to interpret what she was saying, but it was very frustrating. Working in this field has defiantly given me more experience than most, but it still does not make me confident when communicating to individuals of a different group or culture. I hope that in the future as I gain more experience, I will become more comfortable.

-Anna

Real Housewives of New Jersey

 

 

No Volume

 

For this weeks assignment I watched the real housewives of New Jersey. I watched the show first with the sound off, then with the sound one.  I have never seen this show before and reruns were playing on bravo so I decided to give it a shot. Within the first few minutes of the show I could tell that there was drama. One of the characters was talking to the camera and she looked very irritated and was waving her hands around.  Then there was a fight, it was a physical fight between two men and more joined in and they seemed to be at a babies baptism. I could tell just through facial expression that some of the individuals on the show did not get along. Based on all of the nonverbal cues that I saw, I came to the conclusion that these people were very angry with each other. It seemed like they were all related and that this was a family feud. There was a lot of emotions involved and crying.

 

Volume on

 

I watched the episode with the sound on this time and learned that many of my predictions were right. I had a feeling that the characters on the show were related and I was right, they were a brother and sister. They brother was celebrating his sons baptism and he invited his sister and her husband even though there was some obvious tension. There was a fight over some issues they had in the past. The emotions showed in this video were pretty obvious without the sound. With the sound on I just got the little details that I missed filling me in n the content of the show.

 

I have learned a lot this week when it comes to communication, especially nonverbal communication. I think I learned the most while observing my family rather then watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey. My "aha" moment was understanding how much you can gather from a conversation when just focusing on nonverbal cues. It really is amazing how much body language influences communication.

 

  For your blog this week, think of someone (e.g., family member, celebrity, politician, friend, or professor) who demonstrates competent communication within a particular context. What behaviors does this person exhibit that make him or her effective? Would you want to model some of your own communication behaviors after this person? Why or why not?


I worked for a child care facility for a while and I had a boss there that had very effective communication skills. I could go into her office with a problem and she would turn the problem around into something positive that I was doing  in my classroom. She would make you forget that you were mad and mainly focus her conversation on how good of a job you were doing. Her form of communication was mostly praising her employees and putting a positive spin on things. This was effective with me for a while and then one day I realize none of my problems were being addressed properly or fixed. I actually got into a confrontation with my boss, to where she did not know how to act or respond to me, she could not take that I was being confrontational. Since then I have realized that being positive may have made her an effective communication, and kept me interested in what she was saying but after a while you see through those behaviors.