6165 Week 8

 

I want to start this post by saying thank you to each member of this class.  In the past eight weeks, I have not only learned more about collaboration and communication, but I have seen it at work as well.  

I have the opportunity to communicate with my fellow classmates and collaborate on different ways of communicating.  I have learned from different colleagues new ways to communicate with families and how to reach out to the community in which I work.

If I have learned anything in this course it is how important it is to have the right people at your table.  I feel as though this class has given me an amazing amount of support as well as learning opportunities each week.  I cannot wait to continue this journey with my colleagues.

Thank you,

Heather Beard Rand

6165 Week 6

I feel as though when it comes to working in groups there are definitely some that I have had more difficulty breaking off from than others.  I can think of one group, in particular, that was extremely hard to say goodbye to.  In my final semester at Salisbury, I was part of a group of six other women who chose to do our internships off-campus in Anne Arundel County.  This allowed us to move home and begin looking for jobs in the area in which we lived.  The six of us formed a tight bond working on projects, and lesson plans that we used in our different classrooms.  Our final project allowed us the opportunity to work with each other one last time. "The group members reflect on their accomplishments and failures as well as determine whether the group will disassemble with a final-get together or a termination ritual (Keyron, 1993)," (O'Hair, Wiemann, Mullin & Teven, 2018).  

I feel as though taking the opportunity to have that final meeting allowed us the chance to speak about what went well and wrong during the semester, but also take the chance to congratulate one another on the different milestones we had reached separately as well as as a group.  I think that adjourning is essential to a group because it allows for opportunities of conversation and honesty, but also the opportunity to decide whether or not the goals of the group had been met. I believe that in the future this type of ritual is important for other groups in order to reflect individually as well as a group.

Resources:

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2018). Real communication: An introduction (4th ed.). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's

6165 Week 5

I am a newlywed.  Conflict arises within my personal life quite often,  Recently my husband and I had a dispute about how we wanted to place things in the kitchen so that they would be accessible to both of us.  A big argument arose when he wanted to put plates and bowls somewhere where I could not reach them.  We argued and argued, and it honestly got blown out of proportion.  I decided that we should take a step back and reevaluate the situation.

1.  I had him tell me his point of view, and then he allowed me the chance to give my point of view.  Once we both understood where the other was coming from we were able to compromise by putting them in a place that was easily accessible for both of us.

2.  Once this conflict had been handled we decided to have a healthy debate with one another.  Debating with one another about how our house should be set up helped us to speak to one another without attacking one another.

We have always promised each other that we would never attack one another physically or emotionally.  However, we do have to build on our communication skills and understand that conflict is going to arise in many situations.  The greatest lesson that we have learned is to allow the conflict to help us build our communication with one another rather than allowing it to tear us down.

I think that approaching one another in this way has allowed me to think about how to handle conflict when it arises between colleagues and myself.  I want to build my relationships with my colleagues and gain an understanding of the way that they think and feel about certain situations. I think that understanding and recognizing conflict will help me to approach it in the future.