Evaluations

What surprised me the most on my evaluations is that both of my evaluators noticed me weakness just as I did. I guess I did not realize it was so obvious that I am too trusting. I am a people oriented listener and I tend to create and build relationships, and sometimes it does interfere with my judgement. I tend to be just a tad too trusting of people I have built or am building a relationship with. I do tend to think the best of people and I do think that has a lot to do with it. Both of my evaluators pointed that out to me, so one of my communication goals is to become more discerning when listening to people!

Comunciating Differently

I do find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. I feel from having been in this field for 30+ years has made me aware of how important it is to have a relationship with families in order to have a good "working" role in the lives of their children. I have been preaching treat children as individuals and get to know them and their families on an individual basis for quite some time now. It was probably decades ago I had my first international student. (90's) I embraced their culture and went on to develop a close, warm relationship with the family. The little girl really thrived in our classroom. We were in a public school setting,so she did receive ESL services because she spoke very little English. The family was from Japan and our class learned all sorts of things, had Japanese snacks, did Japanese arts and crafts, learned how to count to ten in Japanese, and even had mom read a "Japanese fairy tale" to us. That taught me early on in my career how important it is to learn all about each individual child and respect and respond to their cultures. I had a great time, it was only my third year of teaching and my children thoroughly enjoyed themselves, parents responded positively, and Uki thrived and went on to excel in school.

Week 2 Communication blog

I dvr'd a show called Last Man Standing, starring Tim Allen. I like him and assumed it would be a funny show. The episode I watched had a woman all dressed in black and appearing to attend a funeral. Tim Allen was dressed in a black suit and looked like he was leaving the house with her. However, he did not leave his house with her. He stayed behind and sat on the couch. So far, not funny! When I watched it with sound, he and his wife were having a funny conversation about going to a funeral for one of her co-workers and her concern about why she got a promotion. It may have helped if I was a follower of the show. The wife went to the funeral without Tim Allen, who really did not want to go. She tried to bond at the funeral with another woman who worked there but did not get the promotion. That did not work out very well and when she talked to her boss, she found out she got the promotion based on her accomplishments. There were lighter moments in the show, but I did not find it funny overall.

Wk 1 Competent Communication

The person I have chosen to talk about is my executive director. She demonstrates competent communication and is well versed in many things concerning young children. She is effective because she is knowledgeable, calm and authoritative when she speaks. She consumes vast amounts of information constantly and interprets it easily. I would love to model some of my own communication behaviors after this woman because her leadership and communication skills seem to be inbred. It is a natural position for her to take and she excels at her ability to confer information appropriately and thoroughly through making eye contact, gesturing, and with a can do attitude. She uses the right words, is a well-paced speaker and adapts her communication to the current situation. I have great respect for her.

Thanks!
Deb