"Carpe Diem"

    The blog quickly became my favorite part of our assignments; this is not how it began.  I recall thinking and saying out loud…No, I can’t set up a blog, post to a blog, write a blog, help!  But, the Blog has allowed me to gain an insight into the personalities of my otherwise very scholarly colleagues. 

     I have enjoyed reading your posts.  I thank all of you for your thoughtful comments, probing questions, and the opportunity to share this learning experience with dedicated early childhood professional.  I wish you all continued success towards your professional and educational goals.

Be Blessed,

Jackie

        

Adjourned

The group I found the hardest to leave was a group of Head Start staffers charged with opening a new child development center.  The social service workers, cooks, teaching staff, and management had never worked together before, and there were only a few who had worked for the agency.  Fortunately, we had a director with a great game plan.  She instilled confidence, by asking your viewpoint and allowing staff to take risks.  Every year we closed the site for one day and went to an amusement park.  Once we went to Sea World, another year Disney, and the best was Universal Studios.  You have not experienced an amusement park until you go without kids.  She called these outings Mental Health Breaks. 

It was a great team, and we did a great job.  We continue to support each other for many years to come.  When someone one moved on to another center, or moved to a new city we kept in touch.  I still have the photo album they put together for me of my time at the site. Unfortunately, our communication did dwindle to only holidays, until two years ago when our original janitor “Big Joe” died of a heart attack.  There were calls and e-mails made to and from the original group.   We all vowed to stay and contact, and we have done a great job of that too.   

Adjournment signifies the end of something, but also gives permission to start something new.  When I leave this program, I am sure I will miss the input from familiar colleagues and the ritual of formal study.  What better way to adjourn from such a momentous journey then graduation.

Conflict Resolution

A recent conflict did occur when a member of the teaching staff listed an unapproved field trip on her lesson plan.  She was upset when I returned her plan unapproved and asked for her field trip approval information.  However, she did not voice her concerns to me.  Instead, she told another co-worker that she felt my inquiry and subsequent denial was unfair.  I asked to speak with both this staff member and her Lead Teacher.   The Lead Teacher is responsible for reviewing lesson plans prior to them hitting my desk.  The information regarding field trip approval had been given to the Lead and was reviewed with all teaching staff.

     

       I met with both staff members in the teacher’s classroom at the end of the day.  I believed the teacher would be comfortable in her environment instead of my office.  I was able to remind her of center policy regarding field trip requests.  I brought a form along so we could fill it out together.  I also reminded her that may door is always open to discuss any questions or concerns.

     

       I chose not to bring up the indirect method initially used to voice her concerns; this would not be conflict resolution.  Instead, I reminded her of a more direct way to get her needs met.  Prior to this weeks reading, I would have most likely held the meeting in my office or the training room out of convenience.   However, I wanted to get a handle on the latent tension that was building and prevent overt conflict or a power struggle by quickly resolving the issue using a Third side conflict resolution technique (TS, nd).  “Conflict is not a bad thing” it is how we manage conflict that counts (TS, nd).

Reference

  The Third Side. (n.d.). The third side. Retrieved from http://www.thirdside.org/

Who Am I As A Communicator?

   For this assignment I choose my husband of 28 years, and a colleague that I have know just over four years to evaluate my communication skills.   What I found interesting was the lack of variation from my personal and professional life in each of the evaluations.  However, my evaluators scored my Communication Anxiety Inventory as low, which I scored it as mild.  My husband believes I look comfortable when I communicate in any situation.  My co-worker said a similar thing, “You’re the go to person when we need some to speak in the center, and you do it well”, she shared.  

      The truth is I do feel anxious when I need to speak to a group of any size, especially large groups.   What worked really well for me in the past was my astigmatism.  I wore glass for many years.  When I took them off I could only see the notes that I was speaking from, and none of the audience.  This worked great until I had Lasik surgery.  I broke into a sweat the first time I spoke to a group with my corrected vision.

        I was pleased to learn that both my husband and my colleague placed me in the moderate range for Verbal Aggressiveness.  I too like to think I strike a good balance but I sometimes worry that I back away to avoid confrontation.  All and all I agree with their assessment, I am people orientated, can value others opinions without losing my own, and apparently look really confident when communicating.  And that confidence is in spite of the fact that I can now SEE the audience.