Week 2 Assignment

When I first entered the MSEC at Walden my desire was to work with adults in the EC field through teaching students, consulting, social work, or teaching parents in seminars or courses. 

Here are three agencies I would love to be a part of in an employment or volunteer status that appeals to me and the reasons I chose them:

• Christian Family Ministries: Center for Women and Children – “Lamb’s Fold Center for Women and Children serves homeless and abused women and children by providing them with community-based supportive   housing, personalized recovery  services, and assisting them to  achieve self-sufficiency” (Christian Family Ministries, 2012). 

• Will County Health Department and Community Health Center – “The Youth Services Program offers a comprehensive array of services that includes psychiatry, individual, family and group therapy, crisis intervention, outreach, case management, parenting classes, respite services, substance abuse assessment and treatment, and referral and linkage services to other needed resources and programs. The program concentrates its efforts on underserved individuals including public aid recipients and low income families” (Will County Health Department and Community Health Center, 2006).

• Joliet Junior College (JUCO) – The college specializes in serving students of all ages, backgrounds, and economic status. I graduated from JUCO after leaving the military and appreciate the schools diligence in working with the community. The school is well known and has accomplished many awards in the culinary arts and nursing disciplines. However, the early childhood courses have tremendously grown from four classes since I attended in the late 1980s. 

In order to work in each of these positions (as volunteer or employed), I would have to put to use all of the information learned in the MSEC. I would further need to continue to join or create communities of practice in order to stay abreast of organizational, community, and educational concerns in the field. A personal skill that I need to work on is nonviolent communications. I don’t want to be offensive in any form to those who I want to serve. 

References

Christian Family Ministries: Center for Women and Children, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.lambsfold.org/. 

Will County Health Department and Community Health Center, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.willcountyhealth.org/en/do.jsp?id=73.

Stay the Course

Happy New Year!!!!
This post is the first post for the Capstone course in the MSEC. I had taken a long break due to travels (especially Israel - AWESOME)  and a stubborn kidney stone. However, I'm back on the road to graduation this year. Hallelujah! 

I'm excited about learning more from our facilitator Dr. Teri and my new classmates.
Let's change the world together.

Love to all :-)

Communication

Someone asked me why was I taking a communication course in an Masters EC program. It made me reflect on how much I have learned in the last 8 weeks. Without positive, meaningful communications in our field, our efforts to work with families are futile.

I would love to keep in touch with my classmates. We learn from each others experiences.
I wish all well in the efforts to serve young children and thier families.

PERSONAL TEAM ADJOURNMENTS

Army teams, Caterpillar teams, state youth team – The hardest ‘good-bye’ from my Army teams was that we were most likely not to see each other again. The work good-bye was as personal over the financial aspects. I don’t think I miss anyone from work. Being forced out of the state youth team made me more aware of my own mortality. I left office at 44 and could not be re-elected due to my age.  I have been in other teams. But the teams that were hardest to leave were the high performing teams. The twist to this is that it was the teams where we built personal relationships outside of the team goals. Abudi (2009) stated that team leader should allow time to celebrate at the end of a project.  On the state team we received ‘love-offerings’. On all my teams, when there was a major project completed we had a close out meeting which included FOOD. I had not considered how I would adjourn from my collegues at the end of the program. However, we do congratulate and thank each other after most classes in the program.

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

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

The worse thing to have is negative conflict at home, your safe haven. My roommate and I have lived together for more than 10 years due to divorce and personal hardships. We had a pact – no children. Well, in December 4 granddaughters out of her 12 grandchildren have come to live with us. I don’t remember being this loud and fussy. Teenage girls are something to reckon with when you are approaching middle age. Every one was stressed out. I did not want to come home after work. We decided to separate. However, we were both stressed looking for separate apartments and preparing to move. That was one option. However, in this economy it takes 2 or 3 salaries to survive with basic needs let alone luxuries. I decided to try and talk it out calmly with my friend and roommate. We listened to each other. She apologized for the inconveniences. We decided not to move. We set rules and there was no yelling. This was the beginning of us using nonviolent communication skills on purpose.

How Do Others Evaluate My Communication Skills?

This portion of my blog required the student to have completed three assessments, summarize the results, and compare them to the results of others concerning me: communication anxiety inventory, verbal aggressiveness scale, listening styles profile. I had three people take the test for me instead of two: my two closest friends – 1 male and 1 female, and a colleague. We all agreed on listening styles. What was surprising was that my best friends scored me as significant on the verbal aggressiveness and the colleague’s result was moderate along with mine. I am somewhat disturbed that my friends feel that I verbally attack people. To be good communicators we must first know ourselves O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009).  We must understand that our actions are directly affected by our self-perceptions (p. 57).

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS

Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

Of course I communicate differently with people from different groups and cultures. I speak differently to our clients who are bilingual, sometimes using my broken Spanish. There is a teacher at our center that I have determined I must pay attention to my words for her to understand. When I answer the phone, I answer differently if it’s my personal phone, the day care line, or the church phone. I often use my ‘church lady’ voice when I’m at church that I never use any other setting. My verbal and nonverbal communication skills all change in these settings.  

Based on what you have learned this week, share at least three strategies you could use to help you communicate more effectively with the people or groups you have identified.

·         I need to formally improve my Spanish. The neighborhood in which the center belongs has become increasingly diverse. As an administrator, I must be able to communicate with potential clients.

·         Deconstruct my schemas (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009) – I must be able to allow myself to let go of my preconceived ideas of how others should act.

·         Eliminate cultural myopia (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009) thinking. This goes hand in hand with deconstructing my schemas in order to communicate well with others and other groups.

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.