Communicating Evaluation

Looking at how I evaluated myself and how others evaluated me, one thing that kind of surprised me was realized that people described me at a people-orientated person. This surprised me because, I'm definitely a people person, and sometimes too trusting of others. I was surprised most that my mom and my friend who took the survey know it too. My friend always comments on how sometimes I'm too trusting of people, and I always blew her off, until someone I trusted "threw me under the bus" once and she was like "I told you so". I always thought being a people-oriented person was a good thing, but there are some negatives to it. This might affect my professional life because I may become too trusting, and it may hinder my judgment in situations when it comes to making professional decisions. It also might affect my personal life because I may get seriously hurt by someone I originally thought I could trust, and relationships could be ruined.

The another thing that did surprise me the most was the verbal aggression scale survey. I was considered significant by myself and by the people the evaluated me. I was surprised by this because under the description it talked about how I might cross the line and become argumentativeness. This actually kind of surprised me because I hate getting into arguments...I really try to avoid arguments, and I think sometimes just keep what I really want to say to myself, because I know it will either start an argument or make the argument even worse. This mindset might affect my professional work because I am back down if someone confronts me instead of standing up to them, and this might affect my personal life because I'm not given my full opinion, and thus may not get my say on topics or activities.

Communication Differences

 Looking at how I communicate with people of different culture, I don't think I communicate with them any differently than I do of someone from the same culture. If you would have asked me 5 years ago, I might have said yes because I was a very narrowed minded person when I started teaching. When I started teaching I thought everyone, students, colleagues, and families were are like I had growing up. I quickly realized that wasn't the case, and that people were greatly different from myself. I had to change the way I saw them, and change my way of communicating with them to be respectful. Instead of thinking of them as different, I had remind myself that just because they aren't like me, doesn't mean that I should treat them any differently then someone who is like me. I realized that if i let my personal biases and ideas come into my teaching, I wouldn't be able to form relationships with students, parents, and colleagues, that I have now. 

TV Show Analysis

Brothers and Sisters: TV Show

Black Font: Assumptions
Red Font: What Actually Happened

Characters are all family

Nora: Mother
William: Deceased Father
Sarah: Sister
Kitty: Sister
Tommy: Brother
Kevin: Brother
Justin: Brother

Judging from the flashbacks that are happening, the father has recently died

Father recently died of a heart attack

They are concerned about the one character (Justin) that is in the hospital

They are worried about Justin who overdosed because he got a letter saying he had to go back to the Army to fight in Iraq. Flashbacks show that the family was against him joining the Army in the 1^st place right after 9-11.

They have a family business that causes a lot of arguments, may be in trouble/3 of siblings (Sarah, Tommy, and Kevin) work together in it judging how they are going on a trip together and were in a meeting together/Got excited over news they found while on their trip/family is all excited about the findings

Father was hiding something. Sarah, Tommy, and Kevin work together. Kevin is the lawyer for the company. Apparently their father brought land in the desert, and they have no reason why. They were excited because they found out that the land belonged to the Army and was worth a lot of money. Enough money to save the family business

Apparently Sarah found out that their dad had another child with his mistress and she tells the Kevin and Tommy

Girl (Kitty) in a relationships with co-worker…maybe involved with another co-worker too? Love triangle

Male co-worker is involved with the intern, not Kitty; although judging by the hug her gave Kitty after she told him about how the Army called Justin back to fight in Iraq, they may have been in a relationship in the past

Mom is worried about son over something/taking frustration out by cooking (can tell by how she is kneading bread really hard)/crying in the pantry closet

Worried over Justin going back to war and losing him too after she just lost her husband

One brother doesn’t know anything about cars/apparently messed it up and car is in shop. The another brother chases him for screwing up

He poured water into the engine instead of the oil filter which caused the car to break down

Another daughter has a TV show judging by how she interviewed someone in front of the camera/another female co-worker goes to the boss about something the one daughter did, obviously jealous over something/girl did something during the tape interview that she is apologizing for now. Can tell by her disappointed and upset face as she’s talking about/she apparently did a favor for the person she interviewed

Kitty is a political pundit on a TV show, and is interviewing a senator. Senator asked Kitty not to bring up his divorce in return of him doing her a favor. Kitty asked him to pull strings so her brother didn’t have to go back to Iraq. Senator couldn’t do it, and that’s why Kitty apologized. Senator thanks Kitty at the end of the show and offers her a position on his staff.

Daughter is upset with male co-worker/one she is in a relationship with, and now crying to male co-worker over the issue

Male co-worker tells his girlfriend/inter that he thought Kitty bribed the Senator. Kitty confesses how the first time Justin left, it broke the family up, and she’s afraid it’s going to happen again, and she will be blamed for it. She admits she is scared for her brother’s safety.

Family likes to drink, alcohol, wine and such in many scenes

Wine at meals, drinking in a bar

One brother (Kevin) is apparently gay about how he approached another guy and looked about him

When car breaks down, Kevin says the other siblings aren’t allowed to make gay jokes/comments; sleeps with a guy he meets at a bar

Sister on TV (Kitty) doesn’t know how to cook judging by how she was cracking open an egg and stirring with a whisk and burnt pie

When Kitty volunteers to help cook for Thanksgiving, Nora comments on how she is not a very good chef. Justin jokes as well when he sees her helping in the kitchen.

Another brother announces some excited news at the end of the table with his wife. Judging by how the family reacted. They are expecting a child

Tommy and his wife Julia are expecting their first child

While doing this assignment, I realized that verbal communication plays a vital role in understanding what is going on, but you can also get messages and plot lines across from watching the interactions of the characters and their facial expressions. However, I missed a major plot line of when Sarah told Tommy and Kevin that they had another sibling. I thought they were just arguing because of the land was useless. I think if I would watch this show on a regular basics, I would know more about the family and what happened leading up to this episode, so some of the plot lines would make more sense.

By doing this assignment, I learned that verbal communication is needed to reinforce non-verbal communication. I also realized that it is very easy to misinterpret non-verbal communication when you are listening to the verbal communication. I think this is helpful for myself and colleagues because we need to use non-verbal communication to reinforce our verbal messages to ensure we are communicated clearing with families and children.  

Communication Idol

The person I think demonstrates effective communication is my supervisor. I feel that she is an effective communicator because she is always keeping us informed of what is going on, she makes herself available questions, is open suggestions, and gives great constructive criticism during evaluations (never once has her suggestions for improvement, made me feel like I am a bad teacher, unlike my previous supervisor). Also, she does not make assumptions, and makes sure she has all the facts first before talking to someone. She knows there are two sides to every story. I would definitely model some of my own communication behaviors after her because she has developed great, trusting relationships among her staff, and people are respectful of her. Two things I would like to do better.  

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I can learn from them, just as much as they can learn from me. I hope they can also have an open mind about the different backgrounds as I do, and that we can recognize each other's differences, and develop a respectful relationship.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to continue promoting equity and diversity in the classroom. We learned that children start to develop prejudice and bias at a young age, so if we can end these, then our children will help end discrimination in our world, and will then pass their knowledge onto their children and future generations.

I wanted to thanks all my colleagues for all the support and ideas you brought to the table throughout this class. I always enjoy learning from you, and hearing your personal stories. Hearing some of your stories about how people discriminated you broke my heart, and I don't understand how people can be so cruel sometimes. We all now have a better understanding about diversity and equity, and hopefully we can help end discrimination and prejudice in our world! Best of luck as we continue on this journey!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country of origin my family is coming from is China.

In order to prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family I will:

1)      Research information about China, their culture, religion, language, traditions, and foods, to get a better understand of the family and their culture they were accustomed to.

2)      Also, by researching information about their culture, I can incorporate toys, books, and other activities into my classroom lessons in order to make them feel comfortable, and also teach the other student about the new student’s family culture.

3)      Prepare information for them in Chinese in case they are not fluent in English, and have either a translator or technology, such as an iPad with a translation app, in order to communicate with the child and family.

4)      Arrange a time where I can visit them in their new home and they can show me some of their culture traditions and I can better understand their culture and see it firsthand.

5)      Have the family fill out a questionnaire in additional to get an even better idea about the family.

I am hoping that by making these preparations I am helping the family make their move to the United States easier, and feel more comfortable that I understand what they are going through, and trying not to make it so overwhelming. It will also show the family that I care, and thus hopefully be the first step in developing a good relationship with the family. I will benefit from this because I would have to learn more about a culture that I’m not too familiar with, and be able to incorporate this new culture into the classroom, and teach other children about them. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Teaching in a school district where there are many different types of culture, religion, and sexual orientation, I have seem many examples of bias, prejudice, and oppression. One example of prejudice that I have experience was when students make fun of my hearing. I often have students tell me I need hearing aides (before they know I have them) or tell me I have to turn them up. A lot of times I just a laugh it off, but sometimes it upsets me. They don't understand the concept that I have a heredity hearing loss and that they need to speak clearly to me instead of mumbling their words or speaking very softly. I get frustrated with myself when I have to have them repeat what they are saying or I saying something wrong because I fully didn't hear them. I also get embarrass. I know these are high school kids and I'm the adult, but sometimes, because of my hearing, they don't take me seriously or see me as a teaching authority figure.

In order to change this incident into an opportunity for greater equity, I would explain to the students hearing aide usage is on the rise because of all the loud music people listen to these days and with their headphones. Therefore, there are more people out there with hearing issues, but that doesn't make them less equal. I would tell the kids that we all have something wrong with us, but I don't make fun of them for it. We have to learn to respect people that are different from each other, and that next time they encounter someone who has hearing aides to speak slowly and clearly in order for the person to fully understand them, and to be patient with them, instead of making fun of them.