Reflecting on Communication in the Early Childhood Field

Week 8

It is amazing to me how each 8 weeks go by so quickly. Personally so much has happened.  I have changed jobs, had my third child, lost my grandmother to cancer and yet I keep on moving forward with this journey. I have learned so much from the course material and even more from each of you. I know that to really be an effective communicator one must also be an active listener.  I learned that I needed to be a better listener.  As a director and as a mother I feel that I am constantly multitasking but to really be able to listen I need to stop sometimes and really LISTEN. 

Each week we have had the opportunity to expand our knowledge in the field and enhance our learning by sharing our views and personal experiences.  I hope that I have been able to share with each of you as much as I have gained.  This course is the last of this section before we move on to our specializations.  I wish you all best success and I look forward to continuing with those of you have chosen the specialization of Teaching Adults in the Early Childhood field.

Thank you.

Week 6 Blog

Of the five stages of team development the adjourning stage is when the project is wrapping up and the members of the team begin to go in different directions (Abudi, 2010).  As I think back about projects that I was a part of and recall this part of the stages of team development I think about times that the team was a well-functioning team and times in which the team didn’t work so well together.  I would have to say it was the teams that worked well together and had high emotions involved that made it hardest to say good bye.  My greatest memory from a team that I became a part of was the preschool that I worked at in my hometown.  I had only been a part of the team for about a year.  During that year our director had left and I had become the acting director and one of our teachers also suffered a tremendous loss as she lost her first born during labor and delivery.   As I pulled the team together and kept everyone on track I had decided to interview for the Director position.  At the same time my husband had accepted a position that would end up relocating us to where we are today.  As I delivered the news to everyone in tears my team quickly began to plan my final day.  At the last staff meeting the surprised me with a final pot luck and a scrapbook.  The scrapbook was amazing it had pictures of my children, each teacher and their classroom, and well wishes from parents and teachers.  My last day there was filled with tears.  It was a wonderful bunch of ladies.

Adjourning is an essential part of teamwork as it gives closure.  As I end my journey and my pursuit to obtain my Masters I imagine that I will send out a very sincere thank you to everyone.  I think we have all learned so much from each other and our stories have inspired us all.

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

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

This coming week at the Preschool we are expecting corporate visitors.  We have been preparing for the past couple of weeks, fine tuning everything that has been introduced over the past six months. There has been a very big quality initiative with classroom, curriculum, and finally interactions.  Last week four of the thirteen centers were chosen to be visited and mine was one of them.  As a final step we toured each other’s centers and made suggestions or brought back ideas for our own.  From the feedback I was given my two year old classroom needs to step up a bit.  I know from past conversations this teacher’s immediate reaction will be on the defense and will not be open to what she needs to hear.  From what I have learned this week I want to take the NVC approach.  I know that I need to take the following steps with her:

·         I need to express to her what I want to see in her classroom.  I also want to make sure that she knows that my ideas are only suggestions and that I value her opinion and she is free to make her own choices as long as the overall goal is met.

As I delivered my message she immediately became defensive. Her response included statements like we have to do what everyone else is doing, what they say goes, and I don’t have time to do all of this.  I continued to reassure her that we are working together as a team and no we don’t have to do exactly what everyone else does.  The ideas are suggestions but the goal is the same.  I think she felt better and I did see some changes being made when I left Friday afternoon.  I do see how making a connection with this teacher was successful and both of our needs are being met  ( http://www.cnvc.org/ ).

I guess I will see on Monday and ultimately how it goes on Wednesday.

http://www.cnvc.org/