Thank You

                                        

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Throughout this course I have really learned and understood the process of communication. Communicating with my colleagues has been a wonderful learning experiences. As many of my colleagues I have been in other courses with it is always nice to work with new colleagues as well. My biggest take away is that communication is a transactional process where you influence others while they influence you (O’Hair, 2018).

I am grateful to be able to work with such amazing scholars. I have been able to put theory to practice from the feedback and stories of my colleagues. We are forming a great community of educators and I am happy to be apart of that. The posing questions of my colleagues and the different perspective that everyone brings allows me to engage deeper in my thought process. The drive of my Walden community helps me to continue to push forward with their kind words, motivation, and sincerity. I hope I have done the same in providing feedback to blogs and discussions.

 I hope to continue to see everyone grow as we reach our goal of graduating with our master’s degree. I wish you all the most success in future endeavors and hopefully we may even cross paths one day.

 

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2018). Real communication: An introduction (4th. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Adjourning

 

In the "adjourning" stage the project is coming to an end and the team members are moving off into different directions. This stage looks at the team from the perspective of the well-being of the team rather than from the perspective of managing a team through the original four stages of team growth. (Learning Center, 2011)

The adjourning stage is a bittersweet stage of team building. It is a celebration of the task at hand, but it is also a time to say goodbye. I was apart of a discipleship program at church where myself and several other women came together to work on building our relationship with God and building each other up. Through this journey we had to learn to mutually trust and respect one another. We learned how to allow each person to feel valued and be a contributor and we agreed upon goal and vision (Laureate, Education, 2011), just as Dr. Wolfe said makes for great team building.

This was an 18-month journey and it was hard to say goodbye but because of the bond we had created many of us kept in touch with each other. It was hard to leave the group once it had ended because we had spent a lot of time together and we had shared a lot of personal information with one another. I believe this group allowed for growth within all of us because we learned that we are in this together. I was also able to learn a lot about myself and these women encouraged me and supported me when times were rough.

For my colleagues working towards earning their master’s degree, I know we are all routing for each other. This will be a great celebration as we “master it”! I hope that we will all have the opportunity to cross paths and maybe even physically work together.

 

References

Learning Center. (2011). How to build a team using vision, commitment, and trust. Retrieved from http://www.learningcenter.net/library/building.shtml

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Team building strategies [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Conflict Resolution

Conflicts in communication come from not taking the time to understand one another. This also makes me think of perspective. It is often hard to have tough conversations but sometimes these conversations need to be had in order for us to grow. The key is listening even when we do not agree because when we listen, we may hear the truth that will allow us to self-reflect. "Respectful communication among parents and educators provide an environment that encourages learning and growth," (The Compass School, 2017).

I think about a time when a parent did not agree with their child not being able to attend a field trip. The parent was so upset that they did not hear what was actually said. What was said was the child can attend the trip as long as a parent attends with him.  The parent had yelled at me, but I never changed my tone and I waited for the parent to finish speaking. I offered for a meeting later that evening to discuss the situation. When the parent came back that evening he apologized and shared his frustration. By still showing respect to the parent despite them being outraged we were able to come to communicate the details of the trip. Once we learned the child had been showing certain behaviors due to him not taking his medicine because the parents chose not to give it in the summer, we were able to receive an inclusion staff member to help with the child and give one on one attention when needed.

Communication is so important, and we have to be honest even when it may be difficult. We have to an open mind when having conversation. People joyfully and compassionately contribute to each other and resolve conflicts peacefully (Center for Nonviolent Communication, 2020).

References

Center for Nonviolent Communication. (2020). About the Center for Nonviolent Communication. Retrieved from Center for Nonviolent Communication: https://www.cnvc.org/about

The Compass School. (2017, June 21). Magda Gerber's RIE Philosophy.  https://www.thecompassschool.com/blog/magda-gerbers-rie-philosophy/#:~:text=Pickler's%20core%20values%20of%20respect,explorers%2C%20and%20self%2Dlearners.