Focus on Nonverbal Communication

This week we are asked to select a television show that we would not typically watch and view it with the sound off. The aim of this is to make assumptions about the characters’ relationships towards each other and then we are to view the same show with the sound on to see if my assumptions were correct. I decided to view a Jamaican show “The Blackburns of Royal Palm Estate” This is a Jamaican soap opera that seems to carry several story lines. I could detect much emotion among the characters such as character “Sonny T” and a male character (a police officer) seem to having a very hot or aggressive argument I also observed “Sonny T” handling large sums of cash and talking to a few females that seem to work with him. The females seem to be prospective ‘drug mules’ some sort of worker for him base on their facial expressions. The females were beautiful, well dressed and appear to be seductive in character. I then watched the show with the sound on. Some of my assumptions were right and some were wrong. The argument between Sonny T and the man (a private investigator) was true. The investigator was actually investigating “SonnyT” for money laundering and also for trafficking drugs. Sonny T was not so happy with his visit and so they had an argument. Because the officer did have a warrant to search his premises Sonny T ordered him to leave his premises immediately. I was, however, wrong about the females in the scene. These females were characters that were pretending to like Sonny T and make passes at him but they were really working under cover for the police force so that they can gather enough evidence to put Sonny T in jail. There was female who actually was planting bugs in his office so that they can keep a tap on his activities. There is a famous saying we say where I come from “ASSUME” means making an ASS out of U and ME. This simply means we are never to assume but we must always first get the facts. I believe if I had watched the clipping with the sound on I would have realized some of my assumptions were totally wrong. The girls paint one picture that they are really working for Sonny T but when I listened to the conversation among the girls I realized they were on a totally different mission to get enough evidence to send Sonny T to jail. I don’t think I really have any ‘aha’ moments as yet. But I realize that we cannot just go by or use nonverbal communication alone but verbal communication is also needed to support nonverbal communication. O’hair states, “while these two forms of communication are connected, nonverbal communication is vague without its counterpart. Reference O' Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. “The Blackburns of Royal Palm Estate”. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcrPGJKYoNw

Welcome to Communication & Collaboration

I believe my supervisor at work has excellent communication skills. She deals with the general public every day and she also has to deal with early childhood professionals at all levels of the organization. This week a case came to her where a practitioner was handed a letter from the chairman of the school that her services were no longer needed due to some conflict issues at the school. The practitioner was very upset over the letter and my supervisor managed to calm her down by just talking to her in a very calm and relaxing way. My supervisor read the letter, listened intently to the practitioner’s side of story and then told her she will have to convene a meeting with the principal and the school board so as to hear everybody’s side of the story. After the practitioner left, my supervisor called the principal and the board chairman about the letter and also listened to their side of the story. My supervisor kindly informed them that the matter needs to be addressed professionally and without bias and therefore it would suit the school to settle this dispute within the confines of the school management and not allow it to get to the “Labor Board” as a letter such as this is asking for a law suit against the school and its management. I believe my supervisor acting in a calm manner, was good listener, used the labor laws as her guide and just being able to mediate. These communication skills are very effective and I would definetly would emulate them in dealing with conflicts.

Considerations, Reflections, Aspirations

For the past eight weeks I have learned so much about diversity and how unique each individual is. Because of this I am more motivated to advocate for early childhood in my country and to spark the fire in each and every individual the importance of early childhood education. When I see people around me I no longer look at them with a close mind but I realize that each of us are all special and we all have unique roles to play in making society a place where we can all exist in peace and learn to love and respect each other no matter how different we all are. I have said this before and I will say it again the world would be so boring and drab if we were all the same color, size and culturally identical. But in a sense we are all the same, because we really share the same needs: food, shelter and clothing but most of all we all want to be accepted for who we are, loved, appreciated and just are given a chance to live life to its fullest. It is therefore my hope as an early childhood professional it is my hope that I will be fully prepared to deal with challenges that are associated with diversity. The goal that I would set for the early childhood field as it relates to diversity is continue this master’s journey. I believe the best thing for a person who hopes to bring about positive change is to be knowledgeable. With the necessary information we can develop our resources and tools to help make early childhood development better for the generations to come. I would also like to thank all my colleagues who have commented on my blogs, responded to my discussions and have offered some great insights and encouragement. I you wish all the best in the future endeavors as we continue to make the field of early childhood development shine bright.

Considerations, Relflections, Aspirations

Welcoming Families From Around The World

The family I would love to prepare for culturally and welcome into my home would be from Pakistan. Pakistan is located in Southern Asia. The Pakistani culture and customs are different from the Western culture and I believe having a Pakistani child in my home and learning her about her would be quite interesting. Before I can welcome a Pakistani girl I would have to learn about her culture. The first thing I would want to learn about her is which ethnic group is she is from because the country of Pakistan comprises of many ethnic groups. The second thing I would want to learn is her name. As we know a name is a source of identity and it is very important as the host I am able to pronounce her name properly and even know the meaning of her name. The third thing I would do is to find out the kinds of food my child guest eats. Food is very important and having a guest in your house not eating what you have prepared for meals can be very distressing and I definitely would not want my guest to be hungry. The fourth thing I would to prepare for my guest is to learn a few about their language such as a few minor phrases. Probably I would get a language book to help with interpretation of basic words. Learning a few words from her language will allow some amount of communication. The fifth thing I would want to learn about the Pakistani is about some general customs and etiquette. This very important too because how Pakistanis relate to each other especially in terms of gender relationship will impact on the kind of relationship formed. Unfortunately girls are treated as cattle in the Pakistani culture and many times are married before they reach the age of 16 years. Being prepared for a person of different culture is very important. Even though we might be different in cultural practices we basically are the same and have the same needs such food, shelter and clothing. To benefit from a cultural exchange we first must understand each other and, be very open-minded. Many times we become misled by what is being said in the media about persons who may be different from us. We do want to be stereotypical and bias in our behavior and therefore it is best that we are informed about the persons who are different from us culturally.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

I have experienced so many prejudices and biases happen to me and to persons in my immediate surrounding. I am from a mixed ethnic family and I my first experience with prejudice came from my family. As a child growing up I always thought that everybody was equal and basically the same. I never thought about the color of your skin or how rich are poor you were but I became aware of these types of prejudices as soon as I was introduced to kindergarten. The experience that stood out for me was my high school years although I experienced much prejudice and biases before. Hampton school is a boarding school for girls. Upon entering high school I realized that the only children of a certain class were given much attention. I was considered poor but I never thought of myself as being poor because from very early, I believed poverty was just your state of mind. Although designer clothes, shoes and other material things were bought with lots of money I always believe these things did not complete you or defined who you are. The teachers at the institution did not hide their prejudicial and biases towards persons who were considered poor. I became very ill at school and was sent to the sick bay. I got no medical attention, my parents were not contacted about my illness and I was kept in the sick bay for a week without any proper care. I cried and felt rejected. I got mid term holiday break and I was sent home. My father realized I was ill and my temperature was extremely high but because of how simple he was he did not realize how ill I was because if the school did not make an issue of the illness he believed everything was okay but when I fainted and he took me to the doctor, the doctor told him I was very lucky because I was developing pneumonia. Because he was intimidated by the school’s authority he did not do anything about it. I realized I was treated unfairly because I was not one of the favorite, yet the policy of the school specifically stated that once a child becomes very ill, the parents must be contacted immediately. Other children who were considered rich were not only sent to the school’s doctor but there parents were immediately contacted so that they could come and get their children. This experience has taught me so much. As a mother of three children I am very protective and can get very defensive for my children. Once I detect any form of biases or prejudices for against children in any social institution whether at church or at school I defend my children and I make my voice be heard. I used my experiences at Hampton school to strive above the obstacles. I remembered the day of graduation like yesterday. The students were excited and of course we were making lots of noise before the start of the ceremony. One of the senior teachers just came to us and started shouting at us that we were the worst and that we would never come out to anything good. I used her words as a motivation to strive above the obstacles. I entered the field of teaching to help children who were labeled as ‘no good’ and ‘poor’.

Week 4-MICRO AGGRESSION EXPERIENCES

My micro aggression experience happened quite a few years ago. I was asked to help with the choir at church because they had a cantata engagement and the choir director was not able to assist. I decided to help, but I was not married at the time. I helped and everything came out more than what persons had expected. I married my long term friend and the father of my first child the following year. I decided that I would try and have my second child as soon as possible because I did not want any children in my thirties. Even though my husband objected I became pregnant. I was astonished when persons in the same choir that I helped so well made very insinuating remarks to my parents, myself and even wrote a letter to my father, that the only reason I married because I had become pregnant and so I needed to cover up for my sins. I found the entire situation really offensive but I made it pass because I knew the same people I helped were just being vindictive and wicked. The second mircro aggression happened this week when I decided to start looking around for secondary schools for my daughter. When I mentioned a particular school to my fried she simply looked at me and said ‘only students of certain sexual orientation attends this school.’ My step daughter attended this secondary school and I know she is not a lesbian.