I can not believe that this is week one of the last 8 weeks of my journey with Walden University. In 7 weeks and 1 day, I will be finished with my first Master's Degree!! I am beyond excited but extremely nervous, as this course is going to be a challenge. I look forward to learning and growing more personally and professionally.
As I am beginning this course, I was asked to think about my professional passion. Doing so, I created a Wordle that represented my passion. It can be found at: http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl6868593/untitled.
As a result of this assignment, I have chosen to do my final project on children in foster care. I have several different avenues in which I could explore. Hopefully I can narrow my topic down quickly and get to work! Anyway, here's to a wonderful course. Good luck to my fellow colleagues :)
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Farewell...
I cannot believe another 8 weeks have come and gone. As much as I am glad to be finished with this
course, I am a little sad to move on to the next course without such a
wonderful group of people. I look
forward to working with you all again in the very near future. Good luck on your future endeavors.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Adjourning...
The adjourning phase of the group process is always the
hardest for me because I typically hate ending things and saying goodbye. The hardest goodbyes come when the group
dynamics flow well. Relationships are
formed and bonds are made. When it is
time to say goodbye, it feels like you are not only saying goodbye to the
project but also to the people you worked with. On a side note, I found it interesting to learn that the meaning of adjourning is to suspend until a later time or place.
I went to a private school and graduated with people I had
been going to school with for 10 or 12 years.
There were only 7 of us so the relationships that had formed were
strong. We were more like a family than
classmates. When it was time to
graduate, we did the normal graduation ceremony and party but what was more
meaningful was that we kept in contact after we went our separate ways. 13 years later, we still communicate with one
another, share pictures of our families and pray for one another.
I am amazed by relationships I have formed while working on my
Master’s degree. I did not expect to
become friends with so many people along the way. By forming relationships with my colleagues,
I have been free to open up about myself, my family, and my career in ways I
never imagined. I would love to stay in
contact with people I have met through my journey with Walden University.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Conflict Resolution
This week's assignment was to think about a conflict, whether personal or professional, and apply some of the conflict resolution techniques we have been learning about.
Last night, my dad and I got into a little conflict. I had arranged for my kids to be with sitters so I could attend a conference. I was going to do a little Christmas shopping afterwards since I had already arranged for someone to watch my kids. I don't get out often, maybe once a month, so I wanted to take advantage of the time I had away from my kids. My dad had two of my kids, and two other sitters had the other two. I called and checked on the kids after the conference around 5 and everything was ok. About 30 minutes later, my dad called me and told me to come to his house because his Christmas tree fell over. I asked if he could wait a little while because I wanted to do a little shopping and wasn't planning on getting the kids until closer to 8. He got an attitude and yelled at me before he hung up on me. Needless to say, I stopped what I was doing and went to help him. In the end, neither of us were happy.
The first thing we could have done to resolve this more peacefully would have been to communicate our needs. I understood his need to get the tree back up but he did not understand my needs. If we could have communicated better in the initial conversation, I think the negative feelings we had could have been avoided. The other thing we could have done was respect the other person. He could have not hung up the phone on me and I could have been more willing to change my plans in order to help him.
Last night, my dad and I got into a little conflict. I had arranged for my kids to be with sitters so I could attend a conference. I was going to do a little Christmas shopping afterwards since I had already arranged for someone to watch my kids. I don't get out often, maybe once a month, so I wanted to take advantage of the time I had away from my kids. My dad had two of my kids, and two other sitters had the other two. I called and checked on the kids after the conference around 5 and everything was ok. About 30 minutes later, my dad called me and told me to come to his house because his Christmas tree fell over. I asked if he could wait a little while because I wanted to do a little shopping and wasn't planning on getting the kids until closer to 8. He got an attitude and yelled at me before he hung up on me. Needless to say, I stopped what I was doing and went to help him. In the end, neither of us were happy.
The first thing we could have done to resolve this more peacefully would have been to communicate our needs. I understood his need to get the tree back up but he did not understand my needs. If we could have communicated better in the initial conversation, I think the negative feelings we had could have been avoided. The other thing we could have done was respect the other person. He could have not hung up the phone on me and I could have been more willing to change my plans in order to help him.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Perceiving the self and others
This week, I evaluated myself as a
communicator by learning about my listening style, communication anxiety, and
verbal aggressiveness. I then compared
my personal view to that of my mother and a personal friend. While all three of us scored me the same on
my listening style and verbal aggressiveness, I was surprised that both my
friend and mom scored me about the same on my communication anxiety. I scored myself at a 53, which is considered
moderate. My mom and friend scored me at
a 35 and 38, which is fairly mild. I
guess this is can be a good thing because I can obviously hide my anxiety.
After reading our text this week,
I realized that the thoughts I have about myself are a combination of my
self-concept (knowledge of myself), my self-esteem (feelings about myself), and
my self-efficacy (prediction of success for myself). Before reading this, I never really thought about the fact that I
do insert my feelings of success into how I view myself. There are times where I think about my past mistakes or I let insecurities creep in and I starting having bad thoughts about myself. It is after I think about my accomplishments that I begin to feel better about myself. That all makes sense now.
Our text also provided another
insight about communication this week: “we are more willing to interact in
situations where we feel we have strengths, and our self concept is confirmed
or changed by responses from others” (O’Hair & Wienmann, 2012, p. 63). I admit that there are situations where I
completely clam up and do not want to talk or I am intimidated and feel very
nervous to speak. This explains why I have these feelings and why there are situations in which I would speak up and some I wouldn't.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Communicating across cultures and groups
This week, I realized that I do
communicate differently with people from different groups. I am rather shy when I meet people,
especially adults. I don’t really have a
problem talking to children on a first meeting but I completely clam up when I
meet adults. A little odd but I have
always been that way. When I first meet
someone, I do a lot more listening than talking but once I get to know them, I
finally open up without any problems.
When it comes to people from different groups, I find that I am more
direct and to the point. By nature, I
talk fast but when I communicate with children or people outside of my culture,
I tend to slow down and exaggerate my gestures.
Three
strategies I could use to help me communicate more effectively with people from
other groups or cultures include: 1) ask questions when I do not understand or
when something is unclear, 2) do not pass judgment before listening to what the
other person has to say in entirety, 3) be aware of the non-verbal
communication I am displaying. I believe
that using these three strategies will help me be a better communicator with
people from any group.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
TV Communication Assignment
This week's assignment was to watch a television program we do not typically watch, first without sound and then again with sound. For this assignment, I chose to watch The Mindy Project. I have never heard of this program so I had no idea what to expect.
When I watched the show without sound, I did not understand the first part of the show. There were small clips of a girl watching tv, then a teenage girl watching tv, and finally, on to a hospital where there were a group of doctors or nurses gathered around a patient, talking. The main character, which I assumed to be Mindy, spots a doctor walking by the room and obviously has a "thing" for him. Later in the day, they end up in an elevator together where she gets nervous and drops her things. The elevator gets stuck and they formally introduce themselves. In the next clip, she is sitting at a table talking to a police woman then within a minute or so, it cuts back to the hospital. By this point, I am lost. I have no clue what is going on. The hospital clip shows the guy Mindy met with another girl then it moves to a scene where the other girl and the guy are getting married. A few minutes later, she was giving a toast at his wedding. Evidently, she had too much to drink. She ended up leaving the wedding on a bicycle and had an accident in which she rode the bicycle into someone's pool. In the next clip, she was in jail talking to a police officer then a friend came and got her out of jail. She leaves the jail and rushes back to the hospital where she talks to another doctor. She looks upset with the other doctor for some reason. She follows him to the staff lounge where another doctor is sitting on the couch. They engage in conversation. The doctor Mindy was originally talking to leaves the room and it seems like the other doctor that was in the room flirts with Mindy. She doesn't seem interested and she leaves. In the next clip, Mindy is walking in the hospital talking into her phone. She goes into her office and talks to a boy and his mom then she is back out to the nurses station, talking to colleagues. She changes into a new outfit and they seem to be discussing what she is wearing then Mindy ends up in an office, making out with the doctor who was flirting with her earlier. Mindy stops things and they seem to have a disagreement about stopping. Mindy then ends up on a date with a guy. The date doesn't seem to go well. The show ends with Mindy at the two doctors from earlier, sitting in the staff lounge watching tv.
After watching the show with sound, the beginning made a lot more sense. There is a lot of narration moving from scene to scene. The show starts by giving a background to Mindy and her infatuation with romantic movies. Even at a young age, she was quoting romantic comedies while watching them. The show fast forwards to Mindy's adult life, as she is a doctor at a hospital. She is working when she spots another doctor going by the room she is doing a consult in. She finds him attractive and wonders what he is like. Later in the day, they end up getting stuck on an elevator together, where they spend half an hour getting to know each other. They date for a few months then have a bad break-up, after he meets another woman at the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he and the other woman get married. Mindy gets invited and decides to go. She makes an embarrassing toast at the wedding after consuming a good amount of alcohol. She leaves the wedding drunk and rides her bicycle into someone's pool. She gets arrested for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. Her friend bails her out of jail, just in time for her to rush to the hospital after being paged because one of her patients went into labor. She arrives at the hospital just after one of her colleagues delivers the baby. They have a discussion about her behavior at the wedding as they are walking to the staff lounge. Another doctor is in the lounge and the three of them discuss weddings and how single people can feel lonely, especially when attending other people's weddings. The doctor Mindy started talking to leaves the room. The other doctor suggests that he and Mindy get physical. Mindy shoots him down and leaves. The following day, Mindy is walking into the hospital, talking about changes she is going to make in her life such as being more responsible, getting in shape, and being more serious about dating. She meets with new clients and then goes out to talk to her co-workers. She changes into a new "first date" outfit, which is really sparkly. They discuss her outfit and the doctor who she previously had an argument with, tells her that it is not a good first date outfit and that she should just keep it simple. The doctor that flirted with her earlier said he liked it and in the next scene, they are in his office making out. Mindy stops them and talks about how she wants to be more mature and have a real relationship with someone. Mindy ends up on a first date with a guy, where she seems to be kind of crazy by the questions she is asking and the way she interacts with this guy. The date does not go well and the show ends with Mindy and the two other doctors back in the staff lounge talking about dating and why it is not as easy as she expects it to be.
After watching the show with the sound on, the show seemed to make a lot more sense. I was rather confused by the constant back and forth of the scenes so I never really know exactly what was going on or why the scene was changing when I was not listening to what was going on.
Through this assignment, I realized the importance of using both verbal and non-verbal skills at the same time. While non-verbal skills are important in communication, effective communication implements both non verbal and verbal simultaneously. Through both skills, effective communication can take place.
When I watched the show without sound, I did not understand the first part of the show. There were small clips of a girl watching tv, then a teenage girl watching tv, and finally, on to a hospital where there were a group of doctors or nurses gathered around a patient, talking. The main character, which I assumed to be Mindy, spots a doctor walking by the room and obviously has a "thing" for him. Later in the day, they end up in an elevator together where she gets nervous and drops her things. The elevator gets stuck and they formally introduce themselves. In the next clip, she is sitting at a table talking to a police woman then within a minute or so, it cuts back to the hospital. By this point, I am lost. I have no clue what is going on. The hospital clip shows the guy Mindy met with another girl then it moves to a scene where the other girl and the guy are getting married. A few minutes later, she was giving a toast at his wedding. Evidently, she had too much to drink. She ended up leaving the wedding on a bicycle and had an accident in which she rode the bicycle into someone's pool. In the next clip, she was in jail talking to a police officer then a friend came and got her out of jail. She leaves the jail and rushes back to the hospital where she talks to another doctor. She looks upset with the other doctor for some reason. She follows him to the staff lounge where another doctor is sitting on the couch. They engage in conversation. The doctor Mindy was originally talking to leaves the room and it seems like the other doctor that was in the room flirts with Mindy. She doesn't seem interested and she leaves. In the next clip, Mindy is walking in the hospital talking into her phone. She goes into her office and talks to a boy and his mom then she is back out to the nurses station, talking to colleagues. She changes into a new outfit and they seem to be discussing what she is wearing then Mindy ends up in an office, making out with the doctor who was flirting with her earlier. Mindy stops things and they seem to have a disagreement about stopping. Mindy then ends up on a date with a guy. The date doesn't seem to go well. The show ends with Mindy at the two doctors from earlier, sitting in the staff lounge watching tv.
After watching the show with sound, the beginning made a lot more sense. There is a lot of narration moving from scene to scene. The show starts by giving a background to Mindy and her infatuation with romantic movies. Even at a young age, she was quoting romantic comedies while watching them. The show fast forwards to Mindy's adult life, as she is a doctor at a hospital. She is working when she spots another doctor going by the room she is doing a consult in. She finds him attractive and wonders what he is like. Later in the day, they end up getting stuck on an elevator together, where they spend half an hour getting to know each other. They date for a few months then have a bad break-up, after he meets another woman at the hospital. Shortly thereafter, he and the other woman get married. Mindy gets invited and decides to go. She makes an embarrassing toast at the wedding after consuming a good amount of alcohol. She leaves the wedding drunk and rides her bicycle into someone's pool. She gets arrested for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. Her friend bails her out of jail, just in time for her to rush to the hospital after being paged because one of her patients went into labor. She arrives at the hospital just after one of her colleagues delivers the baby. They have a discussion about her behavior at the wedding as they are walking to the staff lounge. Another doctor is in the lounge and the three of them discuss weddings and how single people can feel lonely, especially when attending other people's weddings. The doctor Mindy started talking to leaves the room. The other doctor suggests that he and Mindy get physical. Mindy shoots him down and leaves. The following day, Mindy is walking into the hospital, talking about changes she is going to make in her life such as being more responsible, getting in shape, and being more serious about dating. She meets with new clients and then goes out to talk to her co-workers. She changes into a new "first date" outfit, which is really sparkly. They discuss her outfit and the doctor who she previously had an argument with, tells her that it is not a good first date outfit and that she should just keep it simple. The doctor that flirted with her earlier said he liked it and in the next scene, they are in his office making out. Mindy stops them and talks about how she wants to be more mature and have a real relationship with someone. Mindy ends up on a first date with a guy, where she seems to be kind of crazy by the questions she is asking and the way she interacts with this guy. The date does not go well and the show ends with Mindy and the two other doctors back in the staff lounge talking about dating and why it is not as easy as she expects it to be.
After watching the show with the sound on, the show seemed to make a lot more sense. I was rather confused by the constant back and forth of the scenes so I never really know exactly what was going on or why the scene was changing when I was not listening to what was going on.
Through this assignment, I realized the importance of using both verbal and non-verbal skills at the same time. While non-verbal skills are important in communication, effective communication implements both non verbal and verbal simultaneously. Through both skills, effective communication can take place.
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