Non-Verbal Communication and TV

This week I watch a show called Parenthood. While watching the show with the sound off I felt so lost. At first I thought I was not going to be able to understand what was going on. In relatively short order I was able to start my decoding of the non-verbal communication that was taking place. I had a different perspective and story for all the characters. In a way that was kind of a fun activity. I could reinvent their life to fit their non-verbal communication. At times I was in stitches because of the storyline I came up with.

Personally I am hard of hearing and have a difficult time hearing people in certain circumstances or people with certain vocal tones. I need to pay close attention to their body language to help decipher what is being said. After the doozy of a story I came up with for the characters in the TV show I am left wondering how many times I have miss read other who are trying to communicate with me. This activity gave me a new appreciation and understanding for how important non-verbal communication can be, along with the realization that it can mean what we do not want it to. 

Competent Communication

Dana has been a long time friend of mine. We met when she volunteered to help with a not for profit I was working with at that time. Dana has always impressed me with her communication skills. She is relaxed, confident, and very well spoken. She has this inner strength that seems to come through in any situation that she needs to be herd or understood. It is hard to put into words how articulate and confident she is in the material she communicates. Dana is a middle school teacher and I have seen her communication skills in action during conferences, parent meetings, taking to co-workers. She is also on the board of her HOA (home owners association), the local little league board, and an event coordinator for Smile At Miracles. For me Dana is the definition of competent communication in a variety of contexts.

            I am constantly wishing I possessed her communication skills and with that the confidence. Her confidence is something to marvel over. She is never scared to try or to make a mistake as she see that as a time to learn. I, on the other hand, am terrified to look unintelligent or to fall on my face. I know that as time has passed I have learned form her and watched her body language. The simple changes I have made have helped me to improve my communication over all. I am still just lacking in the confidence. There is always something to work on and improve in ones self. I guess this is one of mine.    

Professional Hopes and Goals

The biggest hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I apply what I have learned in this class. I strive to make each child feel comfortable and valued in my program. For this to continue I will need to implement some of the concepts I have learned while using some of the wonderful ideas I accumulated from my peers. As a launching point I will research every child’s culture to the full extent I can and implement some of that culture into each classroom.

I have one goal that I would like to see to fruition within the school, programs, and childcare in my community. That goal is that holiday celebrations be excluded from the classrooms. I am constantly broken hearted to see children who do not normally celebrate these holidays be forced to conform or be left out while a celebration is taking place. My neighbor came to me a week ago and asked what she could do about Christmas being celebrated in her sons school. Her family is Jewish and they do not celebrate Christmas. I asked her if she talked to the teacher and she had. The teacher said they do not discuss religion just the “fun” aspects of Christmas. She went on to tell me that every day sometime twice a day her son is sent to the office while the class makes Christmas trees or Santa ornaments. I was heart broken for her and her son. I told her to take her complaint to the school board. I wish there was more I could do and I know the situation will not be fixed this season but hopefully next year will be different.  

I would like to take this time to thank all my colleagues for their continued support. Their ability to constantly take my learning to a deeper level is something I am very appreciative of. It has been a pleasure to learn a long side each of you. Thank You!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

This assignment came at a very helpful time. I recently found out that our program will have two new child (cousins) from Azerbaijan. I had never even heard of this country and had a hard time spelling it. This list has given me a great to-do list over the holiday break so that I will be ready come January 7.

My family from Azerbaijan will arrive in January just after the New Year. To prepare myself for their arrival so that the children and families feel welcome and comfortable I will …

1.     Research this country as mush as possible through the library and Internet, being careful to look beyond surface information and tourist information. 

2.     Visit the international community center in my area and seek out another family form Azerbaijan that I may interview or talk to about customs and characteristics that maybe helpful when meeting the family and teaching the children.

3.     Learn what the family values and structure, culture and traditions are in order to know how to support and incorporated these into the curriculum.

4.     Learn some basic words of greeting in order to make the family feel welcome in the mornings.

5.     Incorporate authentic food into the lunch menu; find home decor items, rugs, or clothing to place in the classroom to help the children feel more at home.

I hope is that these preparations will help make the family more comfortable when arriving to my class, that the children will be more relaxed so that learning can take place, and that I will be confident in what I know about the country and open to learning more. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The incident that jumps in my mind is one I saw take place about ten years ago and pizza restaurant. A group of teen-agers were sitting at a table talking meanly about others at their school. At the table diagonal from them was a young Asian girl in her late teens/early twenties. All of a sudden another teen-age girl walked into the pizza place and up to the table of other teens and said in a very loud angry voice, “If that Asian tramp looks at me again I am going to smack her in her pan flat face. What is with her face anyway? It’s like she does not have bones it is so flat”. All the other teens at the table started to laugh. The Asian girl and the other table hung her head low as if trying to hide. She was not even whom they were talking about but you would see the worry, shame, and sadness on her face and body language. She pushed her plate back and stood up and walked out.

In this instance the girl in no way felt equal or as good as the other group of mostly white teens. I cannot speak for her but if I were her I would have felt diminished, damages or wrong, and like my ethnicity was bad for simply not looking like others. When I witnessed this I was heart broken for the girl and so angry at the other teens.

After the girl left I did walk over to the table of teens and briefly explain that they need to be careful with what they say and that they hurt the feelings of the other girl that was sitting by them. There response was “so, we don't care about her. Mind your own business”. I wish I would have had the courage to teach them instead of point out what they had done. That I could have made a change in this minds and hearts so that the behavior would not have happened again. I think of this situation often and try to figure out what I could have done differently.