Team Work Makes Dream Work

Team Work Makes Dream Work

 

This week’s readings on team development was very interesting. I know have another great source to share with my co-workers. The early head start department at my job consists of four teachers, in which we consider ourselves a team. When we are all on the same page we get along so great and we also are more productive. However when we have our differences it gets pretty intense and we have a very hard time getting things back on track. I have always felt that we should have a lead teacher, somewhat of a group leader just to add a formal sense of order within in the group. As when a group is forming it is important for the team leader to be very clear about team goals and provide clear direction regarding the project. The team leader should ensure that all of the members are involved in determining team roles and responsibilities and should work with the team to help them establish how they will work together ("team norms"). The team is dependent on the team leader to guide them (Abudi 2010). In our case our team leader would help us to achieve the common goal of running effective classrooms and planning learning experiences based on the individual need of each child.

I would say that out of all the teams that I have been on during my life time leaving one that is job related like the one I am on now has been the hardest. I guess it would fall in the category of being a high performing group. I have had the pleasure of working at two centers and when I left the first early head start team I was a part of it was devastating.  The last day I worked there everyone was so sad that I was leaving, at the end of the day we had a little going away party which ended in us almost crying when it was time to leave. I was so emotional I didn’t even get the contact information from any of my team member, however the good thing was that we all would still be working within the same agency. As our text states that some groups choose to celebrate their achievements with a final get-together, what Keyton (1993) calls a termination ritual. Members may also opt to maintain friendships even if they will no longer be working together (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, Teven p249 2015). Which is what has happened with my co-workers and, I have met some of my best friends at my job. When I finish my master’s degree program and adjourn from this elite group of people, the departure is going to be simple. I have not formed any friendships since I have been in school, but I do look forward to ending this journey by fellowshipping at graduation if I am able to attend. From there I am sure we will go our own separate ways and continue striving to accomplish our goals. Adjourning is an essential part of team work because it allows teams members to reflect on the journey that they endured in order to reach their goal. It also gives team members a chance to celebrate and decide if they will keep in touch to work on other projects, it helps to give the group closure to the experience that they have had with each other.

 

 

 

References

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J.  (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

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To Scribble or Not To Scribble that is The Question?

To Scribble or Not To Scribble that is The Question?

 

 

The early childhood education is a wonderful field to work in if you love children and helping people. The children can be such a joy to work with and sometimes parents can be to. It is even more rewarding when you form relationships with colleagues. I worked with the same young lady for six years up until last July when she assigned to another center, she became a lifelong friend she is more like my sister. We both helped each other to be better teachers. Like everything else on the world there are two sides to every story. The majority of my conflicts at my job has been with a very unprofessional supervisor, who has no experience working with young children or the early childhood field within itself. I don’t think people think about the consequences of what can happen when they hire people based on who they know. There has been an ongoing conflict for years about whether scribble is considered art done by children. We have to have three types of art up at all times, however my supervisor does not feel that scribble is the art of children. It is my personal opinion that scribble is the art of children especially if that’s all that they can do, we work with very young children whom most of them are still developing their fine motor skills. The last time my colleagues and tried to have a conversation with our supervisor about this she made it clear that she felt that scribble art was not challenging children and that she would overlook it as an art if she saw it up in the classroom. We expressed to her that we didn’t feel that this was write because anything the children did with materials were their art, needless to say this conflict over this issue has yet to be dissolved.

My first solution to solving this conflict was to just be quite initially. However I feel that this is not the proper way to resolve this because I feel that both parties should have the right to be respectfully heard without anyone getting an attitude and being rude. Being that we are in professional setting when we have this conversation I feel that one of the solutions should be that our supervisor should  take the lead by helping to provide a supportive climate. Supportive climates involve communicators who are open to one another’s ideas and feelings (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, Teven 2015). Instead of getting frustrated over this issue my co-workers and I should ask more questions about why my supervisor feels this way and then try and see if anything positive can come out of this. I also feel that my supervisor should be more cooperative with us, being cooperative could benefit us both (O’Hair 2015). I feel that the age range that we work with and their developmental stages that they are at should be taken into consideration. I feel that if we use these two strategies we could both agree to disagree and come to a mutual understanding on the issue of that art of children, even though we feel that their art is whatever that they do. Most of all as professionals we should respect each other’s feelings, and professional opinions. I feel like if we did that we could have a more productive conversation on this issue. Even though the art my students create will always be master pieces to me.

 

 

Reference

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's

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Who Am I as a Communicator?

Who Am I as a Communicator?

I was really excited to take the assessments this week on communication. I was very interested to see how others would score my communication skills. My communication skills has gotten better over the years, especially when it comes to conflicts. Instead of raising my voice and talking over people, I know how to control my voice and my emotions. Although some of my scores on the aggressive scale do not reflect this. I plan to reflect more on this so I can see how I can improve on this. The purpose of communication with others is to understand what each other is saying. A well-known UCLA study found that only around 7% of the meaning of spoken communication came from words alone, 55% came from facial expression and 38% came from the way the words were said (http://www.intstudentsup.org/communicating/effective_communication/index.jsp). So as you can see a lot goes on when communicating, it’s not just about the words.

This week when taking the three assessments on communication I was very honest in scoring myself as so were my aunt Cindy and my coworker Ms. K. I choose both of these ladies to evaluate me based on y relationships with them. My aunt of course has known me since birth, my coworker on the other hand we have known each other about almost a year now. So I thought that it would be interesting to see how someone who had known me my whole life would evaluate me based on someone who has only known me almost a year but spends eight hours a day with me seven days a week. Ms. K felt that on the verbal aggressive scale that I maintained a good balance between respect and consideration of others viewpoints, in which I do agree (Rubin, Palmgreen, Sypher, 2009). Surprisingly I and my mother felt that I attack people’s positions when talking and personally attack them which is hurtful to the listener. This is true however there is no harm intended I just tend to get a little excited when talking at times and have very strong opinions.

When completing the learning styles profile all three of us were on the same accord (Rubin 2009). We all agreed that when communicating I focus on the details of the conversation and have all information before I make a response. As well as I can be empathetic when talking to others which helps to build relationships. When it came to the anxiety inventory all three of us were at odds. I felt that was comfortable with communicating in most situations and was confident in doing so. However my aunt scored my low and Ms. K scored me mild. I hope to have a discussion with the both of them about that particular part, they are both very busy women so it was very nice of them to take time out of their schedules and do this for me. We all agreed on that communication is something that I don’t really worry about unless it is in front of a crowd. One class that I have never taken is public speaking, I hope to do one day so I can face my fear of speaking in public or to large groups.

I was very surprised that all of our scores on the assessments were very similar. I expected all of them to be totally different especially my coworkers being that she hasn’t known me that long, so that was very interesting. I thought my co-worker would have graded me a little tougher especially when it came to the aggressive scale being that we sometimes disagree and have totally different teaching styles.  This week I learned that we are more willing to interact in situations where we feel we have strengths and where our self-concept is confirmed by others (O’Hair, Wiemann, Mullin, Teven p. 47). Which is so true when I am work I am more drawn to conversations about curriculum and other topics in early childhood education. Knowing this can help me at my job by allowing me to let parents and students know they are important to me, and that I respect them in every way. Knowing this can also be helpful because it reminds me to communicate with families in a manner that lets them know they have the right to offer suggestion to help make the program better. As far as my personal life I feel knowing this can help me to build better relationships when communicating.  Also while reading chapter two I learned about the Interaction appearance theory which  explains how people change their perception of someone else as they spend more time together (O’Hair p. 37). When I read this it was as if a light bulb went off in my head, I have done this so many times but never knew it was a theory that explained this. Professionally knowing this will help me to build better relationships with co-workers and parents. In my personal life I feel that knowing about this theory will help me to improve my personal relationships with family and friends by taking time to understand them as individuals. Communication is very complex and can be influenced by a number of things. Therefore Boundaries in communication should always be clear so that the information being transferred is fully understood.

                             

References

 

http://www.intstudentsup.org/communicating/effective_communication/index.jsp

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J.  (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.  

Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.

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