Conflict Resolution

A disagreement I constantly experience at work is between my co-teacher and myself. I tend to be a neat freak and she is the complete opposite of me. I like to have the classroom set up a certain way and throughout the day I organize and clean. I put the toys and books on the appropriate shelves. However, my coworker could care less about organization. She will just put toys anywhere and it really frustrates me. I have expressed my concerns to her and she always tells me that she will try, but she does not. One day we (all colleagues) were talking about organization and I called her messy and she got really offended, I right away but she was upset with me for awhile. Learning conflict resolution strategies now might have helped me resolve the conflict in a more practical way.

One strategy that I have learned is response which is from the 3R's. I could have discussed her messiness at another time and not at a team meeting. No one asked me about anyone's organization skills but I let my frustration get the best of me. I usually keep my responses to myself but I couldn't take it. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but I did.

Another strategy that I learned is cooperative strategy. Cooperative strategies would help us think of a solution that would benefit both us. Instead of calling her messy, I could have expressed my concerns about the classroom and sat down on how we can work on keeping the classroom neat and orderly.

Communication Similarities and Differences

                                                

The communication assessments this week taught me a lot about perceptions. I learned that those close to me have very similar perceptions about the way I communicate. In terms of communication anxiety, I perceive myself the same way they perceive me. 

What surprised me the most was my result for the verbal aggressiveness test. My score was described as someone who is argumentativeness which attacks a person’s position or statements and involves personal attacks and can be hurtful to the listener. My husband and sister both perceived me not so aggressive as this way but for some reason I perceived myself as more aggressive when answering the questions. When I read the description of the results from their test I felt that their results describes me better than significance. I feel that I do maintain good balance between respect and consideration for others viewpoints. I also try my best not to attack people unless I disagree with something they may have said. 

This week I learned that sometimes our responses to people's viewpoints can affect our communication skills. If you verbally attack someone they may never want to speak to you again. Although you may get a shocking result on an assessment it does not mean that you should accept the results. The score may show a small percentage of a skill in you that can be positive and negative and it is up to you to see if you want people to perceive you that or not. 

Communication and Cultural Diversity

I often find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. Most of my family and friends are Nigerian and when I am around them I find myself speaking in a Nigerian accent. I also tend to use more eye gestures and hand gestures that is very common among Nigerians. Also, I tend to not use proper English grammar when communicating with them.

At work I am surrounded by people of diverse backgrounds. I notice that I use less eye and hand gestures. I also speak more politely and with proper English. I am calmer when speaking with my colleagues, whereas at home or with family I can be louder and raise my voice if in disagreement.

Three strategies I can use to communicate more effectively with these groups:

1. I can work on not raising my voice with anyone even if they are my family. I do not like it when I get loud and neither does anyone around me.

2. Another strategy is that I can try to be more comfortable at work. I should focus more on having a positive and effective communication with my colleagues instead of how they will react if I use hand or eye gestures. Most of us are very comfortable with each other so I can try and be more comfortable when communicating.

3. One last strategy is that I can listen more and be more aware of the communication skills of others. If I am in disagreement I can listen to what others are saying before raising my voice and trying to get my point across. Raising my voice can also negatively impact my communication and may not be the communication skill of someone else. If I am the only one raising my voice then I am not communicating effectively. 

Sound Off, Sound On

Sound Off

For this assignment I watched an episode of Drop Dead Diva. There seemed to be a lot going on in the show. I can tell that there are two main characters. One is a skinny blond hair girl who seems to care about the way she looks. When the show started she was trying on a dress but from her facial expressions she wasn't sure about how she looked or fit in it and it appeared that she asked her significant other how she looks and he gave her a hug and kiss so I’m assuming he told her she looks great. She also looked as if she was interviewing to be on a show similar to Price is Right because she was studying the models. She is driving and applying makeup and also on the phone I can see her mouth moving and the Bluetooth headset in her ear when she crashes into a truck carrying oranges. Next, there is a brunette lady who is slightly obese at an office who seems to not care much about her looks.  She seems to get along with one coworker who I think is her secretary because she helped her get a few things and they seemed comfortable near each other. There is another coworker who seems to think she is better than the rest from the way she looks at them. The brunette spills coffee and walks out her office to get a napkin when she sees the rest of her colleagues hiding from a man with a gun. She seems worried but walks toward the armed man. When she walks towards him she trips over a bag and he shoots her.

They show the blonde girl in what appears to be heaven because everything and everyone is in white. She presses a return button on a computer keyboard and she disappears. Next we see the brunette girl in a hospital going through surgery; she wakes up, and looks in a mirror and from the look on her face and her mouth she seems to be screaming. I assumed that it is the blond girl in the brunette girl’s body.

Sound On

My assumptions about the characters and plot based on my observations were correct. The blonde girl was a model auditioning for the price is right. The blonde girl did care about the way she looked. The brunette girl did not care about the way she looked and she did work in a law firm. One coworker was her secretary and the other coworker did think she was better than the rest of them. They did both die and the blonde girl did end up in the brunette’s body.

I think my assumptions would have been right on target if I had been watching a show I already know because I would already know the characters. I would know what each character does, how they react when happy or sad and who they are close with. Nonetheless, even though I have never watched the show paying attention to their facial expressions helped me to understand the character’s communication and what was going on during the show. 

Competent Communicator

A person who demonstrates competent communication is my pastor. My pastor’s name is Jide Lawore. He has been a pastor for over 7 years and I always admire him when he speaks. He is a great public speaker. My pastor speaks eloquently and always annunciates his words; it is also easy to understand him whenever he speaks or preaches. When my pastor communicates, he makes eye contact and makes you feel at ease. He doesn’t speak too fast or too slow and he always offers explanations if you do not know. He is also humorous and not uptight whether he is speaking to you in private or in public.

I would definitely want to model some of my own communication behaviors after my pastor. I get shy sometimes, but my pastor always seems so comfortable when communicating. He is bold and he draws your attention when he speaks. The more I watch and hear him speak, the more I want to be just as competent as he is. 

Professional Hopes and Goals

When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, I hope that I can provide them with a feeling of warmth, respect and acceptance. I hope that I can be an example of what it means to be an anti-bias teacher. I hope that i can also show children and their families the beauty of diversity.

My goal in the early childhood field in regards to diversity, equity and social justice is to continually educate myself on diversity, equity and social justice issues in the field. My goal is to also promote awareness to my colleagues and other professionals in the field on these topics. I believe diversity, equity and social justice are very important topics and all early childhood educators should take courses on the subject.


This has been a very rewarding and exciting class. I do not think it would be as much fun learning if not  for my colleagues. I personally want to thank you all for educating, inspiring and sharing with me. I have learned so much on diversity, equity and social justice because of all of you. Everyone shared great anecdotes throughout the weeks which helped me to learn more about the differences and similarities we all share. Thank you all so much and good luck in all your future endeavors and much success as you continue this journey in early childhood.

Welcoming Families Around the World

Country of Origin

The name of my family’s country of origin is Brazil. Brazil is a country located in South America. I do not know much about Brazil. The setting will be an early childcare center.

Five ways I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family:

1. I will do a lot of research online and by going to the library about Brazil. I will like to learn more about the daily life in Brazil.

2. I will also try to familiarize myself with the school system in Brazil. I will find out how the early childcare system in Brazil is run. I will do this so that the child and family will have a smooth and comfortable transition.  

3. I will also try to learn some of the basic greetings from Brazil and buy a dictionary in case the family does not know English. The main language spoken in Brazil is Portuguese so I will also ask my mother’s friend who is Portuguese to teach me a few of the greetings.

4. I will also try to learn some songs from Brazil especially children’s songs so that I can teach to the rest of the class.

5. Lastly, I will decorate the classroom with greetings and pictures of Brazil to welcome the child and family to the center.

Brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family:

I hope that these preparations will welcome the new family not only to the child development center but also to America. I hope to learn much more about a country that I do not much about. These preparations will also help the other children to learn about a new culture; it will also prepare the children to not be biased or prejudiced towards the new child. It will be a great learning experience for myself and the other kids in the class.